Rye House Plot of the degree to which details of the conspiracy were finalised. Whatever the state of the assassination plot, plans to mount a rebellion against the Stuart monarchy were being entertained by some opposition leaders in England, and the government cracked down hard on those in a series of state trials, accompanied with repressive measures and widespread searches for arms. The Plot presaged, and may have hastened, the rebellions of 1685, the Monmouth Rebellion and Argyll's Rising. After the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660 there was concern among some members of Parliament, former republicans and sections of
Popish Plot time "began to think that there might be somewhat in the Plot". However, public opinion began to turn against Oates. As Kenyon points out, the steady protestations of innocence by all of those who were executed eventually took hold on the public mind. Further, outside London the priests who died were almost all venerable and popular members of the community, and there was widespread public horror at their executions. Even Lord Shaftesbury came to regret the mass executions, and is said to have quietly ordered the release of certain priests whose families he knew. Attempts to extend the plot into