From January 1676 to January 1678 a correspondence was steadily maintained between Coleman and Cardinal Howard at Rome either personally or by his secretary Leybourn, and a letter from Leybourn seized on its arrival bore the date October 1, 1678. Shortly before, a “very dark, suspicious letter,” dated September 28, 1678, had been seized on delivery. Coleman even received letters from Italy after his arrest by the help of his wife. The last doubts on the subject are resolved by the evidence of his secretary, Jerome Boatman, taken before the committee of the House of Lords: “I was employed to write home and foreign news. The correspondence was held on until my master was taken. There came letters by post since my master was taken. I delivered the letters to my mistress to carry to my master after he was under the messenger’s hands.”[595] Belief in the dying vows of the Jesuits and their friends is perhaps scarcely strengthened by Coleman’s conduct in this matter. It is remarkable that the means taken for the preparation of the case were so haphazard that the crown lawyers had no knowledge of such valuable material as was in the hands of the committee of the upper house; and it is small testimony to the capacity of the noble lords who negotiated the business of the committee with the Attorney-General[596] that the latter should have been entirely ignorant of its existence.[597] Throughout his trial Coleman was treated neither more nor less fairly than any other prisoner in any crown case of the period. The practice of the day weighed heavily against him. He did not receive nor could he expect any favour from it. Neither was he met by any special disfavour on political or any other grounds. One point of his defence however should undoubtedly have received more consideration than it did. Oates had charged him with paying a guinea as an extra fee for the king’s murder, “about the 21st day of August.”[598] Almost at the end of the trial, after the final speeches for the prosecution, Coleman announced that if his diary were fetched from his lodgings he could prove that he had been out of town from the 10th of August until the last day of the month.[599] His servant was called, but was unable to do more than say generally that he had been away from London during part of August. With the book, said the prisoner, he would be able to prove his statement exactly; but the Chief Justice would not allow it to be brought, on the ground that even if what he said were true, little would be gained to him.[600] This was no doubt true. Apart from the evidence of Oates, the testimony of Bedloe and his own letters were enough to hang the prisoner, and if Oates’ word had been shaken in this point it would have been but little benefit to Coleman. But a great mistake was made by the court. To have proved a perjury against Oates so early in his career of witness would have inflicted a lasting injury on his