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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>THE SECOND PART OF No Prote&s;tant Plot.</P>
<P><HI>By the &s;ame Hand.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>R. Smith.</HI> 1682.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<P>AS the Law is both the Mea&s;ure and Bond of the Subjects Duty and Allegiance, &s;o it is not only the be&s;t &s;ecurity which they have to tru&s;t unto for their peace and &s;afety, and the e&s;tabli&s;hed fence and hedg for the pro|tection of their lives and properties; but it was intended, and always ought to be the Rule and Stan|dard by which the Prince is to defend and govern his people. And as Subjects are obliged by their Intere&s;t, as well as by the ties of Con&s;cience, to honour and maintain all due <HI>Allegiance</HI> to their Supreme Governours; &s;o Rulers are not only bound by the <HI>Stipulation</HI> which they have made with their people, but by the re&s;pect which they bear to the pre&s;ervation of the Con&s;titution and the Safety of their Crowns and Dignities, to pre|&s;erve and defend all tho&s;e in their Per&s;ons and Fortunes, who decline not from the Duties of Loyalty and Fealty which the Law requires of them. Nor can any &s;ort of men de&s;ign a more fatal mi&s;chief again&s;t their Prince, and the &s;tability of his Throne, than to advi&s;e him to ex|clude a company of Innocent per&s;ons, from the benefit and protection of the Law; or by an u&s;urpation upon the Kings Authority, to attempt the doing it them&s;elves. For this were in effect, to cancel all bonds, by which Subjects are tyed to their Prince; &amp; de&s;troy all <HI>Pleas</HI> &amp; Arguments, which may influence their Con&s;ciences to obedience and &s;ubjection. And when&s;oever Laws cea&s;e to be a &s;ecurity unto men, they will be &s;orely tempted to apprehedn
<PB N="2" REF="3"> them&s;elves ca&s;t into a &s;tate of War, and ju&s;tified in ha|ving recour&s;e to the be&s;t means they can for their &s;helter and defence. But ble&s;&s;ed be God, his Maje&s;ty is &s;o good, as well as &s;o wi&s;e, neither to entertain any &s;uch thought in his own brea&s;t, nor to connive at &s;uch barbarous pro|po&s;als in others, &s;hould any have the impudence as well as di&s;loyalty to &s;ugge&s;t them. And therefore be&s;ides the confidence which all his Maje&s;ties <HI>Leige</HI>-people place in his Coronation Oath, and his many reiterated promi|&s;es and prote&s;tations, that he will always govern his Sub|jects according to Law; the alone con&s;ideration of his wi&s;dom, renders them fully a&s;&s;ured, that he neither will, nor can do otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P>But though it would be a very mi&s;chievous thing in its &s;elf, and extremely dangerous to any Government, to exclude Loyal Per&s;ons from the benefit and &s;ecurity which they have from the Laws of the Con&s;titution where they live; yet the perverting that to the ruine of the Subject, which was both de&s;igned for, and which he relied upon for his pre&s;ervation, is not only more di&s;hon|ourable to Rulers, but infinitely more pernicious to the people, than that would be. For to tell obedient and Loyal Per&s;ons, that they are to e&s;teem them&s;elves as <HI>out|laws,</HI> and that they mu&s;t expect to be treated as <HI>Banditi,</HI> though it would be mo&s;t unju&s;t, and might, if love to their Country did not prevent, prove very un&s;afe to a Government in the i&s;&s;ue; yet even this would both leave men an opportunity, and give them a warning to with|draw to &s;ome other place, where they might promi&s;e them&s;elves more humane and upright dealing; but to a&s;|&s;ure men of the protection of Laws, and yet apply tho&s;e Laws to the ruine of the innocent, is that which leaves no man &s;afe, and at the &s;ame time by concealing his danger, hindreth his endeavouring an e&s;cape. Nor
<PB N="3" REF="3"> is either the poy&s;oning or a&s;&s;a&s;&s;inating men, half &s;o bad, as the &s;tudying to de&s;troy them in a pretended legal way, upon the Te&s;timony and Oaths of &s;uborned and prejured Ra&s;cals. For whereas care and watchfulne&s;s may contribute &s;omething to our &s;ecurity again&s;t a mor|tal <HI>do&s;e</HI> or <HI>&s;tab;</HI> we are, in ca&s;e &s;ubornation and perjury be connived at, left at the mercy of every Villain, nor will the di&s;creete&s;t conduct be any means of our &s;afety. Be&s;ides, &s;hould it come to be any mans misfortune to be de&s;troyed by a <HI>Stilletto</HI> or a pe&s;tiferous <HI>Drug;</HI> he would not only die pitied, but without a taint or &s;tain upon his Name; and withal would convey a right to his Po&s;teri|ty to inherit his Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions; whereas &s;hould the mo&s;t innocent per&s;on be cut off through perjury, under the charge and imputation of Trea&s;on, he would not only peri&s;h unlamented with a perpetual brand of infamy upon his Name, but leave his offspring &s;hut out from en|joying the inheritance of their Ance&s;tors, as well as de|prived of the fruits of their Fathers care and labour. And therefore if the <HI>French</HI> King hath in order to re|&s;training and puni&s;hing the poy&s;onings practi&s;ed in his Dominions, appointed and erected a Court that &s;hall en|quire into that Crime, and adjudge Offenders to a de&s;er|ved puni&s;hment; we may &s;urely hope from the ju&s;tice of the King of <HI>England,</HI> that he will command his Courts of Law, either them&s;elves to make a due &s;earch into this more dete&s;table villany of &s;wearing men out of their Lives and E&s;tates by hired and &s;uborned Ra&s;cals; or at lea&s;t to require them to give all due protection and counte|nance to &s;uch as &s;hall be ready to make a di&s;covery of it; and that the Judges &s;hall impartially execute the Laws again&s;t all tho&s;e who upon full and convincing proof, &s;hall be found criminal.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="4">
<P>And as all men who have not renounced their Rea&s;on as well as forfeited their Con&s;cience, do perfectly un|der&s;tand who were the Authors of this pretended <HI>Pro|te&s;tant</HI> Plot; &s;o it is as ea&s;ie to conjecture what advan|tages &s;everal &s;orts of per&s;ons have promi&s;ed them&s;elves by it. For tho' they do va&s;tly differ in their ends, yet they all agree, that this is the mo&s;t proper and effectual means to compa&s;s and accompli&s;h what they &s;everally aim at. In the fir&s;t place, they who advi&s;ed the Di&s;&s;olution of the la&s;t Parliament, do by obtruding upon the world the belief of a <HI>Prote&s;tant Plot,</HI> hope to ju&s;tifie their Wi&s;dom and Loyalty in giving His Maje&s;ty &s;o un&s;ea&s;o|nable and pernicious Coun&s;el. For as they cannot but ob&s;erve, that that effort of Royal Power, which they put the King upon, hath 'tis feared, dimini&s;hed the confi|dence which the people put in his Prudence and Con|duct, and not only embroiled his affairs at home, but le&s;&s;ened his Intere&s;t and Reputation abroad; &s;o they could think of no other means to vindicate them&s;elves from the many imputations which they lye under, for influencing His Maje&s;ty to &s;o ha&s;ty and prejudicial an act of Prerogative and Royal Authority, but by a&s;cri|bing it unto an indi&s;pen&s;able Nece&s;&s;ity, occa&s;ioned by a Con&s;piracy of &s;ei&s;ing His Per&s;on. And the le&s;s they find His Maje&s;ty con&s;idered both by his Friends and his Enemies &s;ince that time, the more are they nece&s;&s;itated to promote by all imaginable Arts the belief of a Plot, for the Depo&s;ing the King and altering the Government, as judging that nothing el&s;e will expiate for an Offence attended with &s;o many direful con&s;equences, not only towards the&s;e three Kingdoms, but all <HI>Europe.</HI> Be&s;ides, their Ambition being boundle&s;s, and &s;ome of their For|tunes not proportionate to their Pride and the port they live at; they hop'd by the Forfeiture of <HI>Prote&s;tants</HI> E|&s;tates,
<PB N="5" REF="4"> both to &s;atisfie their own va&s;t de&s;ires, and entail Inheritances upon their Po&s;terity, an&s;werable to the Ti|tles they intend to convey to them. And whereas they and divers other per&s;ons dread nothing &s;o much as ano|ther Parliament, knowing how obnoxious they are to the Ju&s;tice of the fir&s;t that comes, they conceived that the Nece&s;&s;ities of the Crown would be &s;o plentifully &s;upplied out of the E&s;tates of Peers and Gentlemen, whom they de&s;igned to get condemned upon this forged Con&s;piracy, that His Maje&s;ty &s;hould never be in any &s;uch di&s;tre&s;s, as to be obliged by the exigency of his Affairs, and the craving of his Exchequer, to call one. And they were firmly re&s;olved that while they had His Maje&s;ties ear, provided they could redeem Him from the importunity of want, no other motive &s;hould ever be effectual to obtain the meeting of an A&s;&s;embly, from which they expect &s;ome fatal Doom.</P>
<P>In the next place, there are others who have been long travelling with De&s;igns of making the Crown Ar|bitrary, and the King De&s;potical; but finding them|&s;elves unable to effect it, while the Trea&s;ure is not an|&s;werable to the charge and expence that &s;uch an under|taking doth require; they al&s;o joined in the promoting the belief of this Plot, reckoning to have gotten &s;o ma|ny <HI>Prote&s;tant</HI> Peers and Gentlemen convicted of this new and forged Trea&s;on, as (were we not &s;ecure from his Maje&s;ties Goodne&s;s, as well as his Truth and Ju|&s;tice, that he will never attempt the en&s;laving his peo|ple) might empower the King to form and maintain Ar|mies that &s;hould be &s;ufficient to trample upon the Rights and Liberties of his Subjects, and make him at his plea|&s;ure Ma&s;ter of what they have. The regret with which &s;ome beheld the Di&s;banding the <HI>Black-heath</HI> Army, and the language which they be&s;towed upon his Maje&s;ty
<PB N="6" REF="5"> for his gracious conde&s;cending to di&s;charge a Force which they wi&s;hed had been employed to &s;ubjugate his people, leads us to believe, that they al&s;o are in the number of the Fomenters of an opinion of a <HI>Prote&s;tant Plot,</HI> as thinking thereby to retrieve the De&s;ign which was then abandoned and lo&s;t. And though they de|&s;pair of prevailing upon his Maje&s;ty to countenance an attempt which would at once rob Him of his Honour and the Love of his People; yet they per&s;wade them|&s;elves, that the obtaining credit to a <HI>Protestant Plot,</HI> would render this atchievement the more facil and ea&s;ie to the Pre&s;umptive Heir, who&s;e Religion obligeth him to extirpate <HI>Protestants,</HI> and who&s;e temper bya&s;eth him to be &s;evere over all whom he is advanced to Go|vern.</P>
<P>The la&s;t &s;ort of per&s;ons who expected to have &s;erved them&s;elves, and promoted their Intere&s;t by the belief of this Sham <HI>Protestant-Plot,</HI> are the <HI>Papists,</HI> and all &s;uch who by vertue either of their Religion, or out of hopes of Gain and Preferment, had embarqued in the late <HI>Romi&s;h</HI> Con&s;piracy. And as the&s;e were the fir&s;t and principal Forgers of this pretended <HI>Protestant Plot,</HI> &s;o of all men they propo&s;ed to them&s;elves the greate&s;t ad|vantages by having credit given unto it. For as by the entertainment which they meet with in the Inter|vals of Parliament, they apprehend nothing to be feared but the meeting of the great Inque&s;t, High Council, and Supreme Judicature of the Nation; So they wi&s;ely conceived that nothing would in more likelihood ren|der his Maje&s;ty jealous of their A&s;&s;embling, than to po&s;&s;e&s;s him, that the leading men of the la&s;t Parliament intended to depo&s;e him.
<PB N="7" REF="5"> And be&s;ides, they hop'd that the belief of this Sham-Plot would &s;ilence all di&s;cour&s;e of their Real one. Nay, they que&s;tion'd not but that the impo&s;ing this de&s;ign of Prote&s;tants again&s;t the King, upon the faith of the Nati|on, would have made mo&s;t men inclinable to think that all charged upon them&s;elves was only to make the Papi&s;ts o|dious to his Maje&s;ty and the Kingdom. And by creating in his Maje&s;ty by this forged Con&s;piracy a di&s;tru&s;t of his Pro|te&s;tant &s;ubjects, they reckoned that they &s;hould oblige him in order to his own &s;ecurity, to have placed all his tru&s;t and confidence in them. And could they once impo&s;e upon the King, that the Prote&s;tants have de&s;igned to de|&s;troy him, they know that this would be the ready way to deprive him of the love of all tho&s;e of the Reformed and E&s;tabli&s;hed Religion; &s;eeing and knowing them&s;elves innocent, they mu&s;t needs judg that they were not only injured by the entertainment of &s;uch an opinion concer|ning them, but that &s;uch a thought could be harboured of them for no other end but in relation to have the principal of them cut off, and all the re&s;t either weakned or made obnoxious to &s;evere oppre&s;&s;ion. Yea, could they once le&s;&s;en the peoples concernment for his Maje|&s;ties Life and Safety, how ready would they be, and that without any apprehen&s;ion of hazard to them&s;elves, to re|move or Murder him, that &s;o they might advance his Bro|ther into his Throne, in whom they place all their confi|dence for the re-e&s;tabli&s;hing of the Papal Super&s;tition and Idolatry in the&s;e Kingdoms.</P>
<P>Nor could the Contrivers and Promoters of this Sham Prote&s;tant Plot, have ever fallen or lived in an Age more adapted and &s;uited to their De&s;ign, fora&s;much as it is be|yond any other, repleni&s;h'd with per&s;ons prepared and in|clined to &s;wear what&s;oever they &s;hall be Suborned and Hi|red
<PB N="8" REF="6"> unto. For there are &s;o many &s;unk into all wicked|ne&s;s and profligacy, that it is but to acco&s;t them with the promi&s;e of a good Reward, and you may prevail up|on them to the perpetrating what Villany you plea&s;e. Can we think but that among the many who bla&s;pheme God, and dare him to damn them a hundred times a day for nothing, there &s;hould &s;ome be found that will venture upon damnation in the next world, for a Pen&s;ion, or the hopes of &s;ome preferment in this? Will &s;uch as <HI>Smith,</HI> who bid <HI>God damn the Go&s;pel,</HI> when tempted by a Ju|&s;tices promi&s;e of the next Deanry, make any &s;cruple of &s;wearing fal&s;ly upon it? Or will he that boa&s;ted that if he plea&s;ed <HI>he could prove God Almighty a fool,</HI> as the &s;ame <HI>Smith</HI> did, &s;tand in any fear of &s;wearing fal&s;ly by his Name? Or can <HI>he</HI> and <HI>Turbervile</HI> de&s;erve credit with any men for the future, having &s;landered Dr. <HI>Lower</HI> to the world, as if he had acknowledged to them his wronging <HI>Dugdale</HI> by &s;aying he had the POX, when the Dr. had both affirmed and ju&s;tified in the pre&s;ence of the King and Council his having of it? Nor will any men of &s;en&s;e be|lieve that the Dr. &s;hould deny that to them, which he had before owned and atte&s;ted to his Maje&s;ty and the Board. In a word, Is it to be imagined, that they who are guil|ty of Cheating, Coining, Clipping, Polygamy, Theft, Burglary, Murder, all which offences make men liable to the Gallows, &s;hould be afraid of being guilty of Perju|ry, which makes them only obnoxious to a Pillory? Now that the <HI>Macknamarra's, Haynes, Ivy, Dennis, Carr, Booth,</HI> Sir <HI>James Hayes,</HI> and a Gentleman who&s;e Employ lies be|low the Bridg, whom for &s;ome rea&s;ons at pre&s;ent I for|bear to name, be&s;ides &s;everal others who &s;tand li&s;ted in the Regi&s;ter of Witne&s;&s;es concerning a Prote&s;tant Plot, are all of them guilty of one or more of the&s;e horrid
<PB N="9" REF="6"> crimes, is known to divers per&s;ons of unque&s;tionable credit, and will be made good when&s;oever the Earl of <HI>Shaftsbury,</HI> or any other again&s;t whom they are produced, &s;hall be brought upon their Trial.</P>
<P>Nor is it difficult to conceive how much <HI>W&mdash;p, Fitzgerald, Booth, Bains,</HI> and the other little &s;uborning Tools, are advantaged in their prevailing upon mean, in|digent and criminal Fellows, by addre&s;&s;ing them under the authority of great and honourable<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>No Prote&s;t. Plot,</HI> p. 23, 25. and Mr. <HI>Wil|kin&s;on</HI>'s Infor|mation, p. 4, 5.</NOTE> Names, and by pawning the faith and ho|nour of Noble per&s;ons to en&s;ure Pardons and Rewards to who&s;oever will depo&s;e and &s;wear what &s;hall be dictated unto them. For be&s;ides the power that the offers of money have upon ba&s;e and mercenary &s;ouls, the conceit that they &s;hall be|come the Darlings and Favourites of great Mini&s;ters, pro|vided they will but &s;wear &s;uch a one out of his life, is a temptation that creatures de&s;tin'd by Nature and Edu|cation to be Grooms or Footmen, know not how to with&s;tand. And truly the world hath been expecting whe|ther my Lord <HI>H.</HI> and the Earl of <HI>H.</HI> would not have cal|led <HI>W&mdash;p</HI> and <HI>Booth</HI> to an account by what warrant they made their Names a lure to draw in men to perjure them&s;elves, and by what commi&s;&s;ion they were empow|er'd to di&s;po&s;e of their Lord&s;hips favour and friend&s;hip in the &s;ervice and for the encouragement of &s;o Villanous de&s;igns. And we had thought, that tho' neither the pre|&s;ervation of the lives of innocent Prote&s;tants, nor the upholding the honour of the Government, might de&s;erve &s;o great a kindne&s;s at their hands, as impartially and truly to enquire whether their Names have been u&s;ed to contribute and give &s;ucce&s;s to &s;o wicked an attempt as the &s;uborning men to de&s;troy the guiltle&s;s by perjury, is eve|ry where held and accounted; yet that they would have
<PB N="10" REF="7"> done &s;omething in it out of a regard to their own &s;afety, as well as for maintaining that credit and reputation which both their Quality, and the Figure which they make in the State, ought to make them careful and tender of. But as they do be&s;t know what cour&s;e is mo&s;t con|venient for their Lord&s;hips to take, &s;o they will have no rea&s;on to be angry if men in the mean time form &s;uch a judgment unto them&s;elves of this whole Tran&s;action, as the Informations and Depo&s;itions of per&s;ons mo&s;t duly of known hone&s;ty, but upon their Oaths do guide and determine them unto.</P>
<P>Another thing which hath greatly contributed to the &s;ucce&s;s of the Papal Factors in their obtaining Witne&s;&s;es to &s;wear this forged Con&s;piracy, is their having applied them&s;elves unto, and dealt with men, either pinched with want, or labouring under &s;ome di&s;tre&s;s, or who at the be&s;t were but of a &s;cant and narrow Fortune. Accordingly, not only per&s;ons &s;traitned in their condition of living, and &s;uch as have been forced to ab&s;cond from their cre|ditors, have been by promi&s;es and bribes to entrol them|&s;elves in the number of Witne&s;&s;es to &s;wear a <HI>Prote&s;tant Plot;</HI> but the very pri&s;ons where Criminals, as well as where Debtors are confined, have been ran&s;ack'd and &s;earcht, to &s;ee who could be found that under the a&s;&s;u|rance of pardon of their crimes, payment of their debts, and being rai&s;ed into a condition of living plentifully, would li&s;t and engage him&s;elf in this For&s;wearing Ser|vice. It was from a pri&s;on that they fetch and ran&s;om'd Mr. <HI>Dangerfield,</HI> in order to the managing and proving of the <HI>Meal-tub Plot,</HI> in the guilt and danger whereof, the mo&s;t Loyal Subjects and be&s;t Prote&s;tants of the Kingdom were de&s;igned to have been involved; and it is in Pri|&s;ons that they have been hunting for Witne&s;&s;es, the &s;e|cond Impre&s;&s;ion, but in another Form, of the &s;ame
<PB N="11" REF="7"> forged Con&s;piracy. And their Mi&s;adventures with &s;ome, who&s;e Impri&s;onment and Nece&s;&s;ities they &s;uppo&s;ed would render them pliable to all they would require of them, e&s;pecially con&s;idering the terms they were authori&s;ed to propo&s;e, may &s;erve to in&s;truct us what kind of per&s;ons they have u&s;ed to trade among&s;t, for the obtaining of Evidence again&s;t <HI>Protestants.</HI> For as their application to Capt. <HI>Wilkin&s;on,</HI> who lies a<NOTE PLACE="marg">See Capt. <HI>Wilkin&s;on</HI>'s Informati|on.</NOTE> Pri&s;oner for Debt in the <HI>Kings Bench</HI> in <HI>Southwark,</HI> and their endeavouring by taking advantage from his condition, by large Pro|mi&s;es to corrupt him to Swear again&s;t the Earl of <HI>Shaft&s;|bury,</HI> plainly tell us, with men of what condition they have u&s;ed to deal, and by what means and argu|ments they have been &s;o &s;ucce&s;sful in procuring Wit|ne&s;&s;es to Depo&s;e again&s;t that Noble Lord; &s;o it will be matter of perpetual Honour and Prai&s;e to the Loyal, as well as hone&s;t Captain, that no Temptations from tho&s;e villanous men that acco&s;ted him in a Pri&s;on, neither any con&s;ideration of the di&s;tre&s;s that him&s;elf and Family were in, could corrupt him to &s;o wicked a thing, as the accu&s;ing that Honourable Per&s;on fal&s;ely of Trea&s;on. Yea, are not mo&s;t of the Witne&s;&s;es, who have hither|to appeared to prove a <HI>Protestant Plot,</HI> a company of poor nece&s;&s;itous Fellows, who by by their own ac|knowledgment, as well as the ob&s;ervation of the whole world, wanted bread? For be&s;ides<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>No Pro|te&s;tant Plot,</HI> P. 26, 27.</NOTE> tho&s;e mentioned el&s;ewhere, who&s;e Debauche|ry had reduced them to Poverty, and who&s;e Poverty di&s;po&s;ed them to engage in any wickedne&s;s for Money, we may add <HI>Hay</HI>'s and <HI>Booth,</HI> two Witne&s;&s;es lately entred into the &s;ame Service, out of mere hopes to be enabled thereby to feed their Luxury and Riot, as well as to conquer their Nece&s;&s;ities and Wants. For this <HI>Hays</HI> who pretends him&s;elf to be a Knight, and
<PB N="12" REF="8"> who hath &s;worn Trea&s;on again&s;t Mr. <HI>Wil&s;on,</HI> My Lord <HI>Shaftsbury</HI>'s Servant, and as is thought, merely in de|&s;ign to have made him accu&s;e his Lord; he is known through all <HI>London,</HI> not only to be a mo&s;t infamous per&s;on, by rea&s;on of Cheats put upon Merchants and others; but to have been reduced to the greate&s;t &s;traits imaginable, &s;o that he was forced to ab&s;cond becau&s;e of Crimes and Debts. And as for <HI>Booth,</HI> who hath &s;worn Trea&s;on again&s;t Capt. <HI>Wilkin&s;on,</HI> in revenge for his refu&s;ing to accu&s;e the Earl of <HI>Shaftsbury,</HI> he is both a fellow who&s;e wickedne&s;s had brought him to a mor&s;el of bread, and one who had ere this been Hanged for Coyning and Murder, if His Maje&s;ty had not vouch|&s;afed him his gracious Pardon.</P>
<P>But to all their other Arts and Methods of obtaining Witne&s;&s;es to &s;upport the belief of a <HI>Presbyterian,</HI> or <HI>Pro|te&s;tant Plot,</HI> they have one more, which in a mo&s;t e&s;pecial manner de&s;erveth the abhorrence of all mankind; be|cau&s;e it leaves no man &s;afe that they have the boldne&s;s and impudence to tempt and acco&s;t. For as &s;oon as they find that any whom they have endeavoured to corrupt and &s;uborn, are of more Uprightne&s;s and Integrity than they apprehended, or were made to believe; they im|mediatly involve them in Trouble and Danger, by ad|vancing &s;ome Accu&s;ation or Charge again&s;t them. For if a per&s;on to whom they have addre&s;&s;ed them&s;elves in this matter, and by Wheedle and large Promi&s;es laboured to Suborn, have either the Wi&s;dom, the Vertue, or Grace to &s;corn their offers and importunities, they do then either by them&s;elves, or by &s;uch whom they have debauched or corrupted to be implicitly and univer&s;ally at their command, &s;wear Trea&s;on or Subornation again&s;t them. So that if one will not offend God, wrong his Neighbour, and damn his own Soul, in complying to
<PB N="13" REF="8"> be a fal&s;e witne&s;s and perjure him&s;elf, he &s;hall be De|po&s;ed again&s;t, as one guilty of &s;ome horrid Crime again&s;t his Maje&s;ty and the Government. Thus when Ju&s;tice <HI>W&mdash;p</HI> could not corrupt Mr. <HI>Everard</HI> to &s;wear, <HI>That my Lord</HI> Shaftsbury <HI>intended a Commonwealth, and that he with others were preparing Arms to</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>No Prote&s;tant Plot,</HI> p 22.</NOTE> <HI>alter the Constitution;</HI> he immediately gets the poor young Gentleman to be charged with I know what Crimes again&s;t His Maje&s;ty, his Crown and Dignity, and Warrants to be i&s;&s;ued forth to apprehend him. And in the &s;ame manner is Capt. <HI>Wilkin&s;on</HI> &s;er|ved; for when <HI>Booth</HI> and <HI>Bayns</HI> could not prevail upon him to for&s;wear him&s;elf, in order to the de&s;troying my Lord <HI>Shaftsbury; Booth</HI> (who had he received his De|merit, had been as certainly Hanged for Murder and Trea&s;on, as he was by his <HI>Dioce&s;an</HI> turn'd out of his Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Living for &s;candalous Villanies and Mi&s;|demeanors) undertakes and is admitted to Swear Trea|&s;on again&s;t him. Thus likewi&s;e one Mr. <HI>Puckle,</HI> a per|&s;on often employed in his Maje&s;ties Service, and who hath been always &s;aid to have acquitted him&s;elf with Fidelity and Diligence, yet becau&s;e he would not accu&s;e the Earl of <HI>Shaftsbury</HI> and my Lord <HI>Howard</HI> of Trea&s;onable De&s;igns again&s;t the King and Government, and of their having corre&s;ponded with him in pur&s;u|ance thereof; he is therefore accu&s;ed him&s;elf. And one Mr. <HI>Carr,</HI> a per&s;on well known in <HI>England,</HI> as having &s;tood in the Pillory here for enormous Crimes, and as well character'd from <HI>Holland</HI> for tricks and debaucheries, as ha|ving lived there the&s;e &s;everal years, hath, as is commonly reported, depo&s;ed &s;omething again&s;t him. So that every hone&s;t man, who hath had the misfortune to be thought capable of being made a knave, and hath been according|ly tempted by tho&s;e who mea&s;ure and judg others by them|&s;elves,
<PB N="14" REF="9"> runs the venture of his own life, for not comply|ing to be an in&s;trument in de&s;troying the lives of &s;uch as are innocent.</P>
<P>And as if it were not enough, fir&s;t to forge a Plot, and then &s;uborn Witne&s;&s;es to &s;wear it, the managers of this affair have for &s;ecuring the better &s;ucce&s;s of the whole intrigue, thought of one trick more; namely, the cau&s;ing tho&s;e to be accu&s;ed of one offence or another, who have the courage to endeavour to trace and detect them. It is a mo&s;t deplorable ca&s;e and condition that we are in: For as our own innocency is no protection again&s;t the perjury of fel|lows that are &s;uborned; &s;o we do but expo&s;e our &s;elves to new hazards, by labouring to di&s;cover by whom and what means &s;uch and &s;uch were corrupted, and to who&s;e ruine they are to be employed. For as he, who, in the <HI>Ro|man</HI> &s;tory, would have kill'd his Neighbour, complained, being hindred and prevented, that the per&s;on whom he de&s;igned to &s;tab, did not <HI>totum gladium recipere;</HI> &s;o they who labour to fa&s;ten a Con&s;piracy upon Prote&s;tants, a|gain&s;t His Maje&s;ties Per&s;on and Government, are angry that we will not abandon our own innocency, and &s;uffer them without di&s;turbance or mole&s;tation, to &s;wear us out of our Lives and E&s;tates. For this and no other crime, that any man knows of, is Mr. <HI>John Harrington</HI> bound o|ver in a <HI>Recognizance</HI> of 1000. <HI>l.</HI> to an&s;wer at the <HI>Kings Bench</HI> to what&s;oever charge and information &s;hall be brought again&s;t him. And whereas we are told of divers Pre&s;entments and Indictments which Ju&s;tice <HI>Warcup</HI> hath ready to be preferred again&s;t &s;everal per&s;ons, it is for no|thing el&s;e in the world, but becau&s;e they have been too bold and &s;awcy in prying into his &s;ecret tran&s;actions, for inveigling and &s;uborning Witne&s;&s;es to depo&s;e, and &s;upport a Prote&s;tant Plot. And though the whole matter of this grand Con&s;piracy be not only perfectly known by men of wi&s;dom and ob&s;ervation, to be a meer forgery, but fully
<PB N="15" REF="9"> under&s;tood and di&s;cerned by the meane&s;t and weake&s;t to be a Popi&s;h contrivance, yet no man can &s;ooner publi&s;h a few &s;heets to di&s;play and unfold the Combination, and lay o|pen that helli&s;h Intrigue, but he is threatned to have an Information exhibited again&s;t him in <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter-Hall.</HI> Alas! if compa&s;&s;ion to innocent and loyal per&s;ons, who&s;e lives are brought into danger by &s;uborned and perjured fellows; or if regard to the credit and &s;afety of the Prote|&s;tant Religion, which would be greatly weakened and ex|po&s;ed, &s;hould the principal Patrons of it become believed guilty of a Con&s;piracy again&s;t his Maje&s;ty and the e&s;ta|bli&s;hed Government; be not &s;ufficient inducements to ju|&s;tify all lawful endeavours to detect this forgery, and pub|li&s;h to all mankind the whole <HI>Sham:</HI> yet &s;urely love to the honour of the King, and re&s;pect both to the peace of his Kingdom and the glory of his Reign, may be allowed for rea&s;onable motives, why an hone&s;t man &s;hould &s;tudy to hinder the pur&s;uance of a de&s;ign, which, if not &s;ea&s;onably check't, will not only le&s;&s;en the peoples e&s;teem of the Ju&s;tice and Wi&s;dom of their Rulers, but by repeated <HI>Ignoramus</HI>'s upon Bills of Indictment for Trea&s;on, and by repre&s;enting the Witne&s;&s;es per&s;onated upon &s;tages and in publick &s;hows, may expo&s;e the Government it &s;elf to too notorious an affront.</P>
<P>And either &s;o malicious and thir&s;ty of Prote&s;tant Blood, or &s;o infatuated and deprived of all under&s;tanding, are the mana|gers of this forged Con&s;piracy, that neither any detection of their Villanies, nor di&s;appointment of their Attempts, have been hitherto &s;ufficient to di&s;courage them in their proceedings. But when they are brought to de&s;pair of effecting their De&s;ign of de&s;troying Inno|cent per&s;ons by one Set of Witne&s;&s;es, they immediately betake them&s;elves to the finding out and hiring of another. And if the babbling of &s;ome hath &s;o far betrayed them, that they are become u&s;ele&s;s, and mu&s;t be &s;ent away, new ones are to be Suborned to fill up their room, who &s;hall be taught greater Secrecy and better
<PB N="16" REF="10"> Conduct. Nor is the Nation or the City &s;o barren of Rogues, but that who&s;oever is weary of &s;erving him&s;elf by one, may for Money be furni&s;hed with another. And if the Mu&s;ter-ma&s;ter-general of the Evidence think it expedient to disband the whole Troop of Wit|ne&s;&s;es, which he hath hitherto maintain'd and paid on the pro&s;pect and hope of Service from them, he may by the Art of Subornati|on, and the Attractive of a liberal Advance, and a well &s;ettled and large pay, ea&s;ily fill up his Rolls with others of the &s;ame Cha|racter and Complexion. But can any think, that more credit will be given to <HI>Carr,</HI> who (as the report goes) is brought from <HI>Holland</HI> to &s;upport the &s;inking credit of a <HI>Prote&s;tant Plot,</HI> than would have been given to <HI>Callaghan,</HI> &s;hould he in&s;tead of being &s;ent away to <HI>Ireland,</HI> have been kept here and brought into a Court of Judica|ture, to prevail upon a Jury by the authority of his Oath, to be|lieve that My Lord <HI>Shaftsbury</HI> intended to change the Monarchy into a Commonwealth? Or can any apprehend, that the Ra&s;cally Fellow <HI>Sallacole,</HI> that boa&s;ts of being a Witne&s;s again&s;t that Noble Peer, and who to all his other Crimes, hath lately added the hiring and &s;ubornig one <HI>Peter Bra&s;hay</HI> to &s;ub&s;cribe and &s;wear a fal&s;e In|formation, by the name of <HI>Daniel Holland,</HI> before Sir <HI>Thomas Exton,</HI> &s;hould obtain more credit with a Grand Inque&s;t of hone&s;t, wi&s;e and di&s;creet men, than <HI>Dugdale,</HI> whom all the world believes to be perjur'd, would do, &s;hould any have the folly to produce him here|after as a Witne&s;s again&s;t <HI>Prote&s;tants.</HI> And &s;hould Ju&s;tice <HI>W&mdash;p</HI> be able by applications to Mr. <HI>Manu,</HI> to prevail upon him to &s;wear Trea&s;on again&s;t Capt. <HI>Wilkin&s;on,</HI> namely, how the &s;aid Capt. had told him of a De&s;ign, wherein my Lord <HI>Shaftsbury</HI> and the Members of the <HI>Oxford</HI> Parliament, were engaged again&s;t His Maje&s;ty; yet would any man believe <HI>Maud;</HI> that hath either known the Capt. or read his late Printed Information. But to do Mr. <HI>Maud</HI> right, he hath &s;olemnly profe&s;&s;ed and prote&s;ted to twenty Gentlemen, that he neither is nor can be a Witne&s;s again&s;t any <HI>Prote&s;tant;</HI> though, he declares withal, how the <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> both by Promi&s;es and Threatnings would have influenced him to have been one.</P>
<P>And as if all the Arts already mentioned, were not ba&s;e and villa|nous enough, the Papi&s;ts and their Abettors, have as men at a de|&s;perate pa&s;s &s;hould this De&s;ign mi&s;carry, be thought them&s;elves <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 word"> another trick more damnable and Helli&s;h than all the re&s;t. For being jealous of the Credit and Reputation of their Wit|<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;&s;es, and apprehen&s;ive that no Jury will believe what they
<PB N="17" REF="10"> &s;ay, they &s;ee that the Project they have &s;o long travailed with, of &s;ilencing the Noi&s;e of their own Plot, by fa|thering a forged one upon Prote&s;tants, will not only be lo&s;t, but them&s;elves made obnoxious to an&s;wer for contri|ving the Death of innocent Per&s;ons, unle&s;s they can be able to produce Letters and Papers. Nor is it to be que|&s;tioned, but that as they who take a liberty to &s;uborn Men to perjure them&s;elves, for the de&s;troying of innocent Per|&s;ons, will al&s;o judg it a venial thing, to hire &s;ome Mi&s;cre|ant or another to forge and counterfeit Writings in order thereunto. And it will be &s;trange, if the Managers of this Bu&s;ine&s;s, having been &s;o &s;ucce&s;sful in obtaining fal&s;e Witne&s;&s;es as to Words, &s;hould not find one or another, that will be prevailed upon for Money, fir&s;t to counterfeit his hand to Trea&s;onable Letters, and then depo&s;e upon Oath to the Authenticalne&s;s of them. For if <HI>Granger</HI>'s old Friend and Complice, who &s;tood in the Pillory, be not skilful and exact enough at it, <HI>Granger</HI> him&s;elf is nei|ther &s;o far off, but that he may be &s;poken with upon &s;o good an occa&s;ion, nor &s;o reformed by long Impri&s;onment for former Offences of this kind, but that for a good Re|ward, and e&s;pecially if they will promi&s;e him a Pardon for his old Crimes, he may be per&s;uaded to have one Touch more at the wonted Trade. And con&s;idering that we live in a Juncture, when Men of better Fame than any who abett the Belief of a Prote&s;tant Plot are judged to be, do, by a Writing under their hand, mi&s;report the Actings and Tran&s;actions of the two Hou&s;es of <HI>Parliament</HI> to the Court of <HI>Kings-Bench,</HI> and that in a Bu&s;ine&s;s of &s;o great and fatal moment, as the di&s;charging of an impeached Per&s;on would infallibly be; we need not be &s;urprized, &s;hould one of a profligate Life, an infamous Name, and an obdurate Con&s;cience, endeavour to impo&s;e upon a
<PB N="18" REF="11"> Court of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer,</HI> by a forged Letter or two, e&s;pecially in order to the accompli&s;hing &s;o meritorious a Work, as the whole Papal Party will e&s;teem the bringing of my Lord <HI>Shaftsbury</HI> to the Scaffold to be. But the Fai|lure and Error in the managing of this Intrigue is, That &s;ome, reckoned very proper In&s;truments for &s;uch a Ser|vice, were not only brought over from beyond Sea, at a Sea&s;on which will awaken in the Minds of Men a Su&s;picion of the Errand upon which they come; but they have been ob&s;erved to be very bu&s;y in &s;cribling every day at a certain place &s;ince they arrived, which will greatly augment the Belief of what they were framing, &s;hould any Papers, fathered upon the Earl of <HI>Shaftsbury,</HI> and my Lord <HI>Howard,</HI> be produced in Court. Be&s;ides, that noble and wi&s;e Peer, whom the Snare is in a &s;pecial manner lay|ing for, is &s;ufficiently known, to be a Per&s;on of another kind of Fore&s;ight and Conduct, than, were he traiterou&s;ly and wickedly di&s;po&s;ed, to tru&s;t the be&s;t Friend in the World with a Paper under his Hand that might de&s;troy him. Nor could there be a more convincing Proof of the Villany of the whole Contrivance again&s;t this great and truly politick State&s;man, than to offer to bring forth again&s;t him Papers pretending to bear his Name, and af|firmed upon Oath to be of his own hand-writing. Some little Mu&s;hroom-Mini&s;ter, or young Dabler in Politicks, may po&s;&s;ibly be guilty of &s;uch an Over&s;ight; but for a Per&s;on of the greate&s;t Sagacity, and wi&s;e&s;t Conduct of this Age, and one grown gray in the Study of Men, and Ob&s;ervation of Courts and Civil Affairs, to commit &s;uch a Folly, is next to impo&s;&s;ible. And if ever Men &s;hould be &s;o far for&s;aken of Wit, as well as Truth and Prudence, as to offer to produce Letters, to prove and enforce his Concernment in a Con&s;piracy again&s;t his Maje&s;ty and the
<PB N="19" REF="11"> Government, there will need no more to detect the For|gery, but the bare naming of the Per&s;ons, with whom this Corre&s;pondence for changing the <HI>Monarchy</HI> into a <HI>Common-wealth</HI> is &s;aid to have been held. All Mankind may with as much probability fall delirous, and become di&s;tracted in one day, as that a Peer of the Earl of <HI>Shaft&s;|bury</HI>'s Sen&s;e, Wi&s;dom, and Knowledg of the World, &s;hould treat in Writing, about &s;o illegal, tickli&s;h, and hazardous an Affair, as the altering of a Government is, with Per|&s;ons, that he would blame his own Di&s;cretion, and judg his Prudence had failed him, &s;hould he &s;o much as &s;peak unto them, &s;ave in the pre&s;ence of Witne&s;&s;es, that might te&s;tify what was &s;aid.</P>
<P>Upon the whole of what hath been di&s;cour&s;ed, con|cerning the Implacablene&s;s of our Enemies, and the unju&s;t and wicked Cour&s;es which they have &s;teered, to bring the World into a Belief of a Prote&s;tant Plot, and that the greate&s;t and wi&s;e&s;t Per&s;ons in the Nation, as well as the mo&s;t Loyal Subjects to his Maje&s;ty, and the mo&s;t zealous Patriots of our Religion and Civil Liberties, are guilty of it; nothing can be now more clear and apparent, than that our whole Security, as to Life and Fortune, and what is beyond both, a good Name here, and a worthy and honourable Fame hereafter, depends principally (if not &s;olely) upon the having an upright, di&s;creet, and under|&s;tanding Jury. And ble&s;&s;ed be God, who hath ca&s;t our Lot in a Land renowned in this above all other Nations, that our Lives and E&s;tates are not &s;ubjected to the arbi|trary and de&s;potick Plea&s;ure of a Sovereign, nor left to the Di&s;cretion of Judges, who may be Va&s;&s;als to the Will of their Creator and Prince; or being of a covetous and mercenary Temper, may be wrought upon to &s;ell our
<PB N="20" REF="12"> Lives for a Bribe. Yea, were our Rulers never &s;o benign, gracious, and merciful; and were Judges never &s;o impar|tial, upright, and ju&s;t: yet where there are not Juries, the Lives of innocent Men are ever liable to be taken away by the Te&s;timony of &s;uborned and perjured Wit|ne&s;&s;es. Whereas by this ine&s;timable Privilege of our Con&s;titution, the bolde&s;t and mo&s;t home-&s;wearing of never &s;o many Witne&s;&s;es, cannot bring a Per&s;on within the com|pa&s;s of being condemned, till twelve impartial, hone&s;t, and &s;ub&s;tantial Men of his Neighbours have judged and pronounced him guilty. So that upon this alone account, if there had been no other, our Ance&s;tors, comparing their Condition with the Ca&s;e of other Nations, had good rea&s;on to &s;ay, <HI>Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari,</HI> We will not have the Laws of <HI>England</HI> abrogated or altered. And<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vid.</HI> For|te&s;cue <HI>de landibus Legum</HI> Angliae, cap. 26, 27, 28, 29. <HI>&amp;</HI> Glanvil, lib. 7. cap. 14, 15.</NOTE> therefore upon this rea&s;on, more than upon any other, do <HI>Forte&s;cue</HI> and <HI>Glanvil</HI> prefer the Laws of <HI>England,</HI> to the Laws of all other Countries and Kingdoms what|&s;oever.</P>
<P>For the Antiquity of Trials by Juries, there needs no more to prove them co-eval with the fir&s;t Con&s;titution of our Government, than that no Man is able to a&s;&s;ign the Time when they began: For as all agree, this to have been the Way and Cour&s;e of Trial in <HI>Henry</HI> the Fir&s;t's Time, according to that Pa&s;&s;age in <HI>Cap.</HI> 31. of the Laws of that King, <HI>&V;nu&s;qui&s;que per pares &s;uos judicandus e&s;t, &amp; eju&s;dem Provinciae. Every Man is to be judged by his Peers; and tho&s;e to be of the County where he lives.</HI> So our Hi&s;tories tell us of one <HI>Roger Fitz-Osborn,</HI> who being appre|hended by <HI>Tiptoft,</HI> Sheriff of <HI>Worcester-&s;hire,</HI> was condem|ned for Trea&s;on in <HI>William</HI> the <HI>Norman's</HI> Time, <HI>per judici|um parium &s;uorum.</HI> And that this Method of Trial came not in with the Conqueror, is not only evident from hence,
<PB N="21" REF="12"> That the Law of <HI>Normandy</HI> never took any cogni&s;ance of Trials by Juries; but from this, That it was one of <HI>Ethel|red</HI> the <HI>Saxon</HI>'s Laws, <HI>That none &s;hould be acquitted or con|demned,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Lamb,</HI> p. 281.</NOTE> <HI>but by twelve ancient Freemen.</HI> And our Ance&s;tors making Trials by the lawful Judgment of their Peers, one &s;pecial part of the great Charter, &s;hews that it was the an|cient Law of the Land; fora&s;much as <HI>Magna Charta</HI> con|tains no new Privileges, wre&s;ted from our Kings, but on|ly the ancient Rights of the People, which had been inva|ded<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Do|deridg</HI>'s Treati&s;e of Nobili|ty, p. 110.</NOTE> by the <HI>Norman</HI> Race. But whence the fir&s;t Inhabi|tants of this Land learned this Cour&s;e and Method of Trial, or whether they were the fir&s;t Inventers and Or|dainers of it, I cannot tell: only &s;omething of alliance and kin with it, &s;eems to be have been ob&s;erved in the <HI>Grecian</HI> Trials, as appears by <HI>Mars</HI>'s being tried for Mu|ther by a Jury of Twelve, and acquitted only by rea&s;on of the Equality of Votes. So &s;acred hath the Ob&s;ervati|on of the Rights of Juries anciently been, that <HI>Alfred</HI> not only hanged one Ju&s;tice <HI>Freburn,</HI> for condemning one <HI>Harpin,</HI> when the Jury were in doubt of their Verdict;<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>How</HI>'s Mirror of Ju&s;tice.</NOTE> but he al&s;o hanged one Ju&s;tice <HI>Codwine,</HI> becau&s;e he ad|judged one <HI>Hackney</HI> to Death, when three of the Jury would have acquitted him. And yet it is remarkable, that the Judg did not condemn him without the Verdict of twelve Men; but becau&s;e he put out the three who would have found him not guilty, and added other three, whom the Per&s;on indicted had not put him&s;elf upon, to the nine that were for finding him guilty; the King ordered him to be hanged. Yea, &s;o careful have our Predece&s;&s;ors been to revenge all Inva&s;ions upon this excellent part of our Birthright, that <HI>Emp&s;on</HI> and <HI>Dudley</HI> were executed in <HI>Henry</HI> the Eighth's Time, for proceeding again&s;t Men, &s;o as to puni&s;h and fine them for Offences and Contempts,
<PB N="22" REF="13"> without the <HI>Verdict</HI> of twelve Men, tho they had the Au|thority of an Act of Parliament, to ju&s;tify them in what they did.</P>
<P>Now tho&s;e returnable upon Juries, ought, <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> to be of the Vicinage, where the Party accu&s;ed liveth, or at lea&s;t, the Cau&s;e of the Charge or Action doth ari&s;e; and the rea&s;on of it is, <HI>&V;t rei veritas melius &s;ciri poterit: That what was in i&s;&s;ue before them, may be the more fully known and under&s;tood by tho&s;e that are to give their Verdict of it.</HI> This was always the common Law of the Land, that Juries &s;hould be cho&s;en out of the Neighbourhood, <HI>ubi Factum &s;upponitur quod est judicandum.</HI> And we have a great In|&s;tance of the Benefit hereof, in a Trial before Sir <HI>Matthew Hale,</HI> when he was Lord Chief-Baron: For as he was ri|ding the <HI>Nottingham</HI> Circuit, a pretended <HI>Mortgagee</HI> brought an Action again&s;t the Executor of an alledged <HI>Mortgager,</HI> affirming, that &s;uch an one had mortgaged &s;uch an E&s;tate to him the Plaintiff, for four thou&s;and Pounds; and this he made a Proof of in Court, by three po&s;itive Witne&s;&s;es, who concurred in all Circum&s;tances of Time, Place, and Payment of the Money; nor could any of their Credits be impeached. Yet the Jury being of the <HI>Vicinage,</HI> and knowing that the Decea&s;ed, who&s;e Executor was &s;ued, had Money of his own at u&s;e, at that time when it was &s;aid he had borrowed the four thou&s;and Pounds, and that he had neither married Son nor Daughter, nor bought nor mortgaged any Land, which might make him nece&s;&s;i|tous of Money, they brought in for the Defendant, not|with&s;tanding the Evidence of three untainted concurring Witne&s;&s;es. And it was well they did &s;o; for it appeared afterwards, that the Witne&s;&s;es were forty Miles a&s;under when the Writings were &s;aid to have been &s;ealed; and whereas the <HI>Mortgage</HI> bore Date at <HI>London</HI> &s;uch a day, he
<PB N="23" REF="13"> that was then neere&s;t to the City, was at that very time as far off as <HI>Stamford</HI> in <HI>Lincoln-&s;hire.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Secondly;</HI> Tho&s;e returned to &s;erve on Juries, are to be <HI>boni &amp; legales homines,</HI> good and lawful Men; whereupon all Per&s;ons outlaw'd, condemned in a <HI>Premunire,</HI> or at|tainted of Trea&s;on, Felony, or the like, are uncapable of &s;erving upon a Jury, as not being <HI>homines legales,</HI> and all<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Lam|bert's Ei|reaarcha,</HI> p. 376, 377</NOTE> di&s;credited by Attainder in Con&s;piracy, Subornation of Perjury, Concealment, or the like, are excluded from being Jury-Men, as not being <HI>homines probi.</HI> But among all the Exceptions, which by the Law di&s;able a Per&s;on from &s;er|ving on a Jury, I do not find, that differing from the Church of <HI>England</HI> in a Ceremony, or not attending up|on the Common-Prayer, are allowed, much le&s;s enjoined to be any. And for any Per&s;ons to refu&s;e &s;uch returned upon the Pannel, whom the Law doth not refu&s;e, maketh a very near approach to the a&s;&s;uming to them&s;elves a <HI>Le|gi&s;lative Power.</HI> And I dare affirm it in the Face of all the World, that notwith&s;tanding the Clamor about the Juries returned in <HI>London</HI> the la&s;t Year, and thus far of this, that yet there have not, for the&s;e twenty la&s;t Years, been better Men returned, both for Quality and E&s;tate, and for Unblameablene&s;s and Integrity of Life, than were by the la&s;t Sheriffs, and tho&s;e now in Office. And it is remarka|ble, that all who have been called on <HI>Ni&s;i prius</HI>'s are ex|ceedingly approved; and why tho&s;e called to &s;erve on the Grand Inque&s;t, who are u&s;ually Men of greater Quality than the other, come to be &s;o much condemned, I de&s;ire that others &s;hould rather imagine and conceive, than that I &s;hould take upon me to pronounce and declare. And when tho&s;e upon the Bench had cau&s;e to approve and com|mend &s;uch as are and have been returned to &s;erve in Civil Cau&s;es, I do not well know for what rea&s;on they quarrel
<PB N="24" REF="14"> at Men of that Per&s;wa&s;ion and Mind, yea &s;ometimes at the very &s;ame individual Per&s;ons when impanelled to &s;erve in Criminal Cau&s;es. Yea, &s;hould the little and &s;mall differen|ces among&s;t Prote&s;tants, make one Party judg another un|qualified to &s;erve in Juries, we might thereby, in ca&s;e of a Popi&s;h Succe&s;&s;or, teach the Papi&s;ts to exclude one &s;ort of Prote&s;tants a&s;wel as another from di&s;charging the office of Jury-men. And would we not be in a fine ca&s;e, &s;hould the Papi&s;ts in due time turn the&s;e Arguments again&s;t all Prote&s;tants, which &s;ome out of fondne&s;s to the Church of <HI>England</HI> do now make u&s;e of again&s;t Prote&s;tant Di&s;&s;enters! And &s;urely Nonconformity to all the Laws of Chri&s;t, which common Drunkards, Swearers, and every vicious and pro|phane Per&s;on is guilty of, may with as much rea&s;on be e|&s;teemed an Exception again&s;t a Jury-man, as Nonconfor|mity to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, e&s;pecially if we con&s;ider that the one &s;ort of Nonconformity is pro|hibited and made puni&s;hable by the Laws of the Land, as well as the other. And whereas it hath been &s;aid, That thro' the late Sheriffs returning Phanaticks to be Jury-men, it came to pa&s;s that during their whole Year not one Po|pi&s;h Recu&s;ant was pre&s;ented in the City. They that make this Objection, would do well to con&s;ider, that from the Year 1676 till the Year 1680, there was not one Papi&s;t pre&s;ented in <HI>London,</HI> and yet it is &s;uppo&s;ed that the Sheriffs during that long Intervall were very good Church-men, and returned Juries worthy to be approved. 'Tis true, the Di&s;&s;enters are not in one &s;ence &s;o well qualified to pre&s;ent Papi&s;ts, as &s;ome others are, in that they do not know &s;o many, nor maintain that friend&s;hip with them as they may do. But this may be &s;aid, that the mo&s;t Phanatical Jury which hath been within the&s;e fifteen Months, did never re|fu&s;e to pre&s;ent Papi&s;ts who were regularly and upon Oath brought before them.</P>
<PB N="25" REF="14">
<P>But to proceed, having heard what according to Law ought to be the qualification of the <HI>Jurors,</HI> we are next to con&s;ider who is the legal Officer that ought to return them; And this is the <HI>Sheriff:</HI> For to him is the <HI>Venire facias</HI> directed, and in him is the tru&s;t of returning Juries ve&s;ted and repo&s;ed. Nay, at Goal-deliveries, when there is no writ directed to the Sheriffs, yet he is the Officer that is to return the Panel, for &s;o the Law hath con&s;tituted him. The <HI>Statute</HI> of the 11. <HI>Hen.</HI> 4. is expre&s;s to this purpo&s;e. Yea, that confidence and power doth the Law place in the Sheriff as to this matter, that in <HI>Inque&s;ts</HI> before Commi&s;|&s;ioners of <HI>Oyer</HI> and <HI>Terminer,</HI> it alloweth not the Judge to except again&s;t any whom the Sheriff is plea&s;ed to return: and tho' in Juries upon <HI>Goal delivery</HI> the Statute of the 3 <HI>H.</HI> 8. empowers the Judge to reform the Pannel, by ex|cepting agaih&s;t &s;uch as they think will be wilfully for|&s;worn and perjured: yet even in that ca&s;e the Sheriff mu&s;t &s;till return tho&s;e who are to &s;upply the places of &s;uch as are excepted agnin&s;t. Yea, the forfeiture is but 20 <HI>l.</HI> whereof one half only goes to the King, the other going to the Informer, in ca&s;e he &s;hould refu&s;e to return the Pannel according to the reformation of the Ju&s;tices. And &s;o careful is the Law to pre&s;erve the right of return|ing Juries to the Sheriff or his Bayliff by his leave and or|der, that one <HI>Robert Scarlet, 10. Jac.</HI> not being returned by the Sheriff, yet by confederacy with the Clerk, getting him&s;elf to be called on the <HI>Grand Inque&s;t</HI> when the Pannel was read in Court, was Indicted upon the Statute of the 11 <HI>Hen.</HI> 4. So that it being the <HI>Sheriffs</HI> Right to re|turn Juries, we may ju&s;tly wonder why men quarrel that the <HI>Secondaries</HI> in <HI>London</HI> are not of late &s;uffered to do it. I am &s;ure the High <HI>Sheriffs</HI> being men of greater E&s;tates, than the <HI>Secondaries</HI> are, they are le&s;s like|ly to be brib'd in making undue returns than the latter. And if the <HI>Secondaries</HI> complain that they are not permit|ted
<PB N="26" REF="15"> to return Juries, it is a ground of &s;hrew'd &s;u&s;pition that that they made &s;ome advantage to them&s;elves by doing it. and indeed purcha&s;ing their places at great Rates, we may &s;afely imagine that they will be &s;omewhat in|clinable to excu&s;e &s;ome from &s;erving, and bring on others as &s;hall turn and conduce mo&s;t to their intere&s;t and profit. And were it not that they propo&s;e an advantages to them&s;elves by the returning of Juries, in&s;tead of com|plaining that they are deprived of that liberty and privi|ledg, they have cau&s;e to be thankful that they are ea&s;ed of an Office which be&s;ides the Foile trouble of it, might &s;ometimes expo&s;e them to very great inconvniencies. And if any other take it ami&s;s that the <HI>Secondaries</HI> are not &s;till allowed to return the Juries, it is a plain argument that they think they could have better &s;erved a turn or a de|&s;ign by them, than they &s;ee they can do by the <HI>Sheriffs.</HI></P>
<P>In the next place it is ob&s;ervable that as in all criminal cau&s;es there are two Juries to pa&s;s upon the party that is accu&s;ed and arraigned, fo the difference between them is, that the <HI>Grand</HI> Jury in finding the Bill, do <HI>&s;upponere cri|men,</HI> and the <HI>Petty</HI> Jury in finding the per&s;on guilty do <HI>imponere crimen.</HI> And as a Grand Jurie is never to find a|ny Bill, but either upon per&s;onal knowledg, or Evidence; &s;o in ca&s;e they have no per&s;onal knowledg of the Eact of which the party is Indicted, they are not to find the Bill except they beleive the Evidence. And to do other|wi&s;e is plainly for a Jury man to perjure him&s;elf. For how can a man upon his Oath find a Bill to be true, when he beleives not the Evidence upon which the Truth of it doth wholly depend. As one of the Petty Jury is not to find the per&s;on that is put upon them for his Trial, un|le&s;s upon hearing of the whole matter he beleive the Wit|ne&s;&s;es; no more is one of the Grand Jury to find the In|dictment that lyes before them unle&s;s he be &s;atisfied in con&s;cience that what the Witne&s;&s;es &s;ay is true. And be&s;ide,
<PB N="27" REF="15"> who&s;oever finds a Bill, and yet doth not beleive the Evi|dence, he is injurious to the per&s;on who is arraigned before him. And there are three injuries which Jury men make them&s;elves Guilty of towards him, nameley of one to him in his liberty, another in his e&s;tate and a third in his life. For upon finding the Bill, the Pri&s;oner is lyable to be put in clo&s;er durance, which is a wrong that the jury occa&s;ions to be done him as to his liberty; his goods are &s;ubject to be inventor'd, which is an injury that the Grant Inque&s;t cau&s;eth him in his e&s;tate; and his life is put into hazard, which is the greate&s;t injury we are capable of doing a per&s;on next the de&s;troying him.</P>
<P>And as a Grand Jury is never to find a Bill, unle&s;s they believe the Evidence? &s;o they are to be Judges of the matter of Fact that is &s;worn and given in Evidence? And th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">re|fore it hath been heretofore cu&s;tomary, that the wit|ne&s;&s;es gave their di&s;po&s;itions and Evidence only to the Jury. And indeed there are &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages in the Oath of a Grand Jury Man that are not ea&s;ily reconciled to the having the Witne&s;&s;es examined in Court. Nay the Jurors are &s;o far in all Ca&s;es the only and &s;ole Judges of matter of fact, that the Judge cannot &s;o much as direct them. Nor are they obliged to make the Te&s;timony of tho&s;e that &s;wear, the &s;ole mea&s;ure of the Fact, the truth and reality whereof they are called to judg about, but their own knowledg, and the knowledge that any one of them hath of and concern|ing the matter of fact in the fir&s;t place, and in oppo&s;ition to all that is &s;worn contrary to their knowledge, is to be the of rule of the judgment they are to make concerning the fact, the truth whereof they are con&s;tituted and appointed Judges. Nay, all juries are judges &s;o much as of matter of fact, that the Bench is not &s;o much as to give any direction how or what they are to Judge therein. Nor upon a Trial of life and death are the juries bound up to the judges recapitulation of the evi|dence much le&s;s to his &s;en&s;e of the plainene&s;s &amp; fulne&s;s. of it.</P>
<PB N="28" REF="16">
<P>Yea they are not only &s;ole Judges of Matter of <HI>Fact,</HI> but they are al&s;o Judges of the <HI>Law</HI> &s;o far as it influenceth the Fact or is complicated with it. For they do not, neither are they to find the Fact ab|&s;tractedly<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Vaughan's <HI>Repts.</HI> p. 150. Littleton's <HI>Te|nures Sect. 368.</HI></NOTE> by it &s;elf, and leave the Law to the Court, but they find the party guilty or not guilty, or a Bill to be <HI>Billa vera,</HI> or <HI>ig|noramus</HI> as the Indictment or the Ca&s;e in i&s;&s;ue contain Law and Fact complicately together. For tho' they may be con|vinced of the Fact, that the party charged before them did it, yet they are not to find him guilty, unle&s;s they be &s;atisfied that he did it as it is laid in the Indictment, that is, that it be &s;uch a Crime as it is there &s;tiled, and done with that Traitorous and Malicious intention as it is there laid. And were it otherwi&s;e, a per&s;on might come to be Condemned for the mo&s;t innocent Fact in the World, provided that it were repre&s;ented in the Indictment as &s;ome mortal offence, and then porved by the Witne&s;&s;es to have been done. Thus Suppo&s;e a per&s;on to be indicted for words that are plainly Tea&s;on according the Statute of the 13 of <HI>Charles</HI> 2. Yet if the party charged be not pro&s;ecuted within the time provided by that Act, he is not to be brought in as guilty, though it &s;hould appear by the Evidence that &s;uch and &s;uch Words were &s;poken. And the rea&s;on is plain, for as much as the Statute makes not words Tryable but with|in &s;uch a limited and prefixed time, and therefore if the time through the fault of the Informer or neglect of the pro&s;ecutor be &s;uffered to elap&s;e, no Jury is afterwards to find an Indictment, were the words charg|ed never &s;o fully proved.</P>
<P>And as the Jurors are Judges of Matter of Fact, and of Law &s;o far as it is complicated with Fact, &s;o in order to their finding what is either pre&s;ented or in i&s;&s;ue before them; they are in the fir&s;t place and in a &s;pecial manner to con&s;ider and weigh the quality and creditablene&s;s of the
<PB N="29" REF="16"> Witne&s;&s;es who are brought to prove the Indictment. For there are &s;ome who&s;e Te&s;timony the Law doth not ad|mit, and con&s;equently the Jurors are not to receive their Evidence, or in the lea&s;t to be influenced by it. And who&s;ever is &s;o branded that he cannot be a <HI>Juror,</HI> he is al&s;o excluded according to law<NOTE PLACE="marg">Viz <HI>Trials</HI> per|pais p. 138. <HI>Mirrour</HI> of Ju|&s;tice p. 192.</NOTE> from all capacity of being a Witne&s;s. There are &s;ome whom the Law &s;tiles infamous, nor have &s;uch any credit to &s;upport what they &s;ay. Yea, there are &s;ome whom the Law hath not branded with the mark of infamy, and yet Principles of natural light in&s;truct us not to give any faith unto them. <HI>Per&s;o|noe vili,</HI> &s;aith the Civil Law, <HI>non facile creditur; a beggar|ly or ba&s;e per&s;on is not to be credited.</HI> Such a one, <HI>quem fa|mes, magisquam fama incitat,</HI> whom hunger and want have a greater power over, than re|&s;pect<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vid <HI>Cod lib. 4. Tit. 20.</HI></NOTE> to reputation, is not to be much heark|ned unto in what he &s;ay's. Particularly who|&s;oever is bribed or &s;uborned is both in the &s;ight of the Law and according to the common &s;en&s;e of mankind an infamous per&s;on to whom <HI>Jurors</HI> are to give no belief. Yea, one Witne&s;s of who&s;e being &s;uborned the Jury are &s;atisfied, is enough to bring a ju&s;t &s;u&s;pition upon the Te&s;timony of never &s;o many other Witne&s;&s;es, tho there be no Evidence of their being corrupted.</P>
<P>Nor are <HI>Jurors</HI> only to con&s;ider the quality and credit of the Witne&s;&s;es; but they are al&s;o to con&s;ider the probability or improbability of what they de|po&s;e.<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Vaughan</HI>'s Reports, <HI>ubi &s;upra.</HI></NOTE> For as a Witne&s;s is to &s;wear nothing but what he hath heard or &s;een, and is not to be allowed to make any Inferences or Deductions, but is meerly to relate matters as they occurred and fell under his &s;en&s;es; &s;o Jurors are not to &s;wallow it without chew|ing of it, and examining the po&s;&s;ibility of the whole, and the con&s;i&s;tency of one part with another. For <HI>allegans
<PB N="30" REF="17"> contraria non e&s;t audiendus,</HI> he who produceth things which interfere with them&s;elves, or with what any other hath &s;aid in the &s;ame cau&s;e, overthrows both the credit of his fellow Witne&s;s, and de&s;troys his own Te&s;timony. Some things though po&s;itively &s;worn, yet carry their refutation along with them. For example, that there &s;hould be a Prote&s;tant Plot to &s;eize the King and alter the Government, and not one of all tho&s;e know it, who were mo&s;t likely to have been made acquainted with it. And a con&s;piracy to apprehend the King at <HI>Oxford,</HI> and yet no vi&s;ible force to effect it, nor any thing proportionate to &s;uch an under|taking either taken care of before hand, or brought to light &s;ince. It is impo&s;&s;ible that what my Lord <HI>Shaftsbury</HI> is charged with &s;hould be true, and yet that no man &s;hould ever hear of it, but they from whom, if there had been any &s;uch thing, it would have been mo&s;t indu&s;triou&s;ly concealed.</P>
<P>Nor are the Jurors only to con&s;ider of the quality of the Witne&s;&s;es, and the probability of the matter given in charge, as it lies ab&s;tracted from the party that is accu&s;ed, but they are al&s;o to weigh the agreeablene&s;s of the Fact to the principles of the party brought and Indicted before them, and whether it be likely that a per&s;on of his loyal|ty, integrity and wi&s;dom &s;hould be guilty of it. And therefore it is that the <HI>Jurors</HI> are to be of the <HI>Vicinage,</HI> the Law &s;uppo&s;ing that &s;uch are be&s;t able to judge of the per|&s;on and his manner of life, who&s;e cau&s;e is to receive its i&s;|&s;ue according to their &s;entence and <HI>Verdict.</HI> And if upon there own knowledg they believe him innocent, they are not to bring him in guilty, nor to find a Bill upon the Te|&s;timony of never &s;o many Witne&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>Nor is this all that belongs to <HI>Jurors,</HI> but they are like|wi&s;e to con&s;ider both the motives and the nature and man|ner of the pro&s;ecution. For where there is either malice at the bottom, or unu&s;ual and unbecoming rigour and vi|olence
<PB N="31" REF="17"> in the pur&s;uit, there is ju&s;t ground admini&s;tred of a &s;u&s;pition, that the party accu&s;ed is not &s;o much nocent, as his enemies out of wrath and revenge would have him thought to be. A Princes intere&s;t is to have the Lives of all his &s;ubjects pre&s;erved, as far as the Law, his own &s;afety, and the wellfare of the Society will admit; and therefore the &s;ingling out of a per&s;on from the re&s;t, as if it were of purpo&s;e to run him down, argues that &s;ome inducements which his pro&s;ecutors do not think fit to mention do influence unto it, and that it is the intere&s;t of &s;ome &s;ecret mini&s;ters, rather than the parties own guilt that bring him under obnoxiou&s;ne&s;s. Be&s;ides where all things have been carri|ed with a clande&s;tinene&s;s which is neither ju&s;tified by the Law, nor u&s;ual in other Ca&s;es, there men may ju&s;tly fear that there is foul play in that man's affair. Again, when a <HI>Si quis,</HI> as it were, hath been &s;ent into all parts to invite Witne&s;&s;es, and when forraign Dominions hove been &s;ought into for Evidence, as well as our own Kingdoms, it gives impartial man cau&s;e to apprehend that the party per&s;ued. is not &s;o criminal, as his Adver&s;aries endeavour to proclaim him.</P>
<P>Nor can a Jury of Life and Death bring in any legal <HI>Verdict,</HI> unle&s;s the whole Twelve, which are all that are &s;worn to pa&s;s upon the party Indicted, be agreed and una|nimous. So tender have our Ance&s;tors been of their own and the lives of their po&s;terity, that Eleven cannot ca&s;t a man, but the whole Twelve mu&s;t concur in the <HI>Verdict.</HI> Nor can a Grand Inque&s;t find a Bill, unle&s;s al&s;o Twelve a|gree in the in dor&s;ing <HI>Billa vera</HI> upon it. It is not the opini|of the majority that makes a <HI>Verdict;</HI> but the Law hath ordained &s;uch a preci&s;e number as Twelve at the lea&s;t to|wards the putting a mans life into hazard: And there|fore we read in our Books of a Judge that was condemned, for adjudging a per&s;on to death, when only Eleven were agreed in the <HI>Verdict.</HI></P>
<PB N="32" REF="18">
<P>And when the <HI>Jurors</HI> have endor&s;ed their Bill, or de|clared their Verdict, they are only accountable to God and their own Con&s;ciences for what they have done. Nor is their either fine or attaint lies again&s;t a Jury in criminal cau&s;es. The Law hath taken that care to have only good and lawful men <HI>Jurors,</HI> that it tru&s;ts all upon them, and leaveth them not expo&s;ed to be hara&s;&s;ed by a Bench of Judges, who many times hold their places at the <HI>placi|tum</HI> of a Mini&s;ter or Courtier that can influence the Mo|narch, or hath the ear of the Prince. Nor was ever a Jury legally puni&s;hed in any<NOTE PLACE="marg">See <HI>Vaughan's</HI> Re|ports, <HI>ubi &s;upra.</HI></NOTE> ca&s;e, where the <HI>Jurors</HI> were not accu&s;ed of &s;ome offence, be&s;ides barely the giving &s;ueh a <HI>Verdict.</HI></P>
<P>Yea, the Law hath made &s;uch liable to puni&s;hment, who a&s;per&s;e or revile a Jury for what they do in the way of their Office. But of this, and the whole that our Law hath concerning <HI>Jurors</HI> and Juries, with a vindication of the <HI>Verdicts</HI> of &s;ome late Juries, the world may &s;ee &s;omething in a little time.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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