Love's Plot
He became involved in a treasonable correspondence with the Presbyterians of Scotland to restore Charles II. Love, with many others, was arrested on 7 May 1651. Others caught up included: John Angier and other Manchester presbyterians, imprisoned in Liverpool; Thomas Cawton the elder; Arthur Jackson; William Jenkyn; Ralph Robinson; Thomas Watson.
A Colonel Silius Titus had been commissioned by certain presbyterians to carry letters to Henrietta Maria in France; the queen's replies were conveyed by Colonel Ashworth, and were read in Love's house in London. On 18 December 1650 a pass was obtained for Love's wife to enable her to proceed to Amsterdam. Further, Love had received letters from Scottish presbyterians who were friendly to Charles II, and consultations had been held in his house (among other places) regarding the demands made on the English presbyterians by Argyll and others for money for the purchase of arms.
Love was ordered to be arrested on 14 May 1651, and was committed close prisoner to the Tower of London for high treason. He was tried before the high court of justice in late June, and 5 July, defended by Matthew Hale; presiding at the trial was Richard Keble. He was condemned to be executed on 16 July. Robert Hammond then wrote to Oliver Cromwell asking for leniency for Love. He was subsequently reprieved for a month, and then again for a week. To the last of Love's petitions to the parliament, 16 August, he appended a narrative of the whole plot, in which he virtually acknowledges all the charges made against him at the trial.
Read more about this topic: Christopher Love
Famous quotes containing the words love and/or plot:
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Our horsemanships, while by strange work I prove
A horseman to my horse, a horse to Love,”
—Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
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—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)