and industrious in laying open this mischievous and pernicious Conspiracy had their Cattle stole from 'em and were threatned to have their Houses burnt with such like terrifying devices of the Irish which they are not only wont to give out but also to practise against such of the English as endeavour to confront them in their evil Designs This together with the connivence of the Government put a stop to any farther discovery so that the whole was hushed up and passed over in silence Thus we see that to what proficiency soever the Popish Interest had attained by the violent and irregular proceedings of the Court of Claims and other artifices of its first rise and production that it was at that time but in its infant state when compared with that maturity it had now insensibly aspired to under the Government of the L. B. The Duke of Ormond when in the Government did in the whole conduct of Affairs so vigorously support the Protestant Interest that he remained an inseparable obstacle to their Design unless some method were taken to put him out of that Station in order to which as you have heard the Lord Roâ—erts was to be practised upon whose prejudice they doubted not would carry him to very severe Reflections upon the Duke of Ormond's Government and indeed the experiment answered the design of the undertakers for the first thing that the Lord Roberts did which I should have mentioned when I spoke of his succeeding the Duke of Ormond but however may not improperly be inserted in this place was to prie into the Duke of Ormond's Government and in a manner to encourage and invite persons to make their Complaints but 't was found a difficult task to find Faults after a Person of so great Honour and Integrity as he was But however to put his Design in Execution he first gave opportunity to the Officers of the Army to make their Complaints which not succeeding then he countenances the private Souldiers to offer their Grievances and in order to this appoints Commissioners to go round the Kingdom but all to no purpose afterwards he attempts the same in the City of Dublin to see if they would complain for Quartering of Souldiers but that Device came likewise to nothing But alas all this would not fix him long in the Government He was sent over but to serve a turn and after being a necessary Instrument for a while must now give place to a fitter Agent the L. B. who was now appointed to guide the Chariot Quem si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit ausis Though he could not hold the Rein so steady as fully to compleat the course yet was the undertaking noble in it self and how ever it succeeded could argue no less than a Gallant Resolution for the Catholick Cause and which indeed he had at last brought to that high pitch as to draw in the Populace by amusing them with specious Pretences against the Magistracy to an espousal of his interest But however 't was happy for the Protestants that the Rabble at last became sensible that they had look'd at the wrong end of the Perspective and that things had been represented to them in a false light and in colours quite different from what they now appeared Popery had now almost arrived to its Zenith and wanted but little of that Perfection which that horrible Bloody contrivance befoâ—e mentioned was designed to compass a practice of a parallel nature with the former Irish Rebellion and Parisian Massacre and the like infallible demonstrations of the Church of Rome's undoubted Catholicism But 't is high time to hasten to the aforesaid Affair of the Corporation The seasonable discovery of the afore-mentioned Sheriff gave the Aâ—dermen the opportunity of sending over Sir William Davis to London who representing a true Description of this Design to the Earl of Shaftsbury made that great Politician swear That the L. L. was a mad Man which Negotiation with the said Earl produced so successfull an effect that about a Month after the Earl of Essex was nominated Lord Lieutenant which year 1672 for the present interrupted the Progress of the Popish Design in Ireland though the Natives of that Kingdom were so elevated in their Expectations of its succeeding that they forbore not boasting to their Confidents of its improvement at Court. This Romish Design which had fully appear'd in its proper shape in Ireland began soon after this to unmask it self in England and a remarkable Passage occurred which not a little contributed to the untwisting of this Intricacy of State which had been carefully spun with so fine a Thread The King the Duke of York and Clifford the Lord Treasurer were one day at a certain House in a private Room where one Sir W. B. a Commissioner of the Excise of England and of the Revenue of Ireland came and being a Person that frequently accommodated the King with Money was wont to gain access at all hours and in presumption of this liberty was at the Door ready to enter the Room but his hearing the King speak with more than ordinary earnestness begat in him a curiosity to hearken with some Attention but could hear only some broken and imperfect Expressions The Duke also spoke so low that he could not understand him but Clifford was loud as in publick answering the King in a very audible and articulate manner in these words Sir if you are drove off upon fears you will never be safe the work will do if you declare your self with Resolution there is enow to stand by you The King replied This name Popery will never le swallowed by the People upon which the King started off his Seat and said Some Body is at the Door Whereupon Clifford hastily opened it and without speaking fell furiously upon B dragging him to a pair of Stairs from whence he kick'd him down Soon after this B. dyed which was not improbably imputed to that Misfortune Here we may reasonably reflect upon those Politick and for some time imperceptible steps by which Popery gradually gained ground upon us both in Ireland and England In Ireland the whole Scheme had been managed with so much address as to engage the Populace to their Party as has been already shewn in England the Design was lain with that depth and so profoundly disguis'd with the most artificial Delusions That few except some of the most Judicious and these no otherwise than by Conjecture were able to fatham it But God who brings to light the hidden things of darkness and whose powerful Prerogative is such as oftentimes to disappoint the wise in their own Craftiness did wonderfully infatuate the wicked Devices of these Men and that by an opportune discovery when they were possess'd with the greatest hopes of its attaining its designed effect But to proceed upon the former Discourse interrupted by this Digression In this Year a little year 1672 Instrument of the Pope appeared who by degrees became no
Inhumane Expressions very ungrateful to a Christian Ear. These restless Endeavours of the Papists made the Earl of Clarendon find things very uneasie whereunto one Remarkable Passage not a little contributed which was reported to be thus That upon a Sunday Morning going to Church he perceived an Irish Officer he never saw before Commanding his Guard of Battle-Axes that attended his Person which exceedingly surprized him whereupon he made a stop demanding who he was and who put him there The Irish-man for they are naturally Pusillanimous and fearful was as much frighted as the Lord Lieutenant was disturbed but with some difficulty and in broken Expressions occasioned by fear told his Excellency he was a Captain put in by the Lord Tyrconnel His Excellency demanded of him When he replyed That Morning His Excellency bid 'em call the former Captain and dismiss this of Tyrconnel's The next day the Lord Lieutenant sent for Tyrconnel and questioned him for this Action who replyed He did nothing but by the King's Orders to which the Lord Lieutenant returned answer That whilst His Majesty intrusted him with the Government he would not be disposed by his Lieutenant General Complaints on both hands were made to the King and so ended Tyrconnel having compleated his design in modelling the Army goes for England and there consults with his Party to obtain the Government of Ireland The King Queen and Father Petres were for him but the whole Council of Papists oppos'd it still urging how unacceptable he was to the English others therefore were named in private by that Popish Party But all the while the Protestant side were wholly ignorant of any design to remove the Earl of Clarendon not questioning but that he stood upon a firm Foundation namely the Kings late assurance to the Earl of Rochester Lord Treasurer who was seemingly Prime Minister of State but not thought fit to be confided in as to those dark Secrets of the Catholick Designs About this time there was a general metting at the Savoy before Father Petres of the chief Roman Catholicks of England in order to consult what Methods were fittest to be pursued for the promotion of the Catholick Cause The Papists were universally afraid of the King's Incapacity or else unwillingness of exposing himself to the hazard of securing it in his Reign They were sensible that he advanced considerably in Age besides they were not ignorant of what almost insuperable difficulties they had to contend with before they could bring it to any ripeness Wherefore upon these Considerations carefully weighing and ballancing every Circumstance some were for moving the King to procure an Act of Parliament for the security of their Estates and only liberty for Priests in their own private Houses and to be exempted from all Employments This Father Petres Anathematized as Terrestrial and founded upon too anxious a Sollicitude for the preservation of their Secular Interests but if they would pursue his measures he doubted not to see the Holy Church triumphant in England And indeed his Politicks have taken but in a quite different manner than he expected for God be praised a Church triumphs in England as much superiour to his in Holiness as the means of its preservation have been in justice to his which were intended for its destruction Others of the Papists were for addressing the King to have liberty now that they might do it to sell their Estates and that his Majesty would intercede with the French King to provide for them in his Dominions After several Debates it was at last agreed upon to lay both Proposals before the King and some of the number to attend his Majesty with them which was accordingly done to which the King's return was That he had before their Desires came to him often thought of them and had as he believed provided a sure Sanctuary and Retreat for them in Ireland if all those endeavours should be blasted in England which he had made for their security and of whose success he had not yet reason to despair This Encouragement to the Papists in England was attended with the most Zealous Expressions and Catholick Assurances of his Ardent Love to the Holy Church which he said he had been a Martyr for Thus we see how the Bigottry of this unhappy Prince transported him beyond all bounds and carry'd him to such Extravagancies in Government as the moderate of the English Papists themselves thought to be extream hazardous and insecure and would all of them have been content with a private exercise of their Religion as thinking it abundantly more safe rather than endanger the losing their Estates and Fortunes which they almost look'd upon as inevitable if such violent extream courses were followed But alas these self-preserving and the furious Principles of the Jesuits had no Congruity and the King was too much a Creature of the last to attend to any but their Counsels He said he was resolved to die a Martyr rather than not advance the Catholick Cause He had entered himself into the Order of the Jesuits and was become a Lay-Brother of that Society and so in consequence to his Profession must needs look upon it as meritorious to extirpate and destroy Heresie He was told that this would be a most glorious action and doubtless would be Canonized for it To reduce three Kingdoms to an entire obedience to the Holy See which had Apostatized so long and been the Nursery of so many Damned Hereticks who by their Heterodox Doctrines had created so much disturbance to the peace of the most Holy Catholick Church was doubtless the greatest action on this side Heaven and deserved no less than that for its reward No time nor story could parallel this Heroical Atchievement which would be commemorated to Eternal Ages This would be a Work of Supererogation indeed which would not only convey him to Heaven without touching at Purgatory but also lay up such an infinite over-plus of merits as being deposited in the hands of the Church and frugally applyed would not only preserve thousands of others from these Flames but waft them immediately into Abraham's Bosom These or the like we may suppose to have been the constant suggestions of the Jesuits which as they indeavoured to instill into the Kings mind with Tongues as smooth as Oyl and with the most prevailing Flatteries and Artificial Insinuations so on the other hand did he as greedily imbibe these Poisonous Doctrines as they could infuse them and eagerly swallow'd the Bait when all the while the Hook lay conceal'd and he so far intangled till 't was too late to discover it And now how can we suppose that a Prince thus wholly at the Devotion of the Jesuits swayed altogether by their Councils and upon every occasion consulting them as so many Oracles should resist the voice of these Charmers who Charmed so wisely in his byass'd opinion These Syrens kept a very harmonious Consort which they exactly tuned to the Key and accent of this Votary's fanciful
most of the Horses which belong'd to English Gentlemen and Farmers in the Countrey were violently seized upon for the King's use as was pretended and several hundreds were brought into the Corporations which were Garrisoned with Irish Soldiers who quartered upon Private as well as Publick-Houses of the English which were so full of them that they had scarce Beds for themselves to lie in They now were in daily expectation of the Landing of the late King James And this possessed them with so triumphant a joy that the more to discourage the English they not only gave out that he was arrived when there was no such thing but rung the Bells made Bonfires the Mayor and Aldermen in several Corporations drinking the King's Health and the like But this imaginary formality was but a prelude to the succeeding Triumph to the real Landing of the late King. And then what they had done before in Effigie or in empty show they now performed substantially and to the life 'T is beyond any thing of human art to imagine much more to describe the greatness of their joy at this time and therefore I shall not attempt a representation which would come infinitely short of those extravagant Pageantries which were now acted Publick fame has already given some account of it and to that I refer the Reader I have now given as without vanity and oftentation I may affirm it as true and impartial a Relation as is possible of the design the Abdicated King had from the happy Restauration of King Charles the Second to make Ireland the refuge if all other endeavours proved unsuccessful for â—is Catholick Friends and 't is plain that 't was the French Allyance which he always assiduously made Court to upon which he depended in the accomplishment of this Intrigue The Irish were very sensible of it and since his accession to the Crown would frequently boast that if England should upon King James's Death or any other misfortune devolve into the Protestants hands that they made no doubt of preserving Ireland by the power of the French and that the Prince of Orange whom they always dreaded would have his hands full at home but that Soveraign Providence by whom Kings Reign and Princes decree justice has to the great astonishment of other Nations most miraculously confounded all the wicked devices of his Adversaries and preserved him to sit upon the Imperial Throne of these Kingdoms where may he long Reign not only to maintain the true Reformed Religion in his own Dominions but to enlarge the best part of his Titles Defender of the Faith throughout the whole Christian World For so indeed whatever opinion some prejudiced Men amongst us may have do all the Reformed Churches of Europe esteem him to be I thought to have put a period to this Discourse in this place but observing the complaints of many that are fled from Ireland whose miseries may indeed allow them grains I shall beg leave to animadvert a little as to their mistakes in the hard usage which they think they have received here in not being all immediately reprized by the King's Bounty I shall not say what is too apparent of some who came from thence and would shelter themselves among Honest Men as most of them are generally believed to be yet even in this Relation where they could not be left out without making it imperfect some are found faulty and yet may pretend as fair as the best Every day produces additional reasons why the King cannot be too cautious in whom he confides and 't is to be feared that some of Ireland are not quite exempt from all suspicion as well as others in England But then as for those whose deserts have entituled them to his Majesty's good opinion such as for their affection to the Protestant Interest and Religion have been divested of their substance and are in present want those we see are not out of his Majesty's Gracious Care and Princely Consideration For how many I was about to say how few are excluded from Commands in the Army that desired it besides all that had Commands formerly and could not be employed have half pay allowed them for their present subsistence And then as for the poorer sort his Majesty was before-hand in making provision for them in issuing out his Brief for a General Collection throughout the whole Kingdom which Charity has been gratefully acknowledged by that most Reverend anâ— Pioâ—s Archbishop of Tuam in a Seâ—mon at St. James's There now remains onl◠〈◊〉 part of the Clergy and Gentlemen unprovided for As for the Clergy his Majesty graciouâ—â—y consâ—dering their condition did soon after his accession to the â—rown graciously order that whatever Benefices in his Gift should become vacant should be conferr'd upon them besides the supply which the Brief affords them for the present Hence we may observe to what a narrow compass the noise of Forty Thousand People is reduced to there being according to the best account that is given not Seven Hundred Men that are not in some respect or other competently provided for But that I may not be thought to have incurred a mistake in this computation it must be observed That a great part of the List given in to the House of Commons are Men of Estates or Money here in England and though perhaps some of those make the greatest clamour yet would it better become them to relieve their Distressed Brethren than to abate the Charity which the Parliament with great generosity and a Christian compassion designed for the support of such as were really in a poor and an indigent condition All I here say is matter of fact and how partially soever his Majesty's present management may be misinterpreted by some yet 't is certain that his silent but wonderful conduct in the provision for the Distressed Protestants of Ireland ought to be engraven in Golden Characters and not defaced by the unreasonable Clamours of such who would devour that which they have no want of and consequently no just claim and title unto to the apparent injury of their suffering and necessitous Bâ—â—â—hren which the Parliament have most huâ—â—â—â— supplicated 〈◊〉 Majesty for who no doubt 〈◊〉 in the most 〈◊〉 and discreet manner make such a 〈◊〉 as will bespeak his Royal Bounty and 〈◊〉 sense of their condition as well as 〈◊〉 opottionable to their pressing and great 〈…〉 ties FINIS
Lands said to be in the possession of divers of the English but in truth much more in that of the Irish Now to insure the Titles of the English from any future Discoveries as was pretended a Court of Grace was to be erected year 1683 where all that would had the opportunity of putting in their Claims and upon proving their possession and compounding with the Commissioners for payment of such a sum as they thought fit to impose on them they were to pass new Patents It was also given out that it was safe for all new Interests to pass that Court and that it would strengthen their Titles This Policy had its intended effect for many persons came in and considerable Sums of Money were paid But under what plausible pretext soever this Court was set up 't was soon perceived as a snare to the English For its design was to make a narrow inspection into all Mens Titles and thereby to discover what advantage might be derived from it For by the Act of Settlement all the forfeited Lands in Ireland were only invested in the King as a Royal Trustee for the use of the Soldiers and Adventurers and could be no way disposed of but according to the intent of that Act. Now whereas there were several Irish out of their Lands decreed them by the Act for want of Reprisals the King's Patent could not give any Land away but in pursuance to the intent of the Act. By which it appears that this Court was erected to prepare Pretences for the Irish when opportunity should invite and though all this was negotiated through the Duke's Interest yet none of that party appeared in it but the whole of it was transacted by the Dutchess of Portsmouth who had the Money got by Fines out of it Because there will be occasion in the farther discovery of this Treachery to name a principal Actor in the Catastrophe of Ireland I shall now nominate him that was the Abettor and Contriver of this mischief 't was one W. who sometime year W before bought a Judge's place in the Exchequer for Eight Hundred Pounds This Judge was found a fit Tool to make use of and being a Cunning ambo-dexter formed this Intriegue which had proved fatal to the Protestant Interest of Ireland if affairs had succeeded in the same Current they had now put them But I must not forget to add that to make this poison go down the more easie the Pill was gilded over Most of the Judges were made Commissioners and had part of the Fines the Lawyers and Attorneys got Money by the Court so that consequently all that were capable of understanding the Cheat were interessed as Parties in the Intriegue and by this means some of the Lawyers and Attorneys purchased Estates to the ruine of the former Possessors And 't is to be observed that in the several Designs of the Papists Protestants were the Tools whereby they acted by which they appeared to have nothing of Catholick in them And now to force men into this Tonnel another Oppression was impos'd upon the Subject and that was that no man should pass Patent for Fairs Markets Mannors c. without passing his Estate through this Court whereas by the Act of Settlement all persons had liberty for the improvement of the Countrey to pass Patent for them so that they were not within three Miles of one another Here you may perceive a most black design speciously represented as a fit occasion to lay hold on whereby to corroborate the English Interest though in truth nothing could more effectually weaken the Protestants Titles to their Estates and strengthen or improve those of the Irish and this not only managed but at first set up by a Protestant And indeed this gave a more plausible colour to it and made it the more easily gain belief with the English that the true Reasons of its erection were the same with those that were pretended because first advanced by one of their own Party A sad thing indeed that Englishmen and Protestants should by base and unworthy Compliances become such Servile Instruments to the advancement of the Popish Cause A Calamity which as it had made some steps before so did it improve to an infinite Progress when the late King James was in possession of the Throne In which time too many men who were reputed Protestants through a mean and pusillanimous Disposition were not seldom Co-adjutors with the Papists in such violent Proceedings as carried a direct opposition to the Laws and their Religion But to proceed where I left off The Duke of Ormond perceiving by the tendency of these Affairs that the Romish design was agitated with greater earnestness than ever with great difficulty obtains leave to go for England and pursuant to that comes over leaving his Son the Earl of Arran Lord Deputy Upon his Arrival at year 1683 Court he a second time attempts a Parliament but ineffectually upon which disappointment he returns again for Ireland with an heavy heart as he himself declared to a Great Man of that Kingdom He had Instructions to Regiment the Army and some other things that were Preparatives to what followed soon after But now the Fatal Stroke was come the Death of the King a Mystery not to be inquired into though one can hardly omit remarking that the Irish year 1684 Papists could for some time before fix upon the utmost Period of that Reign and the Duke was sent for in haste from Scotland three years before without any apparent reason for it besides that the King's permission was obtained with some difficulty From this time we may Commence the Date of the Irish greatness Fate now smil'd upon 'em and that which they had long expected with so much impatience and importunity which had cost them so much pains and had involved them in such great Perplexities That which had exposed them to so many dangers and been so frequently blasted with cross Accidents and various Disappointments was now fallen into their Lap. Now their long-look'd for day was come and their Game which had been play'd with so much difficulty and loss did now assure them of better success These Apprehensions so transported them with such pleasant Raptures as were eminently visible in all their actions especially in Publick Days of Rejoycing as the day of the King 's Proclaiming that of his Coronation the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and the like in all which they demonstrated the most extravagant Symptoms of a Superlative Joy which they express'd in making of Bonfires Beating of Drums playing upon the Bag-pipes and other Musical Instruments in Drinking and Serenading in the night time forcing the English out of their Beds and breaking open their Doors and drinking Confusion to the Kings Enemies upon their Knees by which 't was plain that they understood the Protestants And all these unlawful Revellings oftentimes continued for two or three Nights and Days without intermission wherein such of the English
Government and that it would be no excuse to say they were their own Arms and not belonging to the Militia This frighted many and operated so powerfully that abundance delivered in their Arms bought with their own money The Protestants being thus disarmed Tyrconnel proceeds to destroying the Army and first begins with the Officers in the same method which was designed immediately before the Death of the King which was to displace all Officers that had been in the Parliament or Oliver's Army as also the Sons of any such This the Duke of Ormond had directions to proceed in when he came last from England but he made no Progress in it under pretence of gaining time to find them out for he foresaw it was to make room for Papists Tyrconnel for so we must call him for the future proceeds in his design and after turning out a great part of the Officers returns for England and carries along with him one Neagle a Cunning Irish Lawyer since Knighted by him Neagle's Business at London was to be engaged in their secret Consults for he was a man of great parts educated among the Jesuits and consequently very inveterate Upon their Arrival at London 't was some time e'er Neagle could gain admittance to kiss the King's hand but was constantly with Father Petre and the rest of that Furious Cabal The Queen was altogether for their Counsels but the King was not so forwardly inclined being every day set upon by all his Popish Lords not to proceed too fast in the revolution of Ireland for that would spoil the general interest of the Catholicks and upon the Lord Bellasis Powis and some others of that Factions understanding that Neagle was come over they were so transported with Rage that they would have him immediately sent out of London But whatever mischiefs he effected in private his Publick Transactions were of no great prejudice to the Protestants However to compleat in Retirement what he durst not attempt at Court and upon the Publick Stage 't was agreed in Council that he should set forth by way of a Letter to a Friend the great Oppression and Injustice of the Act of Settlement which he did under the pretence of a two hours waking in a Night at Coventry but was indeed two Weeks labour in London In this Letter he ran so high in his Invectives against King Charles the Second which nothing but a meer Tyger or Savage as himself would have done that he durst not own it to be his but in Ireland gave out that he would Arrest any Man in an Action of Ten Thousand Pound who should father it upon him But now a Consult was held the design of Tyrconnel's coming over and the Debate variously canvass'd as to a fit Person to send over for Ireland in quality of Lord Lieutenant Tyrconnel was mentioned with some tenderness as being a person very Obnoxious to the English and therefore 't was not thought seasonable till matters were come to a greater Maturity to bring him upon the Stage The Lord Bellasis was proposed but that was too bare-fac'd besides he was infirm at least to carry on their design with success and not altogether to disgust the English 't was resolved that Tyrconnel should return Lieutenant General of the Army and the Earl of Clarendon Lord Lieutenant In the mean time the Irish Papists in all parts of the Kingdom proceeded in their former Stratagems of Impeaching the Protestants for Plots c. but these were generally so ridiculously contrived and made up of such Palpable Contradictions and Incongruities that they served only to demonstrate the Protestants innocency and the Horrid Perjuries and Implacable Inveteracy of the Informers But seeing that these Impeachments were so unskilfully managed which yet were repeated upon every pretended occasion of disgust they had to an English-man as to miss of their Wicked and Diabolical intent then they applyed themselves to other Courses many went out Toryes and robb'd upon the High-way broke up Houses stole Cattle killed them in the Field and cut out the Tongues of Sheep alive with other innumerable Barbarities all acted upon the English which were so frightened and discouraged with these Tragedies that thousands deserted the Kingdom and came for England under as great Fears and Jealousies as if there had been an open Rebellion and Five Hundred together departed the Kingdom to Transport themselves to Virginia Carolina Pensilvania West-Indies and New England This was extream grateful to the Irish who set all their Engines at work so to disheâ—â—â—en and discourage the Protestants as to force them to leave the Kingdom Tyrconnel now drives with greater fury than before not only displacing the Officers of the Army but also turning out the Private Soldiers and to both prefers which of the Irish he thought fit his Will was his Law and his Actions purely Arbitrary none daring to question him for he brought over Blank Commissions Signed by the King for such as he was willing to put in This Part he acted in a most Insulting Barbarous manner causing poor Men that had no Cloaths on their Backs but Red Coats to be stript to their Shirts and so turned off and of all this he himself was an Inhumane Spectator He seiz'd the Horses of some Officers and Troopers giving Notes that amounted not to a fourth proportion of their just Values to others he gave nothing but ill words and vile reproaches In the midst of this Tragical Scene the Earl of Clarendon comes upon the Stage in the Capacity of Lord Lieutenant his Relation to the King added to the violent Proceedings then in Ireland so vigorously drove on by the Popish Party afforded but little hopes of any redress of these Evils to the Drooping Spirits of the Protestants who were by this time entered into a very Desponding and Dejected Condition But these Discouragements of the English were alleviated in a very high measure if not changed into Ecstasies and perfect Raptures of Joy when perceiving the Lord Lieutenant acting as a person of inviolable Integrity to the Protestants and the English Interest they looked upon him as a fit Man to stem the Torrent of the Popish Faction which had been so violent and impetuous and indeed his very first action gave no small proof of it which was to cherish and revive the broken hearts of the Protestants with those great Assurances his Master had given him of protecting the Protestant Interest and Religion which he good man could not disbelieve In pursuance of this he issued out Proclamations for bringing in of Torys and propos'd Rewards to such as should apprehend them He rid a Progress round the chiefest parts of the Kingdom to give life to the English but at the same time the Grandees of the Irish proceeded in their design animating their Vassals with hopes that he should soon be removed the Irish composing Barbarous Songs in praise of Tyrconnel and that his Heroick hand should destroy the English Church with Bloody and
He had then a Troop of Horse given him which he soon made of his own Breed for before their inlisting they were the greatest Vagrants of the Countrey which with himself now ravaged in the Countrey in an horrible and most inhumane manner Forcing Women Maiming of Men Pulling down of Houses and all other Extravagancies which he and his Hellish Tribe could invent I already assumed before I entered upon this Man's Character to give a remarkable Instance of the violence offered to the English for their just and legal Prosecution of Notorious Irish Criminals and Malefactors which I shall now set before you in two remarkable Passages relating to this Earl which were publickly transacted at the Bar. One was of a poor Butcher at a Town near Corke who refusing Clancarthy's Men an Horse they violently seized him by force and would never return him to the Owner which the Man making Complaint of to the Judges of Assize in presence of the Earl The Judges ordered satisfaction to be made to the Man for his Horse which the Earl promised to see performed But as soon as the Judges were departed the Countrey he takes some of his Troopers along with him and goes to the Man's House and told him that he was come to give him satisfaction for his Horse Whereupon he forces him out of his House and ordering the vile Instruments his Troopers to get a Blanket and upon a Pavement before the Poor Man's Door stood as a most Barbarous and Inhumane Spectator whilst they tossed him in a Blanket ever and anon letting him fall upon the Stones till they broke him as if upon the Wheel all to pieces and so left him dead The other Passage relating to this fine Spark was of a Man that had offended him at a place called Clonmell him he first had beaten with Sticks and then hung up by the hair of the Head he was taken down alive but what became of him after was not known The Accomplices of this Tragedy his Villanous Troopers were brought to the Bar and Tried for the Murther and notwithstanding that this horrid Action was done in the sight of an hundred Men yet were they quitted and the Earl never Tried He to this day proceeds in these boundless Inhumanities which perhaps may be an occasion of great sorrow and trouble to his Mother But to return to the Judges which we left upon their Circuits Little Justice was administred by them to the English but in such extraordinary Occurrences where the Irish were so notoriousoy culpable as would accuse them of most gross partiality to have passed Sentence in their favour But in all things that had but the least shadow of Justice or of seeming equity and reasonableness in it they were sure to carry it and this was acted in pursuance to one of Tyrconnel's Instructions from Court which was That the Judges should be directed in their Circuits to undermine and enervate the Protestant Interest which indeed they did so effectually that no English-man could either get in Rents or be secure of what they had formerly received For there being a Statute in Ireland which we have not in our English Laws for Trials by Civil Bills as they call them which in the nature of Chancery is such an Arbitrary way of proceeding as gives the Judges of the Kingdom opportunities which too many of them it 's said have made ill use of By this Arbitrary Method of proceeding the Irish had now hit upon an expeditious way whereby to ruine the English For 't was no more but with a Twelvepenny Process flung at any Man's Door and a false Affidavit made which the Irish can as easily digest as the most common Action they do and so an Execution was obtained directed to an Irish Sheriff for a pretended Debt of Twenty Years standing it being very common for an Irish Tenant to sue and bring a Fellow to swear that in such a Year his Landlord distrained Cattle of Twenty or Thirty Pounds value and had them appraised at the half proportion of what they were worth This was sufficient to obtain an Execution for the relief of the poor distressed Catholicks a practice become as universal against as destructive to the English insomuch that in the North of Ireland there was not one man in five of the ordinary British that were not ruined and had they continued these Courses but few Years longer together with their exorbitant Proceedings against the English in their Mannor Sheriffs and the like Inferiour Courts where such barbarous Injustices and publick Oppressions and Violences were acted as never till then were heard of among Christians these without other means might have wholly reduced the Kingdom into Irish hands For as by their Civil Bills at the Assizes and by their notorious Perjuries in the Inferiour Courts they destroyed the smaller men so by Ejectments in the higher Courts they took away mens Estates in Fee It being observed That never one Cause came before them upon a Trial for Land but the Judgment was constantly given in favour of the Irish Complaints were continually made at Court of these irregular Proceedings and Writs of Errour were brought from England but generally the same Judgments were confirmed in this Kingdom the Judges here being most of the same Stamp Sheridon about this time began to be discovered year 1687 by Tyrconnel to sell places of all sorts both Ecclesiastical Civil and Military He was not only Principal Secretary of State but also one of the Commissioners of the Customs So that whenever he met with a conveniency of making an advantagious bargain for a place in the Custome-house he would pretend to the Commissioners That 't was my Lord Deputy's Request to have such a Person employed This by degrees increased so much upon the Commissioners that Dickison one of the Commissioners writ over to the Lords of the Treasury that they were so burthened and oppressed with Irish Officers recommended by the Lord Deputy that he was afraid that the Revenue would be lost by ill management Upon this my Lord Deputy was ordered not to recommend a man nor any ways to intermeddle in the Revenue The Commissioners also issued forth their Orders posted up at the Custom-house Door That all Persons who had Petitioned for Employments in the Customs or Revenue should return to their respective Abodes for that there would be no Employments disposed of This Bustle created various Disputes betwixt Tyrconnel and Sheridon and from this time forward Sheridon contrived to undermine Tyrconnel His first Stratagem was to prepossess the Romish Clergy against him which to accomplish he contracts an intimate Acquaintance with Tyrconnel's Chaplain that most frequently officiated This Fellow picks up what he could of Tyrconnel's contempt of the Mass and Prayers One particular Charge was That when the Army was in the Camp at the Currah of Kildare Tyrconnel being at play in his Tent the Priest came to him to know if his Excellency would go to Mass
other part was to be under such Qualifications as that the King might dispose of it to such as he found to be obedient Sons This if the King would have pursued a Parliament they could have had when they pleased fitted for their turn all Corporations being already put into Popish hands and all the Sheriffs of the Counties being Papists would be sure not to make returns to their disadvantage This Consult being come to this ripeness 't was year 1688 concluded that Rice should go over as Plenipotentiary in negotiating this Affair which was mannaged with that privacy and reservedness that not one of the Council knew of it till the Warrant was signed for the Yatcht to carry him over But as soon as this became publick the Lord Chief Justice Nugent flew about like lightening to all his Friends to make an interest to go over with Rice which Neagle and Rice privately opposed for as one of them told the Author he was good for nothing but to spoil a business when nothing could prevail he pretended some affairs of his own and so obtained leave to go over and for the honour of the business was joined with Rice to present that which was publickly to be offered but was not in any part of the cret intriegue to render the undertaking more prosperous For the Deliverance of the Irish Nation they Embark'd upon St. Patrick's Day but considering the bad success they met with they might as well have put him out of their Kalendar as by a particular order from Rome they had formerly done St. Luke because upon that Holy-day the English had obtained a great Victory over them in the last Rebellion But to return to the Irish Embassadors for so they were called here in England over they came and after Rice had paid a Visit to the Jesuits of whose Society he was once a Novice and had been educated in their Colledge he made his first Court to the Lord Sunderland Father Peters he found not favourable to his design but the French Faction was his chief dependance to whom he had always a recourse in his private Consults without communicating any thing to his Colleague whom he kept in great ignorance of the private intriegue of Castlemain against the Lord Deputy 'T was Rice's chief business to possess the Conclave with a great opinion of the Lord Deputy's extraordinary Zeal for the promotion of the Catholick Cause and that he had made a much greater Progress in it before that time if the want of a Parliament and the continuance of the Act of Settlement had not retarded that design without which Rice alledged That 't was impossible to make Converts or to Proselyte any to their Party who thought themselves Masters of the Kingdom whilst they had the Laws on their side and made it their boast That the King durst not attempt to meddle with them So that as Affairs stood there seemed a more rational probability that the Roman Catholicks should condescend to the Protestants than they to the Roman Catholicks Thus was Rice very active and industrious in urging and propagating the intriegue which when it was fully comprehended by his Party Father Peters was with much difficulty influenced so far as to join in it though at first he could not be prevailed upon to hear of it For he was absolutely byass'd for Castlemain's interest and being no Politician but a perfect fury and of an Imperious Temper was wont to contemn every thing that was not his humour But this Project being a work of expedition in Ireland and in his own Style to Convert or Confound the Hereticks there he at last embraced it and when once he became interessed nothing must be done but by his direction and advice so 't was concluded upon that the Project should be laid open before Sunderland and that when he was made Master of it he and Father Peters would wait on the King with it And to oblige Sunderland's more chearful and hearty concurrence in this Affaiâ— he was to be made sensible what signal advantages would be derived to his Lordship from so great a Revolution in that Kingdom a matter which required no great art so to instil it into him as to make it intelligible But notwithstanding Father Peters adherence to this Project yet did he continue in his former Inclinations for removing Tyrconnel And 't was believed that happy difference among the several Romish Factions was the prime occasion of diverting this fatal blow design'd for Ireland The business was in the Closet fully discours'd to the King by none but Sunderland and Peters who with the liberty of a digression I must acquaint the Reader was not infallible in keeping Secrets The King was soon fully inclined to the thing but how to pass it at the Council Hic labor hoc opus est there lay the stress of the business for he was very apprehensive that such as were opposite to Tyrconnel's continuance in the Government of Ireland would be more violent against his being there with a Parliament too great for such a Man whom the Council had in contempt Peters thought he could easily remove that obstacle by introducing the Popes recommendation of Castlemain but over that the French King had laid his hand to whom the poor King was become a Vassal Amidst these difficulties 't was hard to form a resolution but however 't was agreed to that the two Judges should be publickly introduc'd to the King with their project for calling a Parliament in Ireland and to lay at his Majesty's feet the deplorable condition of his Catholick Subjects there occasioned by the palpable injustice and oppression of the Act of Settlement which was so notorious that the vety Protestants themselves were ashamed of it and would gladly part with enough to satisfie the Irish in case that they might have a good Act of Parliament to secure the rest All this was put in practice and they brought to Whitehall where the King received their Project in writing and told them he would advise with his Council about it Now 't was the constant method of King James in any thing of weight or importance to consider it first in the Cabal before 't was proposed at Council-Board yet this thing upon which entirely depended the Settlement or ruine of a Kingdom had not that Sanction but was carried immediately to the Council which was matter of admiration to many but supposed to be done for one of these two Reasons either that the King was conscious that those of the Cabinet would not suffer it to proceed any farther but was in hopes so to influence the Judges and other Tools he had at the Council-Board to vote for it Or else that he would shew his indifferency in the matter that so it might not be thought any private intrigue The King brought this project the first council-Council-day and in few words acquainted the Council with its importance and contents and by whom presented to him no man spoke a
word either in favour of or in opposition to the thing but desired it might be read which being done the Lord Bellasis in a storm of Passion inveigh'd bitterly against it saying that If such designs as those were encouraged they of England meaning the Catholicks had best in time to look out for some other Country and not stay to be a mad Sacrifice for Irish Rebels Powis according to the best of his understanding seconded and in short 't was so run down that neither Sunderland nor Peters durst attempt to speak a word in its vindication but only desired that those Gentlemen which brought over those Papers might be heard Bellasis was for committing them or commanding their immediate return but 't was at last thought reasonable to hear them so a day was appointed The noise of this and the success it had met with at Council-Board flew abroad with great Exclamations the Boys in the street running after the Coach where Rice and Nugent at any time were with Pottatoes stuck on sticks and crying Make room for the Irish Embassadors 'T was believed that some of the Popish Party did blow up the People that so the King might be sensible what mischief this would tend to The day came on for these Embassadors to be heard at Council-board where Rice made a Speech full of Policy and Artifice and answered the Objections made by the Lord Bellasis and Powis but when Nugent came to speak he kicked down all that Rice had done and Bellasis presently discovered the defect of his Irish understanding as he call'd it abusing him beyond the respect due to the place where the King was calling him Fool and Knave and Powis did the same They were not long in tearing this fine Project to pieces which when they had done Bellasis bid them make haste to the Fool their Master and bid him next Message he sent to employ Wiser Men and upon a more honest Errand Powis bid them tell him That the king had better use to make of his Catholick Subjects in England than to Sacrifice them for reprize to the Protestants of Ireland in lieu of their Estates there In short every one fell so violently upon them at the Board that the King remained silent and without any resolve or order broke up the Council and neither the Embassadors nor their Project appeared more upon the Stage but kissing the Kings Hand march'd off with great hast and precipitation for they were afraid that even the Roman Catholicks themselves would have affronted ' em This Miscarriage of Tyrconnell's gave fresh opportunity year 1688 to the Castlemanians to raise Objections against him setting forth what mischiess he had already done in that Kingdom that the Revenue was sunk to an incredible abatement and that in one year more there would not be left money enough in the Kingdom to discharge the Army and that this last Project of his would exasperate and frighten away those of the English which were left who being the dealing and industrious people of the Nation would put a final period to all Trade and Commerce in that wasted and depopulated Countrey But all these just and reasonable Allegations which matter of fact and the present ruinous and distracted Estate of that Kingdom did but too fully evince the truth or rather infallibility of though judiciously laid down before the King by sober and considering persons yet were they all to no purpose For though the King kept it private from most of his Council yet certain it is that he had promised the French King the disposal of that Government and Kingdom when things had attained to that growth as to be fit to bear it This jumped near to the time of the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops Commitment to the Tower And as one had ruined England if the visible hand of Supream Providence had not signally and miraculously interpos'd by inspiring the Bishops with couragious and invincible resolutions in a just vindication of the Protestant Cause and Religion so the other had struck the fatal blow to the Laws and Fundamental Constitutions of Ireland if some Hushai's even amongst the Romish Faction had not turned the pernicious Counsels of these Achitophels into folly The expected success of the aforesaid Embassadors Negotiation which by one Party was dreaded by the other hop'd to prove answerable to its design made various impressions upon men in proportion to their different interests The English were apprehensive of no less a change than a total subversion of the Government and an unraveling of all the Laws made for the security of their Estates and Religion which the unhinging the Act of Settlement the sole occasion of this Solemn Embassy would at one blow compleat The Natives were imaginarily in actual possession Their apprehensions whereof were such as discovered all the outward signs and indications of so high a satisfaction as cannot be easily represented Joy and Triumph was in all their Actions and Discourses Fancy and Imagination wrought very powerfully and like Men in Bedlam who dream of nothing but Kingdoms and Empires they seem'd to shew as much Complacency and to be alike transported with the airy hopes of getting as if they had been already invested in their Estates But this Scene of Joy which had been represented with so much splendour and magnificence soon disappear'd and a Melancholy Prospect over-shadowed with a dark Cloud was quickly brought upon the Stage when they perceiv'd all their hopes blasted in the fruitless consequences of this great intrigue Parturiunt montes their high expectations soon descended to a low ebb and they were quickly under as great despondency by this suddain turn of the Spoke in the Wheel as they were before of satisfaction For as they are wont to put no bounds to their Ecstasies and transports in prosperous so neither do they limit their sorrow and despair upon adverse Contingencies An unequalness of mind and resolution very remarkable among the Irish who like the floating Euripus have no consistency in themselves but are carried up and down in their hopes and fears according as every petty accident does either invite or discourage But to return to Sheridon whose Trial Rice and Nugent's absence had retarded and the ill effects of whose Negotiation had so exalted him that he begun to vaunt over his Enemies openly exclaiming upon the Lord Deputy and withal adding That he would soon be removed from the Government and such advantage did he derive from this disgrace Tyrconnell met with in England that he held the Lord Deputy and his Judges at defiance and was now become so imperious that his braging and threatening the Evidence took off several And the truth is after that Rice returned from England they were in such despondency expecting every day a new Lord Lieutenant insomuch that one day Tyrconnell himself said publickly to some Officers at the Castle that though he had great assurance from the King that he should not be
to the Judges of Assize complaining against these insolent and irregular Proceedings of the Priests But alas it was not to be expected that these Catholick Judges would go and punish their Ghostly Fathers a very unnatural act in their Religion In short no Law would be found out to punish them all that could be gained and that very rarely was a civil admonition to them not to disturb the Protestant Clergy in their rights and the like and so were dismissed how plain soever the Matter of Fact was proved against them By this it seemed that those of the Clergy though not the most Couragious yet were the most Politick who dealt privately with the Priests and by fair words and considerable Largesses of Tythe-Corn c. prevail'd upon them to be quiet for the meek and filial regard of these Judges to their Worthy Fathers served but to make them the more insulting and imperious over the Ministers who still animated the Countrey against them and at last to that height that several of the Irish in many Parishes violently seized upon the Tythe-Corn c. and converted it to their own use neither suffering any other to buy it nor any Servant of the Ministers to come upon the Land to collect it But to leave this Affair of the Clergy and to joyn them and the Laity together if it happened that for money due by Bills under Hand and Seal or by clear and unquestionable Evidence Executions were obtain'd from the Judges against any of the Irish then had the Natives another refuge to shelter themselves under and to fly to that of an Irish Sheriff who would carefully decline all opportunities of taking the Party or if he could not avoid apprehending him then would either suffer him to make a voluntary escape or else an hundred two of Men should lie in the way and rescue him from the Gaol or if they wanted force the whole Countrey of the Irish would rise up and assist them if the Debt was due to an English Churle as they called them These things so encouraged the Irish that had Executions over them that they would come and hector those of the English to whom they owed the Money in the open street and with their Swords by their sides and Fire-Arms and Skeens in their Pockets the last a bloody large Knife with which they are wont to stab the English and not seldom one another with half a dozen or more lusty Rogues at their backs would come to their Doors and bid them publick defiance Thus were the English either deny'd justice against the Irish or if they obtain'd it from the Judges yet they were sure not to meet with it in the Sheriff and so have no other return of all their trouble but the contracting additional cost to their former Debt from one Assizes to another which was like to continue in infinitum and all to no purpose unless that of enhansing the charges far above the principal Debt and still be out of both On the contrary hand if an Irish-man had but any tolerable plea for a debt due from a Protestant a decree was presently granted and as for the Sheriffs execution of it 't was as swift as his implacable hatred could carry him and then be sure no failure was committed in the severe usage of the Debtor whether in relation to Body or Goods If the last then must three times value of the Debt be taken and apprais'd by Irish-men appointed for the purpose who the Reader may presume would not put too large an estimate upon them 't would fill a Volume to give the particular instances of such violent and irregular actions done to the Authors own knowledge But I proceed Now came by a Ship from Amsterdam bound to year 1688 Dublin with Letters from a Friend of Tyrconnel's to him which intimated that he writing nothing but his own Conjecture did imagin that the Prince of Orange had a design against England for none could otherwise guess what all those great preparations in Holland which they were so extream hot upon tended to Tyrconnell sent this Letter over to Sunderland who shew'd it to the King who made no other use of it than to deride Tyrconnel as appear'd from Sunderland's Writing to him and ridiculing his intelligence But every day usher'd in fresh suspicions the effect whereof was look'd upon as very strange as being a thing which was wish'd for both by Friends and Enemys The Irish to shew their ancient Vanity triumphed before the Victory They called the English Rebels by way of Prediction for they were sure that they would joyn with the Prince and as certain that they would be beaten and be served the same sawce that Monmouth and his Adherents had met with only that they now spoke more bloodily and in more Malicious and Butcherly expressions against the Prince of Orange Whose Head they would stick on a Pole and carry it round the Kingdom For near a Month this was only discoursed of but at last arrived King James's Proclamation and then the English began to consider what they should do The most considerable persons amongst them hastened to Dublin to see how things stood The Irish also flocked thither in such Multitudes that the City could not contain them yet the soberer and more prudent party were for sitting still and some for going over to England as being differently possessed with various fears and distractions and when the happy News arriv'd of the Prince's Landing they hung down their Heads like Bullrushes and were under the greatest desperation and despondency and on the contrary the English bore up as victors Tyrconnell courted them and made every day preparations for flight Yet the Term was then begun at Dublin and the Ld. C. J. Nugent than whom perhaps the Bench never bore a more Confident Ignorant Irish-man gave the Charge to the Grand Jury in which he applauded and extolled above the height of an Hyperbole the Magnanimous and Heroick Actions of the Great and Just King James and on the contrary cast the most vilifying Reproaches upon the Prince of Orange and charged them to make a diligent disquisition after any that were suspected to adhere to his interest with such opprobious expressions fit only for the Mouth of an Irish Vultur or Cannibal his conclusion was That now the States of Holland were weary of the Prince and that they had sent him over to be dress'd as Monmouth was but that was too good for him And that he doubted not before a Month passed to hear that they were hung up all over England in Bunches like Ropes of Onyons About this time as a Prelude to what has since year 1688 followed was one Swan a Gentleman near Dublin most barbarously Murthered by the Sheriff and a parcel of Irish Ruffins The pretence the Sheriff had was to take possession of some Land that an Irishman had recovered from the said Swan but with so little right that the Irish Judges in the Exchequer
a Demonstration indeed that 't was palpably unjust refused to grant the Injunction however their Tool Worth did it and the cry is That the Blood of that Man lies at his door But the Sheriff exceeded the Tenour of his Warrant for he had nothing to do with the House nor Land it stood upon Swan therefore kept his House and the Sheriff coming to take possession Swan looked out of the Window and desired him to call a Jury of that Neighbourhood and if they found that Land or House in his order from the Exchequer he would give quiet possession but otherwise he would not open his Doors for he was very sure the Sheriff had no order to come there Upon this without any offer of Swan more than keeping his Door shut the Sheriff having his Men ready a number of them together discharged a Volley of Shot at him as he stood in his Window and shot him in several places they broke open his Doors and finding him wallowing in Blood and groaning upon the Floor they took him up and flung him out of Doors Some more Compassionate than the rest carried him into a Cabin where he had so much strength as to ask for Drink In his House there was of several sorts enough but those Inhumane Butchers would not give the Dying Man a drop who died there in the place This Horrible Tragedy I thought fit not to omit the relation of though by way of Digression as being but the introductory part of too many of the like Barbarities repeated since Every day by all ways Expresses came to Tyrconnell which gave him no good account of Affairs which made him give Commissions to any that would accept of them and that he might have the more custom without a penny of Fees to the Secretary For many of them that had Commissions pawned them for their Lodgings at their going out of Town not having a Penny to carry them along but pawning their very Cloaths off their Backs as they Travelled The English and some of the best of themselves laughed at this Poppet-play for no man believed that 't was designed for more than a shew and that Tyrconnel did it to make good his Word of being able to raise an Army of an Hundred Thousand Men at a Months notice Every day brought an additional account of the Prince of Orange's success which put the Grandees into so great a terrour and consternation that those who at first had expressed a great deal of alacrity and forwardness amongst them in raising of Men began now to decline and by degrees more and more to draw back Then the Lord Deputy sent to the Judges and the Lord Chief Justice Nugent to shew his valour undertook to raise a Regiment and so others pretended to do but it came to nothing The Irish were in greater trouble and confusion than before the English braving it in City and Country every day expecting to have an English Lord Lieutenant over it being the unanimous opinion of all the Protestants that the Irish Lords would have contended who should be the first Man to make their submission but no relief coming to the English as was expected some began to draw for England when an unexpected Catastrophe had like to have swallowed all up 'T was the Earl of Mount Alexander's receiving of a Letter giving him an account That upon the Ninth of that Instant December all year 1688 the Protestants of Ireland were to be cut off This Letter he sends with several Copies to Dublin and to all parts of the Kingdom it arrived at Dublin but on Friday and the Sunday following was to be the day of Slaughter This suddain alarum struck such a fear upon the English that upon the Saturday there got away about Three Thousand Souls There happened to be abundance of Ships in the Harbour at that time but were so crammed that many were in danger of being stifled The Run of these people happened to be so suddain and in the middle of the Night that it resembled the flight of the Jews out of Egypt and the Irish were as desirous to have them gone for some of them were in as great a terrour as the other The Guards kept their Post in a Maze and the Draw-bridge of the Castle was drawn up thus they stood upon their Guard till Morning and when Tyrconnel understood what the matter was he first sent the Earl of Roscommon and the Earl of Longford to Ringsend this being Sunday Morning to perswade the People to stay and ordered the Yatcht to sail after them that were gone and to fetch them back but neither of his Orders succeeded And the same day sent to some of the most Considerable Persons and Citizens of Dublin that were Protestants making great Protestations and Oaths of his utter abhorrence of the pretended design of Massacring the English begging them to perswade their Friends not to stir 'T was by all his actions at this juncture sufficiently apparent that he had then no thoughts of standing out notwithstanding that he gave Commissions to every one that would accept of them For he now made great Court to the English desiring several of them to testifie how just and equal he had always been in his Government to the Protestants This was a condescention to the English which carried no proportion with the imperiousness of his former carriage to them and was accordingly interpreted as an effect of inevitable necessity and of that great Consternation of which such eminent Characters were plainly legible in all the Circumstances of his Deportment for he now discovered as much awe and dread of the success of the Prince of Orange's Arms as upon the first News of his Arrival he had done of disdain and contempt Every Action he did had deep Marks of his Fears engraven upon it and all his Discourses expressed his disordered and evil apprehensions of the present tendency of Affairs But as Matters were in this great hurry and confusion at the Castle so is it not easie to set forth the strange Effects and Consequences which attended that suddain alarum in the City of an intended Universal Massacre There you might see Thousands of People deserting their Houses and all their Substance in the World and running to the Ships with scarce any Cloaths upon their Backs Never was seen such a Consternation as at this time Never such a Confusion and Distraction All the Bloody Massacres in the former Rebellion were now reflected upon under the most ghastly and dismal Representations and those Scenes of barbarity and cruelty seem'd to threaten the same or worse usage which produc'd the greatest horrour and amazement grief and despair that humane nature could be capable of This facal News which had so terrify'd the Protestants of Dublin as if the dissolution of all things had been at hand arrived not to several parts of the Kingdom till the very day 't was to be put in execution which being Sunday was brought to the
People in the time of Divine Service in some places which struck them with such suddain apprehensions of immediate destruction that the Doors not allowing quick passage enough by reason of the Crowd abundance of persons made their escapes out of the Windows and in the greatest fright and disorder that can be represented the Men leaving their Hats and Perriwigs behind them some of them had their Cloaths torn to pieces others were trampled underfoot and the Women in a worse condition than the men And this disturbance did not only continue for this day but for several Sundays after the Protestants were in such a Consternation and terrour that all or most of them carried Fire Arms and other Weapons to Church with them and the very Ministes went armed into the Pulpit and Centinels stood at the Church doors all the while that they were in the Church But whether this which created so great a fear and uproar among the Protestants in all parts of the Kingdom were a real thing designed or whether by that discovery prevented I leave it to others to judge and determin but certain it is that never any thing which happened in the Kingdom no not all the occasions of fear which were given to the English in the daily Progress of Popery in the late King James's Reign or even that of Tyrconnel's coming to the Government made so great a fright among the Protestants as this From this time we may commence those unheard year 1688 of acts of rapin and spoil which the Irish began to exercise upon the English such unparallel'd Villanies of open Robbery and Violence as no History can equalize no time produce or scarce any Nation however so barbarous have been known to be guilty of at least never any that had the Culture of a Moral much less of a Christian Education or that were so far civilized as to be reduced to any sense of humanity or to submission to Law and Government 'T was a Principle long imbibed by the Natives of that Kingdom and which a continued practice had given some proof and demonstration of that 't was no crime to rob or steal from an English-man as being an Heretick and deem'd a publick enemy to their Religion as well as to their individual interests Though this principle was too notorious to be own'd and defended and in that respect is of a like cognation with too many of the Romish Church yet their actions evidenced the truth of it I mean not of the Principle it self but of their being of that Opinion For 't was plain that their forbearing to ravage and destroy the substance of the English when under the Protestant Government was to be attributed to a fear of the Laws or rather of the Penalties annexed to the breach of them which had hitherto in some measure curb'd and restrained them from violence and not to any Principle of Conscience or distributive Justice On the contrary they were so far from respecting it as a Crime to injure the English in what they could as is already touched upon that they look'd upon it as an act of merit Quo jure quâque injuriâ per fasque nefasque If they could contrive any way to prejudice them in their substance or Estates though by the most sinister and impious devices 't was a lessening of the Purgatory Flames if not a quite Extinguishing at least 't was a nearer step to Paradise But although this vile Maxim was industriously conceal'd amongst them and though at the bottom of their hearts did only break out now and then whilst they were kept under submission and obedience to the English and this for fear of an Human not any Divine Law yet when the face of things chang'd to their advantage in the Reign of the late King James and amongst many others the Laws against notorious Criminals and publick Malefactors if Irish men if not quite cancell'd were much dispensed with Then the Natives shewed themselves in their proper Colours and manfully apply'd themselves to rob and steal from the English which though it was a continued practice in all the aforesaid Reign yet never arriv'd to its maturity till this time Now all things were in confusion and the Reins of Government seemed to be let loose by reason of the present Distractions This therefore they looked upon to be their Harvest which they were resolved to make use of as industriously as they could and in order thereunto would go in great Crouds in the Night-time with Fire Arms and other Weapons and steal an hundred or two hundred Head of Cattle at once from an English-man This practice continued so long till many English Gentlemen and substantial Farmers who had several hundreds of Black Cattle and Sheep c. had not one left so that those who had lived in great Hospitality and Plenty had not now Bread to eat or any thing left to preserve them from starving This Calamity was almost Universal throughout the whole Kingdom though in some Counties more than in others and I have been told That in some County in the Province of Munster Eleven Thousand Cattle were stole by the Irish in nine days and that hardly one English Gentleman or Farmer i◠〈…〉 Countrey had above two or three Cows left and that for forty Miles together the Irish Cabbins were full of Beef stolen from the English which they did not so much as bestow Salt upon but hung it 〈…〉 â—â—oak and that it stunk and look'd as bad as any Carrion This I have by relatâ—â—◠〈◊〉 that County who are persons of very good Credit but not being an Eye-witness of it shall leave it to the Reader to judge only this is certain That an incredible havock was made by the Irish in all parts of the Kingdom But I leave these Cannibals to devour one another after consuming in this Barbarous and Impolitick manner the Cattle and Breed of the Countrey which in all probability will occasion a famine or very great scarcity in that miserable Kingdom 'T was exceeding strange and unaccountable to see the English possess'd with such various distractions upon the news of the intended Massacre already mentioned some running to the North of Ireland among the Scots others to the Isle of Mâ—n and abundance for England to shelter themselves when at the same time all that had any sense believed that Tyrconnel would be the first Man in the Government that would endeavour his Escape for most of his Goods of value were already pack'd up and some of his Treasure Ship'd In this posture they continued till January and then some of the Irish Lords moved to have him surrender the Sword and the whole Council board gave it for their opinion to which he only replied Would they have him throw it over the Wall for there was none to take it Thus unhappy was the delay which with too much reason may be feared to lie at the Door of Sir 〈…〉 â—here and his friend Keating in Ireland
two Men that rais'd their fortunes in the last Settlement and were making provision for the same Work again and 't is remarkable that 〈…〉 Brother to these here is as 't is said the most active among the Irish at this day and Sir 〈…〉 Houses the only Sacred place from violence in Dublin But of this Intrigue more may be expected and time will shew since the Honourable House of Commons have taken that matter into their prudent Consideration The deplorable Effects and Consequences attending the wrong measures taken for the reduction of that Kingdom are perhaps if duly reflected upon in all their Circumstances more doleful than the Massacre and Rebellion there in Forty One tho' 't is much less considered and it seems a Work becoming the great Council of this Nation to bring the Authors of it to condign punishment But to return to the last debate betwixt Tyrconnel and his Council They were all of them in amaze and in great confusion What to do they knew not all of them were unanimous in their Resolutions to submit except the Lord Chief Justice Nugent and the Lord Chief Baron Rice The Priests put off their Wolves cloathing and in most parts of the Kingdom turn'd Sparks with their Swords by their sides and Perriwigs upon their Heads In this Month the Irish assembled together in great Bodies by the name of Raperees armed with Slâ—eens and Half Pikes and what Robberies they left unacted upon the English in the Relation aforementioned those they now compleated killing their Cattle and robbing and pillaging their Houses Now their new Levies were Mustering every day and their Priests exercising the fresh rais'd Soldiers and Hamilton's Arrival from England put them upon new resolutions which necessitated the English to fortifie themselves and to associate together for their ownpreservation against which Proclamations were issued out in the North and at London-derry and then followed the same in other parts of the Kingdom commanding them home to their respective Dwellings and that such as did not immediately observe the Proclamation should be proceeded against by the Attorney General as Traytors This Proclamation was signed by several Protestants of the Privy-Council which was fatal to the English in regard that it possessed many of them with a belief that there was not so much danger as they were afraid of and others it put in fears of the Law. So that upon the whole matter they were diverted from any thoughts of making their defence and so were dispersed and scattered up and down and by that means became an easie Prey to the Irish Every day brought in new hopes and fears so that some got together again of the English near Kilkenny and the Queens County who were soon dispersed Still the Lord Deputy and Council remained in suspence what to resolve upon when upon a suddain they came to a conclusion whâ—â—h might quiet the Irish Lords that were for submission to the Prince and Government of England The Project was this That two Men should be pitched upon and sent over to the late King James in France only to set forth the impossibility of their holding out against England and then they were sure to obtain permission to make terms and so might surrender But this was a Jesuitical Stratagem contrived by Rice and Neagle and as one of them brag'd since carry'd on without the privity of any but the Lord Deputy and themselves For they were afraid of the Cowardly Temper of the rest whose inclinations were favourable enough to the Cause but wanted Courage and Resolution The Scheme being thus laid 't was moved at Conncil and took with general Applause Rice and the Lord Mountjoy were pitched upon to be sent and in the conclusion of this Affair at Council-Board the Lord Chief Justice Keating believing now that their hopes of King James were over thought to begin with the first to shew his Zeal and Affection to the Protestant Cause and in order to that moved that since they were resolved on this method that his Excellency would put a stop to the raising Men which was agreed to but not in the least observed Mountjoy and Rice proceed in their Negotiation year 1688 and take Shipping at Waterford but before they arrived at Paris the French Engineer Landed at Corke and from thence rid with all expedition for Dublin Then the face of things looked with a far different prospect to what they had done before and those little hopes which had supported the English till this time did now evaporate into nothing which put them upon a necessity of associating together and of getting into Castles and the best places of strength they had for the defence and preservation of their Lives In Connaught the Lord Kingstone behaved himself like the Son of so Noble a Father whose hand the Irish had felt in the former Rebellion In the North Sir Arthur Royden did the like but a fate attended him that he could not divert In Munster the English were thought to be more considerable than in any part of Ireland both for Horse and Foot of the latter more than three thousand and numbers of brave Gentlemen of gallant Courage and resolution and of will enough to back it to have drove the Irish out of that Province and to have march'd through the Kingdom Cork Bandon Kingsale and Youghall being offered to be delivered into their hands which was so openly and indiscreetly managed that it became the publick discourse for a Month together in every Coffee house in Dublin At this time there were not seven hundred old Soldiers in the whole County of Corke which forc'd Justin Mac Carthy to write daily to Tyrconnel that he could not hold out without a speedy supply of Men which yet Tyrconnel could not spare for he was afraid of an insurrection in the North and 't was believ'd in Dublin that if they in Munster had done any thing all parts of Ireland had been secure in the English hands except Lynster for that Tyrconnell could have spared none of his own Forces from himself and the new raised men then knew not the right from the left if same be true The fault lay but in two Men but that being publick time will shew it and my work here is to relate nothing but what there is good authority for Matters were now reduced to that extremity year 1688 that no course remained to preserve the English but that of making their escape for they were disarmed in one day throughout the Kingdom and that order executed with so much rigour that few persons of whatsoever quality were permitted to wear their Swords In the Corporations they shut up the Gates and suffered none to pass in or out without searching them strictly for arms and when they came to search in their Houses under pretence that the English had conceal'd their Arms they sometimes seiz'd upon what Plate or Money they could meet with during this hurly-burly which lasted for several days together