who were the Two principal Commanders among them were both of English Families And 't is remarkable that most of those Families that were the chief Instruments in the Conquest of Ireland are this Day or at least were in the late War the most dangerous and perverse Enemies the English met with in that Kingdom and particularly the Burks or de Burgo's the Chief of which Name was so eminently serviceable in the Conquest of the Irish that the Estate which was granted him in consideration of that Service was thought sufficient to recommend an Heiress of that Family Elizabeth de Burgo to Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son to Edward III. King of England the yearly Rent thereof even in those Days being computed at 30000 Marks But in the late War that Family has been so far from being serviceable to England that I knew my self four Lords of the Name who were Colonels of Regiments by which we may imagine what a Number of this Family was in all other Posts in the Irish Army The Principal of those Lords Clanrickard a half-witted hot headed Zealot being to satisfy his foolish Ambition of being thought great made a kind of a Sham-Governour of the Town of Galway would have in one Day by the Advice of some of the malicious Inhabitants of that place sacrificed to his Rage and Folly the Lives of Sir Thomas Southwel and all his Party being between Two and Three Hundred Protestant Gentlemen which he certainly had done had he not been prevented by others who had the Sense to consider that they might very probably be called in a little time to a severe Account for so horrid and barbarous a Murder Another by his Title Galmoy was Colonel of Horse and spared no Protestant with whom he could find any manner of pretence to pick a Quarrel he was the first that I heard of who drew blood in the late War having hanged up Carleton and Dixy at a Sign Post in Belturbot without any manner of Tryal either by Martial or Common Law after which the Rabble cut off their Heads and kicked them through the Street as Foot-balls He also occasioned several other Gentlemen in the Queens County after they had made Terms for their Lives to be hanged and quartered at Maraburrough for which Reasons he has thought fit to Transport himself to France where he still remains The other two Lords of that Family were one of them taken Prisoner and the other kill'd at Aghrim Hugh Lacy was also one of those that in the Reign of Henry II. at his own expence Conquered the Kingdom of Meath which is a considerable part of Ireland And his Successors are most if not all of them bigotted Papists one of them I knew in the Year 1687. to be principal of the Dominican Fryars in the City of Limerick his Father had been a Colonel in the Rebellion of 1641. and was one that bore a great Sway in that Country at that time and tho' I do not know what Imployments the rest of that Family had yet I do not doubt but they were to the utmost of their power active and vigorous in carring on the late War And I may justly give the same Account of the Fitz-Stephens and a great many of the Fitz-Gerralds whose Ancestors Commanded the first Forces that Strongbow sent into Ireland tho' the chief of the latter be a Protestant and the first Earl of Ireland There are also several of the ancientest English Families who continue Papists and have undoubtedly been as deeply engaged in the War as their Neighbours But besides these particular Families there are in one part of that Kingdom a whole Generation of People called the Natives or the Birth of Galway as they style themselves who were reckoned before the late War to have been worth 30000 l. per annum in Lands in the Province of Connaught beside their Trade or Merchandize by which they purchased their Estates They consist of 14 Families which they call Tribes such as Lynch French Blake Kirwan Dean Skerret Bodkin Morris Athy c. the generality of which are so far from owning themselves to be Irish men that they care not for intermarrying nor to have any dealings with the ancient Irish more than the purchasing their Lands or receiving their ready Money for Wines and other Merchandize They were at first a Colony of Fisher-men and when they began to Trade to Sea and grew great and rich by that means were frequently molested and Plundered by the old Irish so that they were constrain'd to make their Application to King Edward VI. from whom they obtained a Charter with great Privileges and Immunities by which they were enabled yearly to choose their own Clergy-men in opposition to the Irish Arch Bishop of Tuam and were in short put thereby in a posture of defending themselves contrà gentem quandam feram barbaram Offlaherty which are the words of their Charter This Town in the Rebellion of 41. was one of the last in that Kingdom that surrendred to the Earl of Munrath upon very advantageous Articles as it did this last War to General Gynckhel In the Year 1688. the Mayor of that Town one Brown by name had a Commission for a Regiment sent him by Tyrconnel which was accordingly raised there and in the Neighbourhood There were also a great many of the Natives of that Town who were Field-Officers Captains and Subalterns in other Regiments in that Kingdom Now there is no doubt to be made but those Papist of English Extraction in conjunction with the Old Irish have been very injurious to the People of England and have put them to a vast Expence both of Men and Money as well in this late War as in that of Tyrone in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and that horrid Rebellion of Forty One in which according to the best Accounts we have above 200000 Protestants of all Sexes and Ages were barbarously murdered in cold Blood but this will not be sufficient to prove that the English have been loosers by Ireland and that it were better for them there were no such Country in the World For let us but consider the State of that Nation in the Reign of King Charles II. and the yearly Benefit which 't is apparent to the World England made of it and we shall find it demonstrable that 't is a mere vulgar Error either to think or say so For it is plain Matter of Fact that in the latter end of that King's Reign and the two or three first Years of the late King James's that they received Forty Thousand Pounds per annum which was or might have been transmitted to them into England out of the Revenues of Ireland and remained clear to them over and above the Charge of the whole Establishment of that Kingdom that is both of the Military and Civil List which amounted to 243663 l. Sterl to this we may add above 10000 l. a Year paid out of that Revenue in Pensions to
them and if I demonstrate that the English Party are like to be the only sufferers thereby I hope I shall gain my Point and that the Wisdom of England will not think convenient to do any thing that may be ruinous or prejudicial to that Interest First I shall begin with the Irish Papists as they consist of Popish English Families as well as of the ancient Natives of that Kingdom in which sense I desire to be understood all along when I mention the Irish I have already hinted how vexatious and troublesom they have been to England ever since the Reformation of Religion how vigorously they have at several times endeavour'd to cast off the English Yoak and how Bloody their Rebellions and Massacres have been And 't is certain that all such of them as have been dispossessed of their Estates especially since the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign were turn'd out of them by reason of their constant opposition to and uneasiness under the English Government with which 't is apparent they have believ'd their Interest to be wholly inconsistent or it cannot be imagined they would have made so many violent Efforts to extricate themselves from it I need not therefore give my self or those to whose hands these Papers shall come any further trouble by producing Arguments to prove the Dependance and Hopes of the Irish Papists to be very opposite to those of the English of that Country for if their Interests be so this must of course be allow'd And this they have in the late War evidently demonstrated to the World For when the Emperor the King of Spain and most of the other Roman Catholick Princes of Europe were in League with his Majesty of Great-Britain the Pope himself being rather a Friend than an Enemy and such of those Princes as did not assist us against France were all Neuters the Irish only with some small assistance from France maintain'd a brisk and vigorous War against us and did indeed make a stronger opposition to the Arms of England than we might imagine it were possible for them to do if we consider either the Condition in which they are now being unhorsed and disarm'd of all manner of Weapons of War or the Circumstances in which they were in any time since the Restoration of King Charles II. till the last part of his Reign when by the great Encouragements they had by the D. of York's means from the Court of England they began to seem formidable to the Protestants of Ireland So that I think I have made it evident that as they believe the Extirpation of the English out of that Country would be their greatest Interest and Advantage so they have chiefly depended upon the French and by them expected the accomplishment of that great Design Not that I will say that they have naturally a greater Affection for the French than any other Nation but because they have for some Years esteem'd the French King to be the most powerful and the most Ambitious Monarch of Europe of the Romish perswasion and consequently the most likely to attempt the Expulsion of the British out of that Country and as they fondly imagined to restore them to their pretended ancient Estates and Liberties which is the same reason that induced them to be so fond of the Spaniard in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth And notwithstanding that there have been all along the War considerable Numbers of those Irish Papists in the French service many of which remain there this very day and the Ruins of Demolished Towns and Fortresses in Ireland and the vast heaps of the Bones of Slaughtered Men which are to be seen in many parts of that Kingdom are but too Fresh and Sensible Monuments of their Villanies and cannot when we see them but make us Reflect upon their Behaviour towards us and remember how few years have passed since they were by downright Dint of Sword beaten into good Manners I say notwithstanding all these things I have been very well assured that long before the Conclusion of the Peace they have made application to the Emperor K. of Spain and other Roman Catholick Princes that they might Intercede for them to the K. of England as being poor Persecuted Catholicks because they are not left in a Posture of running into another Rebellion and Cutting of Throats at pleasure And to my certain knowledge they had September last their Agents or Plenipotentiaries as some stile them in Flanders and have the confidence to tell us that they were never so happy as under an English Government and that our present King has been gracious to them beyond expectation and so far they are in the right and speak Truth whether they believe it or no but they do also endeavour to make us believe that most of any Note among them having taken the Oath of Fidelity they are now true Friends to King William and the English Interest of Ireland and we know very well that Oaths have been ever such Sacred Tyes as they could not break through but have observ'd them as invfoiably as a certain Friend of theirs who was always Fam'd for being nicely just to his word did perform his repeated Oaths and Promises of Preserving the Church of England and Governing these Kingdoms according to the Laws then Established c. But to lay any stress upon their asseverations to this purpose is so grand a contradiction to Common Sense and Experience that reason can never admit it nor Mankind be so far Imposed upon as that they should expect the performance of any thing of this kind from them 't is altogether as reasonable to imagine that those Creatures which are called Tame Wolves when let loofe will abstain from their Prey and not fall upon the Flocks and Herds nor Foxes upon the Poultry t is as reasonable I say to believe this as that Irish Men in power will preserve and not endeavour to extirpate the Protestant Race out of that Country and for my part I shall scarce ever be convinced but that the Character is very applicable to them which Hippolitus gives his Hunts man of the Spartan Dogs Spartanos Genus est audax avidumque serae Nodo cautus propiore liga which according to my Interpretation is as follows That 't is a Turbulent ungovernable Generation greedy of Blood and never in good order but when tied up or close coupled If these be the People which the Parliament of England propose to keep in low circumstances they are very much in the right for that Generation never becomes Rich or Powerful but they grow Troublesome and Uneasie and are ready to joyn with any Popish Prince that will assist them against the English Nation who can never be too jealous or careful to prevent their being in a condition to repeat those Villanies which they have so often and so lately acted against the Protestants of that Kingdom and consequently of putting England to any further Charge or Trouble in the Reduction of
them There may be several particular methods proposed for weakning that Interest and incapacitating them of being any further troublesome to England such as Banishing their Priests and Fryars taking care to have their Children or the greater part of them educated in the Principles of the Protestant Religion as the French do to have those of the Protestants in their Country brought up to Popery The prohibiting of Papists by Law to purchase any Lands or Freeholds in that Kingdom and so forth But if the Government of England would think convenient to have Parliaments more frequently call'd in Ireland than they usually have been especially in the Reign of King Charles II. who never called one from the time of the Settlement of that Country to the day of his Death which without dispute gave the Irish Papists great opportunities of growing upon us and being in a Condition of giving England such vigorous Opposition as they did in the late War whether his design in that omission was to give that People those opportunities or no I shall not determine but am confident that if Parliaments were frequently call'd there and the management of Affairs were in some measure left to their discretion there would be such prudent and effectual courses taken for suppressing the Natives of that Country as would for ever prevent their being mischievous or uneasie to England and 't is certain that there is nothing which the considering and cunning Men among them do dread more but have had in all former Reigns the Interest in the English Court to prevent it By this means of frequent Parliaments and allowing the freedom of Trade in some measure to the English of that Country it would in a few Years appear that Ireland is of greater advantage to the English than any thing they ever added to their Dominions of which the Kings of England would be very sensible by the vast Revenues that would accrue to them and this without prejudice to the Trade of England whose Commodities out-sell those of Ireland in all Foreign Markets and considering that the Traders of Ireland lie already under such Restrictions that 't is impossible they should ever injure England either in relation to its Manufactures at home or its Commerce abroad tho' there are some of that unsatiable Temper that they think whatever the poor English of Ireland do gain by their Industry and the blessing of God upon their Endeavours to be just so much lost out of their own Treasures Having said something of the Irish Natives in general I come now to their Commerce and manner of living and how far such a Law if enacted will affect them Tho' it is not to be doubted but that many more of the Ingenious sort of them are fallen into Trade in imitation of the English yet they are no farther concern'd in the Woollen Manufactures than in buying from the Protestant Tradesmen some small quantities of them for their own use and some perhaps to Transport by way of Merchandize into other Countries Nor are the Gentry or the better sort of them much addicted to the keeping of Flocks or raising Sheep for such of them as are possessed of any considerable quantities of Land especially if they be ancient Families think themselves above any business of that kind or at least never mind it but live after a careless and prodigal way pleasing themselves with a great company of Followers Servants and Tenants the last of which are in the nature of Villains to them and so that they have but a sufficient number of Sheep for their own use do not much care nor indeed understand how to propagate them Sometimes where their Women are extrordinary Housewives which is rare among 'em they make Frize and ordinary Linnen for the use of their Families this is all the Manufacture they are concern'd in and indeed is scarce worth mentioning But lest it should be imagined that the Generality of the Irish may be further concern'd in the Manufacture of that Kingdom 't will not be amiss to give an Account of their Commerce and manner of Living and there are two Degrees of them the first is a kind of People that call themselves Gentlemen and Old Proprietors and hope at one time or other to be restored to their ancient Estates and the Number of this kind of Men is very considerable for in the late War when they were by virtue of the Act of Repeal restored to their diminutive Estates there were many of them that could not claim above 12 some not above 10 and other 6 Acres of Land 50 or 60 Acres were large Fortunes among them for it was a Custom among most of the ancient Irish to make an equal dividend of whatever Lands they purchased among all their Sons which is the true reason that there are so many of those People in that Country and which next to their Priests and Fryars are the Persons that of the whole Irish Nation are most dangerous and vexatious to the English for they think themselves injured Persons being as they say unjustly dispossessed of their Estates those small Proprietors being excluded by the Act of Settlement passed in that Kingdom after the Wars of 41. They are generally careful to procure some kind of Learning for their Children whose Accomplishments are chiefly the speaking of Latin Writing tolerably well and Playing on the Harp they think themselves too much Gentlemen to put their Sons to Trades or breed them up to any thing that is Laborious which is what they never betake themselves to but sometimes walk about with their Snush-horns enquiring for News heretofore concerning the French King and his Successes against the Confederates but now I suppose their Enquiries will be concerning the Prince of Wales what kind of Spark he is like to prove and whether they may expect ever by his means to be restored to their Estates at other times they smoak Tobacco by their Fire sides or if the Weather be warm Sleep or Lowze themselves under the Hedges and spend the rest of their time after some lazy and fruitless manner but they are always in a readiness upon the least Commotion to joyn the Enemies of England and by the assistance of their Clergy do compel the poor ignorant Common-People to follow them to all the Mischiefs imaginable giving themselves the Titles of Colonels Captains and what other Officers they think convenient according to the Numbers they can assemble But it will now be convenient to give some short account of those other poor common Irish their Commerce and manner of Living They are a People of so tame and cowardly a Disposition that were they not actuated by their Gentry and Clergy and they were in never so great a Tumult did the English but appear to them with their Cudgels and Scourges only they would undoubtedly betake themselves to their several Labours and Employments which being considered it will appear how far they are concern'd in the Woollen Manufactures
his Abuse and had no reason to expect either Civility or Good-manners from them Thirdly Another Instance of this kind to which I was eye-witness is as follows In a few days after that Gentleman told me this Passage there were two Clergy-men walking in their Gowns upon the Bridge of Belfast who were also Chaplains in the Army to whom I saw one go who counted himself a topping Gentleman in the North of Ireland and take up the Skirt of one of the Gowns in a gibing manner telling them in a deriding Tone and in broad Scotch tho' 't was not his usual Dialect that the Bischops were put down in Scotland Fourthly I have heard several of the vulgar Scotch of Ireland belonging to the Army say That when the Papists were Conquer'd they hoped the Bishops meaning the Episcopal Party should be the next against whom they should Fight and I was credibly inform'd that it was a frequent Expression among the Commonalty of them These two last Instances I produce to shew that this furious Zeal and Spirit of Persecution is not peculiar to those of Scotland but that their Friends in Ireland have their portion of the same which might be further proved by several particulars were it necessary to the main Design and Matter in hand Fifthly But there is one Instance more to which tho' I was not an eye-witness yet I received the Account from those whose Veracity I do not at all question viz. That some poor Gentlewomen who about the beginning of the Siege of London-Derry were sent by their Husbands who stay'd behind them in that Service to Scotland for security when they were Landed there with heavy Hearts and probably not very much in their Purses yet they found within themselves some small degrees of Satisfaction and Ease arising from the consideration of their being safely Landed in a Protestant Country out of the noise of continual Allarums and the Dangers and Fears occasioned by the Neighbourhood of a powerful Enemy to which for some time before they had been subject And there they had for some time such a Reception as might be reasonably expected in that Country till partly by their own unwary Discourse but chiefly by the Malice and Treachery of some of their Presbyterian Neighbours that went over about the same time they were discovered to be such as made use of that horrid Book called The Common-Prayer and which was worst of all that one of them was the Wife of a Curate which is the Title they have for our Ministers upon which Discovery the poor Gentlewomen were turned out of doors with as much precipitation and violence as if they had escaped from a City where the Plague raged or that some Judgment from Heaven must inevitably fall upon the House that should harbour them and could have neither Meat Drink nor Lodging for their Money notwithstanding that Coin is so well beloved by the Inhabitants of that Country but were forced to walk further where being less known they were more regarded and were very glad that they escaped without Violence And now methinks they that had so lately cried out against Persecution on account of Religion and the barbarity of the Penal Laws as they did in the Reign of King Charles II. and the late King James also till those Managers which led that unfortunate Prince by the Nose began to think it Policy to caress them and bring them to side with his Interest against the Church of England Methinks I say they should not have made such severe applications of a Law of that kind as they did in their own Country and at a juncture of time when the King and People of England were engaged not only in a Foreign War against France but in another bloody War in Ireland and a third in Scotland I will not say that this proceeding against the Episcopal Church of Scotland at that time looked like an Imposition upon the Necessities of England but the World must judge the taking that Advantage to be ungenerous and that it was as much as if they had said that since their Assistance was required against the Common Enemy the extirpation of Episcopacy was the recompence they expected and must have in consideration of their Services And tho' they could not say when they were resolv'd to ruin that Church as the Jews did when they were bent upon the Crucifixion of our Saviour We have a Law among us and by that Law he ought to die yet they enacted among themselves a Law to that purpose which occasioned a great many to side with Dundee and opposed His Majesty's Interest in that Kingdom to the utmost of their Power who longed earnestly for this happy Revolution and expected thereby to be delivered from the then imminent Danger of Slavery and Popery not thinking that they should fall under another no less cruel Bondage And indeed this proceeding might have turned the Hearts of a great many more in that Nation against the Interest of His present Majesty and the People of England had not those poor Men wisely considered that it was the Act of their own bigotted Country-men and therefore instead of taking up Arms against England they fled hither in great Numbers for Succour and Protection which may be justly esteem'd to be one remarkable Link in that Chain of amazing Providences which attended His Sacred Majesty in rescuing these Nations from Tyranny and Misery for since the great Principle of Self-preservation was never more universally acknowledged than at this Day we must not believe the desires of Liberty and Property to be peculiar to our selves alone and had the Episcopal Party in Scotland joyn'd entirely with our Enemies and the Providence of God had not appeared so visibly in the Affairs of Ireland but that Enniskillin and Londonderry had been taken by the Irish and the late King James's Army or a considerable part of it been transported into Scotland it might have altered the face of Affairs been of fatal Consequence to these Nations and an universal prejudice to all the Confederate Princes of Europe And whether the War carried on by Dundee and his Accomplices has been prejudicial or chargeable to the People of England is a point which I shall leave to their own determination But that I may obviate an Objection which I am apprehensive may here be raised I do confess that the Presbyterians as well of Ireland as Scotland were in the late War active and assisting in the suppression of the Enemies of England and do highly approve their Prudence and Foresight in rejecting those Conditions which were in the latter part of the late Reign offered them by the Papists from whom they very well knew they were to expect no manner of performance longer than they served their Turn and do think it was wisely said by an English Dissenting Minister that the Papists would make scaffolding of the Presbytery to pull down the Church of England and that when the Work should be finished that
only say further that both the Irish and they have so lately that we cannot yet forget it given us evident Demonstrations how they would deal with us if we lay at their Mercy and this they did at the same time with this only difference that the latter did their Work more effectually than the others the Irish did theirs in the time of VVar and Tyranny and were themselves and their pretended Act of Parliament soon kick'd out of doors But the Scotch taking the advantge of a time when England was not at leisure to take notice of their Proceedings ruin'd the Church of Scotland by a Law which is like to prove but too firm and lasting which leads me Thirdly To a third Consequence and one that I think doth necessarily and evidently follow from what has been now said and that is that if the High Court of Parliament should pass such a Law as afore-mentioned and either the Irish or Scotch become Masters of Ireland the Church which is now established there must inevitably be ruined which indeed is the main Consideration that engaged me in this Undertaking I heard the Question proposed since I came to London What the Church had to do with Trade or how a Law concerning the Woollen Manufacture could affect it as if the whole Body of the People were not of the Church nor the Clergy Members of the Commonwealth but their Interests were different and did not stand upon the same Basis with the establish'd English Laws of that Kingdom And I think it might as well have been ask'd What it concern'd the Church of England if the grand Fleet had been burnt by the French in the late War or the Church of Spain if the Galleons had been taken by Monsieur Ponty But because it may not be thought a good way to answer one Question by proposing others I shall in few words give a direct answer to it I have already shewn how far this Statute must affect the Laity of the established Church of Ireland and shall now endeavour to shew how far the Ecclesiasticks or the Church strictly so called must be concern'd in this matter Tho' methinks 't is needless to tell the World that if the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of that or any other Nation be reduced to a low Ebb of Fortune the Clergy must by necessary consequence bear a part in the common Sufferings except that part of the World where the Church hath engrossed all to herself and made the Country poor and miserable and it is not long since we have by fatal Experience found this to be true in Ireland But for greater Evidence sake I shall endeavour to shew the Methods by which that Church was ruined to that Degree that the Clergy who lived in those Parts of the Country where the Irish principally inhabited had for two Years before the War little more than the Name of Livings for they must either have set their Tythes c. to the Irish at what Rates they thought fit to offer or they would pay little or none in kind for the most expeditious means which the Clergy of that Kingdom had or indeed have now for the recovery of their dues is a Statute passed in England in the Twenty Seventh of Henry VIII which mentions Ireland as well as England and ordains that if any Person being cited in a Decimary Cause to the Ecclesiastical Court refused to appear that then two Justices of the Peace whereof one to be of the Quorum shall upon the Receipt of a Certificate under the Seal of that Court signifying his Contumacy issue their Warrant against the Party so offending and if he refuse to enter sufficient Security that he will appear at a prefix'd time and pay what by the said Court shall be adjudged against him that then he shall be committed to safe Custody till he make Satisfaction which Law was commonly put in execution in several Diocesses of that Kingdom and met with no opposition while Protestant Judges sat on the Bench but they were no sooner thrust out and Popish Judges appointed but that Practice was declared illegal and that Statute to be of no force in Ireland and several Justices of the Peace discarded for having issued their Warrants pursuant thereto By another Statute which was made in Ireland in the Three and Thirtieth Year of Henry VIII it is enacted That if the Party summoned for Detention or Substraction of Tythes shall enter his appearance in the Ecclesiastical Court and Sentence shall pass there against him that then two Justices of the Peace qualified as aforesaid shall at the request of the said Court imprison the said Offender without Bail or Main-prize till he fulfil the Sentence so pronounced against him But the intent of this Law was in those days easily deseated for the Irish throughout the Kingdom were advised by their Lawyers to take no notice of any Citations issued out of the Ecclesiastical Courts So that the only Method which then remained of proceeding against Offenders of that kind was to prosecute them to Excommunication and to take Writs de Excommunicat capient out of the High Court of Chancery which by reason of the great Charge of those Writs is not to be done but upon extraordinary occasions and where the matter contested is considerable however to prevent even this Practice as well as to obstruct the common Course of Justice in all Cases where a Protestant was concern'd against a Papist the Lord Chancellor Sir Charles Porter who was a true Friend to the establish'd Church and the English Interest was displaced to make room for a profess'd malicious Papist who utterly refused the Clergy the Benefit of the Law in cases of that kind and left the Laity of what Communion soever to pay their Ministers what they thought convenient so that 't is plain that if either the Irish or Scotch have that one Minister of Justice on their side that shall be no Friend to the establish'd Church but shall discountenance the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Courts he may himself singly go a great way towards the ruin of the Protestant Episcopal Clergy of that Nation And indeed it happened very well for them that those Writs were not granted them by that Popish Lord Chancellor for he by the Direction of the Lord Tyrconnel had made Irish High Sheriffs in most of the Counties of Ireland who would execute neither Writ nor Decree on any Papist either for Clergy-man or Lay-man I think likewise that I have laid down sufficient Reasons to make us believe that if the Scotch Presbyterians had the Estates of Ireland and consequently the Magistracy and Power in their Hands they would serve the Episcopal Clergy and such as should adhere to them after the same manner The Question therefore that remains is whether it be not probable that the Irish and they whose Interests seem now to be so opposite to each other might upon occasion of ruining the Episcopal Protestant Church should they