Accordingly, on the
28th of the month, Tonge and Oates were summoned before it, when
the latter, making many additions to his narrative, solemnly
affirmed its truth. Aghast at so horrible a relation, the
council knew not what to credit. The evil reputation Oates had
borne, the baseness of character he revealed in detailing his
actions as a spy, the mysterious manner in which the fanatical
Tonge accounted for his possession of the document, tended to
make many doubt; whilst others, believing no man would have the
hardihood to bring forward such charges without being able to
sustain them by proof, contended it was their duty to sift them
to the end. Believing if he had been entrusted with secret
letters and documents of importance, he would naturally retain
some of them in order to prove his intended charges, the council
asked Oates to produce them; but of these he had not one to show.
Nor, he confessed, could he then furnish proof of his words, but
promised if he were provided with a guard, and given officers and
warrants, he would arrest certain persons concerned in the plot,
and seize secret documents such as none could dispute. These
being granted him, he immediately caused eight Jesuits to be
apprehended and imprisoned. Then he commenced a search for
treasonable letters, not only in their houses, but in the homes
of such catholics as were noted for their zeal. His
investigations were awaited with impatience; nor were they
without furnishing some pretext for his accusations.
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