Barbarous Murder of the late Earl of Essex, or a Vindication of that Noble Personage from the Guilt and Infamy of having destroyed Himself.’ On 4 June sentence of outlawry was passed against him for his connection with the assassination plot. In the proclamation issued 2 Aug. 1683 for Ferguson's apprehension he is described as follows: ‘A tall lean man, dark brown hair, a great Roman nose, thin jawed, heat in his face, speaks in the Scotch tone, a sharp piercing eye, stoops a little in the shoulders; he hath a shuffling gait that differs from all men; wears his periwig down almost over his eyes; about 45 or 46 years old.’
Ferguson was one of the eighty-two who sailed from the Texel with Monmouth on his expedition to the west of England, holding the position of chaplain to the army, and acting in the capacity of Monmouth's secretary and adviser. He was the author of the manifesto circulated by Monmouth on his landing, in which King James was denounced as a popish usurper and tyrant, and accused of having contrived not merely the death of the Earl of Essex, but of his brother the late king. Monmouth afterwards asserted that Ferguson drew it up and made him sign it without having read it (Sir John Bramston, Autobiography, p. 188). It was generally believed to be on Ferguson's advice that Monmouth assumed the royal title, but Ferguson asserts that he ‘disputed against the conveniency of it at that juncture with all the strength and vigour of mind’ that he could. After the battle of Sedgmoor Ferguson, with his usual luck or wariness, succeeded, after lying for some time in concealment on the west coast, in reaching Holland in safety. His escapes have been attributed to his having all along been in communication with the government, but this may be regarded as disproved by the fact that he was excepted from the amnesty of 10 March 1686, and also from the general pardon of 1688. In Holland he wrote in January 1688 ‘A Vindication of Monsr. Fagel's Letter,’ in which he asserted that a ‘revolution will come with a witness; and its like may come before the Prince of Wales be of age to manage an unruly spirit which I fear will accompany it.’ In the expedition of William of Orange there was less scope for Ferguson's abilities in intrigue, and, although he accompanied it, he was probably regarded chiefly as a necessary evil. His services were to some extent utilised in influencing the dissenters, but he does not appear to have ever been taken much into confidence by the counsellors of William. Nevertheless he took up his pen on the prince's behalf, publishing ‘An Answer to Mr. Penn's Advice to the Church of England,’ and a ‘Representation of Threatening Dangers impending over Protestants in Great Britain before the coming of his Highness the Prince of Orange.’ At Exeter his chagrin at his subordinate place in the prince's expedition, compared with his dominant influence in Monmouth's counsels, seems to have got the better of his discretion. When Burnet was officiating before the prince in the cathedral, Ferguson asked to preach in the presbyterian church. The keys were refused him, whereupon he resolved, in his own words, to ‘take the kingdom of heaven by violence,’ and, having broken open the door, ascended the pulpit sword in hand, and preached from the sixteenth verse of the 94th Psalm, ‘Who will rise up for me against evildoers?’ After the flight of James, Ferguson published ‘The Justification of the Prince of Orange his Descent, and for settling the Crown upon him on the foot that King James had abdicated.’ The only reward he obtained for such industrious exertions was that of housekeeper at the excise, worth about 400l. a year (Luttrell, i. 515). From a pamphlet published at this time, entitled, ‘R. Ferguson's Apology for his Transactions the last ten years both in England and Foreign Parts,’ in which he lets the world know that his ‘more enlightened understanding’ had sufficiently convinced him of his ‘overhasty and prejudicial censure of the discipline of the church of England as it now stands by law established,’ it is not improbable that he was inclined to regard promotion to a bishopric as a fitting reward. In any case his change from fanatical antipathy towards the government of James II to enthusiastic support of the Jacobites was suspiciously sudden. The conversion, if it changed his political sentiments, made no change in his habits and disposition. In the ‘History of the Revolution,’ published in 1706, he declares his opinion that the revolution, ‘instead of being an effort in favour of the protestant religion and civil liberty … was a deep and successful design of the Vatican for the advancement of popery throughout the whole of Europe;’ but his conscientious objections to the government of William did not prevent him enjoying as long as he was permitted the emoluments he had obtained by his services on its behalf. He was concerned in the Montgomery plot, and was apprehended on suspicion; but, it being impossible to obtain sufficient evidence against him, he was discharged. He then entered into close communication with the court at St. Germain, and became a leading agent in the intrigues for subverting the government of William. On the news reaching the government of the attempted Jacobite
