Coleman, the most obnoxious of the conspirators, was first brought to
his trial. His letters were produced against him. They contained, as he
himself confessed, much indiscretion: but unless so far as it is illegal
to be a zealous Catholic, they seemed to prove nothing criminal, much
less treasonable against him. Gates and Bedloe deposed, that he had
received a commission, signed by the superior of the Jesuits, to be
Papal secretary of state, and had consented to the poisoning, shooting,
and stabbing of the king: he had even, according to Oates's deposition,
advanced a guinea to promote those bloody purposes. These wild stories
were confounded with the projects contained in his letters; and Coleman
received sentence of death. The sentence was soon after executed
upon him.[*] He suffered with calmness and constancy, and to the last
persisted in the strongest protestations of his innocence.
Coleman's execution was succeeded by the trial of Father Ireland, who,
it is pretended, had signed, together with fifty Jesuits, the great
resolution of murdering the king. Grove and Pickering, who had
undertaken to shoot him, were tried at the same time. The only witnesses
against the prisoners were still Gates and Bedloe.
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