he did not see it dropt About the same time a Fryer was brought up to Town who pretended to be dumb and maimed the Popish Clergy gave out that Duke Schomberg had cut out his Tongue and thus maimed him and declared that he would serve all the Priests and Fryers after the same manner and they made proposals to revenge it on the Protestant Clergy King James caused the Fryer to be examined and discovered the deceit which falling immediately on Mr Spikes business made the King say in great Anger that for ought he saw the Protestants were wronged and misrepresented unto him and that there were some as great Rogues among the Roman Catholicks as amongst them The Fryers to acquit themselves of the Cheat got their Brother Fryer severely lasht pretending that he was a Spy and none of their Fraternity upon which he was carryed naked through the Town on a Cart in a Savage manner to execution as was suppos'd but was brought back and put into Prison from which after sometime he was dismissed and his Habit restor'd him Many such contrivances there were against the Lives of Protestants and they could not look on themselves as safe while such wicked Men were unpunished the Courts also declaring that the Witnesses though perjur'd could not be punisht because they Swore for the King 2 No Protestant was secure of his Life because the Courts wrested such facts to Treason as were not declared so by any Law Thus Cheif Justice Nugent declared it was Treason for any Protestant to keep Arms or wear a Sword after the King had forbidden it by his Proclamation and declared them Rebels that did so several Gentlemen in the Country had kept their Horses and Arm'd their Servants to watch them against the Robbers commonly call'd Rapparies that plundered them this was construed a Levying War against the King and the pretended Parliament Attainted them of High Treason In the County of Cork one Mr Brown had appear'd in a company of Men who endeavoured to make their escape from those that came to plunder them of their Arms and Horses but misliking the design went home to his own Houfe He was brought before Judg Dally for this at Limerick who upon examination of the matter dismist him judging him innocent of any crime that would bear an Indictment but he was taken up again for the same Fact at Cork and brought before Judg Nugent at the time when King James came first thither Judg Nugent seem'd at first to be of the same opinion with Judg Dally but after he had discours'd his Majesty he proceeded vigourously against the Gentleman and procured him to be found guilty by a partial Jury Every body lookt on this only as an occasion sought for the King to shew his Clemency Mrs. Brown the convicted Gentlemans Wife with five or six Children presented him a Petition begging her Husbands Life at his Feet as the first Act of Grace on his coming into the Kingdom but he rejected her Petition and notwithstanding she reinforc't it with all the Friends and interest she could make the Gentleman was hanged drawn and quartered This awakened all the Protestants in Ireland it made them remember the bloody Executions in the West of England on the account of Monmouth's Rebellion and how small a matter serv'd to take away Mens Lives there they suspected that Judg Nugent would act the same part in Ireland that Chief Justice Jeffreys had done in England and they knew that if the King did not interpose neither Juryes nor Witnesses would be wanting to destroy them in short they became very sensible that their Lives were in imminent danger when they saw a Gentleman of some Estate and Credit in his Country hang'd for being but in the Company for a little time without acting any thing of some others who endeavoured to make their escape from a Crew of Robbers that without Order or Commission came to Plunder them of their Horses and Arms they had the more reason to be Apprehensive of their Lives when they found that no Advantage was let slip against them nor any Articles or Promises however solemnly made to them for their safety and indemnity were regarded of which there were many Examples 3. At the time of the disarming February 24. the Town of Bandon near Cork being frightned and surpriz'd with such an unjust and sudden thing and not knowing where it would end shut up their Gates and turn'd out some Dragoons who were appointed to disarm them General Mac Carty went to reduce them and they believing him to be a Man of Honour yielded to him upon Articles for which they paid him 1000 l. ster by the Articles they were to be indemnified for what was past and a Pardon to be granted them Notwithstanding which Articles the Grand Jury at Cork by direction of Chief Justice Nugent found Bills against them resolving to serve them as he had served Mr. Browne and it was suppos'd that he was encouraged to do it by King James himself The time allowed him for the Assizes would not permit him to try them then and for this reason and on the Importunity and Menaces of General Mac Carty who being on the place thought himself obliged to make good his Articles he put off their Tryal till the next Assizes These Bills lay over their Heads no pardon was granted them and some of them were condemned in the Act of Attainder The Earl of Inchiquin and Captain Henry Boyle had put themselves under General Mac Carty's Protection and he engaged to secure them and their Houses but he did not perform his Promise for Castle-martyr belonging to Captain Henry Boyle with all the Improvements and Furniture to the value of some Thousands of Pounds were destroyed and plundered by his Soldiers assisted with the Rabble and he with the Earl were glad to provide for their safety by leaving all and flying into England In Connaught some Protestants got into Headford Castle belonging to Sir Oliver St. George to avoid the violence of the Rabble They were besieged by the Lord Gallway and surrendred on Articles of Pardon and Safety But at the next Assizes a Bill was prepared against them and presented the Grand Jury at Gallway the Jury tho Papists considered as they said that it might be their own Case another day and some stickled so earnestly against the Bill that there were not enough to find it However no body knew whether every Jury would be of that humour and no care was taken to discountenance such Proceedings Sir Thomas Southwell with some Gentlemen of Munster were unwilling to part with their Horses and Arms many of them having been robbed and plunder'd of their Stocks before and justly suspecting that as soon as their Arms were gone neither their Lives nor the remainder of their Substance could be safe They got together therefore with their Servants to the number of near Two hundred and resolved to march to Sligoe to joyn the Lord Kingston for their
assistance rather more than on the Roman Catholicks now they knew very well that Murther is so hateful a thing that if they once fell a Massacring it would shock many of their Friends in England and Scotland from whom they expected great matters and therefore they thought it their interest to be as tender of Lives as they could and even the Priests when they encouraged them to Rob their Protestant Neighbours charg'd them not to kill them assuring them that every thing else would be forgiven them 3. The Protestants were extreamly cautious not to give the least offence they walked so warily and prudently that it was hardly possible to find any occasion against them and they were so true to one another and conversed so little with any of King James's Party that it was as difficult to fix any thing on them or to get any Information against them though several designs were laid against them and several false Witnesses produc'd as has been shewn yet their Stories still destroyed themselves by their Improbabilities inconsistency and the notorious infamy of the Witnesses 4. We had no experiment of what would have been done with the attainted Absentees for none of them run the hazard of a Tryal but we are sure no good could have been done them for they could neither have been pardoned for Estate nor Life and the best they could have expected was to have been sent to some other Kingdom as Sir Thomas Southwell was sent to Scotland for there could have been no living for them in Ireland 5. When any Protestant found himself obnoxious to the Government or but fancyed they had any thing to object against him he got out of the Kingdom or made his escape to the North as well as he could and in the mean time absconded many escaped hanging by these means which otherwise in all probability had been executed Lastly It was so much the Interest of King James in his Circumstances to have been kind to the Protestanâ—s of Ireland that we might rather have expected to have been courted than ill used by him the whole support and maintenance of his Army in Ireland depended on them they clothed fed armed and quartered them which they could not avoid doing with any safety to themselves or indeed possibility of living and the Officers of the Army were so sensible of this that when it was propos'd to turn all the Protestants out of the City of Dublin one of them answered that whenever they were turned out the Army must go with them for they could not be furnished with what they wanted by others And as it was King James's Interest to use them well upon the account of their being necessary to him in Ireland so his Affairs in England and Scotland did more particularly require it and he was forced to employ his Emissaries there to give it out that he did so Sir Daniel Mac Daniel who came out of the Isles of Scotland to Dublin in Winter 1689. and several Gentlemen of the Highlands with him declared that their Ministers in the Pulpit had assured them that the Protestants in Ireland lived under King James in the greatest freedom quiet and security both as to their Properties and Religion and that if their Countrymen knew the truth of the matter as they then found it here they would never fight one stroak for him and they seemed to stand amazed at what they saw and could hardly believe their own Eyes It is certain that King James had the like Instruments in England as I have noted before who forced down the World in Coffee-Houses and publick places that the Protestants in Ireland lived easie and happy under his Government however this shews how much it was really his Interest to have given his Protestant Subjects here no just cause of complaint and that it must proceed from a strange eagerness to destroy them that King James and his Party ventured in their Circumstances to go so far in it as they did their own imminent danger disswaded them from severity and their Interest manifestly obliged them to mildness and if notwithstanding these they condemned near Three thousand of the most Eminent Gentlemen Citizens Clergymen and Nobility of the Kingdom to death and loss of Estates we may easily guess what they would have done when their fear and interest were removed and they left to the swing of their own natural Inclinations and the tendency of their Principles Whosoever considers all Circumstances will conclude that no less was designed by them than the execution of the third Chapter of the Lateran Council the utter extirpation of the Hereticks of these Kingdoms SECT XIV Ninthly Shewing King James's Methods for destroying the Protestant Religion 1. THE design against the Lives and Fortunes of the Protestants is so apparent from the execution thereof especially by the Acts of the late pretended Parliament that they themselves can hardly deny it nay some were apt to glory in it and to let us know that it was not a late design taken up since the revolt of England as they call it from King James they thought fit to settle on the Duke of Tirconnel above 20 m. Pounds per Annum in value out of the Estates of some Protestant Gentlemen attainted by them as aforesaid in consideration of his signal Service of Twenty Years which he spent in contriving this Work and bringing it to pass as one of their most eminent Members exprest it in his Speech in Parliament and the particular Act which vests this Estate in him shews 2. But it may be thought that King James was more tender in the matter of Religion and that he who gloried so much in his resolution to settle Liberty of Conscience wherever he had Power as he told his pretended Parliament and set forth almost in every Proclamation would never have made any open Invasion on the Consciences of his Protestant Subjects But they found by experience that a Papist whatever he professes is but an ill Guardian of Liberty of Conscience and that the same Religion that obliged the King of Spain to set up an Inquisition could not long endure the King of England to maintain Liberty If indeed King James had prevailed with Italy or Spain to have tolerated the open exercise of the Protestant Religion it had been I believe a convincing Argument to England to have granted Roman Catholicks Liberty in these Dominions but whilst the Inquisition is kept up to the height in those Countries and worse than an Inquisition in France against the publick Edicts and Laws of the Kingdom and against the solemn Oath and Faith of the King it is too gross to go about to perswade us that we might expect a free exercise of our Religion any other way than the Protestants enjoy it in France that is under the Discipline of Dragoons after the Papists had gotten the Arms the Offices the Estates and Courts of Judicature into their Hands 3. The Protestant Religion and
beating and injuring Protestants ibid. 12. In disarming them p. 67 13. The Dispensing Power of more mischief still than ill Administration First Only to be allowed in Cases of Necessity ibid. 14. Secondly In such Cases the People have as much right to it as the King Instance in the Sheriff of Warwickshire from Dr. Sanderson p. 68 15. Thirdly The wickedness either in King or People in pretending Necessity where there is none p. 69 16. King James's employing Popish Officers was such a Dispensation ibid. 17. And no Necessity for it unless such as was Criminal p. 70 18. King James dispensed with all when it was against Protestants p. 71 Sect. 4. Thirdly King James's dealing with Civil Offices and the Privy Council p. 72 1. Several outed notwithstanding Patents ibid. 2. Act of Parliament for voyding Patents Irish hereby made Keepâ—rs of Records which before they had corrupted when they could get to them p. 73 3. Revenue Officers changed for Roman Catholicks though to the Prejudice of the Revenue p. 74 4. Sheriffs and Justices of Peace from the Scum of the People ibid. 5. Privy-Councellors all in effect Papists p. 76 Sect. 5. Fourthly King James's dealing with Corporations p. 77 1. The Peoples security in these Kingdoms is the choice of Representatives in Parliament To preserve this Papists excluded from Corporations in Ireland Protestants had made great Concessions to the King by their New Rules for Corporations The King not satisfied with this but would have all p. 77 78 2. Rice and Nagle's managing of Quo Warranto's a horrid Abuse of the Kings Prerogative and the Law p. 78 79 3. Other methods of destroying Charters p. 80 4. Particular Corporations in Dublin how ordered ibid. 5. Voyding Charters led to voyding Parents for Estates ibid. 6. Corporations by the New Charters made absolute Slaves to the Kings Will. First by Consequence no free Parliament could be Returned Secondly Protestants could not serve in the Corporations p. 80 81 7. Protestants hereby driven from the Kingdom ibid. Sect. 6. Fifthly King James's Destruction of the Trade p. 82 1. Trade to be destroyed that the King might have his Will of his Subjects Poor People willing to serve for little in an Army as in France ibid. 2. In order to ruin the Protestants who were the chief Traders Driven hereby out of the Kingdom p. 83 3. This ruined a great many that depended on them ibid. 4. The Irish in employ who had the ready Mony gave it only to Papist Tradesmen p. 84 5. Exactions of the Revenue-Officers great discouragement to Merchants and Traders p. 85 6. Protestant Shoopkeepers quitted for fear of being forced to Trust ibid. 7. Transportation of Wooll connived at by Lord Tirconnell to ruin our woollen Trade p. 86 8. Roman Catholick principal Traders ruined also by King James by the Act of Repeal p. 87 Sect. 7. Sixthly King James's Destruction of our Liberty p. 88 1. No general Pardon at King James's Accession to the Crown Protestants hereby questioned for things in the Popish Plot on false Evidences ibid. 2. Protestants sworn into Plots and seditious Words Instance 1. In County Meath 2. In County Tipperary p. 88 89 3. New Magistrates in Corporations plagued Protestants p. 90 4. New Levies and Rapparee's imprisoned those that resisted their Robberies Instance in Mr. Brice of Wicklow Maxwel and Levis Queens County Sir Laurence Parsons p. 91 5. General imprisonment of Protestants from Midsummer 1689. to Christmas No Habeas Corpus's allowed Protestants of Drogheda barbarously used at the Siege and of the County of Cork by imprisonments p. 92 93 6. Hard Usage of Protestants in Prisons Powder placed to blow them up Leak's Evidence against the Prisoners in Dublin defeated by an Accident p. 93 7. K. James aware of all the ill Treatment of Protestants informed at large by the Bishop of Limrick All Protestants confined by his Proclamation to their Parishes p. 94 8. Arts to conceal this in England Intollerable staying in Ireland Necessary to close in with King William p. 95 Sect. 8. Seventhly King James's destruction of our Estates 1. By disarming the Protestants by Lord Tirconnell p. 97 1. Government dissolved that does not preserve Property ibid. 2. The Irish very low at the Prince of Oranges's Invasion Would easily have been brought to submit Protestants able to have mastered them Lord Mountjoy opposed seizing Tirconnell p. 97 98 3. Protestants resolved not to be the Aggressors were inclined to submit to King James till they found his destructive designs Monsieur d' Avaux complained of the Measures put on King James by Tirconnell p. 98 99 4. Tirconnell's Arts and Lyes to gain time pretending to be ready to submit to King William till he form'd his new Levies Lord Chief Justice Keatings Letters and Observations on it p. 99 5. New Levies necessary to be subsisted on Plunder This gave credit to the Letter to Lord Mount Alexander Decemb. 6. 1688. p. 101 6. And made Derry shut its Gates against the Earl of Antrims Regiment p. 102 7. Obliged to do thus by their Foundation p. 103 8. Provoked to it by the unjust taking away their Charter p. 104 9. This made also the Enniskiliners refuse two Companies sent by Lord Tirconnell and the Northern Gentlemen to enter into an Association for their own defence ibid. 10. Lord Tirconnell hastened to run them into blood before King James's coming p. 106 11. Justification of their declaring for their present Majesties ibid. 12. Their defence of themselves of great benefit to the Protestant Cause and almost miraculous p. 107 13. Lord Tirconnell's Lyes and Wheedles to Lord Mountjoy to send him to France p. 109 14. Lord Mountjoy's Reasons to accept it Articles granted to him by Tirconnell for the Protestants not kept p. 110 15. Lord Tirconnell proceeds to disarm the Protestants Manner of doing it and taking away their Horses A perfect Dragooning p. 111 16. Proclamation issued after it had been done by verbal Orders p. 113 17. The Arms for the most part embezled by the Soldiers who took them This had like to have occasioned a worse Dragooning prevented by the Bishop of Meath p. 113 114 18. The manner of taking up and embezling Horses p. 114 19. Miserable condition of the Protestants being disarmed amongst their Irish Enemies Protestants had the highest Legal Property in their Arms. The Government by taking them away must design their ruin p. 115 20. No Reason for disarming us but to make us a Prey p. 116 21. It was necessary in King James's Circumstances but the Necessity occasioned by his own fault ibid. Sect. 9. Secondly Lord Tirconnell's Attempts on the Protestants Personal Fortunes p. 117 1. Which he destroyed by encouraging Popish Tenants against their Protestant Landlords and swearing them into Plots Gentlemen forced to live for some time before the Turn on their Stocks p. 117 118 2. Forced into England with little ready Mony Many burnt out of their Houses in the Country Many robbed and some murthered
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
were first Robbed of all and then laid in Goal and that they had no way offended his Majesty or disturbed his Government and begged his favour in their behalf His Majesty heard him but made him no answer instead thereof he fell into discourse of another Affair with a Papist that chanced to be by and that with an Air more than ordinarily pleasant and unconcerned Indeed his Majesty had by one general Order and Proclamation dated July 26. 1689 confined all Protestants without distinction of Age or Sex to their Parishes and Cities though their Occasions were such that he very well knew that this alone without any more was a very great encroachment on their Liberty and a mighty inconveniency to their Affairs especially when it was continued without Reason or Limitation No body knew when this would be relaxed and it was Executed with great strictness till his present Majesties success put an end to it and to the Power that imposed it 8. But least these hardships and restraints should either be avoided by our flight or known in England where King James had a Party to cry up the mildness of his Government and face down the World that the Protestants lived easily and happily under him in Ireland a most strict Embargo was laid on all Ships and effectual care taken to destroy all Correspondence with our Friends there insomuch that to avoid a Goal great numbers of Gentlemen and other persons were forced to make their escapes in small Wherries and Fishing-Boats which before these times durst never venture out of the sight of the Shoar but it seemed more tolerable to every body that could compass it to cross the Irish Seas so famous for their boisterousness and Shipwracks in that hazardous manner than to continue under a Government where they could call nothing their own where it was in the power of any that pleased to deprive them of their Liberty where they durst not Travel three Miles for fear of incurring the severest penalties where they could not send a Letter to a Friend though in the next Town and about the most necessary Occasions and where tho never so cautious and innocent they were sure at last to be sent to a Goal A Government that thus encroached on our Liberties could not expect we should continue under it longer than we needs must and it had been unpardonable folly in us not to desire much more to refuse a deliverance especially from England which if Blood and Treasure or a Possession of five hundred years can give a right to a Country is justly intitled to the Government of Ireland And which if it had no other exception against King James's Government but his Carriage towards Ireland and his attempts to separate it from its dependence on England must be justified by all the World in their laying him aside as a Destroyer of his People and a disinheritor of the Crown of his Ancestors SECT VIII 7. The preparations made by the Earl of Tyrconnel to ruin the Estates and Fortunes of the Protestants by taking away their Arms. 1. 'T Is Property that makes Government necessary and the immediate end of Government is to preserve Property where therefore a Government instead of preserving intirely ruins the Property of the Subject that Government dissolves it self Now this was the State of the Protestants in Ireland the Government depriv'd them contrary to Law and Justice nay for the most part without so much as the pretence of a Crime of every thing to which persons can have a Property even of the necessaries of life Food and Rayment To lay this more fully before the Reader I will shew First That King James took away the Arms of Protestants Secondly That he took away their personal and Thirdly their real Estates 2. When his present Majesty made his descent into England King James had an Army of Papists in Ireland consisting of between 7 and 8000 of which near 4000 were sent over to him into England there remain'd then about 4000 behind scattered up and down the Kingdom which were but a handful to the Protestants there being Men and Arms enough in Dublin alone to have dealt with them When therefore the News came that K. J. had sent Commissioners to treat with the Prince of Orange it was propos'd by some to seize the Castle of Dublin where the Stores of Arms and Ammunition lay the possibility of this was demonstrated and the Success extreamly probable insomuch that the persons who offer'd to undertake it made no doubt of effecting it they considered that the Papists besides the 4000 of the Army were generally without Arms that those who were in Arms were raw and cowardly and might easily be supprest that to do it effectually there needed no more but to seize the Deputy Tyrconnel who had not then above 600 Men in the City to guard him and secure it that their hearts were generally sunk and they openly declar'd themselves to be desirous to lay down their Arms proposing to themselves no other Conditions but to return to the station in which they were when K. J. came to the Crown This was so universally talk'd of by themselves that if any one could have assured them of these terms there was no doubt but they would readily have comply'd and have left the Lord Tyrconnel to shift for himself nay it is probable the wiser sort amongst them would have bin glad that the Protestants had seiz'd him and he himself commanded some Protestants to signifie to their Friends in England that he was willing to part with the Sword on these terms so he might have leave to do it from K. J. But the Protestants had bin educated in such a mighty veneration to the very name of Authority and in so deep a sense of Loyalty that notwithstanding the many provocations given them and their fear of being serv'd as in 1641 the memory of which was still fresh to them they yet abhorr'd any thing that look'd like an Insurrection against the Government and generally condemn'd the design of medling with the Lord Deputy tho they knew he was no Legal Governour and uncapable by the Law of that Trust. Especially the Lord Mountjoy laboured for his safety and prevented the forementioned proposal of seizing him and the Castle with as much industry as if he himself had bin to perish in it The truth is it was an unanimous resolution of all the Protestants of the Kingdom that they would not be the Aggressors and they held steadily to their resolution None offered or attempted any thing till they saw the whole body of the Papists in Ireland forming themselves into Troops and Companies and these new rais'd Men permitted nay put under a necessity to rob and plunder for their subsistence They pitied the hard Fortune of K. J. and notwithstanding they were half ruin'd themselves when he came into the Kingdom yet if he had carried himself with any tolerable moderation towards them and his
consideration of their Friends whom their Enemies treated barbarously in their sight could prevail with them to give up themselves or their cause but by patience and resolution they wearied out their Enemies and instead of letting them make approaches to their Walls they enlarged their Out-works upon them and made them confess after a Siege of Fifteen Weeks that if the Walls of Derry had been made of Canvas they could not have taken it The same may be said of the People of Enniskillin who lived in a wild Country and untenable place surrounded with Enemies on every side and removed from almost all possibility of Succour being in the heart of Ireland yet they chose to run all Hazards and Extremities rather than trust their Faithless Enemies or contribute to the ruin of the Protestant Interest by yielding After almost all their Gentry of Estates or Note had left them or refused to joyn heartily with them they formed themselves into Parties and though in a manner without Arms and Ammunition yet by meer Resolution and Courage they worsted several Parties of the Enemy and almost naked recovered Arms and Ammunition out of their Hands and signalized themselves in many Engagements by which they not only saved themselves but likewise did considerable Service to the Protestants that were under the Power of King James for this Handful of Men by their frequent Incursions and carrying off Prisoners in every Engagement terrified even the Papists of Dublin into better Humour and more moderate Proceedings as to the Lives of Protestants that lived amongst them than perhaps they would otherwise have been inclined to They saw from this that their Game was not so sure as they imagined and the Prisoners taken by those of Enniskillin were Hostages for their Friends that lived in Dublin and the Humanity with which the Prisoners were used there was a Reproach on the Barbarity exercised by the other Party In short it appeared that it was neither Malice nor Factiousness that engaged them in Arms but meer Self-preservation and the Obligation of their Tenures and Plantations by which they were bound to keep Arms and Defend themselves and their Country from the power of the Popish Natives which were then Armed against them 13. But to return to the Lord Deputy's Proceedings in his new Levies in order to gain time and delude the Protestants he sent for the Lord Mountjoy out of the North after he had compounded the business of Derry and perswaded him to go with Chief Baron Rice to King James into France to represent to him the weakness of the Kingdom and the necessity to yield to the Time and wait a better opportunity to serve himself of his Irish Subjects The Lord Tyrconnel swore most solemnly that he was in earnest in this Message and that he knew the Court of France would oppose it with all their Power for said he that Court minds nothing but their own Interest and they would not care if Ireland were sunk to the Pit of Hell they are his own Words so they could give the Prince of Orange but Three Months diversion but he added if the King be perswaded to ruin his fastest Friends to do himself no Service only to gratify France he is neither so Merciful nor so Wise as I believe him to be If he recover England Ireland will fall to him in course but he can never expect to Conquer England by Ireland if he attempts it he ruins Ireland to do himself no kindness but rather to exasperate England the more against him and make his Restoration impossible and he intimated that if the King would not do it he would look on his Refusal to be forced on him by those in whose power he was and that he would think himself obliged to do it without his Consent 14. Every body told the Lord Mountjoy that this was all sham and trick and that the design was only to amuse the Protestants and get him who was the likeliest Man to head them out of the way But his Answer was that his going into France could have no influence on the Councils of England who were neither privy nor Parties to it and if they had a mind to reduce the Kingdom it was easy to do it without his Assistance that he must either go on this Message now the Deputy had put him upon it or enter into an actual War against him and against such as adhered to King Jame's Interest that he did not think it safe to do the latter having no order or encouragement from England but on the contrary all the Advice he received from thence was to be quiet and not to meddle that he was obliged to King James and neither Honour Conscience nor Gratitude would permit him in his present Circumstances to make a War on his own Authority against him whilst there was any possibility of doing the business without one Upon these considerations against the general Opinion of all the Protestants in Ireland he undertook the business and went away from Dublin about the Tenth of January 1688 having first had these general Concessions made him in behalf of the Protestants 1. That no more Commissions should be given out or new Men raised 2. That no more of the Army should be sent into the North 3. That none should be questioned for what was passed And 4. That no Private House should be garrison'd or disturb'd with Soldiers these he sent about with a Letter which will be found in the Appendix But he was no sooner gone but the Lord Deputy according to his usual Method of Falshood denyed these Concessions seemed mighty angry at the dispersing the Letter and refused to observe any of them The first News we heard from France was that the Lord Mountjoy was put into the Bastile which further exasperated the Protestants against King James and made them look on him as a Violater of Publick Faith to his Subjects As for the Lord Deputy this clearly ruined his Credit if ever he had any amongst them and they could never after be brought to give the least belief to what he said on the contrary they look'd on it as a sure sign that a thing was false if he earnestly affirmed it 15. But it was not yet in his power to master them he had not sufficiently Trained and Exercised his Men but as soon as he found that nothing was to be feared from England before the End of Summer and that he was assured King James would be with him soon he laid aside his Vizour and fell upon disarming them It was no difficult matter to do this for in the very beginning of King James's Reign the Protestant Militia had been dissolved and though they had bought their own Arms yet they were required to bring them into the Stores and they punctually obeyed the Order Such of the Protestant Army as remained in the Kingdom after their Cashiering were likewise without Arms being as I shewed before both disarmed and strip'd upon
they were taught to answer when their Rents were demanded that they had spent what they designed for their Landlords to fit themselves or their Sons for the King's Service and he was sure to be represented as disaffected that did not sit down with this Answer If any Landlord was so hardy as to Sue them they either got themselves inlisted in the Army or got a particular Protection against Arrests If any distrained they let their Cattle be taken to the Pound and then by Night they either stole or forced them from thence and when they had thus secretly recovered and conveyed them away they brought Actions against the Landlord that distrained as if he had imbezelled them in which case they were sure to meet with favour and countenance in the Courts Sometimes they avoided paying Rents by Swearing their Protestant Landlords into a Plot or by affixing Treasonable Words on them insomuch that hardly any Protestant durst distrain or even demand his Rent And for Two Years before the Revolution in England very few received any profit out of their Estates This stop of Receits for so long time obliged Gentlemen to live upon the main Stock and for want of their growing Rents which should have answered their Expences they were as low as possible in ready Mony when the late Troubles fell upon them and this made many of them on their Flight to England need Charity for their Subsistence 2. This hardship was the more heavy upon them by the necessity they lay under of leaving their Farms and setled manner of Living in the Country and of either repairing to Dublin or removing into England where nothing could be useful to them but ready Mony yet this was unavoidable for there was no living for them amongst a People that made no Conscience to pilfer or rob them of their Goods or to lay Snares for their Lives by false Oaths and suborned Evidence Neither did their repairing to Cities and Towns protect them but the same Persons that drove them from their Country Houses by their Robberies and Oppressions did afterwards indict and imprison them for leaving them of which I have given an Example in the Appendix Some indeed notwithstanding all the hard usage they met with ventured to stay on their concerns in the Country but were at last burnt out of their Houses and forced to follow their Nighbours A House within Four Miles of Dublin was Burnt and several Women and Children Murthered in it at the very beginning of Modelling the Army Thus Mr. Thomas Corker's House in the County of Meath by Navan was Burnt as supposed by the Popish Parish Priest who after he had done this injury to the Gentleman gave out that Mr. Corker had burnt his own House to make the Roman Catholicks odious Mr. Henry Gonnes a Ministers House in Connaught was likewise Burnt because they could not otherwise prevait with him to leave the Country And many others were served in the same way and their Families Murthered or else were put to a vast Charge to guard their Houses against these Cut-throats and Robbers Even about Dublin hardly any Gentleman's House escaped without being Robbed or at least several times attempted and if any were caught in the Fact they easily got a Pardon for it 3. Add to this in the Third Place that though of a good while the Protestants got nothing out of their Estates yet they were put to vast Charges to defend them for the Papists having gotten Judges Juries and Sheriffs of their own brought in their Counterfeit Deeds and false Claims in great numbers and either in forma Pauperum or by the favour of the Courts carried on their Suits with little Expences and when worsted in them as sometimes in spite of the most manifest partiality they were there was nothing to be recovered of them whereas the Protestants were forced to row against the Stream and to struggle with all the expensive delays and tricks the Courts could put on them If at any time they were found tardy in the least circumstance or form of Law though no advantage used formerly to be made of such Mistakes yet they were sure to pay severely for it every body who has been concerned in Law business knows the difference of these cases as to expences and the consequence was that Protestants were forced to part with a considerable share of their ready Mony to recover or defend their Estates which when in their Possession yielded them nothing 4. They met with the same measure from the Treasury as from their Tenants where any Salary Pension or Payment was due to any of them from the King they either did not get it at all or if by importunity and interest they did get any thing it was with such Expences Bribes to Courtiers and Delays that they lost the benefit of it But where any thing was due from them it was exacted with all the rigour imaginable and the most strict punctilio's observed to bring them under Fines and Forfeitures The Chief Baron Rice could not contain himself on the Bench but on occasion of a Protestant Lawyers pressing somewhat importunately for his Client that he might have Justice he answered he should have Justice but as I said before that it should be Summum Jus. Nay such discouragement and discountenance was given to the Protestant Lawyers that many of the most celebrated Counsellors forsook their Practice and the Kingdom and such as staid could hardly come in for a share of the Fees expended by their former Protestant Clients for it was enough to destroy a Cause to have them appear at the Bar for it The consequence of which was that the Protestants were forced to employ their Enemies for Counsel and give them their Mony too often to betray their Cause at least they could not expect Lawyers that wished so ill to it and them in their Hearts would be earnest to carry it for them 5. In Cities and Corporate Towns the Townsmen were put to great Charges to defend their Charters and when Judgment was given against them they were put to another Charge to take them out anew and to purchase their Freedoms It is true some few Papists generally joined to take out the new Charter but when it was taken out they forced the Protestants to pay for it at what rate they pleased or obliged them to leave the Town The Attorny General got some Thousands for his share and every petty Officer and Head of a Country Borrough enrich'd himself with some part of the Protestants spoil on this account 6. The next means used to impoverish them was that of Free Quarters by which they extorted from the Inn-keepers vast Sums of Mony It was a hardship in time of Peace to be obliged to entertain such rude nasty Guests as the private Soldiers generally were and to endure the insolencies of their Officers who practised several Arts with a design to destroy their Quarters Sometimes they would quarter a
to take us out of Jail to restore our Laws our Employments the free exercise of our Religion our Fortunes and Estates when we were unjustly depriv'd of them and 't was a very modest expectation in them and answerable to their other measures of Politicks to think a People harrass'd and stript and plundred and condemned by them to lose their Lives and Estates which was the Case of all those who fled from hence to England and in great measure of most of those that staid here should in the height of their smart and sufferings reject the kind offers of a Deliverer to depend on a Miracle yet they pretend this is what we ought to have done and because we did it not they rail at us in the most bitter Terms they call us Rebels and Traitors Villains and Atheists and load us with all the approbrious Names their Malice and Revenge can suggest But we cannot blame them to be angry the hungry Wolf if he could speak would curse and rail as heartily at the Shepherd that rescues the Lamb out of his Paws as they do at us or our Deliverer they had devour'd us in their Imaginations they had got the Civil and Military Sword into their Hands and engrost all Places of Trust and Profit these with the Legislative Power in the hands of our ancient and most malicious Enemies were more than enough to have destroy'd us but just when they should have divided the Spoil and concluded the fatal Tragedy the Prince of Orange his present Majesty interposeth and rescueth us this disappointment mads them beyond all bounds of patience and casts them into strange fits of railing and cursing Hell Damnation Confusion to him and his Royal Consort were continually in the Mouths of their Men Women and Children with these they used to entertain one another at their Tables and Debauches and endeavoured to force them by way of Healths on Protestants In short they spare no ill Name or Execration that impotent Rage could vent or invenom'd Rancour could suggest but when all is done in their quiet Intervals their Consciences cannot but acquit us and many of them made no scruple to confess That there was no medium but that either we or they must be undone and when that was the unavoidable choice that they according to their own confession had put on us I assure my self the World will not only excuse us but will think it was our Duty to have done what we did since they had left us no other visible way but this to avoid certain and apparent Destruction CHAP. V. A short Account of those Protestants who left the Kingdom and of those that staid and submitted to King James SECT I. Concerning those who went away 1. THE former Discourse I suppose is sufficient to justifie the Protestants of Ireland as to their submission to the Government of their present Majesties and to shew the Reasons for their earnest desiring and thankfully accepting of that Deliverance which Providence offered us by their means It remains only to speak a few words in particular of those that left the Kingdom and of those that staid and submitted to King James that they may understand the truth of each others Circumstances and not either of them unjustly censure the other 2. As to those that absented themselves out of the Kingdom it is certain that they offended against no Law in doing so it being lawful for any Subject to transport himself out of one part of the Dominions of England into another it is true that there is a Law or Custom that requires such as hold Offices from the King to take a Licence from the Chief Governour but the Penalty of this is no more than the forfeiture of their Offices and I find it disputed among the Lawyers whether it reach so far now few of those that went away compar'd with the whole number of them were Officers those that were generally took Licences of absence and at worst it was at their own Peril and it had been a great severity to have taken the forfeiture which was the sence of the whole Parliament of England in making an Act to exempt such from incurring any loss 3. But Secondly they had great reason to go out of the Kingdom because they foresaw that it would be the seat of Warr they saw 40 or 50 m Men put into Arms without any fund to maintain them they knew these to be their bitter and sworn Enemies they saw the course of Justice stopt against them and their Stocks and Cattle taken away before their faces several Gentlemen of the Country lost to the value of some 1000 l. before they stirr'd and to what purpose should they stay in a place where they certainly knew that all they had would be taken from them and their Lives expos'd to the fury of their Enemies Thirdly They had no reason to stay because they could not expect to do any good by their staying or to save the Kingdome the Papists had all the Forts and Magazins of the Kingdom in their hands they had all the Arms and publick Revenues they were in number Four or Five to one Protestant and they had the face of Authority on their side and then what could a scattered Multitude without Arms without Leaders and without Authority hope to do in their own defence by going into England they reckon'd themselves not only safe but likewise in a way of serving their Countrey 'T was from thence they expected Arms Ammunition and Commissions by the help of which they might put themselves in some capacity of rescuing their Estates and Friends they left behind which they lookt on as much better Service than to stay and perish with them 4. Fourthly the memory of the cruel usage and difficult times those met with who staid in Ireland in 1641. did frighten and terrifie all that reflected on them the number of those that were then massacred and starv'd was incredible and those that escap'd got away with such circumstances that the memory of what they had suffered was as ill as death if any will be but at the pains of reading over Sir John Temples account of the first half Year of the War or rather Massacre he will be satisfied that it was no unreasonable fear made so many Protestants withdraw out of the reach of such barbarities the same Men or their Sons that committed all those bloody murders and inhumanities were again arm'd in a much more formidable manner than they ever had been before and yet at that time they were able to maintain a War for Twelve Years and live by spoil and robbery and then what were the Children of those whose Parents had been murthered by them to expect but the same fate or at best a miserable Life in a desolate and spoild Country in which no wise Man would choose to live if he could help it indeed they could not expect to live long after all was taken from them but must in
near new-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
the assistance of so wise a Council will disperse I must needs say both from my own Observation and the Information I have had from my Lords the Judges who often visit the whole Kingdom that there is a great readiness and willingness in all People to serve and obey the King I must here a little enlarge to your Excellency because I reckon my self bound to give the King an account of his Subjects and I would not willingly say any thing when I am at such a distance which I have not mentioned here The English in this Country have been aspersed with the Character of being generally Fanaticks which is a great Injury to them I must do them the justice to say that they are of the Church of England as appears by their Actions as well as Professions The Churches here are as much frequented and the Discipline of the Church as well observed as in England it self which is to be attributed to the Piety and Labour of my Lords the Bishops We of the Church of England can brag that when Rebellion overspread the three Kingdoms not one Orthodox Member of our Church was engaged against the Crown And in our late Disorders we can boast we were Opposers of the Bills of Exclusion and the Sense his Majesty has been graciously pleas'd to express of our Loyalty will never be forgotten by us I had the happiness to be born a Member of the Church of England and I hope God will give me the Grace to die one One thing the English of this Country have to glory in That of all his Majesty's Subjects they made the earliest Advances towards his Majesty's Restoration when the three Kingdoms were governed by Usurpers And after all the Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects in England seemed to be disappointed and there appeared no Hopes by the total defeating of Sir G. Booth the English then in this Kingdom offered to submit to his Majesty's Authority I do not say this my Lord to detract from his Majesty's R. C. Loyal Subjects many of whom I my self knew serv'd and suffered with him abroad but I speak it in justice to the others who did their Duty There is but one thing more I shall trouble your Excellency with I am sorry that I cannot say that I leave a full Treasure but I can say that I leave no Debts The Revenue is in good Order which must be owned to be due to the unwearied Industry and Diligence of the Commissioners The Army is intirely paid to Christmass day last and I have advanced a Month's Subsistence-money for January The Civil and Pensionary Lists are likewise cleared to Christmass I doubt not but your Excellency's Care will carry all things on in the same Method God Almighty bless the King and grant him long Life and I beseech God to prosper this excellent Country I received this Sword in Peace and I thank God by the King's Command I deliver it in Peace to your Excellency and I heartily wish you Joy of the Honour the King has done you A General Abstract of the Gross Produce of his Majesty's Revenue in Ireland in the three first Years of the Management beginning at Christmass 1682. ending Christmass 1685.  1683 1684 1685. Customs Inwards Impt. Excise 85844 17 2â…œ 91424 8 8â— â— 91117 13 65 â— Customs Outwards 32092 11 4½ 33425 15 2 29428 8 11½ Seizures and Fines 965 2 3½ 615 1 5â— â— 460 11 5¼ Prizage 1452 1693 1882 Inland Excise 68344 1 3â…œ 77580 3 7¼ 79169 4 4¾ Ale Licenses 8283 14 11â— 4 9538 4 46 8 99â—5 14 11â— â— Wine c. Licenses 2736 12 3114 10 2â— 2 3467 11 3¾ Quit Crown and Custodiam Rents 68699 9 7â…œ 68385 8 0¼ 68922 4 5â— 2 Hearth-Money 31041 31646 32953 12 00 Casual Revenue 820 3 3 1745 16 2 1564 16 11¼ Totals l. 300297 11 11â— 4 319168 7 9 318961 18 0â— 8 Arrears of each of the above-Years remaining uncollected at Christmass 1685. 7659 1 6â…œ 9799 9 8½ 34971 9 3â…ž Net Cash paid into the Treasury in the three Years above-mention'd over and besides the Charges of Management and Sallaries to the Officers of the Revenue in the said time 712972 17 2â…œ Cash remaining in the Collectors Hands at Christmass 1685 ready to be paid in 55655 10 3½ The Solvent Part of the above-mention'd Arrears which was actually levied and paid into the Treasury before Christmass 1688. 30000 00 00 Total Cash l. 798628 07 5â…ž Which at a Medium for three Years amounts for each Year to the Sum of 266209 00 00 Sheriffs for the Year 1687. Febr. 16. 1686. Counties Sheriffs Ardmagh Marcus Clarke Antrim Cormuck O. Neil Cavan Lucas Reily Clare John Mac. Nemara of Cratelagâ— Corke Nicholas Brown of Bantrey Catherlogh Sir Lawrence Esmond Dublin Thomas Warren Downe Valentine Russell Donnegall Charles Hamilton Fermanagh Cohonnagh Mac-Gwire Galway John Keâ—â— Esq Kildare John Wogan King's County Hewar Oxburgh Kilkenny John Grace Esq Kerry Donogh Mac-Gellicuddy Leitrim Alexander Mac-Donnel Lowth Patrick Bellew Limerick Edward Rice of Ballynitty Longford James Nugent Esq Meath Walter Nangle Esq Monoghan Sir John Flemming Mayo Dominick Browne Queen's County Edmond Morris Esq Roscomon John Dillon Esq Sligoe Henry Crafton of Longford Tyrone Terence Donelly Wexford Patrick Colclough Westmeath Thomas Nugent Wicklow Francis Meara Waterford John Nugent Londonderry Elected by the Charter Cipperary Appointed by the Duke of Ormond John Plunkett Lessee of Christ. Lord Baron of Dunsany Plantiff Philip Tuite and John Rawlins Defendants Sir Edward Tyrrell's Affidavit about packing of Juries WHereas there issued two several Venire Faciases at the Plantiff's Suit returnable to his Majesty's Court of Exchequer directed to Edward Tyrrell Esq then High Sheriff of the County of Meath the first Year of his now Majesty's Reign Now Sir Edward Tyrrell Baronet came this day before me and made Oath That one Mr. Plunket Brother to the said Lord of Dunsany came to Longwood to this Deponent's House and desired this Deponent to stand the Lord Dunsany's Friend and to give him a Jury that would do him Right and withal said this Deponent should have after the said Lord of Dunsany should be restored to the Possession of his Estate the sum of three or four hundred Pounds To which this Deponent answered He would do him Justice The said Mr. Plunket desired this Deponent to meet him at Mr. Nugent his Counsel's House where he would further discourse the Matter This Deponent did accordingly meet the said Thomas Plunket where several Proposals and Overtures were made all to no purpose This Deponent further deposeth That in some short time after the said Lord of Dunsany came to this Deponent's said House and after some Discourse he the said Dunsany desired this Deponent to befriend him against those that wronged him and kept him out of his Estate Whereupon this Deponent told the said Lord of Dunsany what offer his Brother made him The said Lord of Dunsany replying said His Brothers
were all on the catch and that he would do his own Business and not trouble them or any of them or words to that purpose and desired this Deponent to return him a good Jury and that he the said Dunsany would give this Deponent twenty Guinnies in hand and three or four hundred Pounds when he should be restored to the Possession of his Estate To which this Deponent made answer That he would impose nothing on his Lordship and that he would do him Right Then the said Lord Dunsany swore that this Deponent should not repent what Kindness this Deponent would shew him in that Affair and said he would not fail paying the twenty Guinnies upon the return of the said Venires This Deponent desired the said Lord of Dunsany to imploy his Brother Thomas Plunket in the prosecution of that Concern which he promised he would do and thereupon began to name such as he would have of the Jury Which this Deponent desired he should forbear telling him if this Deponent should be examined to that the Aray would be quash'd The said Dunsany then said he would put the Venires into this Deponent's Hands and do what he thought fit and said this Deponent should hear from him within some short time which he performed And this Deponent deposeth that he did receive the said two Venires either from the said Lord Dunsany's Messenger or from himself or one of his Servants But this Deponent having recollected his Memory is more apt to believe that it was the said Lord of Dunsany's Messenger or Servant whom this Deponent hath seen before in the said Lord's Company that came according to his the said Lord Dunsany's Promise that delivered the said Venires to this Deponent for he desired to know at his departure from this Deponent where and when the said Mr. Thomas Plunket should meet this Deponent in order to return the said Writs or words to that effect That this Deponent appointed him to give the said Thomas Plunket notice to meet him at Trim at one Mr. Eveys House on such a day as this Deponent cannot tax his Memory now with That this Deponent having several Occasions to this City waited on Mr. Daley this Deponent's Counsel now Mr. Justice Daley and advised with him about the Proposals and said Overtures betwixt him this Deponent and the said Lord of Dunsany and thereupon resolved to serve the said Lord Dunsany gratis and not to take or accept of any manner of Consideration from the said Lord of Dunsany and that he this Deponent would be very just to him which Resolution was approved of by the said Mr. Justice Daley This Deponent further deposeth That according to appointment being met with punctually had some Discourse with the said Thomas Plunket who said The said Lord of Dunsany his Brother was not prepared for a Trial and that he would go on soon with all his Estate at once and that them two Parcels were inconsiderable in respect of the Bulk of his Estate and desired this Deponent to reserve the best Men in order to return them on the Juries when he should put other Venires for that purpose in this Deponent's hands or words to that purpose This Deponent desired him to consider what he had to do and he should not blame him this Deponent hereafter He the said Thomas Plunket then replied That he would be satisfied with what Returns this Deponent should make on the said two Venires and desired that the best Men might be reserv'd as aforesaid Whereupon this Deponent soon after return'd the aforesaid Venires with Pannels to them severally annexed This Deponent further deposeth That he having notice from the Lord Bp of Clogher that he heard that the said Lord of Dunsany should reflect on this Deponent saying He would not return him a good Jury without a Consideration and having met the said Thomas Plunket in the said Lord Bishop's Lodgings in Michaelmass or Hillary Term last he desired the said Lord Bishop to acquaint the said Thomas Plunket with the Expressions he heard of the said Lord of Dunsany Which he having done the said Thomas Plunket said That this Deponent desired no Consideration and that the Lord Dunsany aforesaid was much obliged to him this Deponent and that he was mighty kind to him and would justify the same This Deponent further deposeth That the said Thomas Plunket having met this Deponent at Longwood after some Discourse he had with this Deponent the seventeenth day of March last past shewed him a List of the Juries and asked this Deponent if he returned them To which this Deponent answered That he had as he believed He the said Thomas Plunket thereupon said most of them were Phanaticks and that they would hang the said Lord of Dunsany if they could This Deponent made answer then That if they prov'd inconvenient that it was the said Thomas Plunket's fault for that he had desired this Deponent to return what he this Deponent pleased and to reserve the best Men for the Bulk of the said Lord Dunsany's Estate or words to that effect The said Thomas Plunket said He would never consent to the return of such Juries and passionately said If he had the twenty Guinnies to give this Deponent that he would have better Juries This Deponent asked the said Thomas Plunket if this Deponent desired any such Sum or any Sum of him when he met at Trim he then replied that he did not but that the said Lord Dunsany did promise it After a while he likewise said That he told the said Lord of Dunsany that this Deponent could not be supposed to have made that Return for Ill-will or Gain for that none would give any Sum of Money where the Party could Nonsuit himself as also that this Deponent had returned good Juries for several of his Country naming Mr. Evers and others and that it was his ill Luck that hindred him or words to that effect This Deponent further deposeth That neither of the Defendants directly or indirectly desired this Deponent for to return the said Juries Neither did this Deponent give them notice that he had any Venires neither did he know that there were any Venires ordered to be granted by this Court until he received the said Venires either from the said Lord or Tenants or Messengers as aforesaid and further saith not Mr. Burridge's Affidavit about Robbers Sept. 27. 1690. THen came before me Ezekiel Burridge Clerk and saith That about the beginning of the late Earl of Tyrconnel's Government he was set upon by three Men near Glasneven within a mile of Dublin who gave this Deponent four Wounds with their Swords and tore his Gown so that he could never afterwards wear it They likewise attempted to rob him had they not been prevented by the coming in of Company Two or three days after he heard that a Fellow was seen on the same Ground who looked suspiciously and being pursued was taken in the Suburbs Whereupon the
of all His Majesty's true Subjects in Ireland and shut himself up between two Potent Enemies in England and Ireland whereas by setting the Irish on a sure foot he always hath for a Refuge that Country which he will find to be far better than nothing and may be with time a means to come into England But Trimmers will tell him That it is no matter for His Majesty if he can gain the English Rebels by sacrificing Ireland to them who will inhabit it whether English or Irish nay I believe rather English and so make it an English Interest all along and he will be apt to believe it but it imports the Irish to look about them and consider if that be their Interest Add to all these considerations with many more and better you can think of an essential and indispensible one which is to please this King and Court of whom his Majesty now and you all depend solely and wholly by saving their Interest along with that of his Majesty and your own which cannot be done but by settling of Ireland upon the best and most advantageous foot that can be contrived with Reason and Justice 〈◊〉 it may be a Check upon England as Scotland formerly to keep it from Rebellion against their own Prince From trouble and Invasion upon France and a Tye upon the Kings of England hereafter to keep good Correspondence with France and keep Ireland in a flourishing happy condition and not to be Slaves to all the People and Scums of England If 48 or other were loath to press any such Conditions or Proposals on the King they may make use of the French Minister Count D'Avaux who is with him as a good Adviser and for to manage his Masters Interest I think it may be well and rationally proposed if by the King of France's means such an advantageous settlement may be procured for the Nation and that he would be as a Guarranty or Protection of it to give him as well for his assurance or Guarranty as for the payment of what he advances for the King and Country some Sea-ports in Ireland as you have hinted in your last This is what now comes into my head upon this Subject which M. B. does not neglect to insinuate and imprint as much as he can though not well in his health into the Heads and Hearts of the Ministers and People about Court Though 27 gave no Power or Credit to any body here to speak of Business but to his Son-in-Law L. W. in Cypher 110. but M. B. does it privately upon his own account and acquaintance with the People without thwarting him in any of his Ways But you know what one says tanquam potestatem habeâ—s carries more weight than what he says as a private man And therefore I think it were not amiss that 48. from himself or by the said French Ministers means may get order from 27 that 92 may be heard and Credited at Court as to the Concerns of 78 which to prevent and hinder some that would not have it put into 27's head as 't is thought to desire 92 to follow him as soon as he were well in his health along with 23 and before he saw himself to tell him so knowing he was sick gave orders to 18's fellow traveller whom I added to the Cypher thus 112 to tell him so which he has perform'd only by another Master Barry belonging to 34 for he never came himself to see him which I think was not prudently done of him setting civility aside for they may communicate one to another what may be best to do with 86 for the service of 78 and certainly without any vanity 92 knew better how to manage that interest with 86 than he or any of his profession there But I find some do suspect the sincerity of that Man for the Publick Interest I know not if they wrong him but one thing I know he does not like to see any of 64 or 65 have any hand in Business Of which I think I gave you once already a hint from 87 when he and 98 were there and I cannot tell but it may be he that might have given 27 that advice of drawing 92 from hence who desires not to be but where he may be most useful to his Religion King and Country and if any necessity may be of his Vote there he can send you a Procuration in blank if he be thought more useful or necessary here 'T is now high time I suppose you should ask me what is this great and solid settlement I would have for Ireland To which I answer That you and others there likely know best But that I may speak my own little sense on the matter I say I would have two or three of the Irish Nation to be still of the Kings Council and one of them Secretary of State for the Affairs of Ireland as Scotland has I would have some of their Nobility to be of the Bedchamber by reason both of Honour and Interest I would have all the Employments Civil and Military given to the Natives of the Country Unless the Country thought â—it to introduce some Strangers for better advantage and improvements I would have them restored to their Estates both Spiritual and Temporal usurped by the Cromwellians or under the Title of being Protestants yet with that Proviso for the Spiritual that a Competent Pension should be allowed to the Protestant Possessor during his Life for he can pretend no longer Lease of it or that he should give the Catholick Bishop or Incumbenâ— a competent Pension if it were thought fitter to let him enjoy his Possession during Life I would have the Commerce and Traffick settled with all the Advantage due to a 〈◊〉 Nation and Subjects of which the Merchants 〈◊〉 inform best without any other dependence on or relation to England but what Subjects ought to the King and Crown of which I would not derogate in the least but nothing to do with the Merchants and People of England no more than with those of France Spain and Holland But my Politick Trimmer will say this is of a dangerous consequence for England and for the King in relation to it for they will say the King intends to establish the same Government amongst them both in Spirituals and Temporals that he has in Ireland To which I answer in the first place That we are not here to manage or speak for the Interest of England which would not fail to speak and stand for it self Secondly I say That the Consequence from Ireland's Case to England's does not follow For in Ireland the Catholick Party is much more numerous and strong than the Protestant So that it is for the King's Interest there to favour them or at least do them Justice But in England where the number of Protestants and other Sectaries is by much the greater he can order things otherwise without any Contradiction for â—â—om the one to the other the Consequence does
Regiment he with other his Associates having often before plundred broken and despoyled the Seats of our Church without interruption or disturbance resolved on Christmas-day at night to brake and plunder our Altar on which we had that day celebrated the Holy Communion and to that end he with two more about midnight entered the Church This Keating immediately attempted to brake one of the folding doors leading to the Communion Table and endeavouring with all his force to wrest the door from the hinges immediately as he thought saw several glorious and amazing Sights But one ugly Black Thing as he call'd it gave him a great Souse upon the Poll which drive him immediately into so great disorder that he tore all the Cloaths off his Back and ran Naked about the Streets and used all mad Bedlam pranks whatever He was put into the Dungeon where he remained for the space of 14. dayes without either Meat Drink Cloaths or any thing necessary for the support of nature would not take as much as a drop of cold water continually Rav'd of the Spoyls of the Church and saying That he took the most pains in breaking and taking off the Hinges and yet got the least share for his pains From the Dungeon he was removed to one Thomas Kelly's house in the Town where he behaved himself as in the prison neither eating bit nor drinking drop or admitting a ragg to cover his Nakedness and about eight dayes after he removed from the Dungeon dyed in a sad and deplorable manner I was so curious as to enquire of those that knew him very well whether ever he was Mad before or lyable to any such disorders they all assured me that they never knew any thing of that nature by him in the whole course of his life so that I think we may very well look upon it as the immediate Hand of GOD. SIR I dare assure you that this is a great Truth and so evident and manifest that it hath challeng'd and extorted an Acknowledgment from all parties whatever Neither the Romish Clergy nor any of the Officers of the Regiment who are all Papists do in the least disown it And it had this influence and effect upon all Souldiers and Papists that from that time forth never any of them were known to enter plunder or disturb our Church We have an account that another of Keatings companions at the very same time was struk Mad in the very act of breaking the Communion Table and that within very few hours after he dyed but they politickly conceal'd it and buryed him privately soon after for fear it should be known but the certainty of this I dare not Affirm but am sure some of their most sober and serious Clergy did freely own it George Prowd Trim 1st March 1689. No. 28. General Rosens ORDER to bring the Protestants Before Derry Conrade de Rosen Mareschal General of all his Majesties FORCES DEclares by these Presents To the Commanders Officers Souldiers and Inhabitants of the City of Londonderry That in case they do not betwixt this and Monday next at Six a Clock in the afternoon being the 1 st of July 1689. Agree to Surrender the said place of London-derry unto the KING upon such Conditions as may be Granted them according to the instructions and power Leiutenant General Hamilton formerly received from the KING That he will forthwith issue out his ORDERS from the Barony of Inishone and the Sea-Coasts round about as far as Charlemont for the gathering together of those of their Faction whether Protected or Not and cause them immediately to be brought to the Walls of London-derry where it shall be Lawful for those that are in the Town in case they have any pity for them to open the Gates and receive them into the Town otherwise they will be forced to see their Friends and nearest Relalations all starved for want of Food he having resolved not to leave one of them at home nor any thing to maintain them And that all hope of succour may be taken away by the Landing of any Troops in these parts from England He further Declares That in case they refuse to submit he will forthwith cause all the said Country to be immediately Destroy'd that if any Succour should be hereafter sent from England they may perish with them for want of Food Besides which he has a very considerable Army as well for the Opposing of them in all places that shall be judg'd necessary as for the Protecting all the rest of his Majesties dutiful Subjects whose Goods and Chattels he promises to Secure destroying all the rest that cannot be brought conveniently into such places as he shall judg necessary to be preserved and burning the Houses Mills not only of those that are in actual Rebellion but also of their Friends and Adherents that no hopes of escaping may be left for any man Beginning this very day to send his necessary Orders to all Governours and other Commanders of his Majesties Forces of Colerane Antrim Carrickfergus Belfast Dungannon Charlemont Belturbet Sligo and to Col. Sarsfield commanding a flying Army beyond Ballyshany Col. Sutherland commanding another towards Iniskillen and the Duke of Berwick another on the Fin-water to cause all the Men Women and Children who are any wayes related to those in Londonderry or any where else in open Rebellion to be forthwith brought to this place without hopes of withdrawing further into the Kingdom that in case before this said Monday the 1 st of July in the Year of our Lord 1689. be expired â—hey do not send Us Hostages other Deputies with a full sufficient power to Treat with Us for the Surrender of the said City of Londonderry on reasonable Conditions that they shall not after this time be admitted to any Treaty whatsoever And the Army which shall continue the Siege and will with the assistance of God soon reduce them shall have Orders to give no Quarter or spare either Age or Sex in case they are taken by Force But if they return to their Obedience due to their Natural Prince he Promises them that the Conditions granted them in his Majesties Name shall be Inviolably observed by all his Majesties Subjects and that He himself will have a care to Protect them on all occasions even to take their parts if any Injury contrary to the Agreement should be done them making Himself responsible for the performance of the Conditions on which they Agree to Surrender the said place of Londonderry to the KING Given under my Hand this 30th day of June in the Year of our LORD 1689. Le Mareschal Rosen No. 35. The Indictment of Dennis Connor in which the Counterfeit Letter to Mr. Will. Spike is inserted Term ' Hillar ' quinto sexto Jacobi Regis COm' Dublin ' Scilicet Juratores pro Domino Rege Sacrament ' suum dicunt proesent ' quod Dionisius Connor nuper de Dublin ' in Com' Civit ' Dublin ' Yeoman eâ—…o
that produced such Fatal Effects ought to be insisted upon or embraced If the King of France had not been too generous and too Christian a Prince were it not a sufficient Motive for him to reject the King in his Disgrace that upon those rotten Principles rejected his Alliance yet those and only those Principles will be made use of to perswade you there that you must not think of your own Restauration and Assurance at Home first but go into England to restore the Catholicks And if there be any other Adherents of the King 's there and that it will be time enough to think of your own Restauration after Which is the same as to say at Dooms-day For never a Catholick or other English will ever think or make a step nor suffer the King to make a step for your Restauration but leave you as you were hitherto and leave your Enemies over your Heads to crush you any time they please and cut you off Root and Branch as they now publickly declare And blame themselves they have not taken away your Lives along with your Estates long ago nor is there any Englishman Catholick or other of what Quality or Degree soever alive that will stick to sacrifice all Ireland for to save the least Interest of his own in England and would as willingly see all Ireland over inhabited by English of whatsoever Religion as by the Irish and yet by their fine Politicks they would perswade the Irish to come and save their Houses from burning whilst they leave their own on fire Which is no better than to look upon People as so many Fools when every body knows that Charity begins at Home that one's Charity for himself is the Rule and Measure of that he ought to have for his Neighbour diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum Is it not a better and more Christian Politick for the King and all that are faithful unto him to restore first a whole Kingdom that stands out for him when all the rest failed to their Birth-right which they have been out of these Thirty Six Years only for being obstinately Loyal to his Father Brother and himself than to displease those who have been and are still Loyal and who can get any Condition they please from the Enemy to join with them by thus pleasing or trimming with those who never were or ever will be True or Faithful and when they are thus restored and no Enemies left in their Bowels that can do his Majesty or them any Harm then to go in a strong Body together with his Majesty into England join with all such that will prove Faithful and Loyal and so restore his Majesty to his Throne and each one to his right I would fain know from these trimming Politicks whether it be not securer and more honourable for the King to offer all fair Means and shew his Clemency to his People when he is in Condition to force them to what he pleases to exact of them than to be daily undervaluing himself by offering them all the fair Means imaginable which they slight and scorn because they seeing he has no Means to force them or do them Harm think he does all only out of fear and not by any sincere or true Affection And I would fain further know if it be not better and greater Policy for him to put the Kingdom of Ireland still so Loyal unto him upon the best and highest Foot both Ecclesiastical and Temporal he can contrive and yet granting it nothing but its natural Right and Due that it may be a Check upon the People of England who are ready every New-Moon to Rebel then to keep it still in a continual Slavery and full dependance on such perfidious and inconstant People and himself deprived of the support he can still have from thence against their Revolt I dare averr if Ireland were put upon such a foot by the King he shall never fear any Rebellion in England especially if Scotland be faithful to him and France a Friend all which can now be well contrived and concerted But when all is done I would fain yet know from those Politick Trimmers by what Law of God or Man Ecclesiastical or Politick they think Ireland is bound to be the Sacrifice and Victim of the Rebellion of England either for to hinder those turbulent People from Rebelling or for to Reconcile them to their Duty by giving them forsooth as Recompence the Estates of those unfortunate Catholicks and send themselves a begging I dare say no Catholick in England much less a Protestant who would so easily give his consent and advice that the Estates of the Irish Catholicks may serve as a Recompence for the English Rebels would willingly give a Plow-Land of his own Estate to Reconcile all the Rebels of England to their Duty if he were not afraid to lose his own whole Estate by the Rebellion and yet would advise to do to others what he would not have to be done to himself contrary to the great Rule and Maxim of Nature and Christianity Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris I would fain further know from this Politick Trimmer so large of other Peoples Goods and so sparing of his own if one Province in England had revolted against their King as the whole Kingdom does now and that the rest of the Provinces continued faithful would they think fit or prudent to give their Lands and Estates to those Rebels for laying down their Arms and go beg themselves Or would the King expect or desire it from them No sure but rather that they should take up Arms and joyn with His Majesty to reduce and punish such Rebels in lieu of recompencing them with the Loyal's Estates And is not that the case of the Irish Why do you not then judge alike Or if you do not look upon an Irish man as a Fool why will you have him do what you say is not fit for your self or other fellow-Subjects to do in like case And sure you must think him a Fool and after-wit as you use to say if he will be perswaded by your Trimming Politick to leave his own Estate to his Enemy and come to save yours who would but laugh at him the next day at the best for his folly If their great and long Vexations have not given the Irish better understanding and know how little regard all the English whatsoever have for them they deserve to be dealt with like Fools But who would think it were Prudent or Politick for the King to bring a great Body of Men out of Ireland into England or Scotland leaving behind him in Ireland a considerable strong Party of Phanaticks all Enemies whatever outward shew they make to the contrary to rise in Arms as soon as they see the King turn his Back to them and they get a supply from their fellow Rebels out of England which will not be wanting at any time and so cut the Throats