LICENS'D January the 15th 1689 90. Ja. Vernon A TRUE RELATION OF THE ACTIONS OF THE Inniskilling-Men FROM Their First Taking up of Arms in December 1688. for the Defence of the Protestant Religion and their Lives and Liberties Written by ANDREW HAMILTON Rector of Kilskerrie and one of the Prebends of the Diocess of Clogher in the Kingdom of Ireland an Eye-witness thereof and Actor therein LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard and are to be Sold by Richard Baldwin in the Old-Baily MDCXC TO Their Most Excellent MAJESTIES WILLIAM and MARY KING and QUEEN Of England Scotland France and Ireland c. May it please Your Majesties THAT which imbolden'd me to lay these Papers at Your Royal Feet was in discharge of the Instructions I received from the Governour and Garison of Inniskilling humbly to Present before Your Majesties together with their Address a true Account of their Faithful Endeavours for the Support of the Protestant Interest and of Your Majesties together with the Reasons and Grounds upon which they proceeded in this so extraordinary a Revolution and the rather because Inniskilling made no Declaration upon their first taking up Arms as most other parts of Ulster have done And witb Submission I think it most pertinent to plead before Your Majesties the Difficulties we found in what had but the appearance of Disloyalty to our Prince for Your Majesties will be ill serv'd by men who have not Loyalty in their Principles They who pretend they forsook their King for you out of a Desire only of change their pretence is immoral and humours are inconstant their Flattery is but the Tribute of Base Souls and of Traiterous Consequence to Princes against whom the Justice or Wisdom of a Prince cannot secure him for both these could not preserve Moses and David from the madness of the people May it please Your Majesties We in Ireland were ill used exceeding ill we were disarm'd and displac'd after the most signal Services of our Fathers and many of our selves to the Crown and the Arms put into the hands of the Murtherers the bloody Murtherers of Forty one and their Off-spring of whom our County afforded the most remarkable the Mac Guires who were the first in that hellish Conspiracy and inhuman in the execution of it The chief of whom was thought worthy to be brought hither and suffer the pains of his Rebellion in London Your Majesties will believe us that not only the Off-spring but some of the very Hands which committed those Massacres were arm'd by Authority at the same time that Protestants were thrust out of the Army on pretence that some one or other of their Relations had ingag'd with the Usurpers though themselves had served the King to the utmost Extremities and many were Cashiered against whom even that pretence could not be found and who had bought their Places with the King's License and laid out all they had upon it till at last being a Protestant was given for the Reason and we were discourag'd by all the Artifice of Jesuit or Irish and even threatn'd another Massacre by many of their lesser Politicians yet could not all this remove us the least step from our Duty to the King But with Your Majesty's Patience there was more than all this We had Acts of our Parliament which did incapacitate these men from bearing either Arms or Offices yet did we even faultily acknowledge and submit to their Authority out of profound deference to the King who had placed them over us though apparently to our Ruine and overthrow of our Religion All our Bishopricks and Livings that fell in the King's Gift were kept vacant and the Revenues given to the Popish Clergy Their Bishops kept publick Visitations in the Vacant Diocesses and assumed even the Title one of whom was made Secretary of State and signed himself by the name of his Bishoprick in all his Warrants and Dispatches that none might plead ignorance of the King's Intentions towards us And we were told by some in the highest place That the King would fill no Protestant Vacancies in the Church so that we saw great part of our Churches in their possession and nothing interpose but the lives of a very few and most of them Old Men to leave us not one Protestant Bishop in the Kingdom And for our Civil Rights our Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs and even Constables were for the most part made of Papists and the Act of Settlement was then doom'd in every Coffee-house to the same Condemnation under which it has fallen since And the Army being intirely in those worst of Popish Hands the most barbarous Irish who had thrown off humanity it self our prospect was all black and dismal Then it was that You Sir appear'd like the Sun to dispel those mists which had darken'd all our Sky Your Declaration revived us from the very Grave while it shew'd us a way only to stand by and see the Salvation of the Lord only not to hinder you to relieve us without hazard or even Dishonour to our King No more being askt than to let our Parliaments be free and the Laws run in their Ancient Channel To this generous Declaration we gave full and absolute Credence and drank it in as thirsty Sands does the showers of Heaven And look'd upon You as no other than a Miracle a Moses sent immediately from God to deliver us from Egyptian Servitude and Idolatry And as a no less wonderful effect of this that our King had been so perniciously Advised as to Abdicate his Throne Voluntarily to throw up his Government Disband his Army and Retire some said to a Monastry some to Rome and some Dead as every man's Fancy led him and which to believe we knew not for at that Distance we were absolute Strangers to Court and to any true Intelligence At this very time Lord Tyrconnel Armed the Rabble of the Irish Papists to the Number of Forty or Fifty Thousand and to live upon the Countrey without Pay whence ensued miserable Depredations open Noon-day Robberies and an inevitable and sudden Ruine of the Brittish and Protestant Interest in Ireland Having granted Commissions dated about the beginning of January last for these New Levies he after upon Notice of the King's Desertion the 10th of December alter'd the dates of these Commissions to the first of December to bear a show as done while the King was in the Government and consequently that we should believe it was by his Majesties Orders And many of these New-rais'd men were so Transported with the Glorious prospect they had before them that they had not the Continence no not their Priests to refrain telling us That they were now our Masters and we must submit to new Laws such as should be their Pleasure and what we had deserved in their Opinion Then it was we thought our selves no longer under obligation to be active in our own Destruction to acknowledg Officers whom
the first is now a Collonel among us who though young and of little experience before yet by his care and diligence has supplyed all other wants and shewn himself a person of Courage and good Conduct beyond expectation It was about this time that the News came to us of the ate King having deserted the Kingdom and Government disbanded his Army and left all in confusion in England and the Lord Tyrconell of his own head was Arming all the Irish Papists and inlisting forty or fifty Thousand of them The Month of January was spent with us in Raising some more Troops and Foot Companies and our Officers used all the care and diligence they possibly cou'd to fix the few fire Arms they had procured they caused a great Number of Pikes to be made and beat out a great many Sythes fixing them in Poles whereby in a short time the few Foot we had were in an indifferent posture of defence and having about twelve Companies and some few Troops raised the Officers thought it time to Regiment themselves and made choice of Gustavus Hamilton Governour of Inniskillen to be their Collonel and Thomas Lloyd their Lieutenant Collonel and about the latter end of January sent Mr. Hugh Hamilton and Mr. Allen Cathcart two â—o their number who had been very active among them with an Address to the then Prince of Orange and with full power and instructions to act for them at the Court of England to solicite for Commissions Arms Ammunition and some Mony for the place We ordered them to make their way by Scotland for their greater safety and sent Letters by them to the associated Lords and Gentlemen of the Counties of Down and Antrim acquainting them with our Affairs and craving their aid in Case we were put to any extremity and soon after had very kind Answers returned to us The month of February was spent in Consultations and several Meetings and Treaties with Collonel Lundy and the leading men in the Counties of Derry Dunegall Tyrone Cavan and else where orders were given out that the protestants in the several Counties in the North West part of Ireland shou'd form themselves into Troops and Companies and afterwards into Regiments for the North East part had done the same before and all concluded in case of extremity to submit to Collonel Lundy who was in great reputation with us for Conduct and experience in military affairs The Gentlemen of the County of Fermanagh did meet and conclude to raise two Regiments of Foot and a Regiment of Horse which by reason of some mens backwardness to the service were not made up so that the great stress of our Country was left upon the Governour of Inniskillen and those Gentlemen who did adhere to him And here I cannot but with honour make mention of Sir John Hume who has been always reputed to have the greatest fortune and best Estate in that County but was then so sickly and infirm that he cou'd not undergo the Toyl and Fatigue of those Confusions yet he was not behind in contributing to his utmost for the common security he raised more than a hundred Horse and above two hundred Foot of his Tenants and Armed them indifferently well at his own expence who have behaved themselves on all occasions very well with us he sent for his Eldest Son from England who had been three or four years in the Army there a very hopeful young Gentleman who died in the service to Command them and to defend his house which standing near Loghearn within three miles of Inniskillen he fortified very well and plentifully furnisht it with Provisions to his great charge which has maintained a great Garrison ever since and been a very great security to the Country about and of much consequence to the defence of Inniskillen He being forced by his great infirmity retired into England with his younger Children his second Son being in England before he came there he sent him under the Command of Major General Kirk to the relief of Derry who died of a Feaver at Sea much lamented of all that knew him Now came the News to us That the Convention of the Estates in England as well Spiritual as Temporal had Voted the late King James's Desertion to be an Abdication and placed their Present Majesties in the vacant Throne and from this time and upon these grounds we thought we were oblig'd to behave our selves as their Subjects our Allegiance being transferr'd and descending from the late King James upon his voluntary Desertion as if he had been naturally dead and accordingly March the Eleventh we did proclaim King William and Queen Mary at Inniskillen with such Joy and Solemnity as our Circumstances cou'd bear rejoycing unspeakably to see the Crown descend in the same Royal Line which time out of mind had inherited our Government About the 16th of March we had an Account that the Garrison of Dunganon by order from Collonel Lundy was deserted and that they and all the Inhabitants in the Country near Dunganon were fled towards Strabone and Derry And about the same time our Governour received Letters from Collonel Lundy acquainting him that it was concluded at their Committee that all the Forces in the North West of Vlster shou'd draw towards Derry and the Legan to make good Fin Water against the Enemy and he gave us a very melancholly account of the Ill condition his own men were in But our Governour and the rest of the Gentlmen that adhered to him were positively resolved not to desert Inniskillen the keeping whereof being of so great consequence that it kept the Conaught Irish from joyning with the Vlster Irish and so was a great security to Derry and all the Country about it March the 20th all the Protestants in the County of Cavan in pitiful stormy Weather and in great disorder came running to Inniskillen and the Villages about to the no small surprize of us all about three or four Troops of Horse coming before followed with about as many Foot Companies and then the whole inhabitants with their Women and Children to their middle in Clay and Dirt with pitiful Lamentations and little or no Provision to sustain them Our Governour order'd them free Quarter for Man and Horse in the Town and Country about many of them were indifferently well Armed and we were joyful that they were come to us being in hopes that they wou'd joyn with us in the defence of our Country But upon enquiry into the reasons of their leaving their Country as they did where they had several good strengths that might for some time have been defended Their Officers told us that they had orders from Colonel Lundy for so doing and did endeavour though to no purpose to perswade our Governour to do the same with Inniskillen But that which hastened them away in so great disorder was the Lord Gilmoy's coming with a part of the Irish Army into the County of Cavan and surprizing a House
Iniskillin and are now called Iniskillin-men for Sir John Hume lost his eldest Son in the service we were joyntly engag'd in Sir G. Irvine dy'd in command in Duke Schomberg's Camp at Dundalk I could reckon up many particulars and signalize other Gentlemen of that Party but that I believe I shall gratifie their modesty more to have it thought that I did endeavour to give an impartial account of their joynt Actions than to plead for particular Persons And if I were inclin'd to mark out those who merited most I should be disappointed where each out-did the Example which others set before him I have therefore purposely avoided saying any thing in Commendation of those Gentlemen otherwise than by barely relating the matter of fact which they did and I hope those from whom I am sent will attribute it to no other cause that I have not particularly named them and the brave Actions that they have done and so were not a necessitous Rabble as those Libellers would make them And besides those Regiments that are now raised there are a great many Men in that Country who never bore Arms as yet and will be able to raise some more Regiments of Foot if there be Officers to their mind appointed over them and if we judge by the Actions of their Fellows we may conclude That they will go as far for their number in the Service of Their Majesties as any Men Their Majesties have for I am sure they are lovers of the Protestant Interest and with a chearful Heart and willing Mind will fight in that Quarrel under their Majesties FINIS Books lately printed for Richard Chiswel Dr. Tennison's Sermon against Self-love before the House of Commons June 5. 1689. Mr. Tully's Sermon of Moderation before the Lord-Mayor May 12. 1689. An Examination of the Scruples of those who refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance By a Divine of the Church of England A Dialogue betwixt two Friends a Jacobite and a Williamite occasioned by the late Revolution of Affairs and the Oath of Allegiance The Case of Oaths stated 40. A Letter from a French Lawyer to an English Gentleman upon the Present Revolotion 40. The Advantages of the present Settlement and the great Danger of a Relapse Reflections upon the Opinions of some Modern Divines concerning the Nature of Government in general and that of England in particular With an Appendix relating to this Matter containing 1. The seventy fifth Canon of the Council of Toledo 2. The Original Articles in Latin out of which the Magna Charta of King John was framed 3. The true Magna Charta of King John in French By which the Magna Charta in Matth. Paris is cleared and justified and the Alterations in the Common Magna Charta discovered of which see a more particular Account in the Advertisement before the Appendix all three Englished The Doctrine of Non-Resistance or Passive Obedience no way concerned in the Controversies now depending between the Williamites and the Jacobites A Discourse concerning the Unreasonableness of a new Separation on account of the Oaths With an answer to The History of passive Obedience A Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission opened in the Jerusalem-Chamber Octob. 10. 1689. Bishop Burnet's Sermon of Peace and Union The Interest of England in the preservation of Ireland The answer of a Protestant Gentleman in Ireland to a late Popish Letter of N. N. upon a Discourse between them concerning the present Posture of that Country and the Part fit for those concerned there to act in it 40. An Apology for the Protestants of Ireland in a brief Narrative of the late Revolutions in that Kingdom and an Account of the present State thereof By a Gentleman of Quality 40. A true Representation to the King and People of England how matters were carried on all along in Ireland by the late K. James in favour of the Irish Papists there from his Accession to the Crown to the 10th of April 1689. The mantle thrown off or the Irish-man dissected Mephibosheth and Ziba Or an Appeal of the Protestants of Ireland to the King concerning the Settlement of that Kingdom A full and impartial Account of all the secret Consults Negotiations Stratagems and Intriegues of the Romish Party in Ireland from 1660 to 1689. for the settlement of Popery in that Kingdom