OATES, (alias AMBROSE,) Thus, was the son of a ribbon weaver, who, having first become an Anabaptist minister under Cromwell, took orders and a benefice in the English church after the restoration. Titus appears to have been born about 1620 in London. He was a pupil of Merchant Taylor's school, whence he passed to Trinity college, Cam bridge, took received a small living from the duke of Norfolk. This position, however, he forfeited, in consequence of a malicious prosecution, in which he narrowly escaped conviction for perjury; and having been afterwards appointed to the chaplaincy of one of the king's ships, he was expelled form it on a charge still more disgraceful. In this extremity he conformed to the Roman Catholic church, and was admitted as a scholar of the Jesuits' college at Valladolid; but was expelled for misconduct after trial of a few months. lie was again received by the Jesuits, on his earnest protestation] of repentance, at St. Omer, where he was no less unsuccessful, and was finally dismissed by them in the early part of 1678. He now, as a mere vagabond adventurer, set himself to live by his wits. in the evil exercise of which he about this time, the atrocious scheme with which his name is identified in history. Just then great excite. went and alarm pervaded the Protestant party in England. It was well known that Charles was at heart a Roman Catholic; and his brother, the duke of York, after wards James II., was an active and avowed zealot on the same side. The growing con fidence of the Roman Catholics was unconcealed; and with or without instant reason, the cry so often since heard arose, and was everywhere re-echoed that the "Protestant religion was in danger." In this fevered state of general feeling, Oates saw his oppor tunity, and dexterously and boldly availed himself of it. He communicated to the authorities the details of a pretended plot, the figment of his own brain, the main ele ments of which were a rising of the Catholic party, a general massacre of Protestants. the burning of the city of London. the assassination of the king, and the invasion of Ireland by a French army. In certain of its items the fiction was devised with considerable ingenuity to catch the proper belief. By the strangest coincidence, moreover, there just then occurred in aid of it a series of events which seemed conclusively to attest its genuineness. A correspondence, the object of which was the propagation of the Roman Cathoic religion, came to light between the secretary of the duke of York and Pere La Chaise, the confessor and confidant of Louis XIV. Hanby, the prime minister, it also appeared, had been busy with intrigues iu the same quarter. Finally, Godfrey, the zealous magistrate through whom publicity was first given to "the plot," was found mysteriously murdered. After this, could reasonable doubt exist? Was not the English St. Bartholomew already begun. All London went wild with fear and rage; and it seemed at one time likely that a massacre of Roman Catholics would be substituted for the dreaded extermination of the Protestants. The parliament, which might have done
something to allay the excitement, was itself swept headlong away by it. The king alone, whose life was threatened, but who, dissolute and indolent as lie was, wanted neither courage nor shrewdness;..mueh to.hishonor„ scorafullyiasisted that the plot was merely some insane delusion, and tried, so far as he could, to control the excesses which fol. lowed. Too probably his interference was of the characteristically• easy, insouciant kind; in any case, it did not avail. The story of Oates was universally believed and he became the popular hero of the.day. A pension of £900 a year was granted him; a suite of apartments in the palace at Whitehall was set apart as sacred to his use and wher ever he went, the Protestant public wildly cheered him as their savior. With the aid of a set of suborned ruffians, only one degree less foul than himself, convictions of his victims were readily obtained, judges and juries vying with each other in their unques tioning reception iu evidence of the grossest and most manifest perjuries; and ninny innocent Roman Catholic gentlemen died the death of traitors the block. Over the space of two years, the base success of Oates was signalized by a series of judicial mur ders. Naturally, however, as reason resumed its sway, doubts began to be felt; and on the execution of a venerable and respected nobleman, viscount Stafford, wills a strong shock of pity and remorse, public suspicion awoke, and a violent reaction set in. It was only, however, on the accession of James II., in 1685, that retribution overtook the malefactor. Active steps against him were then taken. fle was tried before the court of king's bench. Convicted of perjury, and sentenced to be pilloried, whipped at the cart's tail, and afterwards imprisoned for life. We might wonder a little at the leniency of the sentence, were it not thus to be explained: it was intended that the severity of the first two items of punishment should render the last one superfluous, and that the wretch should die under the lash of the exe cutioner. But the hide of Oates was beyond calculation tough ; and horribly lacerated, yet living, his carcass was conveyed to the prison, from which it was meant never more to issue. Very strangely, however, the next turn of the political wheel brought back the monster to the light of clay and to prosperity. When the revolution of 1088 placed William on the throne, the Protestant influence triumphed once more. In the outburst of enthusiasm which ensued, what more natural than that Oates should be glorified as a Protestant martyr? Parliament solemnly declared his trial an illegal one; he was pardoned, and obtained his liberty; and in order to his perfect enjoyment of it, a pension of £300 a year was granted him. He was, however, no more heard of; he passed his 17 remaining years in obscurity, and died in in 1705 at the good old age of 8th.