down as guilty of a design to murder the two royal brothers, could not, even in the judgment of persons much less accustomed than Sir John to palliate the crimes of princes, be looked upon as an act of blameable severity; but it was thought, perhaps, that for the purpose of conveying a calumny upon the persons concerned, or accused of being concerned, in the Rye-house plot, an affected censure upon the government would be the fittest vehicle.'

The fact itself, that Rumbold did, in his last hours, solemnly deny the having been concerned in any project for assassinating the King or Duke, has not, I believe, been questioned.* It is not invalidated by the silence of some historians: it is confirmed by the misrepresentation of others. The first question that naturally presents itself, must be, was this declaration true? The asseverations of dying men have always had, and will always have, great influence upon the minds of those who do not push their ill opinion of mankind to the most outrageous and unwarrantable length; but though the weight of such asseverations be in all cases great, it will not be in all equal. It is material therefore to consider, first, what are the circumstances which may tend in particular cases to diminish their credit ;

*It is confirmed, beyond contradiction, by Lord Fountainhall's account of his trial and execution. Vide Appendix. E.

spe

and next, how far such circumstances appear to have
existed in the case before us. The case where this
cies of evidence would be the least convincing, would
be where hope of pardon is entertained; for then the
man is not a dying man in the sense of the proposition,
for he has not that certainty that his falsehood will not
avail him, which is the principal foundation of the cre-
dit due to his assertions. For the same reason, though
in a less degree, he who hopes for favour to his children,
or to other surviving connections, is to be listened to
with some caution; for the existence of one virtue, does
not necessarily prove that of another, and he who loves
his children and friends may yet be profligate and un-
principled, or, deceiving himself, may think, that
while his ends are laudable, he ought not to hesitate
concerning the means. Besides these more obvious
temptations to prevarication, there is another, which,
though it may lie somewhat deeper, yet experience
teaches us to be rooted in human nature. I mean that
sort of obstinacy, or false shame, which makes men so
unwilling to retract what they have once advanced,
whether in matter of opinion, or of fact. The general
character of the man is also in this, as in all other hu-
man testimony, a circumstance of the greatest moment.
Where none of the above mentioned objections occur,
and where, therefore, the weight of evidence in question
is confessedly considerable, yet is it still liable to be
balanced or outweighed by evidence in the opposite
scale.

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III.

1685.

CHAPTER
III.

1685.

apparently true.

Let Rumbold's declaration then, be examined upon these principles, and we shall find that it has every character of truth, without a single circumstance to discreHis testimony dit it. He was so far from entertaining any hope of par don, that he did not seem even to wish it; and indeed, if he had had any such chimerical object in view, he must have known, that to have supplied the government with a proof of the Rye-house Assassination plot, would be a more likely road at least, than a steady denial, to obtain it. He left none behind him, for whom to entreat favour, or whose welfare or honour were at all affected by any confession or declaration he might make. If, in a prospective view, he was without temptation, so neither if he looked back, was he fettered by any former declaration; so that he could not be influenced by that erroneous notion of consistency, to which, it may be feared, that truth, even in the most awful moments, has in some cases been sacrificed. His timely escape, in sixteen hundred and eighty-three, had saved him from the necessity of making any protestation upon the subject of his innocence at that time; and the words of the letter to Walcot are so far from containing such a protestation, that they are quoted, (very absurdly, it is true,) by Sir John Dalrymple, as an avowal of guilt. If his testimony is free from these particular objections, much less is it impeached by his general character, which was that of a bold and daring man, who was very unlikely to feel shame in avowing what he had not

been ashamed to commit, and who seems to have taken a delight in speaking bold truths, or at least what appeared to him to be such, without regarding the manner in which his hearers were likely to receive them. With respect to the last consideration, that of the opposite evidence, it all depends upon the veracity of men, who, according to their own account, betrayed their comrades, and were actuated by the hope either of pardon or reward.

CHAPTER

III.

1685.

the fact.

It appears to be of the more consequence to clear up Importance of this matter, because, if we should be of opinion, as I think we all must be, that the story of the intended assassination of the King, in his way from Newmarket, is as fabulous as that of the silver bullets by which he was to have been shot at Windsor, a most singular train of reflections will force itself upon our minds, as well in regard to the character of the times, as to the means by which the two causes gained successively the advantage over each other. The Royalists had found it impossible to discredit the fiction, gross as it was, of the Popish plot; nor could they prevent it from being a powerful engine in the hands of the Whigs, who, during the alarm raised by it, gained an irresistible superiority in the House of Commons, in the City of London, and in most parts of the kingdom. But they who could not quiet a false alarm raised by their adversaries, found little or no difficulty in raising one equally

CHAPTER
III.

1685.

Monmouth's invasion.

false in their own favour, by the supposed detection of the intended assassination. With regard to the advantages derived to the respective parties from those detestable fictions, if it be urged, on one hand, that the panick spread by the Whigs was more universal, and more violent in its effects, it must be allowed, on the other, that the advantages gained by the Tories were, on account of their alliance with the Crown, more durable and decisive. There is a superior solidity ever belonging to the power of the Crown, as compared with that of any body of men or party, or even with either of the other branches of the legislature. A party has influence, but, properly speaking, no power. The Houses of Parliament have abundance of power, but, as bodies, little or no influence. The Crown has both power and influence, which, when exerted with wisdom and steadiness, will always be found too strong for any opposition whatever, till the zeal and fidelity of party attachments shall be found to increase in proportion to the increased influence of the executive power.

While these matters were transacting in Scotland, Monmouth, conformably to his promise to Argyle, set sail from Holland, and landed at Lyme in Dorsetshire on the eleventh of June. He was attended by Lord Grey of Wark, Fletcher of Salton, Colonel Matthews, Ferguson, and a few other gentlemen. His reception was, among the lower ranks, cordial, and for some days, at