Quamobrem à vobis, Judices, antè quàm de ipsa causa dicere incipio, hoc postulo. Primum id quod æquissimum est, ut ne quid huic præju&rehy;dicati afferatis. Etenim non modo authoritatem, sed etiam nomen judicum amittemus, nisi hîc ex ipsis causis judicabimus, ac si ad causas, judicia jam facta domo, deferemus.
&Sic;INCE my Council have so fully answered every Article alledged against me, it may seem unnecessary to take up Your Lordships Time, by saying any thing for my-self. And, indeed, it would be so, if my Charge were Ordinary or Particular.
But, my Lords, I have been represented as a Person doubly guilty; First, In transacting Treason for my Self: and, Secondly, In doing it for other People.
These are Crimes of the most heinous Nature; And if they were as clearly proved, as they have been strongly asserted, I should justly merit Your Lord&rehy;ships highest Displeasure, and all the Pains and Penalties that You could possibly inflict upon me.
And since my Charge is so very Extraordinary: Since these Proceedings seem to be without any Precedent; and, That the Innocence of other Persons calls upon me for Publick Justice;
I believe Your Lordships will easily allow, That to be silent, in such a Case! would be truly Criminal, and but too justly Censured.
To enter into all the Particulars of my Accusation, would, I fear, take up more Time than is reasonable for me to ask, or for Your Lordships to allow: And though the many Inconsistencies, Contradictions, and false Conclusions which appear in almost every Page of the Printed Reports, plainly shew, The Weakness, Absurdity, and Sophistry of them; however, I shall only beg Leave to touch upon those material Parts, which relate to my-self, and my Defence to them.
And the First Article which I find my-self charged with, is, The Employing of one
And for Proof of this, the Examinations of the same Person, which are neither upon Oath, nor so much as Signed by him (and whom the Committee of the Honourable House of Commons have represented as a very infamous Fellow) are the only Evidence assigned against me.
And though the bare mentioning of it, might be sufficient to convince Your Lordships of its Weakness; however, since so great a Weight has been laid upon
The Two first of these Memorials (
And, how False both these Allegations are, has, I don't doubt, evidently appeared to Your Lordships. For,
Had my Accuser been really employed to draw up any such Memorials, it is reasonable to believe, that he would have kept Copies of some, and especially of the Last of them; since a Person who turned Informer so suddenly after, may very well be presumed to have had Thoughts of it for some Time before; and such Papers would, no doubt, give great Weight to his Information.
But the Ministry have produced no such Copies; neither do they pretend to have them: Which is a very great Indication, that there never were any such Memorials at all.
Besides, There are no Two of his Examinations of a Piece. Nay! he contra&rehy;dicts himself in almost every one of them. For,
In his Second Examination, he says, That these Memorials were all drawn up by the Order of one
In his Third Examination, he says, They were delivered to me and
As to the late Earl
And as for my Part, it is very plain, that I could have no Hand in them, since the
For, by those Minutes, and
Nor has the other Part of his Information relating to the Letter (which he pretends to have drawn up in
Had this Examination been taken at any Distance of Time, it is possible he might be mistaken in it; but his first Information must have been about the middle of
By all which it plainly appears, That this Article is not only Groundless, but evidently False; and likewise, That he had no such Intimacy with me (as the Report pretends) since he has declared, That I never spoke to him of the Con&rehy;spiracy; And that I could be a Month
As to what is said to his coming sometimes to my Lodgings, I believe it may be true; but it has been fully proved, That his Visits were never to me, but al&rehy;ways to another Person, who lodged in the same House.
And, I do solemnly affirm to your Lordships, That I never was acquainted with the late Earl
And, for Proof of this, The Examination of the same Person is the only Evi&rehy;dence produced against me, wherein he says, That I frequently told him, the Bishop was concerned in such a Correspondence; and that I managed it for him; with other Particulars not worth mentioning to your Lordships.
How reasonable it is, that I should tell such a strange Untruth to a Person that I knew so very little of; and what Credit ought to be given to his bare Asser&rehy;tion, who has affirmed such Gross and Notorious Falsehoods in the former Article, must be submitted to your Lordships.
And, in my present unhappy Situation, I cannot but think it a very great and singular Happiness, to have so Publick and Honourable an Occasion of purging myself from so vile a Calumny, and of doing Justice to that most Worthy and Learned Prelate.
And I do solemnly declare to your Lordships, upon the Faith of a Christian, That I never wrote or received a Letter of any kind for the Bishop of
I do farther declare, That my Visits to his Lordship were always Publick; That I never went privately in a Chair to his House; always found other Company with him, who were generally Strangers to me; and never once mentioned his Name, upon this or any other Account, to the Person who has thus accused me. Which, with the Evidence that has been produced of his own Confessions to that Purpose, is, I hope, sufficient to convince your Lordships of the Truth of it.
And as for the Dog, which has been brought as a Circumstance to prove this Matter, I do, in the same solemn Manner, declare, That he was given to me by a Surgeon at
And I appeal to the very Ministers themselves, if the
I do farther affirm, That the Bishop of
It cannot be imagined, that I have any particular Interest or Concern in this Matter; for I never received any Favours from his Lordship; neither do I owe him any Obligations, but those of Common Justice: And those I should perform,
As for the other Circumstances which are brought to strengthen my Accuser's Examinations, and are set forth in one
For, This Person swears, That another told him of this Conspiracy; That Six or Eight Battalions or
These, My
These are such idle, inconsistent
Besides, my
The Third
And, For Proof of this, the Clerks of the Post-Office are produced, who swear, That those Letters were (to the Best of their Knowledge)written in the same Hand with an Original which was stopt as a Specimen of it: Which Original has been sworn by Two Persons to be my Writing, and, consequently, those Letters must be so too.
These Letters are dated the 20th of
And how it is possible for People (who receive such a Number of Letters) to swear to a Likeness of Hand, at such a Distance of Time; and what Weight ought to be laid upon this kind of Evidence; or upon that Modern and Mysterious one given by the Decypherers, in which they don't pretend to a Certainty themselves, must be submitted to your Lordships.
And as to the Persons who have Sworn to my Hand, I hope it will be consi&rehy;dered, That one of them is a
Besides, this very Person was turned out of his Employment upon my Account, and a few Days after he gave this Evidence in the House of Commons, I saw a Paragraph in the News-Papers, that he was restored to it again.
And as to the other, it is to be hoped, That it will be likewise considered, That he is a Servant, who attended me only about Three Weeks, and was turned off for an Infamous Action, which he has acknowledged himself to have been guilty of: Be&rehy;sides, he has confessed, That he never saw me write, but as he went backwards and forwards in the Room; and at such a Distance, as not to be able to distinguish one Character from another: And it has been proved by Two Witnesses, (on of which was a particular Friend of his own) That he declared, He never knew any thing of my Hand; but was Threatned by the Secretary of State into the Affidavit which has been Printed to that Purpose in the
And if that Paper had been my writing, it is impossible they could be reduced to a Necessity of making use of such improper Evidence, since no Pains have been spared to procure better; since Numbers of People have been taken up, confined, and examined to this very Point; and
And though it might be proved by the very Report of the Lower House, That those Letters could not have come from the Bishop of
But it has been proved, that I was in
Besides, I have brought several Persons of Credit and undoubted Characters, who have all testified, That the Hand in which those Letters are said to be writ&rehy;ten, is not mine, nor any thing like it.
An Affidavit has been produced from Mr.
And it has been likewise proved, That Mr.
These are such full, such evident Proofs, as, I hope, cannot fail of giving Your Lordships the utmost Conviction in this Matter; and, consequently, that this Arti&rehy;cle is, like the rest, both Groundless and manifestly False.
But, if any Credit is to be given to the Confessions which my Accuser made to the Person taken up with him, it is very plain, that those Letters must have come from
For it has been proved to your Lordships, that he Confessed to have been em&rehy;ployed by one of the Ministers, received 300
That this Minister declared a Personal Prejudice, upon some private Account,
I say, if any Credit is to be given to this Confessions, there can be no great Difficulty in tracing out the Source of
For, my
Besides, the very Cypher by which those Letters were written, (
And it has been proved to Your Lordships, That those Drawers were constant&rehy;ly open, and that he made some Pretext for being alone in my Lodgings, the very Night before I was first taken up.
And since he was the first that set the Ministry upon Intercepting Letters, which he said were mine; it is very extraordinary, that such a material Part of his Evidence should be omitted in his Examination; or, that the very first Letters so intercepted, should be those alledged against the Bishop of
And how strong a Sense he had of his Guilt, by attempting an Escape, which proved fatal to him, and how visibly the Hand of God has interposed in that Emi&rehy;nent Prelate's Favour, by taking one of the Persons (designed for his Destruction) out of the World, and giving the other
And as to the Money which my Accuser owned to have received; That there was a very sudden and extraordinary Change in his Condition; That, from the lowest State of Poverty and Want, he soon arrived to that of a Vicious and most Profligate Affluence, is a Truth sufficiently known to all those that were acquainted with him.
But from whence this Change proceeded, or what real Grounds he had for aspersing that Honourable Person, I will not pretend to say: But if those Aspersions be false (as I wish they may) it may be justly inferred, That a Fellow who was capable of vilifying one Person, may very well be judged as capable of doing so to another: And if his Veracity is not to hold good in one Case, there can be no Reason for allowing it in the other.
The Fourth Crime alledged against me, is, A Number of intercepted Letters, supposed to be written to and received from the late Earl of
And for Proof of this, A
And as to the Person who has swore to this Particular, I must observe, That when he gave this Evidence to the House of Commons, he did not know me, tho' he spoke to me, and look'd several times earnestly at me; and for the Truth of this, I can appeal to most of the Members of that Honourable House, who were Wit&rehy;nesses of it: And he would still have probably continued in his Ignorance, if some private Hints, (as I have been told) were not given him, or the same Method taken which has been done with a Number of other strange Fellows, who were frequent&rehy;ly sent to the
Besides, the People of the Coffee-house have testified the contrary, and that no such Letter ever came to their House. And tho' it be set down in my Examination before the Council, that I confessed to have taken up such a Letter, I humbly appeal to my Lord Chancellor (if it can be worth his Lordship's While to recollect it) If he did not ask me that very Question two or three times? And if I did not as often deny it? Neither is this the only Particular that is falsely set down in that Examination. And I do solemnly affirm to Your Lordships, That I never did receive any such Letter, nor ever saw that Paper of Directions, 'till it was Printed in the Report.
And there is one Circumstance pretty Remarkable in this Correspondence, That as it began with my Accuser's Information, so it ended with his being taken up. For immediately after a new Correspondence is pretended to be discovered; and to fix this likewise upon me, it has been suggested, that I sent Cyphers by Sir
But, my
And as to the Printed Examination of one Mr.
For I am confident, he will not pretend to say, That ever he saw me write a Line in his Life, or give a Piece of Paper of any kind to Sir
For he has likewise affirmed, That my Examination before the Council was read at Doctor
And since Mr.
As to the rest of the intercepted Letters, the People of the several Coffee-houses have likewise cleared me from them; and all testify, That they never delivered me any such Letters, or received any Directions from me about them; which, I hope, will be sufficient to convince Your Lordships, That I was not concerned in any such Correspondence, especially since no Letters of this kind were found in my Possession, nor any other Papers relating to the Conspiracy.
There are two other Crimes, in which I most humbly crave Your Lordships Pati&rehy;ence to be heard, because they are the blackest that can be imagined, and seem to be Personal.
The First, is a Letter directed to Mr.
This Letter is dated the 20th of
And those Warders will depose, That, they believe, it was impossible for me to have written or sent out any such Directions; and the Officers, I don't doubt, will do me the same Justice.
And when my Solicitor was admitted, finding that Mr.
The other Crime is set forth in one
Mrs.
These, my Lords, are the Chief Crimes which I am charged with; and very great ones they are, had they been in any Degree made out against me.
I am a Stranger to the Methods of Legal Proof, but have been told by my Council, That the greater a Person's Crime is, the clearer the Evidence ought to be against him; and how weak and insufficient the Proofs produced for this Purpose are, and how clear and convincing those which have been offered in my Justifi&rehy;cation, has, I hope, evidently appeared to your Lordships, and given you intire Conviction of my Innocence; and that all the Crimes alledged against me, are without the least Colour or Foundation of Truth.
But how much I have suffered for these
To be taken up and held to exorbitant Bail, without ever assigning any particular Crime against me; To suffer a Long and Close Confinement, where the Ex&rehy;pence bears no Proportion to my Circumstance:
To have Numbers of People, and some of them, Creatures of the meanest Rank and Condition, taken up, examined, and
To have a Servant (who was turned off for his Ill-Behaviour) brought as an Evidence; and my most intimate Friends Imprisoned for not swearing against me; Are Hardships and Proceedings, I believe, hitherto unheard-of in
And when I declared myself an intire Stranger to the Conspiracy, and was sorry to find that Noble Lord have so base an Opinion of me, he seemed to wonder, that I would neglect so good an Occasion of serving myself, especially when I might have any Thing I pleased to ask for.
What Authority that Person had for this Message, or the rest of his After&rehy;Proceedings, I will not pretend to say: But as I have been Ruined and utterly Undone by them, I hope your Lordships will take my Sufferings, as well as Cir&rehy;cumstances, into Your Consideration; and, instead of Inflicting any farther Pains or Penalties, look upon me (as I really am) a Person highly Injured, and not a Criminal concerned in any Transactions against the Government.
As for my Circumstances, they are but too well known in the World.
And here I cannot omit my Gratitude to the late and present Constables of the
If I have dropped any Expressions which may not be so agreeable to some particular Persons in Power, I could wish that my Defence had not laid me under that Necessity: And I do solemnly protest, That they have not proceeded from any Resentment for my Sufferings; but from a Sincere Endeavour to give your Lordships the clearest Conviction of my Innocence. And since I could not merit their Favour, I shall always endeavour to preserve their good Opinion.
As to the Legality of
The great, and, indeed, the
But I humbly beseech your Lordships to consider, Where the Extraordinariness of this Occasion lies? &horfill; Has there been the least Commotion in my Part of the Three Kingdoms? Or any Person injured in his Liberty or Fortune, besides those who have been so unhappy as to fall under this Suspicion?
Or, Is this Occasion more Extraordinary than when there was a Publick Insur&rehy;rection in the Kingdom? And when the Persons concerned in it, were tried by the Common and Ordinary Courts of Justice?
And because your Lordships are vested with a Supreme Authority, and not tied up to the Common Forms of Law, can that be a Reason for your acting directly contrary to it? And to suppose your Lordships capable of doing so, was not, I must say, so becoming an Argument to have been offered upon this Oc&rehy;casion.
And to have a Session, which opened with so mild, so gracious a Speech from the Throne, end in such an extraordinary Manner, must surely be very contrary to the Design and Intention of the Throne at that Time; and is, I hope, so still; especially, since no intervening Accidents have happened to ruffle the Quiet and Tranquility of the Kingdom.
The First extraordinary Bill that, I believe, ever passed in
Pray, my Lords, why was that Sentence Unjust, but because it was not sup&rehy;ported by Law? &horfill; And, to the Eternal Honour of this House be it said, That when the Proofs upon his Tryal were not found Legal, They refused to find him Guilty.
But when this Extraordinary Method was taken, and the Torrent of the Times bore down their usual Justice, then the Flood-Gates of all those Miseries were opened, which overwhelmed and sunk the Constitution: And of which, some of Your Noble Predecessors had so strong and lively a Sense, as to declare, in this very House, That they would be sooner torn in Pieces, than come into such Illegal Proceedings; And so fell a Sacrifice to the Love and Laws of their Country.
To which I shall only beg Leave to add One Observation, that, I am sure, is but too well known to that Right Reverend Bench: &horfill; "That of all the Prelates who advised his Majesty to the Passing of that Fatal Bill, not One of them escaped the Violence of those very Persons whom they endeavour'd to oblige by that Advice.
These, my Lords, were the Unhappy Effects and Fatal Consequences of One Extraordinary Bill: And what those of Another may prove, the Great Director of All Things only can foresee!
Many are the Arguments which might be brought to shew the great Injustice, as well as Inconveniencies of these Laws in particular: But as
The great Characteristick which distinguishes
The Words of my Bill are very severe, and do not bear the least Proportion to the Proofs which have been produced against me: And I humbly hope, That my pass'd Sufferings will be look'd upon as a sufficient Punishment; especially, since it is not pretended, that I have transgressed any Law yet in Being.
I propose no great Happiness in this Life, and would willingly avoid as much Misery as I could; And must therefore humbly beseech Your Lordships, To look upon me as a Stranger in Your Kingdom, and a Person (as I really am) Inconsi&rehy;derable in my-self; and, consequently, incapable of doing the least Prejudice to any Government.
For my Behaviour, I am willing to give the Best Sureties that I am able: But if that be not approved of, I hope Your Lordships will give me Leave to retire to some other Part of the World, where I may enjoy my Poverty with Freedom.
But, let my Fate be what it will, I shall ever pray for Your Lordships Particular Welfare, as well as the General Prosperity of the Kingdom.
And so resign my-self, with the utmost Humility, to Your Lordships great Cle&rehy;mency, Justice, and Compassion.