News from Ireland, touching the damnable design of the papists in that kingdom to forge a sham-plott upon the Presbyterians being the declaration of William Smith Gent. maintaining his late evidence against St. Lawrence, a Popish priest, who would have suborn'd him to have sworn the same. Smith, William, 17th cent. 1682 Approx. 17 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-12 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A53145 Wing N975 ESTC R13178 12599420 ocm 12599420 64118 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A53145) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 64118) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 769:35) News from Ireland, touching the damnable design of the papists in that kingdom to forge a sham-plott upon the Presbyterians being the declaration of William Smith Gent. maintaining his late evidence against St. Lawrence, a Popish priest, who would have suborn'd him to have sworn the same. Smith, William, 17th cent. 1 sheet ([2] p.) Printed for Richard Janeway ..., London : 1682. Broadside. Caption title. Signed: William Smith. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Catholics -- Ireland. Broadsides -- England -- London -- 17th century 2005-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-05 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-09 Jonathan Blaney Sampled and proofread 2005-09 Jonathan Blaney Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion News from IRELAND , TOUCHING THE DAMNABLE DESIGN OF THE PAPISTS in that KINGDOM to Forge a Sham-Plott upon the PRESBYTERIANS : BEING The DECLARATION of WILLIAM SMITH Gent. Maintaining his late EVIDENCE against St. Lawrence a Popish Priest , who would have Suborn'd him to have Sworn the same . I Am so well satisfied in my Conscience , that I would not put forth these Lines to a Publick view , were it not for that others are concern'd : As for my self I value not the Aspersions that any have or can raise against me , because I know my own Innocency to be a sufficient Testimony , maugre all the false , scandalous and lying Reports that have been hatched , or that are now contriving against me ; but when I consider that my Credit ( which ought to be dearer to every man than his Life ) lyeth at Stake ; and that ill-affected Persons , who neither value what they Say or Act , are using their sole Endeavours to render me Ridiculous and a Perjured Person ; and also Vent their malicious and reproachful Aspersions on guiltless People ; I thought it convenient , in Vindication of my self , and those I shall herein after mention , to demonstrate to the whole World the Abuses done me , least by a continued Silence , I might give advantage to my Enemies to Proceed in their Villanies . And now I Declare in the Presence of God , that I have No other End in the Writing hereof , than to Justifie and Clear my self from the injurious Censures and fabulous Discourses of some Papists , who ( as I am Informed ) have Reported and given out , that whereas I Swore to an Information against one St. Lawrence a Popish Priest , which Business was Tryed at the Kings Bench Bar , on the 25th day of November last past , before Judge Jones , who at that time alone Sate Judge of the said Court : and although my Information , and what I then Swore to , was , and is a real truth , yet the Jury found him Not Guilty ; I do not alledge or say any thing against the said Jury , or any of them , for indeed those I knew of them , are worthy and Eminent Persons ; yet no doubt my want of Councel to manage the said Tryal on my behalf , made it appear otherwise than it was ; for let the whole World Judge , whether there was not great advantage on St. Lawrence's side , when he stood by , never spoke one word either pro or con , but had three or four Councellours all along to Plead for him , and I had no Assistance but that of my Self : Not to insist any longer in this nature , I hear since the said Tryal , that the abovementioned Papists have spread a rumour abroad , as if I had Recanted all my Proceedings aforesaid , and that I should Confess my self to be heartily Sorry for the same , and that I was set on by others ; nay , they presume to confirm it by Reporting that I have sent a Petition to his Grace James Duke of Ormond , Lord Lieutenant General , and General Governour of this Kingdom of Ireland , ( to the same effect ) and that I should therein Acquaint his Grace , who it was that set me on to Swear against St. Lawrence , desiring his grace to give me a Pardon for so doing : all which Sayings are false and very great untruths , for I never did Recant , nor intead any such thing ; if I had , I should be the most vile Creature upon the Face of the Earth ; in the first place to Swear to a thing , and afterwards deny what I had Sworn to : And as to a Petition sent by me to his Grace , it is easily resolved whether he did receive any such from me , or whether he did ever receive a Petition at all in my Name : 'T is true , a little before his Graces last going to Kilkenny , I did employ one to deliver him a Petition , which was not at all delivered , for I have the same still by me ; and whether or no that be the Petition discoursed of , I know not ▪ but that all People may ( If they please ) be Satisfyed with the Contents of it , I have here Inserted a true Copy of the same , and can bring Credible Witnesses to prove it : the said Petition is as followeth , viz. To his Grace James Duke of Ormond , Lord Lieutenant General , and General Governour of the Kingdom of Ireland . The Humble Petition of William Smith Prisoner for Debt in the Marshalsey of his Majesties four Courts Dublin . Humbly Sheweth , THat your Petitioner did lately give in an Information against one St. Lawrence a Popish Priest , the Contents of the said Information ( among other things therein contained ) was , that the said St. Lawrence would have Suborned your Graces Petitioner , positively to Swear to a Presbyterian Plot , which said Business was on the 25th day of November last past Tryed at the Kings-Bench-Bar , and the Jury at their return brought him in not Guilty : whether the fault was in your Petitioners want of Councel to manage the business in behalf of your Petitioner , he cannot say ; but certain it is , St. Lawrence had at the least three Counsellers to Plead for him , notwithstanding your Graces said Petitioner will take it upon his Death , that his Information against the said Priest , was , and is really true ; but since the above Tryal , some of the Priests Evidence have grossly abused your Petitioner , by calling him a Rogue , and a Perjured Rogue : Not to enlarge upon the aforesaid matter , he your Graces Petitioner humbly implores , you will be pleased to order the Marshal of the above Marshalsey , to bring him before your Grace , he having a matter of great Moment and Importance to Impart to your Grace , it being a thing which will be Satisfactory to you , ( as he humbly conceives ) desires his said Request may be Granted : And as in Duty bound he will Pray , &c. Copia Vera. Now I refer this to any rational Person , if there be any thing of a Recantation of what I have done in my Proceedings against St. Lawrence , ( included in the above recited Petition ; ) but if the Devil has been so prevalent to tempt me to a Recantation , ( as they alledge ) I would willingly know to whom in such manner I have declared my mind ; and if any Person will justifie it , or whether I gave it in Writing under my Hand ; if so , 't is an easie matter to produce it , but if it can be made appear , I will be content to Suffer the Punishment justly due to those that are guilty in the like kind : Why should I say more of it , when without dispute , had they a real Ground to talk so of me , they would quickly make it apparent , I know , ( so great is their Zeal to , and for their Ghostly Father ; ) they only speak of me as they would have it ; they are much mistaken , I 'le never Acquit the Guilty , and Accuse the Innocent : I am not for their turn , no , nor to be allured by a plenary Indulgence , nor the hopes of being Sainted by them will not do ; Neither am I in the least Related to their Jewish Witnesses , to Swear and Forswear the same again in a dayes time , or less : In fine , ( No Ego tibi Absolvo , &c. ) shall cause me to go from the truth : And here by way of digression , I very well remember some time after the happy Discovery of the Damned and Hellish Popish Plot by Dr. Titus Oats , &c. I was then held in great Estimation by several Papists in a certain place in this Kingdom , and one day one of their Priests and I being in Company together , I told him that I much admired any Roman Catholick would appear as an Evidence against those of their own Religion : who replyed , You know not the mistery of it , time will make you more sensible , and this at last will be fathered upon Shaftsbury and his Gang , meaning the Presbyterians , &c. We had other Discourses at that time , which I shall here omit , till a more apt opportunity ; and the rather , since I intend nothing more by this , but only to give a general Satisfaction , that I Swore nothing against the said St. Lawrence but what was truth , and from which I will never Recede : For I had rather Perish ( nay worse if any thing can be ) for truths sake , than by denying it obtain innumerable Riches : For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul ? And although the Papists are pleased disingeniously , as also dishonestly to slander and reproach me , yet do I take but little notice of them , because if we do but look back into their Actions , 't is easily discovered how many Tricks and Contrivances they have both Studied and Practised , and to no other end , intent or purpose , than to disparage and make Invalid real Evidence , that so they might obscure from being made known their Notorious , Inhumane and Hellish designs : for certain it is , those that Act any thing in Defence of his Majesty , or preservation of the Protestant Religion , or to detect their black Designs , are either brought upon the Stage , and Witnesses Suborned to Swear against them , that they Conspired the Death of the King , and to introduce an Arbltrary Government , &c. Or else they are Barbarously Murder'd , as was that Worthy and late English Martyr Sir Edmondbury Godfrey , who for all the Pretensions they have made use of to blind the Eyes of the vulgar sort , by saying he was accessary to his own Death , by running a Rapier through his Body ; yet was his Life undoubtedly taken away by those bloody Miscreants : For those that are so Impious to be culpable of such Contrivances , will be so cunning as to Study some Shift or Equivocation to evade it , if their Villanies should come to be called in question , yet let them use all their Shifts , Sham-plots , Subornations , and likewise Imploy all the help and Subtilty of their Crafty and King-killing Jesuits , to put the burthen and weight of their Diabolical Confederacies upon the poor Protestants ; I say notwithstanding all those devices , the Omnipotent God is so just , that in due time he will unmask all their Proceedings , and Paint them and their Rogueries out in their own Colours : in the interim let us content our selves with this ordinary Gramatical saying , Quicquid sub Terra est in Apricum proferet Etas : 'T is strange to think what Assurances these Caterpillars of the Earth proposed to themselves for the Extirpation of the Protestant , and Reestablishment of their bloody Romish Religion : and albeit so many of their Fathers have Suffered by the hands of publick Justice , the just rewards of their Demerits ; yet how confidently do they endeavour to wipe off their too too deep dyed Guiltiness , by Proclaiming it a Presbyterian Plot , and that the Dissenters of the Church of England were dissatisfied with the Kingly Government , and their old Rebellious tricks of raising a Civil War was beginning again . To that I answer , If it were so , they Condemn the gravest Senators that ever were , and upbraid them with Injustice ; I mean the Learned and Judicious Judges &c. of England ; for had there been no Popish Plot , Coleman , Langborn , Whitebread and the rest , would not have taken their last Farewells at Tyburn for it : But some Simple Ignorant People will object , that such Learned men as they , would not have wrong'd their poor Souls just at their going out of the World , by Protesting themselves as free as the Child newly born , from those Crimes they died for , if they knew any thing to the contrary : To such Objections I say thus , that not long since my self and a worthy Gentleman who dyed very lately , being together in Company with a Popish Priest , and discoursing this point of those that dyed in England , ( which I just now mentioned ) without a general acknowledgment of the Crimes they died for , the said Priest told us , that just before their Executions , they Confess all and every thing to some Father Confessor or other , who immediately Absolves them from all their Sins whatsoever , and gives them power to deny all in publick at their said Executions : ( the Priest that told me this , was one Vicar Mackaw , and the Gentleman then in my Company Dr. Wyat ) and for so doing they are assured to be Cannonized for Saints , and Recorded as Martyrs in their black Registers at Rome . I presume Persons of Loyal and honest principles , well wishers of his Sacred Majesty and the Protestant Religion , needs not require much time to understand and dive into the mystery of their Endeavouring to throw off the whole Plot upon the Presbyterians , as is aforesaid , by reason 't is so near of Kind to the usual and Accustomed pollicies of those sort of Cattle ( I mean the infamous famous Jesuits ) who aim at nothing so much , as to breed a Dissention betwixt our Dread Soveraign and his Subjects , ( which God grant never may be ) that they may like Wolves appear in Sheeps Cloathing , and inwardly Smile at our Misfortunes , and on a sudden Strike home that blow they have so long desired , nay , endeavoured to Accomplish ; but I do not doubt , at least I hope , that the People of England are so firmly grounded in their Loyalty and Obedience to their most Gracious King , and also so sensible of the Miseries that attended them in the late unhappy and unnatural differences , that they will Sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes in the Defence and Right of his most Sacred Person , against all Rebellions and Plots whatsoever . I suppose I need not say anymore at present concerning the Inveteracy of the Papists in general against the Protestants , it being well known in these Times ; yet I thought it necessary to Insert this , that by reason of Dean Burges's coming to visit me , and confirm me in the Protestant Religion , they have been pleased since to say , that he was something too busie with me about St. Lawrence's Business , and that they believed he much Encouraged me in it : To such Reports I answer as followeth , viz. The said Dean Burges never came to me but he Discoursed much to the ensuing purpose , That if the Information given in by me against St. Lawrence were true , in the Name of God I should go on with it ; on the contrary said he , if it be a thing of your own devising , Confess it humbly before God , and ask him Forgiveness , ( perhaps he may Forgive you ; ) if it be a false thing , you will be a miserable Creature ; and oftentimes he said , As he would not Encourage me in an unjust Action , so would he not Discourage me in a Just ; however mind , you have a Soul which must once render an Account to God for all your Actions both good and bad : And how far the same Dean was from setting me on to form my Information against St. Lawrence , let the Reader judge : for I take God to Witness , he knew nothing of it , till after the said Priest was in Custody ; and if I am not much mistaken , he was at that time in the Countrey , ( where his Benefits lyes . ) Another thing of the aforesaid Dean comes afresh into my Memory , viz. He told me several times before he Administred the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper to me , that it was better for me to Eat and Drink so much Poyson , if I had Injured St. Lawrence , and should come to the Table with such Guilt upon my Conscience . In the next place these Papists declare , that what I did , was to get my Enlargement , and that I was hired to it by the Presbyterians , which is like the rest of their Aspersions ; for God , who knows the Secrets of all Hearts , and before whom I must one day give an Account , well knows that I neither did it in hopes of a Liberty , or any other temporal Reward , nor was I set on , advised to it , or had the least Encouragement from any Soul breathing , but that it was my free and voluntary Act , and that I had no other end in doing of it , than to discharge a good Conscience , and that I may be the better understood , I beseech God that I may never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven , nor to enjoy Everlasting Bliss , if ever I saw Mr. Harrison or Mr. Jack the Persons that St. Lawrence would have Suborned me to Swear against , from the time of my Creation to this very day , to the best of my knowledge : neither did I ever so much as receive a Letter from them , or either of them . I further hereby Certifie and Declare , that I know nothing of any Plot , Contrivance or Design against our most Gracious King , or the Government either in Church or State , but that of the Papists , whose devilish treacherous and bloody Stratagems , I humbly beseech that God in his due time will Convert to their own Destructions . Should I write ten times as much more as is contained in this Paper , it would all be tending to one and the same Effect : therefore I shall conclude ; but first humbly Pray the Almighty to send length of Dayes , Health , Wealth and Prosperity to our Soveraign Lord King Charles , &c. And in Testimony of the truth hereof , I have hereunto set my Hand this 11 th day of February , Anno Dom. 1681. William Smith . Witness , George Harrison , William Boswell , William Stuart , Nathaniel Dancer , Quintin Moore . London , Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Pater-Noster-Row . 1682.