A RESCUE 55

“That is so, but we cannot prove it. The matter is so
cunningly laid, I see no way to pick a hole in it. We are
Jacobites, and as such long regarded as objects of suspicion
by the Whig magistrates and others. There have been
other plots against William’s life, in which men of seeming
reputation have been concerned. ‘This man’s story will be
confirmed by the man who set him on, and by other hidden
papers if necessary. As to the discovery of the documents,
we may know well enough that the fellow himself put them
there, but we have no manner of proof of it. It is evident
that there is nothing for us but to leave the country, and to
await the time when the king shall have his own again. My
other friends, who were with me this afternoon when the
news came from Lancaster, all agreed that it would be
throwing away our lives to stay here. We all have money
by us, for each has for years laid by something for the
time when money will be required to aid the king on his
arrival.

“Having agreed to take this course, we drew up a docu-
ment, which we all signed, and which will be sent in when
we have got clear away. In it we declare that being
informed that accusations of being concerned in a plot
against the life of William of Orange have been brought
against us, we declare solemnly before God that we, and
also Sir Marmaduke Carstairs and his son, are wholly inno-
cent of the charge, and that although we do not hesitate to
declare that we consider the title of the said William to be
king of this realm to be wholly unfounded and without
reason, and should therefore take up arms openly against it
on behalf of our sovereign did occasion offer, yet that we
hold assassination in abhorrence, and that the crime with
which we are charged is as hateful in our sight as in that
of any Whig gentleman. As, however, we are charged, as
we learn, by evilly disposed and wicked persons, of this
design, and have no means of proving our innocence, we