do it so sudden, but that you shall have notice to prepare yourself; but that depends upon the king's pleasure, for your body is to be at his disposal.

Then the Court adjourned.

On Wednesday, Aug. 31, 1681, being the day appointed by his majesty for his execution, he was according to sentence executed overagainst the Gate of the Castle at Oxford. When he was come to the place of execution, the High-Sheriff spoke to him as follows:

High-Sheriff. Mr. Colledge, it is desired, for the satisfaction of the world, because you have professed yourself a protestant, that you would tell what judgment you are of.

Colledge. Dear people, dear protestants, and dear countrymen, I have been accused and convicted for treason; the laws adjudge me to this death, and I come hither willingly to submit to it: 1 pray God forgive all those persons that had any hand in it. I do declare to you whatever hath been said of me, I was never a papist, or ever that way inclined, they have done me wrong; I was ever a Protestant, I was born a Protestant, I have lived so, and so by the grace of God I will die, of the church of England, according to the best reformation of the church from all idolatry, from all superstition, or any thing that is contrary to the gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour.

I do declare I was never in any popish service, prayers, or devotions, in my life, save one time; about some seventeen or eighteen years ago, as near as I remember, I was out of a curiosity, one afternoon at St. James's chapel, the queen's chapel at St. James's; except that one time, I never did hear any popish service,any | thing of the church of Rome, mass or prayers, or any thing else, private or public. I know you expect that I should say something as to what I die for: It hath been charged upon me, when I was apprehended and brought before the council, some of the council, the Secretary, and my lord Killingworth, and Mr. Seymour, they told me there was treason sworn against me; truly, they surprised me when they said 80: for of all things in the world, I thought myself as free from that as any man. I asked them if any man living had the confidence to swear treason against me? They said several, three or four, as I remember: then they told me, it was sworn against me, that I had a design to pull the king out of White-ball, and to serve him as his father was served, or to that purpose, the logger-head his father, or that kind of language: I did deny it then, and do now deny it upon my death. I never was in any manner of plot in my days, neither one way nor another; I never knew any such persons, nor ever had such communication with any man hitherto: I know of no plot in the world but the popish plot, and that every man may know as much as 1: If I had such a design as these men have sworn against me, to have seized his majesty, either at London, or this place at Ox

ford, I take God to witness, as I am a dying man, and upon the terms of my salvation, I know not any one man upon the face of the earth that would have stood by me; and how likely it was that I should do such a thing myself, let the whole world judge.

Dugdale swears, that I spoke treason to him, treasonable words in the coffee-house, and in the barber's shop by the Angel; he could not pretend to see me any where else; but it is speak treason to him. I must confess I was in false, and a very unlikely thing that I should his company at the coffee-house and that barber's shop, before I went out of town: but there could be no communication between us; for he was writing at one end of the room, and eating a piece of bread, and I lighted a pipe of tobacco at the other end, and took it, till sir Thomas Player, and sir Robert Clayton came to me, and we went to my lord Lovelace's out of town that night; so when they came, we took horse, and went out of town with the rest: for my part, I can't sum up my witnesses; I was under most strange circumstances as ever any man was; I was kept prisoner so close in the Tower, that I could have no conversation with any, though I was certain the popish Lords had it every day there, but I could have none: I could not tell the witnesses that were to swear against me: I could not tell what it was they swore against me, for I could have no copy of the indictment nor no way possible to make any preparation to make my defence as I ought to have done, and might have done by law.

I had no liberty to do any thing, as I am a dying man. And as to what Dugdale, Smith, Turbervile, and Haynes, swore against me, they did swear such treason that nothing but a madman would ever have trusted any body with, and least of all to papists, every one of them that had been concerned with plots and treasons among their own party, and under the greatest ties and obligations of damnation; and to be sainted if they kept it secret, and to be damned if they reveal it. If these men will. not keep things private for their own party, how could I trust them? I take God to witness, and do freely acknowledge, I have sought my God with tears several times to inform me, if so be I had with any word transgressed at any time. I knew not of any part of what they swore against me, till such time as I heard it sworn against me at the bar.

This is very hard, gentlemen, but this is the truth: and there be a great many other strange reports that I have heard since I have been a prisoner; that I should be a means to convert the countess of Rochester, by bringing one Thomson, a priest, to her. Truly, all that I was concerned in, was some fifteen or sixteen years ago. I lodged at colonel Vernon's, that married the lady Brooks, the family were papists; the Brooks's were papists; and there was this Thomson, and I did suppose him a priest, in the house, though I never saw him at popish service, or worship, though I was there half a year; but coming afterwards to my lord Ro

chester's about some business I had to do for him, and several other persons of quality; he sent for me one afternoon from the parsonage in Adderbury to his house, and his lady and he stood together: He sent to me, and asked me, if my horse were at home; said he, I would have you carry this letter to Mr. Thomson, if you are at leisure this afternoon: My lord, I am at leisure to serve you; so I took a letter from his hand, and his lady's too; as I remember (he made an offer that way) sealed with his own seal, and I carried it to Thomson, and delivered it to him: And he told me, that he would wait upon my lord, for it was for some lands my lord did offer, to raise money for some occasion: This is the truth of that scandal.

It is said that I had a priest several years in my house, viz. Sergeant, that came over from Holland to discover. About some ten years ago, that very same man came to me, but was a stranger to me, and he came to me by the name of Dr. Smith, a physician; and there was an apothecary in the Old Bailey, and a linen-draper within Ludgate, that came with him, they brought him thither, and took a chamber, and he lay about half a year, or three quarters, at times, by the name of Dr. Smith, and as a physician; this is the truth of that, and no otherwise. This is the entertainment of Sergeant.

So the occasion of my coming to Oxford I do say was voluntary; the parliament-men last parliament at Westminster, and several lords, dined together the day before they sat; the last sessions of parliament at Westminster, they sent for me to the Sun tavern behind the Exchange, and when I came, the duke of Monmouth, and several lords were together, and I believe above a hundred parliament-men of the Commons: The duke of Monmouth called me to him, and told me, he had heard a good report of me, that I was an honest man, and one that may be trusted; and they did not know but their enemies, the papists, might have some design to serve them as they did in king James's time by gun-powder, or any other way: And the duke, with several Lords and Commons, did desire me to use my utmost skill in searching all places suspected by them; which I did perform: And from thence I had, as I think, the popular name of the Protestant Joiner, because they had intrusted me, before any man in England, to do that office.

This same Haynes, one of them that swore against me, had discovered to me and several others, as to Macnamarra and his brother, and this Ivy, who are now all of another stamp, that the parliament was to be destroyed at Oxford, and that there was a design to murder my lord Shaftesbury, by Fitzgerald and his party; and that they did endeavour to bring Macnamarrá over to him, and said, then it would be well with him; and they would not be long before they had Shaftesbury's life: And he made depositions of this to sir George Treby, as I heard afterwards, for I was not

with him when it was sworn. I wish the Commons of England as well as I wish my own heart; and I did not understand, but when I served the parliament I served his majesty too; and let them be miserable that make the difference between them, for my part, I never did. I came to Oxford with my lord Howard, whom I look upon to be a very worthy honest gentleman, my lord Clare, my lord Paget, and my lord Huntington, and this captain Brown, and Don Lewes, were in my company, and came along with us, as they were my lord Howard's friends: Brown I have known, I believe, two or three months; but Lewes I never saw before that day; they said they came with my lord Howard. I take God to witness, I never had one six-pence, or any thing else to carry on any design; and if it were to save my life now, I cannot charge any man in the world with any design against the government, as God is my witness, or against his majesty, or any other person.

As for what arms I had, and what arms others had, they were for our own defence, in case the Papists should make any attempt upon us by way of massacre, or any invasion or rebellion, that we should be ready to defend ourselves; God is my witness, this is all I know. If this be a plot, this was I in, but in no other; but never knew of any numbers, or times ap pointed for meeting; but we have said one to another, that the Papists had a design against the Protestants, when we did meet, as I was a man of a general conversation; and in case they should rise, we were ready; but then they should begin the attempt upon us: This was my business, and this is the business of every good subject that loves the laws of his country and his king. For England can never hope to be happy under those blood-thirsty men, whose religion is blood and murder; which I do with all my soul, and did, ever since I knew what religion was, abhor and detest, viz. the church of Rome, as pernicious and destructive to human societies, and all government.

I beseech God that every man of you may unite together as Protestants against this common foe. Gentlemen, it is my sense, and I de in that believe, I am as certainly murdered by the hands of the Papists, as sir Edmundbury Godfrey himself was, though the thing is not seen. These witnesses certainly are mercenary men, and I beseech God Almighty to have mercy upon their souls, and forgive them; and either by his judgments or mercies reclaim them, that they shed no more innocent blood: There is not a man of them that I know of, that ever heard me say, or do, any bit of treason in my life. This is (the first, I may not say it is) but almost twentieth Sham-Plot that they have endeavoured to put upon the nation, to de lude the people, and put off their own damnable plot. This is not the first, but I think, the sixteenth or seventeenth; I pray God that my blood may be the last. I pray God defend every man's blood, and all Protestants in England, from the hands of these bloody Papists,

second came to be found Billa Vera: and for that reason, one of the king's counsel boasted | at court, of his service and cunning management in the matter.

The bill being found, the next matter was to bring the prisoner to his trial: and as he had more honour than what usually is bestowed on so mean a man to be committed to the Tower, though in truth it was to keep him from all means of defence; so to carry the matter on, he was allowed to have, by order of the king and council, a counsel and solicitor to come to him, and advise him for his defence at all events; a favour denied to Fitzharris, for his counsel was to advise to the matter of the plea only but that favour in shew was only to betray him, as shall be shewn. And a third fayour he had, which no man of his quality ever had there were then three of the king's counsel sent from London, and all the counsel that could be picked up upon the spot, which were three more, and no less than four judges to prosecute and try him; but that was to make sure work of him.

The 17th of August, 1681, he came to his trial: his indictment, as to part, was in common form for treason, but particularly for designing to seize the king's person at Oxford, mixt with words he should say, as, that there was no good to be expected from the king, he minded nothing but beastliness, and that he endeavoured to establish arbitrary power and popery. To which being required to plead, he desired a copy of the indictment, a copy of the jury, to know upon what statute he was indicted, and counsel to advise him whether he had any thing pleadable in bar; all which were denied him. Then he desired he might have his papers, which were taken from him after he was brought from the prison, and before he came into court, at an house overagainst the court for so it seems the king's counsel had ordered the matter that the gaoler Murrel, and the messenger Sawel, after they had him out of the prison, should run him into an house, and take away all his papers, which they believed were the instructions, as in truth they were, of the counsel assigned him when in the Tower, and bring the papers to them; whereby they would not only disable him of his defence, but they could be better instructed how to proceed in a way for which he had not provided himself of any defence.

Murrel and Sawel did as the king's counsel directed them. Much wrangle there was whether he should have his papers or not; all the court agreed he should not have them till he had pleaded Guilty, or Not Guilty; and afterwards he should have the use of some, and not of others, because they did not appear to be written by himself, but by some counsel or solicitor; and as they said, none is allowed in treason, unless assigned by the court. The chief justice North said, they were not taken away by him; but, says Colledge, they were taken away by the keeper, under pretence of bringing them to his lordship. The court said

they knew not what papers he meant, and knew nothing of it: he said, the indictment mentioned something of misdemeanor, as well as treason, but he knew not how to make his exceptions without his papers. I have thought fit to mention all these things, because this trial was the inlet to all that followed, and gave encouragement to spill nobler blood. The injustice of the violence used to the prisoner, must be measured from the reasons given for it, that the papers were instructions from counsel and solicitors, and none in law was allowed in treason. It is true, no counsel are allowed for the prisoner in a trial upon an indictment of any capital matter; but in an appeal for capital matters, counsel are allowed even on the trial. The reason given, that the indictment is the suit of the king, and no counsel or witness is allowable in a capital matter against the king, is foolish, as shall be hereafter shown; and as vain is the reason that the judges are counsel for the prisoner, which they ought to be [2 Co. Inst. 178]: but I doubt it will be suspected, that in this case, and many others, they did not make the best of their client's case; nay, generally have betrayed their poor client, to please, as they apprehended, their better client, the king: for so they say they are to be counsel likewise for the king in in dictments, that is to say, they are to be indifferent and upright between both, so certainly they are to be in appeals; therefore that is not the reason why no counsel is allowed the prisoner in the indictment: but the true reason in probability is, that the prisoners in indictments are generally so very poor that they could not be at the charge of having counsel, and so nonusage gave colour of a law.

The other reason* my lord Coke gives for it, viz. that much of the truth may be discerned by the prisoner's behaviour, or answers, which would be concealed if he spoke by another, is not satisfactory; for the same is to be said in an appeal. As to the public, it is not material whether a man is prosecuted and punished by an indictment, or an appeal; and that appeals are less frequent than indictments, is only that the first is more chargeable than the last; for though we hear not of late of any appeals but in murder, yet they lie in robbery, burglary, felony, and in all crimes at common law punish able by loss of life or member: but though the rule in indictments is, that no counsel is allowed, yet it is confined to the trial. No law, common or statute, nor any usage, says, a prisoner shall not have counsel to advise him before or after the trial; and in murder, and all other crimes, it is always admitted; and why not in treason?

In treason, say some, it is criminal for one to advise or solicit for the prisoner; and the king's counsel said, he had known one indicted

* See something concerning another reason given by lord Coke, in the Note to the Case of Don Pantaleon Sa, vol. 5, p. 470, of this Col lection.