pate the Catholic religion in this country, happened the great fire of London, which the mercenary bigots likewise attempted to fasten upon the Catholics. In this feverish state of the public mind, Shaftesbury, one of the most profligate politicians and hardened villains that ever disgraced or cursed a country, planned the downfall of the heir presumptive, and the ruin of the Catholic aristocracy, by excluding through parliamentary influence the duke of York from the succession to the throne of Great Britain. By his consummate craft and influence in parliament, he carried several measures which tended to that end, and he saw that nothing could so completely accomplish his object, as the overwhelming the Catholics with obloquy, and exciting against them the hatred and abhorence of their fellow subjects. To this purpose all his talents and energies were directed. His 'conscience was made of the most accommodating materials, and, at the same time, seared as with a hot iron against the inroads of remorse. He was not withheld by any scruples, or any nefarious consequences, even to the shedding of innocent blood. For his protegé, this wicked Haman had a fellow of the name of Titus Oates, of whom Hume thus speaks:-"Oates, the informer of this dreadful plot was himself THE MOST INFAMOUS OF MANKIND. He was the son of an Anabaptist preacher, chaplain to colonel Pride; but having taken orders in the church, he had been settled in a small living by the duke of Norfolk. He was afterwards a chaplain on board the fleet, whence he had been dismissed on complaint of some unnatural practices, not fit to be named."

The information produced by this wretch was one of the most incoherent and improbable ever conceived, yet was it readily swallowed by all parties. The king himself disbelieved the scoundrel's narrative, but was compelled to go with the stream.-The design in general, according to the statement of Oates, was by fire and sword, when all other means failed, to subvert the established government and religion of England, and to reduce the same to Popery, so as no toleration should be given to any Protestant, but all to be extirpated, root and branch. Such an account was enough to alarm the zealous Protestant, not only for his personal safety but for his gospel faith, which he could shake off as easily as a duck could water from her back, and change whenever it was convenient for his own interest. Thus Shaftesbury was first a loyal churchman, then a canting presbyterian, next a long parliamentarian, and soon after an Olivarian; but when he fonnd Charles restored to his throne, then he became a loyal churchman again. Of the absurdity of the information given, the reader will be able to judge when we tell him, on the authority of Protestant historians, that a Catholic nobleman lord Bellasis, who was perpetually confined with the gout, was to be the commander in chief of the forces to be raised to execute the plot ; lord Petre, who had never handled a sword or a musquet, was to be second in command; and sir Francis Ratcliffe, a man who had hever stirred from his house in the north of England, was to be major-gene ral. Another strange thing was, that a rump-general, namely, John Lambert, was to be honoured with a commission from the POPE, though he had long been a prisoner, and had become childish from his long confinement. Nor were these the only absurdities; the rewards in the secret service way being equally contradictory to common sense.

Those who undertook the most hazardous part of shooting and stabbing the king were to have only twenty pounds a man, while the queen's physician, was to have fifteen thousand pounds for poisoning him, a much more secret and less difficult way,

This extraordinary intelligence, and much more besides, was sworn to before sir Edmundbury Godfrey, and afterwards laid before parliament. Committees were appointed by both houses to sit night and day, and many of the most respectable Catholics, noblemen and gentlemen of irreproachable life and manners, as well as numerous priests, were apprehended and thrown into prison. A guard of honour was ordered to attend on Oates, and the villian was not only bribed with a pension of twelve hundred pounds a year, but was stiled the Saviour of the Nation, To give the reader some idea of the perjured impudence of this diabolical wretch, we will here cite the words of Hume, This writer says, that Oates, "when examined before the council, betrayed his impostures in such a manner, as would have utterly discredited the most consis tent story,and the most reputable evidence. While in Spain, he had been carried, he said, to don John, who promised great assistance to the execu tion of the Catholic designs. The king asked him what sort of man don John was ; he answered, a tall lean man; directly contrary to truth, as the king well knew. He totally mistook the situation of the jesuits' college at Paris. Though he pretended great intimacies with Coleman, he knew him not, when placed very near him, and he had no other excuse than that his eye-sight was bad in candle light. He fell into the like mistakes with regard to Wakeman. Notwithstanding these objections, (says the historian) great attention was paid to Oates's evidence, and the plot became very soon the subject of conversation, and even the object of terror to the people."

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Hitherto the plot was supported by the sole testimony of Oates, and it was falling into discredit, when a proclamation was issued offering a reward of five hundred pounds to any person who should make further discovery. Such bountiful encouragement," says Hume," brought forth new witnesses. William Bedloe, a man, IF POSSIBLE, more infamous than Qates, appeared next upon the stage. He was of very low birth, had been noticed for several cheats and even thefts; had travelled over many parts of Europe, under borrowed names; and frequently passed himself for a man of quality, and had endeavoured by a variety of lies and contrivances, to prey upon the ignorant and unwary," Such was the col league of Oates in this most disgraceful and unparalleled system of perjury and wickedness, and additional improbabilities were broached. This wretch Bedloe was honoured with guards as Oates had been before him, he had subsistence at Whitehall at the king's charge, and was dubbed a captain. When first examined, he deposed only to the death of sir Edmundbury Godfrey, who had been privately murdered by the plotters, and denied any knowledge of the plot; the next day, however, he received new lights, and launched out into new discoveries, more wild and incongruous than Oates had dreamed of, and the more readily believed by the fanatic nation, Mr. Salmon, in his Examination of Burnet's History of his Own Time, observes, "that every one of the witnesses of the Popish plot improved daily in their evidence; and from some slight knowledge of it, which they pretended to at first, became positive wit

nesses against persons they had never seen before; and of facts, which they had solemnly protested upon their oaths, they were strangers to." The substance of Bedloe's new visions was, that forty thousand men were to be ready in London; that succours were to be expected from Flanders of ten thousand, and twenty or thirty thousand religious men and pilgrims from St. Jago in Spain. On the suject of these discoveries of Bedloe, the Continuator of Baker's Chronicle remarks, that " there cannot be a more surprising example of the force of universal prejudice, than that such an evidence should gain attention, much more belief, among so many effective wise men as heard it. How could it be thought that forty thousand men should be ready in London for such a design, when probably there was not that number of papists to be found throughout the city, though we take in the women and children? Or that Spain should send over thirty or forty thousand men to conquer England, who could scarce afford half the number in the late war to defend her own territories in Flanders? But this is not the only instance when popular madness has infected very wise and judicious heads." Hume likewise observes, on this extraordinary evidence, that "it is remarkable, that the only resource of Spain, in her present decayed condition, lay in the assistance of England; and, so far from being in a situation to transport ten thousand men for the invasion of that kingdom, she had solicited and obtained English forces to be sent into the garrisons of Flanders, which were not otherwise able to defend themselves against the French. The French too, we may observe, were, at that very time, in open war with Spain, and yet are supposed to be engaged in the same design against England; as if religious motives were become the sole actuating principle among sovereigns. But none of the circumstances, however obvious, were able, when set in opposition to multiplied horrors, antipathies, and prejudices, to engage the least attention of the populace; for such the whole nation were at this time become. The Popish plot passed for incontestible; and had not men soon expected with certainty the legal punishment of these criminals, THE CATHOLICS HAD BEEN EXPOSED TO THE HAZARD OF AN UNIVERSAL MASSACRE. The torrent indeed of national prejudices ran so high, that no-one, without the most imminent danger, durst venture openly to oppose it; nay, scarce any one, without great force of judgment, could secretly entertain an opinion contrary to the prevailing sentiments. The loud and unanimous voice of a great nation has mighty authority over weak minds; and even later historians are so swayed by the concurring judgment of such multitudes, that some of them have esteemed themselves sufficiently moderate, when they affirmed, that many circumstances of the plot were true, though some were added, and others much magnified. But it is an obvious principle, that a witness, who perjures himself in one circumstance, is credible in none. And the authority of the plot, even to the end of the prosecutions, stood entirely upon witnesses. Though the Catholics had been suddenly and unexpectedly detected, at the very moment when their conspiracy, it is said, was ready to be put in execution; no arms, no ammunition, no money, no commissions, no papers, no letters, after the most rigorous search, ever were discovered, to confirm the evidence of Oates and Bedloe. Yet still the nation, though often frustrated, went on in eager pursuit and

confident belief of the conspiracy: and even the manifold inconsistencies and absurdities, contained in the narratives, instead of discouraging them, served only as farther incentives to discover the bottom of the plot, and were considered as slight objections, which a more complete information would fully remove. In all history, it will be difficult to find such another instance of popular frensy and bigotted delusion."

Such are a few of the infamous and detestable circumstances connec ted with the Popish plot of Titus Oates, under which the, Catholics were persecuted and harassed with more than demoniac fury. Among the victims who suffered, were Mr. Ireland, Mr. Pickering, and Mr. Grove, who were put upon their trials on the 19th of December, at the Old Bailey, after having suffered much in prison from the loathsomeness of the place, and the load of chains put upon them. There were árraigned with them," says the Continuator of Baker, p. 699, "Thomas Whitebread and John Fenwick, both Jesuits. Oates and Bedloe swore against Ireland directly, that he had been present at a consult held in August for killing the king; and Oates swore the same positively against Whitebread and Fenwick. But Bedloe charged those two only by hearsay, so that for want of two positive witnesses they must have been acquitted by the jury in course. Upon this occasion the court committed a most enormous and crying act of injustice. For when they saw these two must be cleared, they, by a quirk in law, pretended to discharge the jury of them, and put off their trial to another time; though they had pleaded to the indictment, and the jury was sworn, and the witnesses examined. They pretended indeed they had precedents for this; but as a great man observes, precedents against reason only prove that the like injustice has been committed before. As to Pickering and Grove, Oates and Bedloe swore that they were appointed to shoot the king; and that the latter being a layman was to have 15007, and the former who was a priest 30,000 masses, which at a shilling a mass amount to the same sum. That they used to walk together in St. James's Park with pistols for that purpose. That one time Pickering had an opportunity to shoot at the king, but that the flint of his pistol was loose. Another time there was no powder in the pan; and again a third time the gun was charged only with bullets; by which accidents the king's life was saved. These disasters one upon another, made a very unlikely story; but it was all imputed to a special providence; which solved the difficulty at once. The prisoners absolutely denied the whole, and Pickering averred that he had never shot off a pistol in his life. Ireland brought witnesses to prove, that he was in Staffordshire at the time Oates swore he was in London. But Oates producing a woman, who said she saw him in town about the middle of August, which was the time he swore to, this defence was overruled. So that they were found guilty, condemned, and executed; but denied stedfastly to the last moment all that was sworn against them.'

Hume, speaking of the trial of these holy men and victims of Protestant perfidy and prejudice, says, "The only witnesses against the prisoners were still Oates and Bedloe. Ireland affirmed, that he was in Staffordshire all the month of August last, a time when Oates's evidence made him in London. He proved his assertion by good evidence, and

would have proved it by undoubted, had he not most iniquitously been debarred, while in prison, of all use of pen and ink, and denied the liberty of sending for witnesses. All these men, before they came to the bar, were condemned, in the opinions of the judges, jury, and spectators; and to be a Catholic, or a jesuit, was, of itself, a sufficient proof of guilt. The chief justice in particular gave sanction to all the narrow prejudices and bigotted fury of the populace. Instead of being counsel for the prisoners, as his office required, he pleaded the cause against them, browbeat their witnesses, and, on every occasion, represented their gailt as certain and uncontroverted. He even went so far as publicly to affirm, that the Papists had not the same principles which the Protestants have, and therefore were not intitled to that common credence which the principles and practices of the latter call for."

In confirmation of these observations of the historians, and to shew the gross partiality and scandalous levity of the bench, during the trial of three British subjects for their lives, we lay before the reader the following extracts from the printed copy of the trial. The lord chief justice, addressing himself to Grove, says, Why, do not you know Mr. Gates? Grove. My lord, I have seen him before. Lord C. J. Why this it is, ask a papist a question, and you shall have a jesuitical answer. Lord C. J. Now for Mr. Fenwick; Do you know Mr. Oates? Fenw. Yes, my lord, I do. Lord C. J. Were you well acquainted with him? speak plain. Oates, He was my father confessor, my lord. Lord C. J. Was he so? Fenw. I believe he never made any confession in his life. Lord C. J. Yes, he hath made a very good one now. Were you of his acquaintaince, Mr. Fenwick? speak home, and don't mince the matter. Fenw. My lord, I have seen him. Lord C. J. I wonder what you are made of. Ask a Protestant, an English one, a plain question, and he will scorn to come dallying with an evasive answer. Oates having admitted that Mr. Fenwick had given him twenty, thirty, and forty shillings at a time, but never so little as five, the lord chief justice said to the prisoner, You are more charitable than you thought for. Fenwick observed, that Oates had told him, he had not eat a bit in two days. Oates said, I have indeed gone a whole day without eating, when I have been hurried about your trash; but I assure you, my lord, I never wanted for any thing among them. Perhaps, says the lord chief justice, it was fasting day. To which the lord chief baron wittily replies, My lord, their fasting days are none of the worst. No, rejoins Oates, we commonly eat best on those days. After this display of juridical wit, and some further examination of witnesses, the lord chief justice addresses Pickering.-Mr. Pickering, what say you for yourself; you rely upon your masses. Pickering,-I never saw Mr. Oates, as I know of, in my life. Lord C. J. What say you to Bedloe, he tells you he was with you in Hartcourt's chamber such a day. Pickering,-I will take my oath I was never in Mr. Bedloe's company in all my life. Lord C. J. I make no question but you will; and have a dispensation for it when you have done. As a specimen of the harsh treatment of the witnesses for the prisoners by the court, when Mr. Ireland's sister was called to give evidence, she was addressed by the lord chief justice Scroggs in the following words :-"Come mistress, what can you say concerning your brother's being out of town?" "How can you remember that it was