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Newton's greatest triumph as the king's attorney was against [[William Chaloner]]. One of Chaloner's schemes was to set up phony conspiracies of [[Catholicism|Catholics]] and then turn in the hapless conspirators whom he entrapped. Chaloner made himself rich enough to posture as a gentleman. Petitioning [[Parliament of England|Parliament]], Chaloner accused the Mint of providing tools to counterfeiters (a charge also made by others). He proposed that he be allowed to inspect the Mint's processes in order to improve them. He petitioned Parliament to adopt his plans for a coinage that could not be counterfeited, while at the same time striking false coins. Newton was outraged, and went about the work to uncover anything about Chaloner. During his studies, he found that Chaloner was engaged in counterfeiting. He immediately put Chaloner on trial, but Mr Chaloner had friends in high places, and to Newton's horror, Chaloner walked free. Newton put him on trial a second time with conclusive evidence. Chaloner was convicted of [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]] and [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] on [[March 23]] [[1699]] at [[Tyburn, London|Tyburn gallows]].<ref>Westfall 1980, pp. 571-5</ref>
==Enlightenment philosophers==
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