The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1857-02-25
From Maedutay's History Of England.
THE END OF TITUS OATES.


The general result OF the election exceeded
The most sanguine expectations of the court
James found with delight that il would be
unnecessary for him TO expend farlhng in
buying votes. He said that, with The excsp.
ton of about forty members, the House Of
Commons was such as he himself should
have named; and this House of Commons
ii was in his power as the law then stood,
10 keep 10 The end of his reign.
Secure OF parliamentary support, he might
now indulge in the luxury of revenge. His
nature was not placable; and while still a
subject, he had suffered some injuries and
indignl!ies which might move even plaza.
bic nature 10 fierce and lasting resentment.
One set of men, in particular, had with a
baseness and cruelty beyond all example
and all description, attacked his honor and
his life, the witnesses Of the plot. He may
well be excused for hating them, since, even
at This day, the mention of their names ex-
cites the disgust and horror Of all secls and
parties.
Some of these wretches were already be-.
yond the reach of human justice. Bedloe
had died in his wickedness, without one
sign Of remorse or shame. Dugdae Lad fol-
lowed 10 the grave, driven mad, men said, /,
by the iuries of an evil conscience, and with
loud shricks imploring those who stood
round his bed 10 take away Lord Stafford
Cars,airs, loo, was gone. His end was all
horror and despair; and with his last breath,
he had told his attendant TO throw hm into
ditch like dog, for that he was moi fiji 10
sleep in a Christian burial ground. Blu,
Oates and Danserfe!d were still within the
reach OF the stern prince whom they had
wronged. James, short time before his &C.
cesson, had Instituted civil suit against
Oates for defama,ory words, and the jury
had given damages to the enormous amount
of hundred thousand pounds. Tho de.
fendant had been taken in execution, and
was lying in prison as debtor, without
hope of release. Two bills of Indictment
agains: him for perjury had been found by
the grand jury of Middesex n few weeks
before the death of Charles. Soon after the
close of the elections the trials came on.
Among the upper and middle classes
Oates had scarcely friend left. All intei-
gent Wings were now convinced that, even
if his narrative had some foundation in fact,
he had erected on that foundation vas. su.
pers,rucluie Oh romauee. s.Sr>slct ~
number of low fanatics, however, still, re.
garded him as public benefac,or These
people we'll knew that, if he were convicted
his sentence would be one Of extreme Sc.
verify, and were therefore indefagable in
their endeavors 10 manage an escape
Though as yet in confinement, only for debt,
he was put in irons by the authorities of the
Kiug's Bench prisou; and even so he was
with difficulty kept in safe custody. The
maslif that guarded his door was poisoned
and, on the very night preceding his trial, a
ladder Of ropes was introduced into his cell.
On the day on which he was brought to
the bar, Westminster Hall was crowded with
spectators, umong whom were many Roman
Catholics, eager 10 see the misery ami hu-
initiation of their rersecuior. A few years
earlier, his short neck, his legs uneven as
those of a badger, his forehead low as that
of baboon, his purple cheeks, and his mon
strous length of chin, had been familiar to
all who had frequenled the courts of law
He had been the idol OF the nation. Where
ever he had appeared, men had uncovered
their heads to him. The lives ard estates
of the m magnates of the realm had been al
his mercy. Times had now changed and
many who had formerly regarded him as the
deliver of his country, shuddered at lhe SIGH
of those hideous features on which villany
seemed 10 be written by the hand of God.
1t was proved beyond all possibility o
doubt, that this man had, by false testimony,
deliberately murdered several guilless per.
sons. He called in vain on the most emf.
nent members of the Parliament which hod
rewarded and extolleG him TO give evidence
in his favor. Some Of those whom he had
summoned absen,ed themselves. None Of
them said any thing tending TO his vindica-
uon. One OF them, the Earl of Huntingdon,
bitterly reproached him with having deceiv-
ed the houses, and drawn on them the guilt
of shedding innocent blood, The judges
browbeat and revied the prisoner with an
intemperance which, even in the most afro
cious cases, i'll becomes The judicial charac-
Ter. He betrayed, however, no sign OF fear
or of shame, and faced the storm Of invec-
tive which burst upon him from bar bench,
and witness box with the insolence of de-
spair. He was convicted on both indict-
ments. His offence, though in moral
light, murder of the most aggravated kind,
was, in the eye Of the law, merely misde-
meanor. The tribunal, however, was de.
sirous 10 make his punishment more severe
than that of felons or traitors, and not merely
10 put him TO death, but to put him 10 death
by frightfu torments. He was sentenced 10
be stripped of his clerical habit, 10 be pillo-
ried in Palace Yard, and TO be led round
Westminster Hall with an inscription decla-
ring his infamy over his head, 10 be pilloried
,ga;, in from, of tho poyoI Eychapoe to he