[594] Ibid. 76.
[595] House of Lords MSS. 8, November 6, 1678.
[596] House of Lords MSS. 14.
[597] This misunderstanding is so extraordinary that I was tempted at one time to adopt the theory that the prosecution was aware of the existence of the later letters, and suppressed the knowledge from motives of expedience. Certainly the managers of the prosecutions for the plot were guilty of conduct which not only would now be thought unprofessional, but was on any consideration highly suspicious, as for instance in the suppression of the forged letters sent by Oates and Tonge to Father Bedingfield (see Ralph i. 384. Sir G. Sitwell, The First Whig 36), and on a question of honesty simply the balance of probability might turn against them. But the supposition cannot be maintained. It was suggested at the time that, if the letters of the years 1673, 1674, 1675 contained such dangerous matter as appeared from their perusal, those of the three ensuing years must, had they been found, have revealed still more horrible schemes. But the force of this argument was not sufficient to afford a motive for taking the risk of detection (Ralph i. 412). And although the personality of Shaftesbury, by whom alone such a scheme could have been worked out, was of great potency in the committee of the House of Lords, he hardly dominated it so completely as to render the manœuvre practicable in the presence of such men as Lord Anglesey, the Marquis of Winchester, and the Bishop of Bath and Wells (House of Lords MSS. i.).
[598] See above 312. 7 State Trials 59.
[599] Ibid. 65.
[600] L.C.J.: “If the cause did turn upon that matter, I would be well content to sit until the book were brought; but I doubt the cause will not stand on that foot; but if that were the case it would do you little good.” 7 State Trials 65.
[601] 7 State Trials 71.
[602] Ibid. 66–68. Besides this he said several other things, of which mention will be made later.
[603] Ibid. 70.