Tonge then took two crucial decisions: firstly he persuaded Oates to swear to the truth of his allegations before the much respected magistrate, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey. Secondly he persuaded the King and Danby to put the matter before a full meeting of the Privy Council. At the hearing Tonge himself made a bad impression: his reputation for madness was well known, and he was "altogether smiled at ". Oates on the other hand gave a superb performance: so detailed and convincing was his story that the Council ordered the arrest of all the leading Jesuits accused, as well as Edward Coleman, former secretary to the Duke of York (later James II & VII.) The news of this, followed by the murder of Godfrey, caused public hysteria to erupt.