Chamber and about nine of the Clock Mr. Moore and Captain Fox came to me and told me all was discovered and that the City was in Arms and the Gates were shut up and so departed from me And what became of them and of the rest I know not nor think that they escaped but how and at what time I do not know because I my self vvas taken that Morning APPENDIX III. Fol. 30. By the Lords Justices and Council W. Parsons Jo. Borlase WHereas We the Lords Justices and Council have lately found that there waas a most disloyal wicked and detestable Conspiracy intended and plotted against the Lives of Us the Lords Justices and Council and many others of his Majesties faithful Subjects especially in Ulster and the borders thereof and for the surprizing not only of his Majesties Castle of Dublin his Majesties principal Fort but also of other Fortifications in several parts and although by the great goodness and abundant mercy of Almighty God to his Majesty and to this State and Kingdom these wicked conspiracies are brought to light and some of the Conspiracies committed to the Castle of Dublin by Us by his Majesty's Authority so as those wicked and damnable plots have not taken effect in the chief parts thereof yet some of those wicked Malefactors have surprised some of his Majesty's Forts and Garrisons in the North of Ireland slain divers of his Majesty's good Subjects imprisoned some and robbed and spoiled very many others and continue yet in those Rebellious courses against whom therefore some of his Majesty's Forces are now marching to fight against them and subdue them thereby to render safety to his Majesty's faithful Subjects And whereas to colour and countenance those their wicked Intendments and Acts and in hope to gain the more numbers and reputation to themselves and their proceedings in the opinion of the ignorant common people those Conspirators have yet gone further and to their other high Crimes and Offences have added this further wickedness even to traduce the Crown and State as well of England as Ireland by false seditious and scandalous reports and rumors spread abroad by them We therefore to vindicate the Crown and State of both Kingdoms from those false and wicked calumnies do hereby in his Majesty's name publish and declare that the said reports so spread abroad by those wicked persons are most false wicked and triterous and that We have full Power and Authority from his Majesty to prosecute and subdue those Rebels and Traytors which now We are doing accordingly by the Power and Strength of his Majesty's Army and with the Assistance of his Majesty's good and Loyal Subjects and We no way doubt but all his Majesty's good and faithful Subjects will give Faith and Credit to Us who have the Honour to be trusted by his Majesty so highly as to serve Him in the Government of this his Kingdom rather then to the vain idle and wicked Reports of such lewd and wicked Conspirators who spread those false and seditious Rumors hoping to seduce a great number to their party And as We now believe that some who have joyned themselves with those Conspirators had no hand in contriving or plotting the mischiefs intended but under pretence of those seditious Scandals were deluded by those Conspirators and so are now become ignorantly involved in their guilts so in favour and mercy to those so deluded We hereby charge and command them in his Majesty's name now from Us to take light to guide them from that darkness into which they were misled by the wicked seducement of those Conspirators and to depart from them and from their wicked Counsels and Actions and according to the duty of Loyal Subjects to submit themselves to his Sacred Majesty and to his Royal Authority intrusted with Us. But in case those persons which were no Plotters nor Contrivers of the said Treason but were since seduced to joyn with them as aforesaid lay not hold of this his Majesty's Grace and Favour now tendred unto them then We do by this Proclamation Publish and Declare that they shall hereafter be reputed and taken equally guilty with the said Plotters and Contrivers and as uncapable of Favour and Mercy as they are Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 30. of October 1641. La. Dublin R. Ranelagh Ant. Midensis John Rophoe R. Dillon J. Temple P. Crosbie Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith APPENDIX IV. Fol. 32. By the Lords Justices and Councel A Proclamation for the discovery and present removal of all such as do or shall continue in the City of Dublin or places adjacent Without just or necessary cause W. Parsons Jo. Borlace VVHereas through the great concourse of people to this City of Dublin the Countrey is deprived of Defence and left open to the rapine and depredation of the Rebels now in Arms in this Kingdom the poor of those parts are destitute of Succour and Relief and divers other inconveniences do and may thence arise unless some timely remedy be applied thereunto VVherefore We do hereby in his Majesties name and under the pains and punishments hereafter mentioned command That all and every person and persons whatsoever not having necessary cause of residing in this City of Dublin and the Suburbs thereof and the places within two miles about the same aswell within Liberties as without to be approved of by our very good Lord James Earl of Ormond and Ossory who is appointed Lieutenant General of His Majesties Army in this Kingdom and the Councel of War here for the time being or by such other persons as shall be by them appointed for examination thereof do within four and twenty hours after publication hereof repair to their respective homes and dwellings And also that no person or persons of what quality or condition soever do keep with him or them any more or other then his or their own domestick servants And that this Proclamation and the service hereby intended be not in any wise eluded or evaded VVe do hereby in His Majesties name and under the pains and punishments hereafter mentioned charge and command That all and singular the Citizens Inhabitants and Residents of and within this City of Dublin the Suburbs thereof and all places within two miles about the same do within four and twenty hours after publication hereof return under their hands unto the next Alderman of the Ward or Seneschall or other chief Officer of Liberty respectively the names sirnames qualitie and condition of all persons now lodged and remaining in their houses and also that they and every of them for the future until Declaration be made to the contrary do within two hours after the receipt or entertainment into his or their house or houses of any stranger or strangers not being of his or their familie or families return under his and their hand and hands unto the next Alderman of the Ward Seneschall or other chief Officer as aforesaid the names sirnames quality and condition of all and
reflected on their own security and their Religion in hope that though they adhered to the Parliament who at that time had shaken off the Regal Power whereunto they never assented there might yet be a possibility through a Change to reinvest all again in the Royal Line with a Preservation in the interim of themselves and their Religion which were like wholly to be ruin'd by a joint compliance with the Confederates Fol. 265. l. 25. was Light And had he done otherwise his Provost Marshal's Commission being grounded on the King's Proclamation of the first of January 1641. to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword and by Orders of the State forbidden also to allow any Quarter to those whom they found in Arms especially all Priests known Incendiaries of the Rebellion and prime Actors of exemplary Cruelties might have been brought to have answer'd his Contempt at a Councel of VVar. Fol. 282. l. 25. Power touching the Articles of the Rendition of which some Questions have risen especially about Waterford In as much as Ireton in vindication thereof published There this Manifest by way of Warning to such as he intended to free the City of which I am the willinger to insert for that the Behaviour of the Inhabitants the Nature of the Place and the Genius of the Irish devoted to Superstition are hereby more clear and significant WHEREAS upon the Rendition of the City of Waterford to the State of England Articles of Agreement between Commissioners on my part and others of theirs for and on the behalf of the Soldiers and Citizens of VVaterford it was agreed and concluded amongst other things that all the Inhabitants of the said City should have liberty to carry away their Goods to what place they please within this Dominion or beyond the Seas within the space of three Months and should have them protected for their use in the mean time paying equal Contribution with the rest of their Neighbours And that such of them as should desire and be thought fit to stay should enjoy their Goods there or dispose of them otherwise during their stay paying the like Contribution and when they should desire or have warning to depart should have three Months time from the warning given on their part for the removal of what they have remaining with safe conducts answerable in the several cases aforemention'd respectively as in the 7th Article of the said Agreement is exprest I have now thought fit to give them warning to depart according to the intent of the said Article whereof all the Inhabiters that then were and yet are within the said City and have not had such warning personally otherwise are hereby to take notice of it from the tenth day of February instant at their perils and though no other reason need be given for the doing of a thing so consonant to and agreeing with both the letter and declared intention of the Article yet for more full and clear satisfaction to all that desire it I think it not amiss to publish and declare the reasons inducing me to it as followeth First I held my self bound in discharge of that trust I have from them I serve to put all places of strength now within our power into such a posture and condition before our taking the Field as that I may through the blessing of God give a good account of them to those that have intrusted me And this I thought I could not do without timely giving of such warning to the people of this City who by their principles and practices at least for the most part do appear so far disaffected to us and the Cause and Interest we serve in and so unlikely to be faithful and trusty to us if we should trust them to stay there especially considering that there is yet no Castle or Cittadel whereby that City can be secured from being in the power of the people that inhabit it without leaving great numbers of Soldiers to overpower them I need not say much to demonstrate their unfitness to be in such a case confided in by us their actions speaking so loud and large as they do to that purpose telling us they are our Enemies witness their practices all the time of this VVar but more especially in their carriage of late As to the first all know and they cannot be ignorant that the City of Waterford hath been one of the chief places in this Dominion which hath maintain'd and upheld the trade of Piracy upon the English both by receiving the Goods so taken by others from the English and thereby much encouraging those Thieves and Robbers in their wicked Practises and also by setting forth and maintaining Ships or Frigats of their own for the same Pyratical trade To their carriage of late especially since our endeavouring the reducement of the place their continued obstinacy even almost to utmost extremity and their refusing all overtures made to them for returning them to their due obedience and delivery up of that place upon good terms for themselves even when it was in their own power to have done it having no Garrison at all in it to over-power them till they received one from the Enemy and fetch'd it in with their own Boats from the other side of the River in view of our Army then treating fairly with them are sufficient arguments of their unfitness to be trusted by us in so much power of betraying such a place to the party they so much adhere unto in their judgments and affections And to this purpose I shall desire them but to remember what was offered by the Lord Lieutenant and refused by them when we came first against the City and what trouble hazard and expence they have put us to then and since As also what was offered by us a second time in the Treaty at Dunkit and by the Letters proceeding that occasion'd it And how it was received by them as some of them yet present in the City acting then as Commissioners in the name of the rest well know And how at last they necessitated us to march down with our whole Army and Artillery against them before they would deliver and we have no reason to think they had delivered then but the extremity of sickness and want of provisions together with their own fears of danger induced them to it seeing us come prepared in every respect through God's blessing to have forc'd them if they had not yielded And whether persons that do their utmost to the last in holding out a place against us upon such an account as they did be fit to be let stay in that place with us where they may have such opportunities of betraying it when the Army may be ingaged at a remote distance I leave to all rational men to judge considering we are free by the Articles to turn them out upon due warning A further ground leading me to conclude them unfit to be trusted by us in such a case
of Alderman Piers Creagh and John Bourk and heard what John Bourk and the other had to say as from that Corporation In Answer whereunto we imparted some Particulars unto them wherein we expected satisfaction which if you send us to the Rendezvous to morrow where we intend to be we shall visit that City and imploy our utmost Endeavours in setling the Garrison necessarily desired there both for the defence and satisfaction of that City And so we bid you heartily farewel From Clare June 12. 1650. To our very loving Friend the Maior of Limerick These Your loving Friend ORMOND The Particulars he proposed to them were 1. To be receiv'd in like manner and with such respect as the Lord Lieutenants heretofore had always been 2. To have Command of the Guard giving the Word and Orders in the City 3. That there might be Quarter provided within the City for such Guards of Honse and Foot as he should carry in which should be part of the Garrison and whereof a List should be given at the Rendezvous The next day when the Marquess came to the Rendezvous two Aldermen met him there and inform'd him that the City had consented to all that he had proposed to them except only the admittance of his Guards which they were unwilling to do whereupon he sent Messengers back with this Answer That he intended not the drawing in of his Guards out of any mistrust he had of the loyalty of the Magistrates of that City to his Majesty or of their affection to himself but for the dignity of the Place he held and to prevent any popular Tumult that might be raised by desperate interested Persons against him or the Civil Government of that City whereunto he had cause to fear some loose People might by false and frivolous suggestions be too easily instigated And to take away all possibility of suspicion from the most jealous he told them The Guards he meant to take with him should consist but of 100 Foot and 50 Horse and even those too to be of their own Religion and such as having been constantly of their Confederacy were interessed in all the Benefits of the Articles of Peace And so not imagining that they could refuse so reasonable an Overture he went towards the City but when he came very near the Gates the same Aldermen came again to him to let him know That there was a Tumult rais'd in the City by a Franciscan Frier called Father Wolf and some others against his coming into the Town and in opposition to the desires and intentions of the Maior and the principal Citizens and therefore disswaded his Excellency's going thither until the Tumult should be quieted So that the Lord Lieutenant was compell'd with that Affront to return and rested that night at Shanbuoly three miles from the City from whence he writ to them the sense he had of the Indignity offer'd him And wished them to consider not only by what Power they had been made a Corporation first and by whose Protection they had since flourished but also what solid Foundation of safety other than by receiving the defence he had offer'd them was or could be proposed to them by the present Disturbers of their Quiet And desired their present Answer That in case he might be encouraged to proceed in the way he had laid down of serving the King and preserving that City from the Tyranny of the Rebels he might immediately apply himself thereunto or failing in his Desires therein he might apply himself and the Forces he had gathered for that purpose to some other Service But neither this nor all he could do upon subsequent Treaties and Overtures moving from themselves could not at all prevail with them No! not his offer of putting himself into the City and running the Fortune of it when Ireton was encamp'd before it But they continually multiplied and repeated their Affronts towards him with all imaginable Circumstances of Contempt and in the end that we may have no more occasion of mentioning the seditious Carriage of this unfortunate City broke open his Trunks of Papers which he had left there seized upon the Stores of Corn laid up there for the supply of the Army when he believed that Place would have been obedient to him and some Corn belonging to himself and dispos'd of all according to their own pleasure and receiv'd some Troops of Horse into the City which contrary to the Marquess's Order left the Army and with those Troops levied and rais'd Contribution in the Countrey adjacent upon those who had honestly paid the same for the use of the Army according to those Orders which they were to obey And when the Marquess sent to the Maior to deliver the Officer of the said Regiment as a Prisoner to the Guard appointed to receive him he could receive no other Answer and that not in a week than that the Government of that City was committed to Major General Hugh O Neal and therefore he the Maior would not meddle therein And when the like Orders were sent by the Marquess to Hugh O Neal he return'd Answer That he was only a Cypher and not suffered to act any thing but what the Maior and Council thought fit So that in truth that City was no less in Rebellion to the King than the Army under Ireton was though it did for a time resist that Army and could never have been subdued by it if it had ever been in that obedience to the King as by their obligation it ought to have been and therefore must have less peace of Conscience to support them in the Calamities they have since undergone In the Letter formerly inserted from the Marquess of the first of May it is said That in pursuance of a former Agreement he had granted a Commission to the Bishop of Clogher for the Command of the Province of Ulster It will be therefore necessary to express what that Agreement was and the Proceedings thereupon Amongst the Articles which had been made with General Owen O Neal it was provided that in case of the said Neal's death or removal by Advancement or otherwise before any settlement in Parliament to which all the Articles of Peace related that the Nobility and Gentry of the Province of Ulster should have Power to name one to the Lord Lieutenant or chief Governor for his Majesty to Command in the place of the said O Neal and the said Command was to be conferred accordingly upon the Person so to be named and according to his Power Owen O Neal being dead the Nobility Bishops and Principal Gentry of that Province made choice of the Bishop of Clogher to succeed him in the Charge and having signified such their Election under their hands to the Lord Lieutenant the first of April he granted such a Commission to him as he was obliged to do James Marquess of Ormond the Earl of Ormond and Ossory Vicount Thurles Lord Baron of Archlo Lord Lieutenant General
remainder of English but by a Peace We find his Majesty being deluded by the first and believing the last to be conducing to the preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects is concluding of a Peace which will again admit those Irish Rebels to be Members of Parliament so that that Court which should afford relief for our Grievances will by their over-swaying Votes be our greatest Grievance Moreover we are too truly informed by divers of their own Party whose names if we should publish would be as great an ingratitude as folly the first in betraying those that obliged us the last in depriving our selves of all future Intelligence by them that they have vowed never to submit to an English or Protestant Government except they have liberty to exercise their Religion in Churches That the Forces of the Kingdom may be Train'd-Bands of their Men and that likewise those of their own Religion may be admitted to Places of Trust in the Common-wealth which they call modest and moderate demands though we hope they cannot seem so to any but themselves and their Clergy who we find do not think them enough being they may not have all their Church-Livings For we have certain intelligence that they have made a strong Faction as well among my Lord of Castlehaven's Soldiers as in all other parts of the Kingdom so that they are five parts of six who will fly out into a new action when they see a convenient time to execute their design which as yet they determine to forbear until they see a Peace concluded supposing that then the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland will intermix Irish and English without distinction to oppose the Scots and that by that means there will be a sufficient number of their Party in our Garrisons to master them which when they find an opportunity for they will certainly seize into their own hands upon notice whereof the Faction abroad will with all expedition apprehend the English in all parts and having accomplished this part of their design they will manifest that they are weary of the King of England's Government and that they will trust none of his Protestant Subjects among them for we are certainly informed that they will invite a Forreign Prince to take them into his protection unto whom they will deliver possession of what he pleases and will become his Subjects And lest that Princes Treasure should be exhausted by Wars in other places the Clergy have with the Pope's assistance raised amongst those of their own Calling and divers of the Gentry in Italy one hundred thousand pounds in money and a quantity of Arms and Ammunition that are now ready to be sent hither and they have employed one Doctor Duyer to go forthwith thither for it as also to get his Holiness to settle a course for the raising of more Money to be employed for the advancement of that which they call the Catholick Cause Therefore out of a true sense of our injuries already suffered and un-redressed with a right apprehension of inevitable ruine not onely to our Lives and Estates but likewise to the English Nation and Protestant Religion we have re-assum'd our Arms according to our Duty to God our King and Countrey with inviolable resolution to die or frustrate this devillish design And since those that die acting for the Gospel are as perfect Martyrs as those that die suffering for it we cannot but with joy embrace any effect that proceeds from so glorious a Cause Neither can this act be esteemed a crime in us since his Majesty upon the Rebels first Insurrection his Treasure being exhausted gave his Royal assent for the passing of an Act of Parliament wherein he granted to all his Subjects that would adventure money towards reducing of the Rebels Lands proportionable to the sum adventured which would fall to the Crown when the Conquest should be finished And the better to secure the Adventurers his Majesty obliged himself to make no Peace with the Rebels but with the advice and approbation of the Parliament of England and by that Act communicated to the Parliament that Power which before was solely in himself So that they not condescending to this Peace our imploying of their Aids and re-assuming of those Arms put into our hands by King and Parliament joyntly cannot be esteemed contradictory to his Majesty in regard that their joynt Act is so absolutely binding that neither of them severally can annull it as is evident in the Laws of the Realm Therefore if this War were onely Offensive yet even slander it self must acknowledge us innocent having so just a Cause so pious an Intention and so lawful an Authority much more it being Defensive and the Law both of God and Nature allowing every one to defend himself from violence and wrong Moreover the King must never expect any obedience from the Irish but what proceeds either from their Interest or Fear Through the first of these neither his Majesty or we can hope for assurance for not granting them all their desires their Interest which is more powerful with them than their Loyalty will make them throw off their subjection and to become absolute not scruple to destroy us Then to expect any security by their fears were frivolous for though we have found their Hearts as ill as their Cause yet they cannot be apprehensive of 2 or 3000 ill armed and unprovided men having all things necessary and so numerous a People at their devotion And lest our Enemies should scandalize us with breach of Faith in violating the pretended Cessation or with Cruelty in expelling the Irish Papists from our Garrisons who hitherto seemed adhering to us Concerning the first we declare That although our necessities did induce us to submit supposing the Cessation would have produced other effects as is before mentioned yet we had no power without Authority from King and Parliament joyntly to treat or yield to it or if it had been in our powers yet by the Rebels daily breaches of it we are disengaged from it Concerning the second we declare That our Garrison cannot be secured whilst so powerful and perfidious Enemies are in our bosomes Powerful being four to one in number more than the English Perfidious in their constant designs to betray us some whereof we will instance to convince their own Consciences and satisfie the World of our just proceedings One Francis Matthews a Franciscan Frier being wonderfully discovered in an Enigmatical Letter and as justly executed before his death confessed that he had agreed to betray the City of Cork to the Lord of Muskery which must necessarily infer that the chiefest and greatest part of that City were engaged in this Conspiracy for otherwise he could not so much as hope the accomplishment And if this had taken effect it had consequently ruin'd all the Protestants in the Province of Munster that being our chief Magazine and greatest Garrison Besides upon this occasion other Friers being examin'd upon Oath confessed that in
they were advised to return to their Association and until a General Assembly of the Nation could be conveniently called unanimously to serve against the common Enemy since no Persons were named or appointed to conduct them it must be acknowledged that they were left without any direction at all to the rage and fury of those who intended nothing but their Reduction Together with their Excommunication they published in the head of the Army a Declaration entituled A Declaration of the Archibishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of the Regular and Secular Clergy of the Kingdom of Ireland against the continuance of his Majesty's Authority in the Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the mis-government of the Subjects and the ill conduct of his Majesty's Army and violation of the Articles of Peace If the Archbishops Bishops and Secular and Regular Clergy of Ireland will take upon them to declare against the King's Authority where his Majesty hath placed it and will make themselves Judges of his supream Minister for the government of the Subjects and the ill conduct of his Majesty's Army they assume an Authority to themselves that no other Christian Clergy ever pretended and sufficiently declare to the King how far they are from being Subjects or intending to pay him any Obedience longer than they are govern'd in such Manner and by such Persons as they think fit to be pleas'd with If the Marquess of Ormond had mis-govern'd the People and conducted his Majesty's Army amiss the Clergy are not competent Judges of the one or the other And for the violation of the Articles of Peace the Commissioners nominated and appointed to provide for the due execution of them were the only Persons who could determine and remedy such Violation and who well knew there was no cause for their complaint But on the other hand as hath been before mention'd these Men obstructed that concurrence and obedience in the People without which those Articles could not be observed or the security of the People provided for The Preface of that Declaration according to their usual method justified and magnified their Piety and Vertue in the beginning and carrying on the War extolled their Duty and Affection to their King in submitting to him and returning to their Allegiance when they said they could have better or as good Conditions from the Parliament of England intimated what a vast sum of Money they had provided near half a Million of English pounds besides several Magazines of Corn with a fair Train of Artillery great quantity of Powder Match Ammunition with other Materials for carrying on the War and many other Particulars of that nature the monstrous untruths whereof doth sufficiently appear in what hath been said before The Marquess having been forced to borrow those little sums of Money out of the Pockets of his Friends and to spend all that he raised upon the sail of a good quantity of his own Land for the support of his Wife and Children to enable the Army to march which was not then what-ever hath been since re-paid to him And the Magazines of Corn and Ammunition and other Materials for War being so absolutely un-furnished that it was not possible for him to reduce those small Forts of Maryburrough and Athy held by Neal's Party till he had by his own Power and Interest procured some Supplies before clearly mention'd so far were these Men from making that Provision they brag of What Conditions they might have had from the Parliament of England may be concluded by the usage they have since found nor if they were put to it would they be able to prove their Assertions divine vengeance having made that Party more merciless towards them whose forwardness obstinacy and treachery against the King's Authority contributed most to their Service than those who worthily opposed them and were most enemies to their Proceedings They endeavour'd by all imaginable Reproaches and Calumnies to lessen the Peoples Reverence towards the Lord Lieutenant laying such Aspersions on him in the said Declaration as might most alienate their Affections though themselves knew them to be un-true and without colour They complained that he had given Money Commissions for Colonels and other Commands unto Protestants and upon them consumed the substance of the Kingdom who most of them either betrayed or deserted the Service whereas they knew well that there was not one Protestant Officer to whom the Lord Lieutenant gave a Commission who betrayed any Place committed to him or otherwise treated in order to their support than all the other Officers of the same condition in the Army nor did they quit the Service until many of them had gallantly lost their Lives and that the Clergy had so far incensed the People against them only for being Protestants that the Marquess was compelled to give them leave to depart the Kingdom or otherwise to dispose of themselves and the Parliament Commanders gave Passes to such as would depart the Kingdom and gladly entertain'd such as went over to their Party They accused him of Improvidence in conducting the Army after the defeat at Rathmines of not relieving Tredath of permitting Play Drinking and Licentiousness in the Camp and as bold Aspersions as without Excommunication might gain credit with the People and reflect upon his Honour where he was not enough known Whereas the Action at Rathmines is before set down at large and the taking of Tredath by a Storm when it was scarce apprehended And it is notoriously known that in his Person he was so strict and vigilant that he gave not himself freedom and liberty to enjoy those Pleasures which might very well have consisted with the Office and Duty of the most severe General and that in above three months time which was from his first drawing the Forces to the Rendezvous till after the misfortune at Rathmines he never slept out of his Souldier's Habit. So that the malice and craft of those unreasonable and sensless Calumnies are easie enough to be discerned and can only make an impression upon vulgar minds not well informed of the Humour and Spirit of the Contrivers They magnified exceedingly the Merit of the Prelates the Declaration they had made at Cloanmacnoise their frequent expressions of their Sincerity and most blame the Marquess for not making use of their Power and Diligence toward the advancing the King's Interest but rather for suspecting and blaming them by his Letter to the Prelates at Jamestown before-mention'd and they said words were heard to fall from him dangerous as to the Persons of some of the Prelates To all which little need be said since there is before so just and full mention of their fair Declarations Professions and Actions which accompanied them And for the danger the Persons of some Prelates were in they will be ashamed to urge when it is known that their Bishop of Killalough was brought to him in custody even after he had sign'd this Declaration and Excommunication
Expedition at Kilkenny Nor was it possible for the Marquis of Ormond to procure Justice to be inflicted in a Civil or Martial way upon an Ecclesiastical Person let his crime be what it would since even they whose zeal and affection to his Majesties Service was unquestionable and who were as highly offended at the intolerable carriage and proceedings of the Bishops and Clergy as they ought to be and whose duty was not in the least degree shaken by their Declaration and Excommunication were yet so tender of those Immunities and Priviledges which were said to belong to the Church and so jealous of the behaviour of the People in any case which should be declared a violation of those Priviledges that they would by no means have an hand in inflicting capital punishment upon any Church-men without the approbation and co-operation of the Bishops who were not like to be so hard-hearted as to consent unto any judgment upon the Accessories in those crimes in which themselves were the Principal So that he must not onely have determined by his own single will and judgment what was to be done in those Cases but he must have executed those determinations with his own hand And this consideration obliged the Marquis to all those condescensions and sufferings and upon all occasions to endeavour to dispose and perswade those Prelates from any obstinate and ruinous resolutions rather than to declare them to be enemies whom he could neither reform or punish The Excommunication was no sooner published by the Congregation and consented and approved by the other part of the Bishops and Clergy sitting at Galway but they quickly discerned how imprudently as well as unwarrantably they had proceeded in order to their own ends and that they had taken care onely to dissolve and disband all their Forces without making any kind of provision for the opposition of the Parliaments Forces who had quickly notice of their ridiculous madness and were thereupon advancing with their whole Power upon them the people generally who foresaw what must be the issue of that confusion thought of nothing but compounding with the Enemy upon any condition the Nobility prime Gentry and the Commissioners of Trust who saw their whole Power and Jurisdiction wrested from them and assumed and exercised by the Congregation continued their application to the Lord Lieutenant and desired him not to leave them exposed to the confusion which must attend his departure The gravest and most pious Clergy lamented the unskilful spirit of the rest and even some of the Bishops and others who were present at the Congregation and subscrib'd to the Excommunication disclaim'd their having consented to it though they were oblig'd to sign it for conformity So that they found it necessary within less than three days after the publishing it to suspend that dreadful Sentence and yet that it might appear how unwillingly they did those acts of sobriety and gentleness it will not be amiss to set down the Letter it self which the Titular Bishop of Clonfert and Doctor Charles Kelly writ to the Officers of the Army under the Command of the Lord Marquis of Clanrickard to that purpose which was in these words SIRS YEster day we received an Express from the rest of our Congregation at Galway bearing their sense to suspend the effect of the Excommunication proclaimed by their Orders till the service at Athlone be performed fearing on the one side a dispersion of the Army and on the other side have received certain intelligence of the Enemies approach unto that Place with their full force and number of fighting men and thereupon would have us concur with them in suspending the said Excommunication As for our part we do judge that suspension to be unnecessary and full of inconveniencies which we apprehend may ensue because the Excommunication may be obeyed and the service not neglected if the People were pleased to undertake the service in the Clergies name without relation to the Lord of Ormond Yet fearing the censure of singularity in a matter of so high a strain against us or to be deem'd more forward in Excommunicating then others also fearing the weakness of some which we believ'd the Congregation fear'd we are pleas'd to follow the major Vote and against our own opinion concur with them and do hereby suspend the said Censure as above provided always that after the Service perform'd or the Service be thought unnecessary by the Clergy or when the said Clergy shall renew it it shall be presently incurred as if the said Suspension had never been interposed And so we remain Your assured loving Friends in Christ Walter Bish. of Clonfert Charles Kelly Corbeg Sept. 16. 1650. If this Authentick Truth of which there is not room for the least doubt were not inserted who could believe it possible that men endu'd with common understanding and professing the Doctrine of Christianity and Allegiance of Subjects could upon deliberation publish such Decrees And who can wonder that a People enslaved to and conducted by such Spiritual Leaders should become a Prey to any Enemy though supplied with less power vigilance and dexterity than the Parliaments Forces always were who have prevailed against them and who by all kind of reproaches rigour and tyranny have made that froward and unhappy Congregation pay dear Interest for the contempt and indignity with which they prosecuted their Sovereign and his Authority His Majesty that now is being about this time in Scotland in prosecution of the recovery of his Kingdoms was by the Kirk Party which possess'd the Power of that Kingdom forced to sign a Declaration By which the Peace concluded with the Irish Catholicks in 1648. by Authority of the late King of ever glorious memory and confirmed by himself was pronounced and adjudged void and that his Majesty was absolved from any observation of it And this not grounded upon those particular Breaches Violations and Affronts which had been offered to his Majesties Authority and contrary to the express Articles Proviso's and Promises of that Treaty but upon the supposed unlawfulness of concluding any Peace with those Persons who were branded with many ignominious reproaches And though this Declaration in point of time issued after the Excommunication at James-town yet the notice of it came so near the time of the publication of the other that the Clergy inserted it in their Declaration as if it had been one of the principal Causes of their Excommunication thereby deluding the People as if that expedient of their Excommunication had been the onely foundation of security to the Nation and their particular Fortunes When the Marquis first heard of that Declaration in Scotland he did really believe it a Forgery contrived either by the Parliament or the Irish Congregation to seduce the People from their Affection and Loyalty to the King but soon after viz. the 13th of October being assured of its authentickness he immediately with the advice of the Commissioners
former rebellious courses not so much as having to this time offered any assistance to this State or any the Governors or Commanders of the Army and have murdered many English and other Subjects in several parts it being observed that if any of his Majesties good Subjects Souldiers or others pass by not strongly guarded they are set upon and murthered in the High-ways and passages as they travel the very Plowmen and those that keep Cattle having continually Arms lying by them in the Fields to murther those his Majesties good Subjects when they find them weakly guarded and on the other side when they find them strongly guarded they seem to go on in their Plowing and Husbandry shewing those Warrants for their safety and seeming to be poor innocent and harmless Labourers And although the aforesaid open Rebels were frequently in some of their Houses and continually round about them they never gave us any intelligence concerning the proceedings of those open Rebels nor of the places where they had often meetings and where they might be found to be fallen on by his Majesties Army which they might easily have done if their affections to his Majesty and his Government had been such as by the Laws of God they ought to be or if they desired to live humbly in obedience to the Laws as some of them pretend And albeit in many of the said VVarrants there were conditions expressed and in all of them Conditions implyed that the parties taking benefit thereby should behave themselves as becomes dutiful and Loyal Subjects whereby We might justly proceed to their deserved Correction without any violation on Our parts of the said VVarrants or the word thereby given And albeit also that most of those VVarrants were not in themselves Protections to the parties further than in giving them leave to bring or send Corn and other provisions to the Markets whereby their Servants or Horses or Provisions should not be seized on by the Souldiers when they came to the Markets which admittance fell out as well for their benefit as intended for the furnishing of the Market Yet because We find that the further continuing of those VVarrants do now appear inevitably to induce a great inconvenience to his Majesties General Service and many of those people do either ignorantly or perhaps purposely mistake the true sense and meaning of those VVarrants and do give out to interpret them to be Protections granted to them for the safety of their Lives and Estates how foul soever they are in their crimes which is an interpretation that cannot justly be made out of the letter or meaning of those VVarrants yet in regard We who are entrusted here by His Majesty for the government of this His Kingdom and People are so tender of His Majesties Honour as VVe neither have done nor will do anything that by any construction can be interpreted a Breach of any word given by Us neither have desired or willingly permitted any violence or hurt to be done to any Inhabitant or any prejudice other than for the necessary Defence and safety of this State and other His Majesties good Subjects against those that tookup Arms against His Majesty And for that we are now necessitated to resolve not to suffer this State to be any longer deluded and abused and His Majesties good Subjects murthered even as it were in our own view in scorn and affront of the State and some of the actors passing with impunity under countenance of these VVarrants VVe think fit before we proceed to the just Correction of those who have so declared themselves Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom hereby to publish and declare that the said VVarrants so granted by Us the Lords Justices or either of Us or by Us the Lords Justices and Councel or by the said Lieutenant General of the Army or by the said late or present Commanders of the Forces of this City or by any His Majesties Commanders in Drogheda or other places to any person or persons within the Baronies of Castle-knock Nethercrois Balrothery or Coolock in the County of Dublin or within the Baronies of Duleeke Skryne Moyfenragh Ratoath Deece and Dunboyne in the County of Meath shall from and after the four and twentieth day of this Month stand void and be annulled repealed and revoked and we do hereby accordingly from and after the said day revoke repeal make void and annul them and every of them to all intents and purposes as if they had never been granted and do order that from and after the said day they be of no force nor derive any benefit Protection or Security in the parties to whom they were granted And this Proclamation we hereby require the Major and Sheriffs of the City of Dublin to cause to be proclaimed and published on two Market-days in and throughout the said City and Suburbs and to be publickly fixed up in the Market-place and other publick places in the said City and Suburbs that so all men may take notice thereof and that hereafter when by the power and strength of his Majesties Army Offenders receive due punishment they may appear inexcusable and not have any colour to pretend the least Breach of word in this State Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin the 10. of June 1642. Ormond Ossory Roscomon Ad. Loftus J. Temple Tho. Rotherham Fra. Willoughby Tho. Lucas Ja. Ware Geo. Wentworth Rob. Meredith God save the King This relates to what is mentioned in the end of the second Paragraph Fol 102. Justifying the State in the revoking of Protections given contrary to their Order and the Abuse the Protected made thereof By the Lords Justices and Council W. Parsons Jo. Borlase WHereas in the beginning of this hideous and detestable Rebellion We the Lords Justices and Council desirous if it might be to give some sudden stop thereunto so to prevent the spreading thereof and the growth of it to that height to which it hath sithence risen and conceiving that at that time the multitude were by evil Council or false rumors seduced to partake in that Rebellion who not knowing the truth and depth of the Combination We did think could not so wretchedly fail in their Duty and Loyalty to their most Gracious King and Soveraign as so universally to persist in their course of Disobedience to his Majesties Authority but would with treatable and fair admonitions laying before them their great danger and the iniquity of their enterprise have returned to their obedience We therefore on the 27th of October last authorised divers persons of quality and trust for the several Counties of Down Antrim Armagh Monaghan Cavan Tirone and Fermanagh amongst other Powers then entrusted with them to parly with the Rebels or any of them and by Proclamation or otherwise to proffer his Majesties Grace and Mercy to them or any of them and to receive such of them into his Majesties Grace and Mercy as should submit themselves and desire the same Yet We held fit
then to accompany the said Commission with our Letters to the said Commissioners wherein We signified to them that although by the said Commission We gave them that power yet We did then let them know that for those who were Chief among the Rebels and Ring-leaders of the rest to disobedience that We adjudged them less worthy of favour then the others whom they had mis-guided And therefore for those principal persons We required them to take care not to be too forward without first consulting this Board in proffering or promising mercy to those unless they the Commissioners saw it of great and unavoidable necessity Which power entrusted by Us with the said Commissioners was then granted in respect of the conjuncture of affaires at that time and to answer the then sudden extremities in the publick service And whereas We have now received information that a long time after the said power entrusted with them and when the State of the Countrey was far different from the Condition wherein it stood at the issuing of the said Commission and after the general Conspiracy was fully discovered and that the Rebels of all degrees and conditions had with hateful and bloody obstinacy declared their purpose to extirp the Brittish throughout the whole Kingdom without hope of reconcilement other then by the strength of his Majesties forces some of the said Commissioners notwithstanding the premonition given them by Our said Letters and without consulting this Board therein have given Protections of late to many of the said Rebels being principal persons and freeholders which Protections are in sundry respects found to be a mighty hindrance to His Majesties service in those parts and tending to His Majesties loss and disadvantage And albeit We are informed that those persons so protected have by their mis-behaviours since the Protections granted to them violated the express or implyed conditions of all Protections which besides the unreasonableness of the granting of them contrary to the intent of Our direction in Our said Letters might justly give cause to have those Rebells immediately faln upon and cut off Yet in regard We who are entrusted here by His Majesty for the Government of this His Kingdom and People are so tender of His Majesties honour as We neither have done nor will do any thing that by any construction can be interpreted a breach of any word given by Us or any other authorized by Us. We think fit before we proceed to the just correction of those Rebels hereby to publish and declare that all the said Protections granted since the first of March last to any person or persons whatsoever in the County of Downe or other Counties above named shall at the end of ten days next after the pubishing of this Proclamation at Down-Patrick or Strangford in the said County of Down or at any other publick place in any of the said Counties respectively stand void and be annulled repealed and revoked And we do hereby accordingly from and after the said ten days revoke repeal make void and annull them and every of them to all intents and purposes as if they had never been granted and do Order that from and after the said ten days they be of no force nor derive any benefit protection or security to any of the parties to whom they were so granted And this Proclamation We require the Sheriff of the County of Downe and the several Sheriffs of the said several Counties respectively to cause to be proclaimed and published at Down-Patrick and Strangford aforesaid and at some publick places in the said several Counties respectively that so all persons whom it may concern may take notice thereof and that hereafter when by the Power and Strength of Hu Majesties Army the said Offenders receive due punishment for their high transgressions they may not have any colour to presend the beast breach of word in this State or any the Ministers thereof Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 19th day of August 1641. La. Dublin Ormond Ossory Cha. Lambert Ad. Loftus J. Temple Tho. Lucas Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith Pope Urban the Eight's Grant of Indulgence to Owen Roe O Neal referrable to Fol. 136. mentioned in Mahony's Disp. Apologet. p. 41. Dilecto filio Eugenio O Nello DIlecte fili Salutem Nullum praetermittere soles occasionem quâ non Majorum tuorum Vestigiis insistens Eximium Zelum propagandae Ecclesiae studium perspectum facis idque luculènter in praesentia praestitisti in Hiberniam proficisci cogitans ut Catholicorum rationibus praesto sis Quam ob rem pergratae Nobis advenerunt Literae quibus Hujusmodi itineris deliberationem declaras rei faelicitèr gerendae principium à caelesti ope auspicatus non minus humilitèr quam religiose Apostolicam benedictionem a Nobis postulas Praeclarum hunc in te ardorem constantiam adversus haereticos verae fidei animum non parum laudamus tuaeque jam pridem pietatis conscii à te expectamus in hac opportunitate strenui atque excelsi roboris documenta quae antehac singularem nominis famam tibi comparârunt Illorum paritèr commendamus Consilium quos tuo excitans exemplo significasti speramus autem fore ut Altissimus tuae causae praesto sit ut Notam faciat in populis Virtutem suam Interim ut confidentius cuncta aggrediamini Nos divinam Clementiam indesinentèr orantes ut adversariorum conatus in nihilum redigat tibi caeterisque Catholicorum rem in praedicto regno Curaturis nostram libentèr impartimur benedictionem Universisqne singulis si verè paenitentes confessi fuerint Sacrâ Communione si fieri possit debitè refecti plenariam suorum peccatorum veniam remissionem atque in Mortis articulo Indulgentiam etiam plenariam elargimur Datum Romae sub Annulo Piscatoris die 8. Octobris 1642. Pontificatûs Nostri Anno 20. APPENDIX X. Fol. 141. By the Lords Justices and Councel Jo. Borlase Hen. Tichborne WHereas We have lately seen a Printed Paper intitled a solemn League and Covenant for reformation and defence of Religion the Honour and happiness of the King and the Peace and safety of the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which seems to have been Printed at London on the ninth day of October 1643. And forasmuch as in the said League or Covenant there are divers things contained not only tending to a seditious Combination against His Majesty but also contrary to the municipal Laws of this Kingdom of Ireland and destructive to the Church-Government established by Law in this Kingdom And for that by the Laws of this Kingdom no Oath ought to be tendred to or taken by any person or persons whatsoever in this Kingdom but before a Judge or other person thereunto Lawfully Authorised by His Majesty and for that the said League or Covenant is now endeavoured to be set on foot in this Kingdom without His Majesties Privity Direction or Allowance And in regard it is directly
restored to but by the love of his People without the chargeable and many times dangerous assistance of Strangers who are not over-tender nor much distinguishing betwixt the party they come to assist and that they come to subdue when they are made Umpires in such Quarrels for they rarely employ their Auxiliary Treasure and Blood purely out of Generosity and Justice which may in Romance be found the ultimate end of such Assistance but seldom in the truth of History Here it may be observed that if the revolt and deviation of our Nations from their KING and from Monarchy it self was the most unreasonable and prodigious that any Age hath known their voluntary uncompelled Return to both is as much without Example nor indeed could that Return have been so miraculous if the Revolt had not been so prodigious And it may also be worth the observing that as the first most bloody Eruption from Peace to Rebellion took birth in this Kingdom so from hence came the first Overtures to Peace and Submission By and with the Kings deliverance and Restitution our Church is delivered from Contempt Sacriledge and Desolation and restored to a due veneration a competent improving support and to fair beginnings of Decency and Order Our Laws are delivered from corrupt incompetent Interpreters from monstrous unnatural expositions and applications and Justice is restored to the distribution of upright learned lawfully sworn and authorized Judges The noblest Acts of Loyaltie shall now no more receive the judgment due to the foulest Treason due to the unrighteous Judges that pronounced it without Authority in the Persons or Justice in the Sentence High Courts of Justice shall no more usurp that name nor our Benches be crouded or oppressed with the throng and wicked weight of those that ought rather to have stood manacled at the Bar. A happy change to those for whose destruction those extravagant Tribunals were erected and a secure change to all for it hath been often an observed Method in God's never-failing Justice to catch Cruelty and Oppression in those very snares they had prepared for others All Men are delivered from the intanglements of two-edged Oaths from the conflicts raised by them in Mens Brests betwixt Conscience and conveniency betwixt the prostitution of Conscience and the ruine of their Fortunes than which a harder a more Tyrannical choice cannot be obtruded upon Christians For here the election was not Swear thus against your Conscience or you shall have no part in the Civil Government no Office in the Army no Benefice in the Church but Swear thus or you shall have no House to put your Headin no Bread to sustain your selves your Wives and Children To conclude these Observations who is not delivered from some Oppression and restored to some Advantage Even those that shall lose the wages of iniquitie their ill-got possessions shall be delivered from the oppression of a bad and if they have any shall be restored to a good Conscience if they have none they were not in the Kings and I hope will not be in Your care Those that shall be kept out of their ancient Estates the Inheritance of their Fathers through the defect of their Qualifications and by the All-disposing Providence of God who was not pleased to make them active Instruments in this Happy Change are delivered from Tyrannous Confinements causeless Imprisonments and a continual fear of their lives The good Land lies afore them their industry is at Liberty and they are restored to the freedom of Subjects and protection of the Laws If an irish Papist be opprest they shall relieve him if the blood of the meanest of them be shed it shall be strictly enquired after Let this state be compared with that they were in before the King's Restitution and it will be found the greatest loser has got something by it As it is our duty thus thankfully to commemorate these great things done for us so it is our duty to endeavour in our several Stations to improve and secure them to Our selves and Our Posterity And sure the most Natural way to that end is to call to mind and avoid those Errours that brought us into those miseries from which we are redeemed Many are the causes too boldly assigned for the Calamities these Nations so long laboured under But in such Inquisitions the verdict is seldom impartially brought in the Jury are too often the Criminals But I think I may safely say that one and that a fundamental cause was that the late King was maliciously represented to the People I am sure the Freedom Peace Plenty and Happinesses they were told they should enjoy without him proved miserable and fatal delusions Let us mistrust those that shall use the same Arts lest they involve us in the same misery and let us judge of the King's intentions to His People by His Publique Acts of grace and bounty by His mild and easy Government by His desire and endeavours to make His Subjects happy at home and renowned abroad and by the reluctancy of His Nature to just severity when the wickedness or frenzy of the worst Offendors extort it from him That something will be amiss in the Administration of the most perfect Government in this World must be expected but whoever shall think that these things are to be rectified by force upon the Government and that effected proposes to acquiesce and return to Obedience cannot know himself so well as to be sure that Opportunity and success may not suggest more inordinate Appetites to him And there are those alive that know how far further than their first intention the Reformers of our times were led on till the unwarrantable force they had raised grew too strong for their Management flew in their faces and in conclusion acted those villanies that I dare say their Souls abhorred but neither their Policy or Power could restrain VVe have had sad experience and let us be the wiser for it in how short a time in how few days the industry of many years nay of an Age may be destroyed and laid waste when Rage and Rapine are let loose If once Sedition grow too strong for the Law and Rebellion for the Magistrate so that the Law is silenced or the language of it corrupted or invented and the Magistrate removed as burthensom and unnecessary let us remember what variety of misery and mischief is brought upon the people how unsupportable their sufferings are and how Intolerable their fears of suffering they know not what more by whom or how long Let the people remember how many and how chargeable their Masters nay how many and chargeable the changes of their Masters were when once they foolishly affected the misery indeed the impossibility of having none VVhen Misrepresentations had taken place and root in the minds of the people their heart grew narrow and barren towards the King those that soon after rob'd them both perswading them to keep their purses full for them to empty This close
Ja. Ware God save the King An Abreviate of the Articles of Peace concluded by the Marquiss of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Commissioner for the King and the Lord Mountgarret President of the Supream Council the Lord Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Dermot O Brian Patrick Darcy Jeffery Brown and John Dillon Esquires Commissioners for the Irish. 1. THat the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Kingdom of Ireland or any of them be not bound or obliged to take the Oath of Supremacy expressed in the second of Queen Elis. commonly called the Oath of Supremacy 2. That a Parliament may be held on or before the last day of November next and that these Articles agreed on may be transmitted into England according to the usual Form and passed provided that nothing may be passed to the Prejudice of either Protestant or Catholick Party other then such things as upon this Treaty shall be concluded 3. That all Acts made by both or either Houses of Parliament to the Blemish or Prejudice of his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects since the 7th of August 1641. shall be vacated by Acts of Parliament 4. That no Actions of Law shall be removed before the said Parliament in case it be sooner called then the last of November And that all Impediments which may hinder the Roman Catholicks to sit in the next Parliament shall be remov'd before the Parliament sit 5. That all Debts do Stand in state as they were in the beginning of these Troubles 6. That the Plantation in Connaght Kilkenny Clare Thomond Tipperary Limrick and Wickloe may be revoked by Act of Parliament and their Estates secur'd in the next Sessions 7. That the Natives may erect one or more Inns of Court in or near the City of Dublin they taking an Oath as also one or more Universities to be Govern'd as his Majesty shall appoint as also to have Schools for Education of Youth in the Kingdom 8. That Places of Command of Forts Castles Garrisons Towns and other Places of Importance and all Places of Honour Profit and Trust shall be conferr'd with equal Indifferency upon the Catholicks as his Majesties other Subjects according to their respective Merits and Abilities 9. That 12000 l. Sterling be paid the King yearly for the Court of Wards 10. That no Peer may be capable of more Proxies then two And that no Lords Vote in Parliament unless in 5 years a Lord Baron purchase in Ireland 200 l. per anum a Viscount 400 l. and an Earl 600 l. or lose their Votes till they purchase 11. That the Independency of the Parliament of Ireland on the Kingdom of England shall be decided by Declaration of both Houses agreeable to the Laws of the Kingdom of Ireland 12. That the Council Table shall contain itself within its bounds in handling Matters of State as Patents of Plantations Offices c. and not meddle with matter betwixt Party and Party 13. That all Acts concerning Staple or Native Commodities of this Kingdom shall be repeal'd except Wooll and Woollfels and that the Commissioners the Lord Mountgarret and others named in the 26 Article shall be Authoriz'd under the Great Seal to moderate and ascertain the rates of Merchandize to be exported and imported 14. That no Governor be longer Resident then his Majesty shall find for the good of his People and that they make no purchase other then by Lease for the Provision of their Houses 15. That an Act of Oblivion may be passed without extending to any who will not accept of this Peace 16. That no Governor or any other Prime Minister of State in Ireland shall be Farmers of his Majesties Customs 17. That a Repeal of all Monopolies be passed 18. That Commissioners be appointed to regulate the Court of Castle-Chamber 19. That Acts Prohibiting Plowing by Horse-tails and burning of Oats in the Straw be repealed 20. That Course be taken against the Disobedience of the Cessation and Peace 21. That such Graces as were promised by his Majesty in the Fourth year of his Reign and sued for by a Committee of both Houses of Parliament and not express'd in these Articles may in the next ensuing Parliament be desir'd of his Majesty 22. That Maritine Causes be determin'd here without Appeal into England 23. That the increase of Rents lately rais'd upon the Commission of defective Titles be repeal'd 24. That all Interests of Money due by way of Debt Mortgage or otherwise and not yet satisfi'd since the 23. of Octob. 1641. to pay no more than 5l per Cent. 25. That the Commissioners have power to determine all Cases within their Quarters until the perfection of these Articles by Parliament and raise 10000 Men for his Majesty 26. That the Lord Mountgarret Muskery Sir Dan. O Bryan Sir Lucas Dillon Nich. Plunket Rich. Bealing Philip Mac-Hugh O Relie Terlogh O Neal Thomas Flemming Patrick Darcy Gerald Fennel and Jeffery Brown or any five of them be for the present Commissioners of the Peace Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-Delivery in the present Quarters of the Confederate Catholicks with power of Justice of Peace Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-Delivery as in former times of Peace they have usually had 27. That none of the Roman Catholick Party before there be a Settlement by Parliament Sue Implead or Arrest or be Sued Impleaded or Arrested in any Court other than before the Commissioners or in the several Corporations or other Judicatures within their Quarters 28. That the Confederate Catholicks continue in their Possessions until Settlement by Parliament and to be Commanded by his Majesties Chief Governour with the advice and consent of the Commissioners or any Five of them 29. That all Customs from the perfection of these Articles are to be paid into his Majesties Receipt and to his use as also all Rent due at Easter next till a full Settlement of Parliament 30. That the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-Delivery shall have power to hear and determine all Offences committed or done or to be committed or done from the 15th day of September 1643. until the first day of the next Parliament Thus the Marquess having perform'd all on his part that could be expected from him and was in his power to do and having receiv'd from other Parts all the assurance he could require there being no other way of engaging the publick Faith of the Nation than that to which they had so formally engaged themselves to him in he intended nothing then but how his Majesty might speedily receive some fruit of that Peace and Accommodation he thence expected by sending assistance to him And to that purpose with advice and upon invitation of several Persons who had great Authority and Power amongst the Confederate Catholicks the Lord Lieutenant took a Journey himself to Kilkenny where he was receiv'd with that Respect and Reverence as was due to his Person and to the Place he held and with such expressions of Triumph and Joy as gave him cause
to believe the People were glad to be again receiv'd into his Majesty's Protection A Protection his Majesty evidences to his Commissioners at Uxbridge That it was as inevitably necessary that they should not consent to hinder him therein as he had strong Reasons for the Cessation before unless they could shew how his Protestant Subjects in Ireland may probably at least defend themselves and that he should have no more need to defend his Conscience and Crown from the Injuries of this Rebellion At this Peace the Irish seem'd exceedingly enliven'd but the shew thereof quickly vanish'd and a cloud of Jealousie began again to cover the Land The Pope's Nuncio and the titular Bishops who depended on him envi'd that Nation the happiness and glory they foresaw it would be possess'd of by the execution of that Agreement and so without any colour of Authority either by the old establish'd Laws of that Kingdom or those Rules they had prescrib'd to themselves since the Rebellion they conven'd a Congregation of the Clergy at Waterford a Town most at their devotion where the Titular Bishop of Ferns was in the Chair and refided And therefore it will not be amiss to take a short view of their proceedings that the unhappy oppressed and miserable Ireland may clearly discern to whom it owes those Pressures and Grievances it is now overwhelm'd with and whether that Bishop be to be reckon'd in the number of those who suffer at present for his Zeal to Religion his Allegiance to the King and his Affection to his Countrey or whether his name be to be inserted in that Catalogue which must derive to Posterity the Authors and Fomentors of so odious and causless a Rebellion in which such a Sea of Blood hath been let out and the Betrayers of the Honour and Faith of that Countrey and Nation and who are no less guilty of extirpation of a Religion they so much glory of in that Kingdom than Ireton or Cromwel or that impious Power under which they have perpetrated all their Acts of Blood Cruelty and Desolation At that time the Parliament of England having accommodated the Spaniard with 2000 Men he in lieu thereof so temper'd the Irish ever devoted to that Nation that the Spaniard having then an Agent in Ireland he took them off from doing any thing effectual in our King's business And the Congregation of the Clergy was no sooner assembled then instead of prescribing Acts of Charity and Repentance to the People for the ill they had formerly done and then inflaming their hearts with new Zeal and infusing pious Courage into them to relieve and succour the King from those who oppressed him according to their particular Obligation by their late Agreement which had been the proper Office of Prelates and a Christian Clergy they began to inveigh against the Peace which themselves had so lately approv'd and so formally consented unto as if it had not carefully enough provided for the advancement of Religion and would not suffer it to be proclaim'd in Waterford and sent their Emissaries and their Orders to all considerable Towns and Cities to incense the People against it and against those who wished it should take effect insomuch that when the King at Arms was Proclaiming the Peace at Limerick with that solemnity and Ceremony as in such cases is used throughout the World with his Coat of Arms the Ensign of his Office and accompani'd with the Mayor and Aldermen and the most substantial of the Citizens in their Robes and with all the Ensigns of Magistracy and Authority one Molife a seditious Frier stirr'd up the multitude against him which being led on by one Fanning a person notorious for many outrages and acts of Blood and Inhumanity in the beginning of the Rebellion violently assaulted them and after many opprobrious speeches in contempt of the Peace and the Authority of the King and tearing off the Coat from the Herald beat and wounded him and many of the Magistrates of the City and some of them almost to death And least all this might be excused and charitably interpreted to be the effect of a Popular and Tumultuous Insurrection the Lawful Mayor and other principal Officers who assisted him in the discharge of his Duty were immediately displac'd and Fanning the impious Conductor of that Rabble was made Mayor in his place who by Letters from the Nuncio was thanked for what he had done and encouraged to proceed in the same way and had the Apostolical Benediction bestowed on him for committing such an outrage upon the Priviledged Person of an Herald who in the name of the King came to proclaim Peace As by the Law of Nations must have been adjudged barbarous and unpardonable in any part of the World where Civility is planted if he had come to have denounced War And yet all this while the design it self was carried with so great secresie that the Lord Lieutenant proceeding in his Progress for the setling and composing the humours of the People which he understood to have been in some disorder by the infusions of the ill-affected Clergy never heard of any Force of Arms to second and support those mutinous disorders till being near to the City of Cashell he was advertis'd by Letters from the Mayor that Neal's Army was marching that way and had sent terrible threats to that City if it presum'd to receive the Lord Lieutenant And shortly after he found that Owen O Neal used all possible expedition to get between him and Dublin that so he might have been able to have surprised and destroyed him whereupon the Marquis found it necessary to lose no time in returning thither yet resolved not onely to contain himself from any Acts of Hostility but even from those Trespasses which are hardly avoidable upon Marches and paid so precisely for whatsoever was taken from the Inhabitants throughout all the Catholick Quarters presuming that those Persons of Honour who had transacted the Treaty would have been able to have caused the Peace to be observed in despight of those clamorous undertakers But when the Unchristian Congregation of Waterford had made this Essay of their Power and Jurisdiction they made all possible hast to propagate their Authority and declared the Peace to be void and inhibited all Persons to submit thereunto or to pay any Taxes Imposition or Contribution which had been setled by the said Agreement and without which neither a standing Army which was to be applied to the Reduction of those Towns and Provinces which had put themselves under the Protection of the Parliament of England and never submitted to the former Cessation nor could be comprehended in the Peace could be supported or the 10000 Men rais'd to be transported into England for the succour of the King as had been so Religiously undertaken which inclination of theirs the People so readily obeyed and submitted unto That they committed and delegated the intire and absolute Power of Governing
your Highness pious intentions for the preservation of the Catholick Religion your great and Princely care to recover his Majesties Rights and Interests from his Rebel Subjects of England and the high obligation you put upon this Nation by your tender regard of them and desire to redeem them from the great miseries and afflictions they have endured and the eminent dangers they are in And it shall be a principal part of my ambition to be an useful instrument to serve your Highness in so famous and glorious an enterprize And that I may be the more capable to contribute somewhat to so religious and just ends First in discharge of my conscience toward God my duty to the King my Master and to dis-abuse your Highness and give a clear and perfect information so far as comes to my knowledge I am obliged to represent unto your Highness that by the title of the Agreement and Articles therein contained made by those Commissioners I imployed to your Highness and but lately come into my hands They have violated the trust reposed in them by having cast off and declined the Commission and Instructions they had from me in the King my Masters behalf and all other Powers that could by any other means be derived from him and pretend to make an agreement with your Highness in the name of the Kingdom and People of Ireland for which they had not nor could have any warrantable Authority and have abused your Highness by a counterfeit shew of a private Instrument fraudulently procured and signed as I am informed by some inconsiderable and factious Persons ill-affected to his Majesties Authority without any knowledge or consent of the generality of the Nation or Persons of greatest Quality or Interest therein and who under a seeming zeal and pretence of service to your Highness labour more to satisfie their private ambitions then the advantage of Religion or the Nation or the prosperous success of your Highness generous undertakings And to manifest the clearness of mine own proceeding and make such deceitful Practices more apparent I send your Highness herewith an authentick Copy of my Instructions which accompanied their Commission when I imployed them to your Highness as a sufficient evidence to convince them And having thus fully manifested their breach of publick Trust I am obliged in the King my Masters name to protest against their unwarrantable proceedings and to declare all the Agreements and Acts whatsoever concluded by those Commissioners to be void and illegal being not derived from or consonant to his Majesties Authority being in duty bound thus far to vindicate the King my Masters Honour and Authority and to preserve his just and undoubted Rights from such deceitful and rebellious Practices as likewise with an humble and respective care to prevent those prejudices that might befal your Highness in being deluded by counterfeit shews in doing you greater Honour where it is apparent that any undertaking laid upon such false and ill-grounded Principles as have been smoothly digested and fixed upon that Nation as their desire and request must overthrow all those Heroick and Prince-like Acts your Highness hath proposed to your self for Gods glory and service the restauration of oppressed Majesty and the relief of his distressed Kingdom which would at length fall into intestine broils and divivisions if not forceably driven into desperation I shall now with a hopeful and chearful importunity upon a clear score free from those deceits propose to your Highness that for the advancement of all those great ends you aim at and in the King my Masters behalf and in the name of all the Loyal Catholick Subjects of this Nation and for the preservation of those important cautionary Places that are security for your Highness past and present disbursements you will be pleased to quicken and hasten those aids and assistances you intended for the relief of Ireland and I have with my whole power and through the greatest hazards striven to defend them for you and to preserve all other Ports that may be at all times of advantage and safeguard to your Fleets and Men of War having yet many good Harbours left but also engage in the King my Masters name that whatsoever may prove to your satisfaction that is any way consistent with his Honour and Authority and have made my humble applications to the Queens Majesty and my Lord Lieutenant the King being in Scotland further to agree confirm and secure whatsoever may be of advantage to your Highness and if the last Galliot had but brought 10000 l. for this instant time it would have contributed more to the recovery of this Kingdom then far greater sums delayed by enabling our Forces to meet together for the relief of Limerick which cannot but be in great distress after so long a Siege and which if lost although I shall endeavour to prevent it will cost much treasure to be regained And if your Highness will be pleased to go on chearfully freely and seasonably with this great work I make no question but God will give so great a blessing thereto as that my self and all the Loyal Subjects of this Kingdom may soon and justly proclaim and leave recorded to posterity that your Highness was the great and glorious restorer of our Religion Monarch and Nation and that your Highness may not be discouraged or diverted from this generous enterprize by the malice or invectives of any ill affected it is a necessary duty in me to represent unto your Highness that the Bishop of Ferns who as I am informed hath gained some interest in your favour is a Person that hath ever been violent against and malicious to his Majesty's Authority and Government and a fatal Instrument in contriving and fomenting all those divisions and differences that have rent asunder this Kingdom the introduction to our present miseries and weak condition And that your Highness may clearly know his disposition I send herewithal a Copy of part of a Letter written by him directed to the Lord Taaffe Sir Nicholas Plunket and Jeffery Brown and humbly submitted to your judgment whether those expressions be agreeable to the temper of the Apostolical Spirit and considering whose Person and Authority I represent what ought to be the reward of such a crime I must therefore desire your Highness in the King my Masters behalf that he may not be countenanc'd or intrusted in any Affairs that have relation to his Majesties Interest in this Kingdom where I have constantly endeavoured by all possible service to deserve your Highness good opinion and obtaining that favour to be a most faithful acknowledger of it in the capacity and under the title of Your Highness most humble and obliged Servant CLANRICKARD Athenree 20th Octob. 1651. Thus the Lord Deputy very faithfully discharged his duty and great cause there was to protest against such proceedings of the Confederates they putting his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland into the hands of a Foreign Prince and in that
assuming to themselves the name of The Kingdom and People of Ireland as if there had been no other Party or People in the Kingdom or not considerable but themselves alone and as if then in Ireland there had been no Power or Government but theirs onely his Majesties Authority in the hands of his Deputy not regarded or consulted They also the Confederates in that giving up the Kingdom into the Power of a Stranger colouring their Treason with a flattering Clause and an empty and insignificant Title to their Natural Prince in Reversion and by Resignation when the new Protector commanding all should please to do it he being first satisfi'd of all Disbursments Charges and Claims whatsoever he himself being Auditor A Concern of that importance as we seldom find where others have been called in upon Assistance especially on such Encouragements that they have quitted their hold without effusion of much blood or an absolute dis-inherizon of the right Owner And therefore the Lord Deputies foresight of such an Evil doth commend him faithful to his Prince and just to his Nation Nor can it be doubted that the Attestation of this Peer one that hath run the hazard of his Countreys safety should be further credited than what the Bishop of Ferns or any obscure loose Frier how prodigal soever in their Calumnies should or can publish in the bitterness of their spirit a crime incident to their Faculty being ill affected to his Majesty worse to his Governours One of the principal Motives which induced the Marquis of Clanrickard to submit to that Charge and to undertake a Province which he knew would be very burthensome and grievous in several respects was the joynt promise That the City of Limerick and the Town of Galway would pay all imaginable duty to him The Clergy obliged themselves in that particular with all confidence and the Deputies of the Places promised all that could be desir'd But when the Lord Deputy found it necessary to settle that business they would neither receive a Garrison or Governour from him and when he offered himself to stay in Limerick when Ireton was drawing before it and to run his Fortune with them they refused it as peremptorily as they had done to the Lord Lieutenant It is true both Limerick and Galway were contented to receive Soldiers but they must be such onely as were of their own choosing not such either in number or quality as the Lord Deputy would have sent to them or as were necessary for their security They chose likewise their own Governour or rather kept the Government themselves and gave the Title to one whom they thought least like to contradict them and in a word behaved themselves like two Common-wealths and obey'd the Deputy no farther than they were inclined by their own convenience they who compounded with the Enemy in the Countrey corresponded with them in the Town and thereby gave the Enemy intelligence of all that passed Wonderful diligence was used to make it be thought that the Independents were not uncharitable unto Papists and that they wished not any compulsion should be used in matter of Religion and when the acts of cruelty and blood of putting their Priests and Prelates to an ignominious death of which there were new instances every day were mentioned It was answer'd Those proceedings were carried on by the power of the Presbyterians very much against the Nature and Principles of the other Party This license of Communication and the evil consequences that must attend it was enough understood by the Lord Deputy but could no more be prevented reformed or punished than he could infuse a new heart or spirit into the People one instance will serve the turn There was in the Town a Frier Anthony Geoghean who had always adhered to the Nuncio and opposed the King's Authority to the utmost of his power several Letters written by him into the Enemies Quarters were intercepted and brought to the Lord Deputy in which though there were many things in Cypher there appeared much of the present state and condition of the Town and in one of them dated the 4th of Febr. 1651. he thus writes If the service of God had been as deep in the hearts of our Nation as that Idol of Dagon a foolish Loyalty a better course for its honour and preservation had been taken in time The Lord Deputy believed the crime to be so apparent and of such a nature that what Complices soever he might have none would have the courage to appear in his behalf And that he might give the Clergy an opportunity to shew their zeal in a business that concern'd so much their common safety he referr'd the examination of the Frier unto the Bishops whereof there were three or four in Town and to some other of the principal of the Clergy and appointed them to require him to produce the Cypher which he had used and to examine him to whom the Letters were intended they being directed to counterfeit and suppositious names The Cypher was accordingly produced and thereby many expressions in the Letter appear'd to be full of neglect and reproach to the King and others of insolence and contumely toward the Lord Deputy they mention'd little hope was left of relief from the Duke of Lorrain and that they resolved to send one to treat with the Rebels and had found private means of conveying one to that purpose The Frier promised to use all his diligence to dispose the Catholicks to have a good opinion of the Independents and made some request concerning himself All that he alledged for his defence was That the Letters written by him were to one who was employ'd by the Court of Rome that he had no ill meaning against the King or Deputy and that he had himself a Trust from Rome and Instructions from the Secretary of the Congregation De propaganda Fide and the Bishops certifi'd that they had seen the Instructions and that they did not relate at all to the Temporal State And this was all the satisfaction and justice the Lord Deputy could procure though he writ several Letters of Expostulation to the Bishops thereupon Whether this be a part of the Priviledges and Immunities of the Catholick Roman Church and enjoy'd in any Catholick Countrey and whether it can be indulged to them in any other Countrey where the Authority of the Bishop of Rome is not submitted unto we must leave to the World to judge and determine In the interim If Protestant Kings and Princes are provident and severe for the prevention of such practices and for the establishing their own security this must not be imputed to an unreasonable jealousie of or a prejudice to the Roman Catholick Religion but to the confident presumption of those men under the vizard of universal obedience who have pretended Religion for their warrant or excuse for the most unlawful and unjustifiable actions This was the obedience and submission they paid to the Kings