ments, transmitted to us, may be reduced to the following topics. ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST THE from the throne. Shaftesbury and many considerable men of the party, had rendered themselves irreconcilable with him, and could find their safety no way but in his ruin. Monmouth's friends hoped that the exclusion of that prince would make way for their patron. The resentment against the duke's apostacy, the love of liberty, the zeal for religion, the attachment to faction, all these motives incited the country party. And, above all, what supported the resolution of adhering to the exclusion, and rejecting all other expedients offered, was the hope, artfully encouraged, that the king would at last be obliged to yield to their demand. His revenues were extremely burdened; and even if free, could scarcely suffice for the necessary charges of government, much less for that pleasure and expense to which he was inclined. Though he had withdrawn his countenance from Monmouth, he was known secretly to retain a great affection for him.gislative power is lodged in king, lords, and commons, On no occasion had he ever been found to persist obstinately against difficulties and importunity. And as his beloved mistress, the duchess of Portsmouth, had been engaged, either from lucrative views, or the hopes of making the succession fall on her own children, to unite herself with the popular party; this incident was regarded as a favourable prognostic of their success. Sunderland, secretary of state, who had linked his interest with that of the duchess, had concurred in the same measure. But besides friendship for his brother and a regard to the right of succession, there were many strong reasons which had determined Charles to persevere in opposing the exclusion. All the royalists and the devotees to the church, that party by which alone monarchy was supported, regarded the right of succession as inviolable; and if abandoned by the king in so capital an article, it was to be feared that they would, in their turn, desert his cause, and deliver him over to the pretensions and usurpations of the country party. The country party, or the Whigs, as they were called, if they did not still retain some propensity towards a republic, were at least affected with a violent jealousy of regal power; and it was equally to be dreaded, that, being enraged with past opposition, and animated by present success, they would, if they prevailed in this pretension, be willing, as well as able, to reduce the prerogative within very narrow limits. All menaces, therefore, all promises were again employed against the king's resolution: he never would be prevailed on to desert his friends, and put himself into the hands of his enemies. And having voluntarily made such important concessions, and tendered, over and over again, such strong limitations, he was well pleased to find them rejected by the obstinacy of the commons: and hoped that, after the spirit of opposition had spent itself in fruitless violence, the time would come, when he might safely appeal against his parliament to his people. So much were the popular leaders determined to carry matters to extremities, that in less than a week after the commencement of the session, a motion was made for bringing in an exclusion bill, and a committee was appointed for that purpose. This bill differed in nothing from the former, but in two articles, which showed still an increase of zeal in the commons: the bill was to be read to the people twice a year in all the churches of the kingdom, and every one who should support the duke's title was rendered incapable of receiving a pardon but by act of parliament. The debates were carried on with great violence on both sides. (10th November.) The bill was defended by sir William Jones, who had now resigned his office of attorney-general, by lord Russel, by sir Francis Winnington, sir Harry Capel, sir William Pulteney, by colonel Titus, Treby, Hambden, Montague. It was opposed by sir Leoline Jenkins, secretary of state, sir John Ernley, chancellor of the exchequer, by Hyde, Seymour, Temple. The argu In every government, said the exclusionists, there is somewhere an authority absolute and supreme; nor can any determination, how unusual soever, which receives the sanction of the legislature, admit afterwards of dispute or control. The liberty of a constitution, so far from diminishing this absolute power, seems rather to add force to it, and to give it greater influence over the people. The more members of the state concur in any legislative decision, and the more free their voice, the less likelihood is there that any opposition will be made to those measures which receive the final sanction of their authority. In England, the lewhich comprehend every order of the community: and there is no pretext for exempting any circumstance of government, not even the succession of the crown, from so full and decisive a jurisdiction. Even express declarations have, in this particular, been made of parliamentary authority: instances have occurred whero it has been exerted: and though prudential reasons may justly be alleged why such innovations should not be attempted but on extraordinary occasions, the power and right are for ever vested in the community. But if any occasion can be deemed extraordinary, if any emer gence can require unusual expedients, it is the present, when the heir to the crown has renounced the religion of the state, and has zealously embraced a faith totally hostile and incompatible. A prince of that communion can never put trust in a people so prejudiced against him: the people must be equally diffident of such a prince: foreign and destructive alliances will seem to one the only protection of his throne; perpetual jealousy, opposition, faction, even insurrections, will be employed by the other as the sole securities for their liberty and religion. Though theological principles, when set in opposition to passions, have often small influence on mankind in general, still less on princes; yet when they become symbols of faction, and marks of party distinctions, they concur with one of the strongest passions in the human frame, and are then capable of carrying men to the greatest extremities. Notwithstanding the better judgment and milder disposition of the king; how much has the influence of the duke already disturbed the tenor of government? How often engaged the nation into measures totally destructive of their foreign interests and honour, of their domestic repose and tranquillity? The more the absurdity and incredibility of the popish plot are insisted on, the stronger reason it affords for the exclusion of the duke; since the universal belief of it discovers the extreme antipathy of the nation to his religion, and the utter impossibility of ever bringing them to acquiesce peaceably under the dominion of such a sovereign. The prince, finding himself in so perilous a situation, must seek for security by desperate remedies, and by totally subduing the privileges of a nation which had betrayed such hostile dispositions towards himself, and towards everything which he deems the most sacred. It is in vain to propose limitations and expedients. Whatever share of authority is left in the duke's hands, will be employed to the destruction of the nation; and even the additional restraints, by discovering the public diffidence and aversion, will serve him as incitements to put himself in a condition entirely superior and independent. as the laws of England still make resistance treason, and neither do nor can admit of any positive exceptions, what folly to leave the kingdom in so perilous and absurd a situation, where the greatest virtue will be exposed to the most severe proscription, and where the laws can only be saved by expedients, which these same laws have declared the highest crime and enormity! And remonstrance, and one little less violent than that famous remonstrance, which ushered in the civil wars. All the abuses of government, from the beginning almost of the reign, are there insisted on; the Dutch war, the alliance with France, the prorogations and dissolutions of parliament; and as all these measures, as well as the damnable and hellish plot, are there ascribed to the machinations of papists, it was plainly insinuated that the king had, all along, lain under the influence of that party, and was in reality the chief conspirator against the religion and liberties of his people. The court party reasoned in an opposite manner. An | Sunderland, and Essex, argued for it: Halifax chiefly authority, they said, wholly absolute and uncontrol- conducted the debate against it, and displayed an exlable is a mere chimera, and is nowhere to be found tent of capacity, and a force of eloquence, which had in any human institutions. All government is founded never been surpassed in that assembly. He was anion opinion and a sense of duty; and wherever the su- mated, as well by the greatness of the occasion, as by preme magistrate, by any law or positive prescription, a rivalship with his uncle Shaftesbury; whom, during shocks an opinion regarded as fundamental, and estab- that day's debate, he seemed, in the judgment of lisaed with a firmness equal to that of his own autho- all, to have totally eclipsed. The king was present rity, he subverts the principle by which he himself is during the whole debate, which was prolonged till established, and can no longer hope for obedience. In eleven at night. The bill was thrown out by a consiEuropean monarchies, the right of succession is justly derable majority. All the bishops, except three, voted esteemed a fundamental; and even though the whole against it. Besides the influence of the court over legislature be vested in a single person, it would never them, the church of England, they imagined or prebe permitted him, by an edict, to disinherit his lawful tended, was in greater danger from the prevalence of heir, and call a stranger or more distant relation to presbyterianism than of popery, which, though favoured the throne. Abuses in other parts of government are by the duke, and even by the king, was extremely capable of redress, from more dispassionate inquiry or repugnant to the genius of the nation. The commons better information of the sovereign, and till then ought discovered much ill-humour upon this disappointment. patiently to be endured: but violations of the right of suc- They immediately voted an address for the removal of cession draw such terrible consequences after them as are Halifax from the king's councils and presence for ever. not to be paralleled by any other grievance or inconveni- Though the pretended cause was his advising the late ence. Vainly is it pleaded that England is a mixed mo- frequent prorogations of parliament, the real reason narchy; and that a law, assented to by king, lords, and was apparently his vigorous opposition to the exclucommons, is enacted by the concurrence of every part of sion bill. When the king applied for money to enable the state: it is plain that there remains a very power- him to maintain Tangiers, which he declared his preful party, who may indeed be out-voted, but who never sent revenues totally unable to defend, instead of comwill deem a law, subversive of hereditary right, any-plying, they voted such an address as was in reality a wise valid or obligatory. Limitations, such as are proposed by the king, give no shock to the constitution, which, in many particulars, is already limited; and they may be so calculated as to serve every purpose sought for by an exclusion. If the ancient barriers against regal authority have been able, during so many ages, to remain impregnable; how much more, those additional ones, which, by depriving the monarch of power, tend so far to their own security? The same jealousy too of religion, which has engaged the people to lay these restraints upon the successor, will extremely lessen the number of his partisans, and make it utterly impracticable for him, either by force or artifice, to break the fetters imposed upon him. The king's age and vigorous state of health promise him a long life: and can it be prudent to tear in pieces the whole state, in order to provide against a contingency, which it is very likely may never happen? No human schemes can secure the public in all possible, imaginable events; and the bill of exclusion itself, however accurately framed, leaves room for obvious and natural suppositions, to which it pretends not to provide any remedy. Should the duke have a son, after the king's death, must that son, without any default of his own, forfeit his title? or must the princess of Orange descend from the throne, in order to give place to the lawful successor? But were all these reasons false, it still remains to be considered that, in public deliberations, we seek not the expedient which is best in itself, but the best of such as are practicable. The king willingly consents Three witnesses were produced against the prisoner; to limitations, and has already offered some which are Oates, Dugdale, and Turberville. Oates swore, that he of the utmost importance: but he is determined to saw Fenwic, the Jesuit, deliver to Stafford a commisendure any extremity rather than allow the right of sion signed by de Oliva, general of the jesuits, appointsuccession to be invaded. Let us beware of that facing him paymaster to the papal army, which was to be tious violence, which leads to demand more than will levied for the subduing of England: for this ridiculous be granted; lest we lose the advantage of those bene- imposture still maintained its credit with the commons. ficial concessions, and leave the nation, on the king's Dugdale gave testimony, that the prisoner, at Tixal, a demise, at the mercy of a zealous prince, irritated with seat of lord Aston's, had endeavoured to engage him the ill usage, which he imagines he has already met him, besides the honour of being sainted by the church, in the design of murdering the king; and had promised with. EXCLUSION BILL REJECTED. November 15. In the house of commons, the reasoning of the exclusionists appeared the more convincing, and the bill passed by a great majority. It was in the house of peers that the king expected to oppose it with success. The court party was there so prevalent, that it was carried only by a majority of two to pay so much regard to the bill as even to commit it. When it came to be debated, the contest was violent. Shaftesbury, The commons, though they conducted the great business of the exclusion with extreme violence and even imprudence, had yet much reason for the jealousy which gave rise to it; but their vehement prosecution of the popish plot, even after so long an interval, discovers such a spirit, either of credulity or injustice, as admits of no apology. The impeachment of the catholic lords in the Tower was revived; and as viscount Stafford, from his age, infirmities, and narrow capacity, was deemed the least capable of defending himself, it was determined to make him the first victim, that his condemnation might pave the way for a sentence against the rest. The chancellor, now created earl of Nottingham, was appointed high-steward for conducting the trial. TRIAL OF STAFFORD. November 30. a reward of 500 pounds for that service. Turberville deposed, that the prisoner, in his own house at Paris, had made him a like proposal. To offer money for murdering a king, without laying down any scheme by which the assassin may ensure some probability or possibility of escape, is so incredible in itself, and may so easily be maintained by any prostitute evidence, that an accusation of that nature, not accompanied with circumstances, ought very little to be attended to by any court of judicature. But notwithstanding the small hold which the witnesses afforded, the prisoner was able, in CHAP. LXVIII.] CHARLES II. 1660-1685. many material particulars, to discredit their testimony. I The clamour and outrage of the populace, during the confession of the treason for which he was condemned. Stafford now prepared himself for death with the in The populace, who had exulted at Stafford's trial and condemnation, were now melted into tears at the sight of that tender fortitude which shone forth in each feature, and motion, and accent of this aged noble. With difficulty they found speech to Their profound silence was only interrupted by sighs assent to those protestations of innocence, which he and groans. bless you, my lord." These expressions with a falterfrequently repeated. "We believe you, my lord!" "God It will appear astonishing to us, as it did to Staffording accent flowed from them. The executioner himself himself, that the peers, after a solemn trial of six days, should, by a majority of twenty-four voices, give sentence against him. He received however with resignation the fatal verdict. "God's holy name be praised!" was the only exclamation which he uttered. When the high-steward told him that the peers would intercede with the king for remitting the more cruel and ignominious parts of the sentence, hanging and quartering, he burst into tears; but he told the lords that he was moved to this weakness, by his sense of their goodness, not by any terror of that fate which he was doomed to suffer. It is remarkable that, after Charles, as is usual in such cases, had remitted to Stafford the hanging and quartering, the two sheriffs, Bethel and Cornish, indulging their own republican humour, and complying with the prevalent spirit of their party, ever jealous of monarchy, stated a doubt with regard to the king's power "Since of exercising even this small degree of lenity. he cannot pardon the whole," said they, "how can he have power to remit any part of the sentence ?" They proposed the doubt to both houses: the peers pronounced it superfluous; and even the commons, apprehensive lest a question of this nature might make way "This for Stafford's escape, gave this singular answer: house is content, that the sheriffs do execute William late viscount Stafford by severing his head from his body only." Nothing can be a stronger proof of the fury of the times, than that lord Russel, notwithstanding the virtue and humanity of his character, seconded in the house this barbarous scruple of the sheriffs. In the interval between the sentence and execution, many efforts were made to shake the resolution of the infirm and aged prisoner, and to bring him to some was touched with sympathy. Twice he lifted up the axe, with an intent to strike the fatal blow; and as often felt his resolution to fail him. A deep sigh was heard to accompany his last effort, which laid Stafford for ever at rest. All the spectators seemed to feel the blow. And when the head was held up to them with the usual cry, "This is the head of a traitor," no clamour of assent was uttered. Pity, remorse, and astonishment had taken possession of every heart, and displayed itself in every countenance. This is the last blood which was shed on account of the popish plot: an incident which, for the credit of the nation, it were better to bury in eternal oblivion ; but which it is necessary to perpetuate, as well to maintain the truth of history, as to warn, if possible, their posterity and all mankind never again to fall into so shameful, so barbarous a delusion. The execution of Stafford gratified the prejudices of the country party; but it contributed nothing to their power and security on the contrary, by exciting commiseration, it tended still further to increase that disbelief of the whole plot, which began now to prevail. The commons, therefore, not to lose the present opportunity, resolved to make both friends and enemies sensible of their power. They passed a bill for easing the protestant dissenters, and for repealing the persecuting statute of the thirty-fifth of Elizabeth: this laudable bill was likewise carried through the house of peers. The chief-justice was very obnoxious for dismissing disappointing that bold measure of Shaftesbury and the grand-jury in an irregular manner, and thereby his friends, who had presented the duke as a recusant. For this crime the commons sent up an impeachment against him; as also against Jones and Weston, two of the judges, who, in some speeches from the bench, had gone so far as to give to many of the first reformers the appellation of fanatics. The king, in rejecting the exclusion bill, had sheltered himself securely behind the authority of the house of peers; and the commons had been deprived of the usual pretence, to attack the sovereign himself, under colour of attacking his ministers and counsellors. In prosecution, however, of the scheme which he had formed, of throwing the blame on the commons in case of any rupture, he made them a new speech. After warning them, that a neglect of this opportunity would never be retrieved, he added these words: "I did promise you the fullest satisfaction, which your hearts could wish, for the security of the protestant religion, and to concur with you in any remedies, which might consist with preserving the succession of the crown in its due and legal course of descent. I do again, with the same reservations, renew the same promises to you: and being thus ready on my part to do all that can reasonably be expected from me, I should be glad to know from you, as soon as may be, how far I shall be assisted by you, and what it is you desire from me." VIOLENCE OF THE COMMONS. The most reasonable objection against the limitations proposed by the king, is, that they introduced too considerable an innovation in the government, and almost totally annihilated the power of the future monarch. But considering the present disposition of the commons and their leaders, we may fairly presume, that this objection would have small weight with them, and that their disgust against the court would rather incline them to diminish than support regal authority. They still hoped, from the king's urgent necessities and his usual facility, that he would throw himself wholly into their hands; and that thus, without waiting for the accession of the duke, they might immediately render themselves absolute masters of the government. The commons, therefore, besides insisting still on the exclusion, proceeded to bring in bills of an important, and some of them of an alarming nature: one to renew the triennial act, which had been so inadvertently repealed in the beginning of the reign a second to make the office of judge during good behaviour: a third to declare the levying of money without consent of parliament to be hightreason: a fourth to order an association for the safety of his majesty's person, for defence of the protestant religion, for the preservation of the protestant subjects against all invasions and opposition whatever, and for preventing the duke of York or any papist from succeeding to the crown. The memory of the covenant was too recent for men to overlook the consequences of such an association; and the king, who was particularly conversant in Davila, could not fail of recollecting a memorable foreign instance to fortify this domestic experience. : The commons also passed many votes, which, though they had not the authority of laws, served however to discover the temper and disposition of the house. They voted, that whoever had advised his majesty to refuse the exclusion bill were promoters of popery and enemies to the king and kingdom. In another vote, they named the marquis of Worcester, the carls of Clarendon, Feversham, and Halifax, Laurence Hyde, and Edward Seymour, as those dangerous enemies; and they requested his majesty to remove them from his person and councils for ever: they voted that, till the exclusion bill were passed, they could not, consistent with the trust reposed in them, grant the king any manner of supply. And lest he should be enabled by any other expedient, to support the government, and preserve himself independent, they passed another vote, in which they declared that, whoever should hereafter lend, by way of advance, any money upon those branches of the king's revenue, arising from customs, excise, or hearth-money, should be judged a hinderer of the sitting of parliament, and be responsible for the same in parliament. DISSOLUTION OF THE PARLIAMENT. The king might presume that the peers, who had rejected the exclusion bill, would still continue to defend the throne, and that none of the dangerous bills, introduced into the other house, would ever be presented for the royal assent and approbation. But as there remained no hopes of bringing the commons to any better temper, and as their further sitting served only to keep faction alive, and to perpetuate the general ferment of the nation, he came secretly to a resolution of proroguing them. They got intelligence about a quarter of an hour before the black rod came to their door. Not to lose such precious time, they passed in a tumultuous manner some extraordinary resolutions. They voted, that whosoever advised his majesty to prorogue this parliament to any other purpose than in order to pass the bill of exclusion, was a betrayer of the king, of the protestant religion, and of the kingdom of England; a promoter of the French interest, and a pensioner of France; that thanks be given to the city of London for their manifest loyalty, and for their care and vigilance in the preservation of the king, and of the protestant religion; that it is the opinion of this house, that that city was burned in the year 1666 by the papists, designing thereby to introduce arbitrary power and popery into the kingdom; that humble application be made to his majesty for restoring the duke of Monmouth to all his offices and commands, from which, it appears to the house, he had been removed by the influence of the duke of York; and that it is the opinion of the house that the prosecution of the protestant dissenters upon the penal laws is at this time grievous to the subject, a weakening of the protestant interest, an encouragement of popery, and dangerous to the peace of the kingdom. The king passed some laws of no great importance; but the bill for repealing the thirty-fifth of Elizabeth, he privately ordered the clerk of the crown not to present to him. By this artifice, which was equally disobliging to the country party as if the bill had been rejected, and at the same time implied some timidity in the king, that salutary act was for the present eluded. The king had often of himself attempted, and sometimes by irregular means, to give indulgence to nonconformists; but besides that he had usually expected to comprehend the catholics in this liberty, the present refractory disposition of the sectaries had much incensed him against them; and he was resolved, if possible, to keep them still at mercy. The last votes of the commons seemed to be an attempt of forming indirectly an association against the crown, after they found that their association-bill could not pass: the dissenting interest, the city, and the duke of Monmouth, they endeavoured to connect with the country party. A civil war indeed never appeared so likely as at present; and it was high time for the king to dissolve a parliament, which seemed to have entertained such dangerous projects. Soon after, he summoned another. Though he observed, that the country party had established their interest so strongly in all the electing boroughs, that he could not hope for any disposition more favourable in the new parliament, this expedient was still a prosecution of his former project, of trying every method by which he might form an accommodation with the commons; and if all failed, he hoped that he could the better justify to his people, at least to his party, a final breach with them. It had always been much regretted by the royalists, during the civil wars, that the long parliament had CHAP. LXVIII.] CHARLES II. 1660-1685. been assembled at Westminster, and had thereby received force and encouragement from the vicinity of a potent and factious city, which had zealously embraced their party. Though the king was now possessed of guards, which in some measure overawed the populace, he was determined still further to obviate all inconveniencies; and he summoned the new parliament to meet at Oxford. The city of London showed how just a judgment he had formed of their dispositions. Besides re-electing the same members, they voted thanks to them for their former behaviour, in endeavouring to discover the depth of the horrid and hellish popish plot, and to exclude the duke of York, the principal cause of the ruin and misery imMonmouth with fifteen pending over the nation. peers presented a petition against assembling the parliament at Oxford, "where the two houses," they said, "could not be in safety; but would be easily exposed to the swords of the papists and their adherents, of whom too many had crept into his majesty's guards." These insinuations which pointed so evidently at the king himself, were not calculated to persuade him, but to inflame the people. The exclusionists might have concluded, both from the king's dissolution of the last parliament, and from his summoning of the present to meet at Oxford, that he was determined to maintain his declared resolution of rejecting their favourite bill; but they still flattered themselves that his urgent necessities would influence his easy temper, and finally gain them the ascendant. The leaders came to parliament, attended not only by their servants, but by numerous bands of their partisans. The four city members in particular were followed by great multitudes, wearing ribbons, in which were woven these words, No popery! no slavery! The king had his guards regularly mustered: his party likewise endeavoured to make a show of their strength; and on the whole, the assembly at Oxford rather bore the appearance of a tumultuous Polish diet, than of a regular English parliament. He com NEW PARLIAMENT AT OXFORD. March 21. The king, who had hitherto employed the most gracious expressions to all his parliaments, particularly the two last, thought proper to address himself to the present in a more authoritative manner. plained of the unwarrantable proceedings of the former house of commons; and said that, as he would never use arbitrary government himself, neither would By calling, however, this he ever suffer it in others. parliament so soon, he had sufficiently shown that no past irregularities could inspire him with a prejudice against those assemblies. He now afforded them, he added, yet another opportunity of providing for the public safety; and to all the world had given one evidence more, that on his part he had not neglected the duty incumbent on him. The commons were not overawed by the magisterial air of the king's speech. They consisted almost entirely of the same members; they chose the same speaker; and they instantly fell into the same measures, the impeachment of Danby, the repeal of the persecuting statute of Elizabeth, the inquiry into the popish plot, and the bill of exclusion. So violent were they on this last article, that no other expedient, however plausible, could so much as be hearkened to. Ernley, one of the king's ministers, proposed that the duke should be banished, during life, five hundred miles from England, and that on the king's demise the next heir should be constituted regent with regal power: yet even this expedient, which left the duke only the bare title of king, could not, though seconded by sir Thomas Littleton and sir Thomas Mompesson, obtain the attention of the house. The past disappointments of the country party, and the opposition made by the court, had only rendered them more united, more haughty, and more determined. No method but their own, of excluding the duke, could FITZ-HARRIS'S CASE. There was one Fitz-harris, an Irish catholic, who had insinuated himself into the duchess of Portsmouth's acquaintance, and had been very busy in conveying to her intelligence of any libel written by the country party, or of any designs entertained against her or against the court. For services of this kind, and perhaps too, from a regard to his father, sir Edward Fitz-harris, who had been an eminent royalist, he had received from the king a present of 250 pounds. This man met with one Everard, a Scotchman, a spy of the exclusionists, and an informer concerning the popish plot: and he engaged him to write a libel against the king, the duke, and the whole administration. What Fitz-harris's intentions were, cannot well be ascertained: it is probable, as he afterwards asserted, that he meant to carry this libel to his patron, the duchess, suspected some other design, and who was well and to make a merit of the discovery. Everard, who pleased on his side to have the merit of a discovery with his patrons, resolved to betray his friend: he posted sir William Waller, a noted justice of peace, and two persons more, behind the hangings, and gave them an opportunity of seeing and hearing the whole transaction. The libel, sketched out by Fitz-harris, and executed partly by him, partly by Everard, was the most furious, indecent, and outrageous performserve any party, which should be so imprudent as to ance imaginable; and such as was fitter to hurt than adopt it. Waller carried the intelligence to the king, and obtained a warrant for committing Fitz-harris, who happened, at that very time, to have a copy of the over to the law, he resolved to pay court to the libel in his pocket. Finding himself now delivered and by whom he observed almost all trials to be popular party, who were alone able to protect him, governed and directed. He affirmed, that he had been employed by the court to write the libel, in order to throw the odium of it on the exclusionists; but this account, which was within the bounds of credibility, he disgraced by circumstances which are altogether ters, he said, was to send about copies to all the absurd and improbable. The intention of the minisheads of the country party; and the moment they received them they were to be arrested, and a conspiracy to be imputed to them. That he might merit favour by still more important intelligence, he commenced a discoverer of the great popish plot; and he failed not to confirm all the tremendous circumstances insisted on by his predecessors. He said, that the second Dutch war was entered into with a view of extirpating the protestant religion, both abroad and at ment by the peace, told him, that the catholics rehome; that father Parry, a jesuit, on the disappointsolved to murder the king, and had even engaged the offered him 10,000 pounds to kill the king, and upon queen in that design; that the envoy of Modena his refusal the envoy said, that the duchess of Mazarine, who was as expert at poisoning as her sister, the that design; that upon the king's death, the army in countess of Soissons, would, with a little phial, execute Flanders was to come over, and massacre the protestants; that money was raised in Italy for recruits and supplies, and there should be no more parliaments; and that the duke was privy to this whole plan, and had even entered into the design of Godfrey's murder, The popular leaders had, all along, been very desirous which was executed in the manner related by Prance. of having an accusation against the duke; and though Oates and Bedloe, in their first evidence, had not dared to go so far, both Dugdale and Dangerfield had afterwards been encouraged to supply so material a defect, by comprehending him in the conspiracy. The commons, therefore, finding that Fitz-harris was also will |