and 't is like more are vacant since It is true the Church has power to nominate Bishops without the consent of the Civil Magistrate but then they must not expect the Temporalities which are the Gifts or Grants of Kings and such Bishops and Clergy must intirely depend on the voluntary Contributions of their People for their maintenance and on their voluntary submission for their Juisdiction And here the Protestant Clergy had the greatest reason in the world to complain of King James to set him on the Throne the Clergy disobliged many of their People and he in requital deprived them of all other Worldly Support or Power besides what must depend on the free choice of those very People whom for his sake they had not only disobliged but likewise help'd to bring under many Inconveniencies SECT XVI 2. King James took away the maintenance of the present Protestant Clergy 1. BUT King James did not only endeavour to hinder the Education and Succession of the Protestant Clergy but he likewise took away all their present maintenance Immediately upon his coming to the Crown their Popish Parishioners began to deny the payment of Book-moneies which is a considerable part of the Ecclesiastical Revenue of Ireland a great part of the Tithes of Ireland are impropriate in some Places the whole Tythes in many Two third Parts and in most the one half and there is little left for the Vicar that serves the Cure except it be the Third part of the Tythes or the small Fees due out of Burials Marriages or Easter Offerings these Dues are call'd commonly Book-moneys and though very inconsiderable in themselves yet make a great part and in some Places the whole of what falls to the Vicar's portion against these the Popish Judges declar'd in their Circuits and by their encouragement most People and the Papists universally deny'd to pay them 2. The Priests began to declare that the Tythes belong'd to them and forbad their People to pay them to the Protestant Clergy with this the People complied willingly and for Two years before the late Revolution in England hardly any Tythes were recovered by the Clergy or if any were recovered it was with so much difficulty and cost that they turn'd to very little account 3. They past an Act in their pretended Parliament whereby they took away all Tythes that were payable by Papists and gave them to their own Popish Priests and allow'd them to bring an Action for them at the Common Law to make the recovery of them more easie and yet denyed this to the Protestant Clergy alleadging that they allow'd them still their old means of recovering their Tythes and therefore did them no injury But this was as good as nothing for they had so weaken'd the Ecclesiastical Power and Jurisdiction that it was incapable of compelling the People to obedience and it being necessary to sue out a Writ de excommunicato capiendo in order to force such as were refractory the Popish Chancellor either directly refused to grant the Writ or else laid so many impediments and delays in the way that it cost double the Value of the Tythes sued for to take it out 4. Though they rendered the Protestant Clergy uncapable of enjoying the Tythes of Roman Catholicks yet the Popish Clergy were made capable of enjoying the Protestant Tythes The Case then was thus if a Protestant had a Bishoprick Dignity or other Living by the new Act he must not demand any Tythes or Ecclesiastical Dues from any Roman Catholick and as soon as his Preferment became void by his death cession or absence a Popish Bishop c. was put into the Place and by their Act there needed no more to oblige all Men To repute take and deem a Man to be a Roman Catholick Bishop or Dean of any Place than the King 's signifying him to be so under his Privy Signet and Sign Manual a Power that the Protestants how much soever they magnified the King's Authority never trusted any King with nor other Mortal man whatsoever But as soon as any one became thus Entitled to a Bishoprick c. immediately all the Tythes as well of Protestants as of Papists became due to him with all the Glebes and Ecclesiastical Dues and for the recovery of them he had an Action at Common Law 5. Notwithstanding the Glebes and Protestants Tythes were not given to the Popish Clergy during the incumbency of the present Protestant Incumbents yet the Popish Priests by violence entred on the Glebes where there were any pretending that the King had nothing to do with them and that neither he or his Parliament could hinder the Church of her Rights and this Pretence was so far countenanced that no endeavours whatsoever could get any of these Priests out when once he had gotten possession The Truth is hardly one Parish in ten in the Provinces of Leinster Munster or Connaught have any Glebe left them for either they were never endowed or if they had been at any time endowed with Glebes the many Confusions and new Dispositions of Lands have made them to be forgotten or swallowed up in the Hands of some powerful Parishoners The pretence therefore of the Parliament that they had been kind to the Protestant Clergy in leaving them the Glebes was a meer piece of Hypocrisie since they knew that generally Parishes had no Glebes and that where they had Glebes the Priests would make a shift to get into possession of them without being given to them by the Parliament 6. The same may be said of their leaving some of the Tythes belonging to Protestants for the present to their own Clergy They had so robb'd and plundered the Protestants of the Country that few liv'd or had any thing Tithable in it being forced for their own safety to flee to the Towns and leave their Farms wast if any had Tythes they might pay them if they pleas'd or let it alone for they had left the Protestant Clergy as I shew'd before no way of recovering their Dues Many times the Priests came with a Company of the next quarter'd Dragoons and took the Tythes away by force and this past for a Possession of the Livings and the Protestant Ministers must bring their Leases of Ejectment if they would recover their Possessions or pretend any more to Tythes in those Livings There is a Custom in Ireland whereby some Farmers do agree with their Neighbours to plow their Lands for them on Condition that they afford them a certain quantity of Corn suppose an Half one Third or one Fourth after it is reaped Now Protestants that had Farms in the Country being in no capacity to plow them after their Horses were taken away and their Houses robb'd agreed with their Popish Neighbours to plow their Lands for them according to the Custom of the Country this was enough to Entitle Priests to the Tythes of Lands so plowed and accordingly they seiz'd upon them by force though both the Land
near New-England to check the growing Independents of that Country 14. That the next Parliament being formed as aforesaid great Sums of Money will be given his Majesty Query Whether the Roman Catholick Clergy may not be admitted into the House of Peers this next Parliament or stay a little 15. That for effecting the Premises 't is better his Majesty should govern Ireland by a Committee of such of his Privy Council as approved the Conjunction with France and as are not concern'd in Ireland rather than by the Council of Ireland 16. Let such a Lord Lieutenant be in Ireland who in Inclination and for fear of being displaced will begin this Work of laying the Foundation of his Majesty's Monarchy and hazard his Concernments upon that account 17. That the Army be gradually reform'd and opportunity taken to displace Men not affected to this Settlement and to put into the Army or Garisons in Ireland some fit Persons to begin this Work and likewise Judges upon the Benches 18. Query What Precedents may be found to break the several Farms and to be Master of the Exchequer and pole the Gains of the Bankers Brewers and Farmers 1. Whether the paying of a Fine or Income upon all Grants of Charters Officers and Commanders may not bind and fasten the Grant Duty and Allegiance as with Silver Chains more firmly to the King's Government 2. Whether any Grants may be presumed to be new obtained without paying a great Value at least to some great Officer or Courtier for procuring the same 3. Whether it be not â—â—â—sonable a Year's Value be paid as a grateful Acknowledgment to the Prince's Bounty upon Temporal Grants as First Fruits from Spiritual 4. Whether to reserve such Grants to the immediate dispose of the King be not the Interest of the Crown and a Means to create a closer adherence to the Person of the Prince and so make Monarchy more Absolute and Real instead of factious Dependences on great Men who are often acted more by Self-interest than the Advantage of their Master 5. Whether a considerable Revenue may not be raised to the Crown that if such Courtiers received it upon procuring Grants it were paid to the Private or Privy-Purse 6. Whether the Subject would not more chearfully pay a Years Value or two to the Prince upon passing Grants than to be liable to the unreasonable Exaction of hungry Courtiers who sometimes make a Prey both of the Subject and the Prince's Favour 7. Whether many worthy and deserving Men have not been put by and denied the benefit of his Majesty's Grant by false Insinuation for not gratifying some such viperous Officers 8. Whether his Majesty might not expect to have a fitter Person recommended when there is no Advantage to be made by their Recommendations than when Offices are canted by Courtiers and such only recommended as will give most but the least fit 9. Whether if by the Silver Key Men chance to get admittance into Offices the Prince may not make Advantage by their Misbehaviour since by losing both their Mony and Employment the King will not only get a Fine and better Servants but also gratify the People by displacing an ill One. A Copy of a Letter of the Irish Clergy to King James in favour of the Earl of Tyrconnel Found amongst Bishop Tyrrell's Papers in Dublin SIR SInce it has pleased the Almighty Providence by placing your Majesty in the Throne of your Ancestors to give you both Authority and Occasion of exercising those Royal Vertues which alone do merit and would acquire you the Crown to which you were born We though comprehended in the general Clemency and Indulgence which you extend to the rest of our fellow Subjects are nevertheless so remote from your Majesty's Presence that our Prayers can have no access to you but by a Mediator And since of all others the Earl of Tyrconnel did first espouse and chiefly maintain these Twenty five Years last past the Cause of your poor oppressed Roman Catholick Clergy against our many and powerful Adversaries and is now the only Subject of your Majesty under whose Fortitude and Popularity in this Kingdom we dare chearfully and with assurance own our Loyalty and assert your Majesty's Interest Do make it our humble Suit to your Majesty that you will be pleased to lodg your Authority over us in his Hands to the Terror of the Factious and Encouragement of your faithful Subjects here since his Dependence on your Majesty is so great that we doubt not but that they will receive him with such Acclamations as the long captivated Israelites did their Redeemer Mordecai And since your Majesty in Glory and Power does equal the mighty Ahashuerus and the Vertue and Beauty of your Queen is as true a Parallel to his adored Hester We humbly beseech she may be heard as our great Patroness against that Haman whose Pride and Ambition of being honour'd as his Master may have hitherto kept us in Slavery And tho we wish none the fate of so dreadful an Example but rather a timely Penitence and Conversion we yet humbly crave your Majesty's Protection against all such if it may consist with your Royal Wisdom and Pleasure to which we with all humility submit in the establishing of the â—aâ—d Earl of Tyrconnel in such Authority here as may secure us in the exercise of our Function to the Honour of God and offering up our Prayers and Sacrifice for the continuation of your Majesty's long and prosperous Reign over us Dublin the of July 1685. Your Majesty's most dutiful and obedient Subjects The Copy of a Letter sent the King August 14. 1686. Found in Bishop Tirrel's Papers but imperfect May it please your Majesty I Humbly beg of you for God's sake and your own to read what I here presume to write not but that I know it may well be thought an inexcusable piece of Presumption in any Subject to say or write any thing that may look like prescribing to a King especially a King that from his own knowledg and the best Mother of it long Experience must with universal consent be allowed the most competent Judg in his Dominions of what ought or ought not to be done Yet inasmuch as your present Counsellors are for the most part divided from you by the unhappy difference in Religion I hope your Majesty will pardon a loyal Plain-dealer for presuming to offer his well-meaning Opinion of the present Posture of Affairs Sir As I am one that makes it my Business to study your Interest I took the liberty of telling you in former Letters That in order to replant Religion in your Dominions you ought to begin with Ireland where the Work is more than half done to your Hand and where your Prerogative allows you to do with that Kingdom as you please for it was not to be expected that England and Scotland so irreconcileable to Popery would consent to take off the Penal Laws by a Parliament if not aw'd by a
bounty yet retained in them the same Principles of Popery that at first stirred them up to Rebellion and to Massacre their fellow Subjects and having besides this their old hatred to the English new edged and heated by seeing the Conquerors possest of the Estates which they themselves by their Rebellion and Cruelty had lost they from time to time let us see their hopes and wishes of Revenge to which the favour they found at the English Court under the shelter of the late Queen Mother and the prospect of the Duke of Yorks's coming to the Crown gave foundation and encouragement Neither could they hide their resentments so as to prevent a just fear and jealousie of them in the Protestants who had so lately and in so signal a manner suffered by them in all their dearest Interests yet these were the persons whom King James chose for his Ministers and Officers with whom he resolved to trust the Employments the strong Holds the Arms and Justice of the Nation a thing so extravagant that we challenge any one to shew a parallel case in any History No body would ever have taken the Arms and Courts of Justice out of the Conquerors hands and put them into the hands of the Conquered exasperated by the loss of their Honours Liberties and Estates except he had a mind they should revenge themselves and recover all that they had lost before and they had been manifestly wanting to their own Interest if they had slipt this opportunity If they hated us so much in 1641 that without provocation and whilst in possession of theâ— Estates they rose as one Man and attempted to destroy us if they were so set on it that they ventured to do it without Arms Discipline or Authority on their side and where the hazard was so great that it was ten to one if they succeeded what could we expect they should do now when provoked to the heighth by the loss of their Estates when Armed Disciplined and entrusted with all the places of Strength Power and Profit in the Kingdom This alone is a Demonstration that the King who thus put us in the power of our inveterate and exasperated Enemies either was extremely mistaken in his Measures or designed our destruction I am sure we must have been destroyed if God had not prevented it almost by a Miracle 2. It is a Maxim in our Law that the King can do no wrong because he executeth nothing in his own person but has Officers appointed by Law to excute his Commands who are obliged not to obey him if he command any thing that is illegal If any Officer obey him in such unlawful Commands it is at his own peril and he is accountable for it the Kings Command being no excuse or protection to any Man for his doing an illegal thing Whilst therefore the King Employs only persons amenable to the Laws that have a value for their Honor for the Liberty of their Country and the Publick Good and have Estates to answer for what wrong they do to the Subjects in executing their Offices there is no great danger of his doing much harm to his People though his intentions were ever so mischievous against them it being the great security of the Subjects and restraint on the Officers of the King that they cannot do any wrong but the injured person has his remedy against them by Law 3. This I remember is all the Humane security Doctor Hicks in his Jovian allows us to preserve our Liberties c. against a tyrannous King And he supposes it so effectual a bar to all attempts of this Nature that he pronounces it impossible for our King to turn Tyrant But the event has sufficiently confuted his surmise and shewn not only the possibility but the actual performance of what he supposes impossible for King James made it his business to find out and actually pitched on a Set of Officers and Instruments that as he expresses it in one of his Declarations would obey him without reserve against whom the Current of the Law was stopt and who were in no condition to make amends for the mischiefs they did all which will appear if I make out 1. That they were Men of little or no Fortunes 2. Unable and unsufficient to discharge the Offices committed to their Trust. 3. That many of them were Men of such loose Principles and Morals that they could not be supposed to stick at any wickedness which was for their Interest 4. That their Inclination and Genius led them to destroy the Laws Liberty and Religion of the Kingdom 5. That most of them were unqualified by Law for the Offices into which they were placed and therefore could not be supposed to study the preservation of those Laws in defiance of which they acted Now if it appears that these were the qualifications of most of King James's Officers and Instruments in Ireland I suppose it will be a further Demonstration of his Intentions and of what we were to expect from him SECT V. I. That the Officers employed by King James were Men generally of little or no Fortune 1. I Suppose the true Reason why one Man is allowed to possess a greater Estate in a Common-wealth than another and to maintain himself by the Labor of other People is that he may be at leisure to attend the publick Business of his Country and that having such a considerable Stock in the common Bottom he may be the more careful to preserve it from sinking Out of such Men therefore of Fortune and Interest every wise and well designing King will supply himself with Officers For their Interest will help to support him and will procure his Commands Obedience and their Fortunes will secure the Subjects from being injured by them their Estates being Pawns to the Publick for their good Behaviour and Reprizals to those they have injured But for this very Reason King James generally employed Men of little or no Fortunes and very often the Scum and Rascality of the World This made him so fond of the Irish who had lost their Estates who depended wholly on him and had no other possibility of subsisting but by espousing his Interest and serving him without reserve I cannot blame them for being ready to embrace the Offer but it was certainly very impolitickly done or an indication of an ill Design in him to employ and espouse Men of such ruined and broken Fortunes I have put into the Appendix a List of the Civil Officers of the Collonels and Lieutenant-Collonels of his Regiments and of the principal persons that he brought along with him from France so far as I could gather them up and it will appear upon view that very few of them were Men of clear Estates and most had no pretence to any at all The Sheriffs and Deputy Lieutenants of Counties were generally poor and mean people many of them had been Servants in the meanest condition to Protestants who if they injured any
at all at least without any given in their Warrants it was time enough to invent some against the next Assizes There never wanted Evidence enough to accuse a Man the very Priests being forward to encourage such Perjuries as were to the prejudice of Protestants Of this there are several Instances on Record in the Courts of Justice where we find them sometimes swearing Falshoods themselves and sometimes encouraging others to do it Of which the Courts even in spite of all their partiality were satisfied I gave one Example before in Sir William Petty's Case There is another of Mr. Balfours in the County of Fermanagh where the false Affidavit of one Hultaghan a Priest had almost destroyed his Cause and lost him a considerable Estate 2. Upon this account Perjuries became so common that if a Tenant owed his Protestant Landlord his Rent he payed him by swearing him into a Plot or by fixing on him some Treasonable or Seditious Words If a Papist had any former Quarrel with his Protestant Neigbor or owed him Money he paid him in the same Coin Many were indicted by these Contrivances many found guilty and excessively fin'd some were imprisoned for their Fines not being able to satisfie the King who seised both their Bodies and Estates Hardly any County in Ireland was free from numerous Indictments of this kind and very few Country Gentlemen escaped being accused Great numbers were indicted and found guilty in the Counties of Wexford and Wicklow to the number at least of sixty the most considerable Gentlemen in the County of Meath were indicted but had better luck the Perjury of their Accusers being made so manifest that even a Popish Bench had not the confidence to countenance it nor a Popish Jury to find it Thus Mr. Meredith Mr. Parry Mr. Chetwin a Minister and several others escaped having discovered the very bottom of a wicked Contrivance to carry on a Trade of Swearing against all the Gentlemen in the Country but though they discovered it yet they durst not prosecute it by reason of some Priests being concerned in it and of the Discountenance of the Courts a great many in the County of Tipperary were likewise brought into Trouble but escaped the first time by a kind of Miracle one of the Jurors was so maliciously bent against them that he swore he would die before he would acquit them It happened to him according to his own desire he fell dead in the place whilst they were disputing about returning the Verdict which saved the Gentlemen for that time Yet this did not discourage their Prosecutors they caused them to be indicted anew and upon their second Tryal Justin Macarty afterwards made Lord Mountcashell by King James came into the Court threatened and hectored Sir John Mead who then sate as Judge for the Duke of Ormond it being within his Graces Palatinate because he would not direct the Jury to find them guilty but Sir John stood his Ground and declared that there was no sufficient Evidence against them upon which they were acquitted It vexed them that they could not bring their Popish Judges and Sheriffs into that County as they did into the rest of Ireland by reason that the nomination of them was in his Grace as Lord of the Regalities and therefore in their pretended Parliament they not only Attainted him but likewise by a particular Act dissolved his Principality Their First Plot against the Gentlemen of the County having miscarried they began a second and got Depositions against several but they were as unlucky in this as in the first They laid the Scheme of their Affairs so unskilfully that the Witnesses swore that the Gentlemen met to carry on their Plot at Nenagh a place above sixty Miles from Dublin on the same day that some of them had been examined before the Council Board on the first Informations This appearing to the Council by an entry made in their own Books quashed the Design against them and saved them a third time It would make a Volume to enumerate all the Particulars of this Nature 3. The new Mayors and Justices of the Peace were no less troublesome to Protestants in their Employments they made no scruple to send their Tokens and Warrants for Persons of the best Quality And wherever a Papist and Protestant had any difference there needed no more but a complaint to procure a Committal and to be sure it was done with all the indignity and affronting Circumstances imaginable Sir Thomas Hackett whilst Lord Mayor of Dublin did so many brutish and barbarous things of this nature that it were endless to recount them taking example from the Lord Tyrconnel who made him Mayor he treated every body with Oaths Curses ill Names and barbarous Language The Lord Primate Boyles Family could not escape his Warrants he or his Clerk as he afterwards pretended sent one for Mr. Francis Cuff and Mr. Jephson who lived in my Lords Family being his Son in Law and Nephew their Crime was refusing to Contribute to the maintenance of two begging Fryars one of them was one Magee a Debauchee and Renegado who had the impudence to have demanded it from my Lord Primate if he had been permitted access The Fryars vexed that they should be repulsed procured a Warrant for the two Gentlemen that refused them and attempted the Execution of it in my Lord Primates House with a Rabble of near two hundred Sir Thomas was not content to Execute his Authority within his own Precincts but extended it where the Mayors Power was never owned He sent his Warrant and committed the Officers of Christs Church Dublin to the Stocks because he fancied they did not make the Bells ring merrily enough for the Birth of the Prince of Wales It was in vain for the Officers to tell him that their Church and Persons were not subject to his Jurisdiction that if the Bells did not ring merrily enough as he alledged it was the Ringers fault not theirs That no body besides his Lordship could observe any such thing in their Ringing His brutish Passion would not give him leave to hearken to Reason but upon all occasions he proceeded in the same method which made every body that valued his Liberty get out of his Power and prevailed with a great many to leave their Estates and Concerns and Transport themselves and what Effects they could carry with them into England It was unsafe and uneasie living both in the City and in the Country and he reckoned himself happy that could get out of them at any rate 4. But when the Descent was made by his present Majesty into England things grew yet more troublesome The Protestants were every where Robbed and Plundered The new Commissioned Officers and their Souldiers under the new name of Rapperies committed many Outrages and Devastations on their Protestant Neighbours insomuch that they could not be safe in their Houses If any endeavoured to keep their Houses though merely to secure themselves from the
came to be concluded not enduring to be present at the passing of that and some other Barbarous Acts against which they found their Votes signified nothing while they staid There were four more Protestants return'd of whose Behaviour I can give no account or how they came to be return'd The generality of the Houses consisted of the Sons and Descendents of the Forfeiting Persons in 1641. Men that had no Freeholds or Estates in the Kingdom but were purposely elected to make themselves Estates by taking them away from Protestants 15. Now whilst the power of making and repealing Laws was in such hands what Security could Protestants promise themselves from any Laws or what probability was there that any Laws already made in their Favour would be continued Especially if we consider further that this Parliament openly profess'd it self a Slave to the King's Will and he was look'd on as Factiously and Rebelliously inclin'd that would dare to move any thing after any Favorite in the House had affirm'd that it was contrary to the King's pleasure Several Bills were begun in the House of Commons one for erecting an Inns of Court another for repealing an Act commonly call'd Poinings Act which requires that all Acts should be perused by the King and Council of England before they be offered to be pass'd by the Parliament in Ireland but King James signified his Dissatisfaction to these Bills and for that reason they and several others were let fall tho the Irish had talk'd much and earnestly desir'd the Repeal of Poinings Act it being the greatest Sign and means of their Subjection to England There was a doubt made in the House concerning the Earl of Strafford whether he should be attainted for Estate and Life several moved in his behalf but it was carried against him upon this Evidence Colonel Simon Lutterell affirmed in the House That he had heard the King say some hard things of him The King's pleasure therefore was the Law to which we were to trust for our Lives and Fortunes our Enemies having entirely engross'd the power of making and repealing Laws and devolved it on the King's pleasure the very Protestant Lords and Bishops being denied their Priviledge of entering their Protestations against such Votes as they conceiv'd Destructive to the Kingdom The King told them That Protestations against Votes were only used in Rebellious times and with much ado they were allowed to enter their Dissent tho after that was allowed them the Clerk of the Parliament one Polewheele a Nephew of Chancellor Fitton 's shifted them off and did not enter their Dissent to some Votes tho often sollicited and press'd to do it according to the Orders of the House 16. When King James had labour'd as much as in him lay to get a Parliament that would repeal the Penal Laws and Test in England and open the Houses to Papists he found at last that the great Obstacle that rendered the Kingdom so averse to this was the general Fear and Apprehension that the Legislative Authority would be engross'd by them and turn'd against Protestants this was so obvious and reasonable a Surmise that he knew there was no hopes that the People would side with him against their present Majesties if something were not done to satisfie them and therefore to remove this fear he published his Proclamation dated Sept. 20. 1688. wherein he declares himself willing that Roman Catholicks should remain incapable to be Members of the House of Commons if the Protestants of England had reason to apprehend that Papists would engross the Legislative Authority in England and from the Example of Queen Mary's House of Commons to dread such Law givers how much more reason had the Protestants of Ireland to dread that power when entirely engrossed by their most inveterate Popish Enemies whose Interest as well as Religion oblig'd them to divest all those that profess'd the Reform'd Religion not only of the Favour but likewise of the Benefits of Law 17. They sate from the Seventh of May till the Twentieth of July following and in that short time entirely destroy'd the Settlement of Ireland and outed both the Protestant Clergy and Laity of their Freeholds and Inheritances It is not to be exspected I should give an account of all their Acts that which concerns this present Section is to shew how they destroy'd the Protestants real Estates 1. And that was first by an Act of Repeal whereby they took away the Acts of Settlement and Explanation by virtue of which as I have already shew'd two thirds of the Protestants of the Kingdom held their Estates that is all that which is call'd New Interest was lost by this Repeal there is no consideration had in it how any Man came to his Estate but tho he purchased it at ever so dear a rate he must lose it and it is to be restor'd without Exception to the Proprietor or his Descendent that had it before October 22. 1641. upon what account soever he lost it tho they themselves did not deny but many deserv'd to lose their Estates even Sir Phelim O Neal's Son the great Murtherer and Rebel was restor'd 2. In order to make a final Extirpation of Protestants they contrive and pass an Act of Attainder by which all Protestants whose Names they could find of all Ages Sexes and Degrees are attainted of High Treason and their Estates vested in the King the pretence of this Attainder was their being out of the Kingdom at the time of passing the Act as shall be shewn in the next Section 3. Least some should be forgotten of those that were absent and not put into the Bill of Attainder they contriv'd a general Clause in the Act of Repeal whereby the real Estates of all who Dwelt or staid in any place of the three Kingdoms which did not own King Jame's Power or corresponded with any such as they term Rebels or were any ways aiding abetting or assisting to them from the First day of August 1688. are declared to be forfeited and vested in his Majesty and that without any Office or Inquisition found thereof By which Clause almost every Protestant that could Write in the Kingdom had forfeited his Estate for the Packets went from London to Dublin and back again constantly from August to March 1688. and few had Friends in England or in the North but corresponded with them by Letters and every such Letter is made by this clause a Forfeiture of Estate They had intercepted and search'd every Packet that went or came the later part of this time and kept vast Heaps of Letters which were of no Consequence at all to the Government we wondered what the meaning of their doing so should be but by this Parliament we came to understand it for now these Letters were produced as Evidences in the House of Commons against those that appear'd in behalf of their absent Friends or oppos'd the attainting of such Protestants as they had some kindness for and they were
things be considered 't will rather seem a wonder that so many got off than that some staid behind 3. Secondly as to the Gentlemen though some of them had plentiful estates and fortunes yet they had but little ready money 't is not thought prudent in Ireland where money is at 10 per Cent. for any one to keep much Cash by him and perhaps he that hath 1000 l. per annum clear hath often not 100 l. in Cash Now some Gentlemen that had considerable families and little money thought it unreasonable for them to leave their plentiful Estates and go into England to beg or starve and the very thoughts of either was more terrible to them than death And therefore they chose rather to venture all with their Estates Others were tied by such particular obligations that it was impossible for them to stir without the greatest damage to their Concerns and inhumanity to their Relations 4. Others thought it necessary to stay meerly for a Tryal that they might not be said to have thrown themselves out of all before they were forced and that they might see how far King James would proceed in his design of ruining Protestants and settling Popery 5. Others had either Relations by Kindred or some private interest or obligation on some leading Papists and fancied by their staying they might be able to save something for themselves and Tenants others tho they had no such interest or particular obligations yet their Families and influence in their Countreys had made them respected even by their Enemies and they hoped by their prudence and management to obtain better quarters for their poor People that depended on them whom they could not find in their hearts to leave destitute of all shelter and conduct and it must be acknowledged that though these could not do as much good as they might reasonably have expected yet they did a great deal and it must be owned as a singular providence of God that some such Gentlemen staid for they used all their authority interest and credit to serve the poor and notwithstanding the malice and power of their enemies they did them many good offices They directed them what to do and how to behave themselves in their applications for relief when oppressed they managed and sollicited their Petitions they took all opportunities to remonstrate to King James the grievances and oppressions of the poor people they took the most favourable instances and managed them in the best manner to make him sensible they took advantage of the little feuds that were between the Courtiers and made their Piques useful to procure redress to such Protestants as had been signally injured by the opposite Party and sometimes by address and other times by meer importunities and bold representations of the barbarousness and inhumanity of the Proceedings against Protestants they shamed the Government into a better Temper sometimes procuring some moderation sometimes redress of exorbitant Grievances and at other times did prevent most signal Mischief design'd against us at least by gaining time which was a great conveniency to us 6. These Gentlemen that staid were useful not only by employing their Credit their Friends and Interest with the Government but they farther did contribute to the preserving and supporting of a great many poor and imprisoned People that otherwise would have starved near Five hundered Prisoners were supported by the Charity of Dublin and every thing put into such a method that amongst the numerous poor ruined Protestants not one was lost or starved for want of Meat or Clothes that we could hear of which we must look on as an extraordinary Providence and renders all those inexcusable who changed their Religion on pretence that otherwise they must have starved an excuse they did not offer then and which being false ought not to be pretended much less allow'd now 7. We found our selves in many straits how to behave our selves under some difficulties that fell on us about Fees for Imprisonment concealing of Arms or Absentees Goods and matters of Oaths either to the Government or on private Occasions the Gentlemen and Persons of Credit that staid advis'd the poor People in all these Cases and kept them in such a steady unanimous and regular Course that no advantage could be taken against them and yet they avoided all swearing or betraying themselves or Friends and whereas there are several Dissenters in Dublin the Matter was carried with so much Prudence that we lived in perfect Amity Peace and Charity together and all contributed and assisted one another towards their common safety Dr. Dopping Bishop of Meath and several other Persons of note signaliz'd themselves upon these occasions and behaved themselves with so much Prudence Industry Resolution and Tenderness to the Afflicted that they always will be lookt on by those who staid in Dublin as peculiar Instruments of their preservation 8. Thirdly As to those Protestants who had Employments and staid on account of them it was considered and debated by the most Prudent and Judicious Protestants of Dublin whether they should continue to act in them and they universally judg'd it advisable that every Protestant who could either get or keep any Civil Employment by fair and honest Means should do it most of the Civil Offices were held by Patent and either the Patentees or their Deputies were on the Place and executed them Now for these to have gone away was to have given them up voluntarily into the Hands of Papists and to entitle King James to the disposal of them without any imputation of Injustice We therefore thought all such as had any Employment or Civil Office oblig'd to stay in their Employments till removed by force and when they were removed by Act of Parliament that voided their Offices and new Officers were appointed it was still judged convenient that the former Deputies should act in them and if the new Patentees should refuse to employ them as Deputies they should nevertheless endeavour to stay in them as Clerks 1. Because we were in hopes of recovering them in a short time by the assistance of Their present Majesties and in the mean time we knew not what havock and spoil might be made of Records and Books by Popish Deputies whereas if the Protestants kept in the Offices they might preserve them or at least be Witnesses of the injury that should be done them and this Contrivance had the effect design'd the Papists were so much strangers to the Offices that they were forc'd to depend on Protestant Clerks or Deputies and these kept their Masters in all the ignorance they could and either put out of the way or would not find such Records or Papers that they supposed were design'd to be destroyed insomuch that very little injury was done to the Offices the very Outlawryes of the Rebels and Murtherers in 1641. being preserv'd though ordered by their pretended Parliament to be destroy'd and 500 l. Fine impos'd on any Officer that should conceal any