other Charges his particular Vigilance prov'd a good Guard and that Dublin might be fortified the 22. of November 1641. the Lords Justices and Council by their Proclamation enjoyn'd the same Now the State finding the Storm to increase and that though they had some glimmerings of comfort by the success of their Forces in Wickloe under Sir Charles Coote the Rebellion grew general the Lords Justices and Council publish'd a Proclamation the 27th of November for a Weekly Fast every Friday to be devoutly and piously observed and solemnized in and through the whole City of Dublin and the Suburbs thereof that being humbled for their sins the affliction might be remov'd The 28th of November the State had an Account of Sir ONeal's and Sir Con. Mac-Gennis his approach to Lisnegarvey with about 4000 Men who being fearful of the Garrison's Field-Peeces drew out two considerable Divisions of Men to fall on the Town on both sides at once The strength of the Town exceeded not 400 Foot besides the Lord Convay's Troop and part of Capt. John's who made up about 380. generally mounted on small Nags yet so well maintain'd they the Place as having skirmish'd with the Rebels without the Town on one side the rest charg'd others in the Street and in a short time droye them to the Body of their Army fac'd by Sir Phil. O-Neal and Sir Con. who play'd upon them with their Field-Peeces but were so pelted with Muskets as they gave ground the main Body of the English still securing the Market-place We took 6 Colours killed many without any considerable loss on our side more than that Capt. Boid and Capt. St. John were killed Mr. Rawden and Capt. Burly hurt Sir Arth. Tirringham managing the whole with excellent Conduct By this time his Majesty then in Scotland having as is before mention'd recommended the Affairs of Ireland to his Parliament of England immediately on the first intelligence of that Rebellion sent over several Commissions to Sir Robert Stewart and other Persons of Honour and Trust in the North and assisted by the Duke of Richmond caus'd some proportions of Arms and Ammunition to be conveyed thither out of Scotland with what Money he could spare a care and providence worthy so sensible a Prince which though it were little will be found to have done much service testified in his Majesty's Answer to a Pamphlet entituled A Declaration of the Commons touching no further Addresses At the same time he mov'd all the Parliament in Scotland as being nearest to a speedy help but they excus'd their Aids because Ireland was dependent upon the Crown of England intending rather as it seem'd by the sequel to afford their service upon Hire than Compassion or Conscience Yet notwithstanding his Majesty the State and Parliament of England's appearing thus incens'd against the Rebellion all fair means of exceptions being remov'd and a desire of its suppression endeavour'd the Irish finding as yet no considerable relief sent to the English and being exceedingly flush'd with the defeat of those commanded to re-enforce the Garrison of Tredath they unanimously drew down their Northern Forces to infest that Town And that you may see with what union even the Lords of the Pale formerly faithful to the Crown conspired in this Rebellion though by their humble Apology fraught with many vain pretences they would evade the Conspiracy we must here render you an Account of the Truth given in upon Oath March 1641. before Sir Robert Meredith Kt. Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Examination of Edward Dowdall Esq a Person of great esteem amongst them He deposeth That some 3 or 4 days after the defeat of the English Souldiers at the Bridge of Gellingstone there issued a Warrant from the Lord of Gormanston to the Sheriff of the County for a general Meeting of all the County at Dulick but the place of Meeting was afterwards chang'd to the Hill of Crofty where all the Lords and Gentry of the County met viz. The Earl of Fingal the Lord Viscount Gormanston the Lord Slane the Lord Lowth the Lord Dunsany the Lord Trimblestone the Lord Nettervile And of the Gentry Sir Patrick Barnewall Sir Christopher Bellow Patrick Barnwall of Kiltrew Nicholas Darcy of Plattin James Bath of Acharn Garret Ailmer the Lawyer Cusack of Gormanston William Malone of Lesmullin Sedgrave of Kileglan Linch of the Knos Lynam of Adams-Town Lawrence Dowdall of Athlumney Nicholas Dowdall of Browns-Town this Examinate's Brother and him this Examinate with a multitude of others to the number of a thousand Persons at least whose Names he this Examinate cannot for the present call to mind And after about two or three hours spent upon the said Hill of Crofty by the Lords and Gentry aforesaid there came unto them Col. Mahone Philip O-Relie Hugh boy-Relie Roger Moore Hugh Birne and Capt. Fox attended on with a Guard of Musketeers And this Examinate saith That as soon as the Parties drew near unto the said Hill the Lords and Gentry of the Pale rode towards them and the Lord Gormanston being one of the first spake unto them and demanded of them why and for what reason they came arm'd into the Pale unto whom Roger Moore made present Answer That the ground of their coming thither and taking up Arms was for the freedom and liberty of their Consciences the maintenance of his Majesty's Prerogative in which they understood he was abridg'd and the making the Subjects of this Kingdom as free as those in England were Whereupon the said Lord Gormanston desired to understand from them truely and faithfully whether these were not pretences and not indeed the true grounds of their so doing and likewise whether they had not some other private end of their own Which being all denied upon profession of their sincerity to his Lordship the Lord of Gormanston then told them Seeing these be your true ends we will likewise joyn with you therein unto which course all agreed And thereupon it was publickly and generally declared That whosoever shall deny to joyn with them or refuse to assist them therein they would account him as an enemy and to the utmost of their power labour his destruction And this Examinate saith That after the Agreement made as aforesaid there issued another Warrant to the Sheriff of the County of Meath to be at the Hill of Taragh about a week after and accordingly there met at the same place the Earl of Fingal the Lord Gormanston and the rest of the Lords and Gentry aforenam'd together with Sir Thomas Nugent and Nicholas Plunket the Lawyer Birford the Lawyer and a multitude of others And the work of that day was first to make Answer to a Summons made by the State for the calling of the Lords of the Pale to Dublin which Answer was brought ready drawn by the Lord Gormanston and presented by his Lordship and being perused by the said Council at Law was signed by the Lords To which we will add passing by
implorant demisse benedictionem obsecrantes Kilkenniae 7. Jan. 1645. Vestrae Sanctitatis ad Pedum Oscula But to proceed to the Peace in which all the Particulars which might concern the Interest and Security of either Party being maturely weighed and considered and then every Article being first read debated and approved in the general Assembly without one dissenting voice the whole was concluded and the Confederate Catholicks obliged to transport within a very short time an Army of 10000 Men into England for the Service and Relief of the King as by the succeeding Propositions with Colonel Fitz-Williams is fuller evident Fitz-Williams's Propositions about the Treaty with the Queen to bring Irish into England Col. Fitz-Williams humbly prays and propounds as followeth THat your Sacred Majesty will vouchsafe to prevail with his Majesty to condescend to the just Demands of his Irish Subjects the Confederate Catholicks in Ireland at least in private That upon the consideration thereof Colonel Fitz-Williams humbly propounds and undertakes with approbation of Mr. Hertogen now imployed Agent for the said Confederate Catholicks in Ireland to bring an Army of 10000 Men or more of the King's Subjects in his Kingdom of Ireland for the King's Service into England That Colonel Fitz-Williams undertakes for the sum of 10000 l. sterling to levy Ships and arm the 10000 Men and so proportionably for more or less and that the said Moneys may be paid into such hands as may be safe for your Majesty as well as ready for the said Colonel when it shall appear the said Army shall be in readiness to be transported into England That upon the Landing of the said Men there shall be advanced to the Colonel one months Pay for all the Army according to the Muster for the present support of the Army That Colonel Fitz-Williams may be Commander in Chief thereof and dispose of all the Officers and only be commanded by the King Prince and and qualified with such Benefits as have been formerly granted unto your Majesty's Generals that have commanded Bodies apart from the King 's own Army as the Earl of Kingston and others whereby the better to enable him in the Levies as well as in the general Conduct of the Business And in respect the Order gives no Power to the Irish therefore that the said Forces shall not by any Order whatsoever be divided at least that the Colonel may be supplied with a Body of 2000. to be ready at the Place of Landing That the Colonel may be provided with Arms and Ammunition or with Money requisite for himself to provide necessary Proportions for to bring with him That the Army shall be paid as other Armies of the King Having taken these Propositions into Consideration We have thought fit to testifie our Approbation and Agreement thereunto under our Sign Manual assuring what hath been desired of us therein shall be forthwith effectually endeavour'd and not doubting to the satisfaction of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland and of the said Colonel so that we may justly expect an agreeable compliance and performance accordingly from all Parties in their several Concernments Henriette Marie All things thus stated and setled the Commissioners who had treated in the Peace were sent by and in the Name of the Assembly to Dublin where the Lord Lieutenant resided to sign the said Articles and to receive his Lordship's Confirmation of them And accordingly the Articles were the 30th of July 1646. interchangeably signed and perfected with all formality requisite notwithstanding his Majesty's Letter from Newcastle the 11th of June 1646. to treat no farther with the Rebels and shortly after they were with great Solemnity and Ceremony published and proclaimed by the King at Arms at Dublin and at Kilkenny where the Supream Council and the Assemblies of all the Confederate Catholicks were held and then Printed by their Authority The Arch-Bishop of Firmo manifesting his approbation of all that had been done giving his blessing to the Commissioners when they were sent to Dublin to conclude the Treaty and other Ministers from Foraign Princes being present consenting to and witnessing the Conclusion By the Lord Lieutenant and Council Ormond WHereas Articles of Peace are made concluded accorded and agréed upon by and between Us James Lord Marquiss of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland his Majesties Commissioner to Treat and Conclude a Peace with his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects of the said Kingdom by vertue of his Majesties Commission under the Great Seal of England bearing Date at Buckingham on the 24th day of June in the Twentieth year of his Reign for and on the behalf of his Most Excellent Majesty of the one part and Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery and others appointed and Authorized by his Majesties said Roman Catholick Subjects by vertue of an Authority of the said Roman Catholick Subjects bearing Date the sixth day of March 1645. and in the 21. year of his Majesties Reign of the other part a true Copy of which Articles of Peace is hereunto annexed We the Lord Lieutenant and Council do by this Proclamation in his Majesties Name Publish the same And do in his Majesties Name strictly charge and command all his Majesties Subjects and all others Inhabiting or Residing within his Majesties said Kingdom of Ireland to take notice thereof and to render due Obedience to the same in all the parts thereof And as his Majesty hath been induced to this Peace out of a deep sense of the Miseries and Calamities brought upon this his Kingdom and People and out of a hope conceived by his Majesty that it may prevent the further effusion of his Subjects blood redeem them out of all the miseries and calamities under which they now suffer restore them to all quietness and happiness under his Majesties most gracious Government deliver the Kingdom in general from those slaughters deprecations rapines and spoils which always accompany a War encourage the Subjects and others with comfort to betake themselves to Trade Traffick Commerce Manufacture and all other things which un-interrupted may increase the wealth and strength of the Kingdom beget in all his Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom a perfect Unity amongst themselves after the too long continued Division amongst them So his Majesty assures himself that all his Subjects of this his Kingdom duly considering the great and inestimable benefits which they may find in this Peace will with all duty render due obedience thereunto And We in his Majesties Name do hereby Declare That all Persons so rendring due Obedience to the said Peace shall be protected cherished countenanced and supported by his Majesty and his Royal Authority according to the true intent and meaning of the said Articles of Peace Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin the Thirtieth day of July 1646. Ri. Bolton Canc. Roscomon Dillon Cha. Lambart Gerrard Lowther Fr. Willoughby Robert Forth La. Dublin Geo. Cloyne Arthur Chichester Hen. Tichborn Tho. Lucas
solicite for considerable Aids in Moneys to be sent timely the preservation of the Catholick Religion in this Kingdom depending thereon If you find upon the place that a settlement of Peace cannot be had according to the several Instructions that go with the Commissioners to his Holiness and Christian Majesty and Prince of Wales nor such considerable Aids that may probably prove for the Preservation of the Nation then you are to inform your self by correspondence with our Commissioners imployed to Rome whether his Holiness will accept of this offer of being Protector to this Nation and if you find he will not accept thereof nor otherwise send such powerful and timely Aids as may serve to preservation then you are by advice of other the Commissioners imployed to his Majesty and Prince of Wales and by correspondence had with the Commissioners imployed to Rome and by correspondence likewise with our Commissioners imployed since if it may be timely had to inform your self where the most considerable Aids for preserving this Nation may be had by this offer of the Protectorship of the Nation in manner as by other Instructions into France grounded on the same of the Assembly is contain'd and so to manage the disposal of the Protectorship as you and the rest of our said Commissioners shall find most for the advantage of the Nation The like Instructions for Spain bearing the same Date Upon these and other considerations ever in his view the Marquess thought it much more prudent and agreeable to the Trust reposed in him to deposite the Kings Interest and Right of the Crown of Ireland into the hands of the Lords and Commons of England who still made great profession of Duty and Submission to his Majesty from whom it would probably return to the Crown in a short time then to trust it with the Irish from whom less then a very chargeable War would never recover it in what state soever the Affairs of England should be and how lasting and bloody and costly that War might prove by the intermedling and pretences of Foraign Princes was not hard to conclude In that such Auxiliaries many times prove dangerous Assistance not being over-tender or much distinguishing betwixt the Party they come to assist and that they come to subdue when they are made Umpires in such Quarrels as may be guessed by the Accompt in the 14th Appendix of which the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Ireland being very sensible they thus in March expressed themselves and their condition to the Parliament of England The Declaration of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled in Ireland of the present Estate and distressed Condition of the Protestants in the said Kingdom and their Address unto the most Honourable the Parliament of England for Relief WE the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Ireland having by the Mercy of God your Care of us and the Industry of those intrusted by his Majesty with the Government here preserved unto us the means of sitting together and of delivering freely our thoughts concerning the condition of this miserable Kingdom whereof we are the representative Body and finding withall the Government our Selves and indeed the Protestants in the Kingdom reduced to that final point of Extremity that if not very speedily supported and preserved all in these Parts must become a Prey unto the bloody and inhumane Rebels and this City of Dublin the chief Seat and Cittadel of this Kingdom with the other Garrisons depending thereupon be turn'd into the prime Seats and Strengths of those who have given evident proof that they aim not at less then the extirpation of all Protestants and the setting up the abominable Idol of the Mass and Superstition and at the shaking off of all Loyalty and Subjection to the Crown of England We therefore hold it our duty as being also perhaps the last which we by reason of the near approach of a powerful and pernicious Enemy may have the means to discharge in this Capacity to make the present Address and Representation of our miserable Condition to the most Honourable the Parliament of England which as it hath in all times of common Danger been the Fountain from whence the Power and Lustre of the Crown of England in this Kingdom hath sprung so it is now the onely Sanctuary unto which in behalf of our selves and the distressed Interest thereof we can fly for Succour and Preservation We hold it un-necessary to particularize our present Wants and Miseries and Imposibilities of further subsistance of our selves since they are too well known even to our Enemies in so much as it may be feared that the benefit which we confidently expect by the great diligence and Wisdom of the most Honourable the Parliament of England may not arrive timely for our Relief and Preservation nor can we so misdoubt the Wisdom Justice and Piety of those Honourable Houses whereof we have had heretofore very real and great experience which we do here with all thankfulness acknowledge as to fear that they will suffer the Protestant Religion the Interest of the Crown of England and of the Protestants in these important Garrisons and Quarters to be sacrificed unto the fury of the merciless Rebels But on the contrary as we do earnestly desire so are we most confident that the Goodness and Wisdom of the most Honourable the Parliament of England will so seasonably send over a sufficient Power as well to subdue and suppress these merciless and bloody Rebels as to maintain these places accompanied with an assurance from the most Honourable the Parliament of England for enjoying those Conditions of Honour subsistance and safety which have been lately offered by their Commissioners for and in the name of the most Honourable the Parliament of England to those who have hitherto govern'd and preservd them and to his Majesties Protestant Subjects and those who have faithfully and constantly adhered unto them unto which they may be pleased to joyn such further additions of Grace and Bounty as to their Wisdoms and Goodness shall be thought fit as that they and all the Protestants and such others as have faithfully and constantly adhered unto them may find Security and Preservation therein whereby we may heartily joyn under those whom the said most Honourable the Parliament of England shall appoint in prosecuting so Pious a War and being Gods Instruments for the bringing just Vengeance upon such Perfidious Rebels and in restoring the Protestant Religion and Interest of the Crown of England in this Kingdom to its due and former Lustre which we will ever strive with the hazard of our Lives and Fortunes to maintain While the Marquess was in this deliberation being privy to the Parliaments actions he receiv'd information that the King was delivered by the Scots to the Commissioners of the two Houses of Parliament who were then treating with him for the settling of Peace in all his Dominions and at the same time several Persons of
other Church Goods pertaing unto their respective Titles with obligations to pay proportionable Rent unto the Souldiers as aforesaid or his payment of their own competent maintenance and lett the Houses Tenements and other Church goods be taken from the Catholicks who heretofore had them as Tenements or otherwise 26. It is committed to the will and disposition of the Ordinary whether and when to enter into the Churches and celebrate Masses therein we command all and every the general Colonels Captains and other Officers of our Catholick Army to whom it appertaineth that they severally punish all transgressors of our aforesaid Command touching Murtherers Maimers Strikers Thieves Robbers and if they fail therein we Command the Parish Priests Curats or Chaplains respectively to declare them interdicted and that they shall be Excommunicated if they cause not due satisfaction to be made unto the Common-wealth and the party offended And this the Parish Priests or Chaplains shall observe under pain of Excommunication of sentence given ipso facto 27. To the end that these Acts Propositions and Ordinances may have more happy success We thought it fitting to have recourse unto God Almighty by Prayers Fastings and Alms We therefore will pray and as far as it is needful do command that every Priest as well Secular as Regular do celebrate one Mass a week and that all Lay-men do fast upon Wednesday Friday and Saturday in one week and thence forward one day a week and upon that Wednesday or Saturday as long as the Ordinary shall please and that they pray heartily unto God for the prosperous success of this our Catholick War for which they shall gain so many days indulgences as every Prelate shall publish in their several Diocesses respectively after the Fast of the aforesaid three days in one Week having first confessed and received the blessed Sacrament and bestowed some Alms to this effect 28. In every Regiment of Souldiers let there be appointed at least two Confessors and one Preacher to be named by the Ordinaries and by the Superiors of the Regulars whose competent maintenance we commend and command to every Colonel in their respective Regiments And to the end that all those Ordinances and Statutes may effectually be put in Execution We will and decree that all Arch-bishops Bishops Apostolical Vicars and Regular Superiours as well here present as absent may be very serious and careful of the Execution of the aforesaid as they tender not to incur displeasure wrath and revenge and herewith we charge their Consciences 29. Moreover VVe pray and require all Noblemen Magistrates and all other Marshal Commanders that with their helps and Secular forces they assist and set forward in Execution the aforesaid Statutes in their several Precincts respectively as often as it shall be needful If in any of the aforesaid Statutes any doubt or difficulty may by chance arise the explication thereof we reserve to the Metropolitans in every Province respectively and to the Bishops in every their Diocesses such of them as are no way contrary to this Cause no other person may presume to expound the aforesaid difficulties Haec dicta acta ordinata statuta subscripta erant nominibus sequentium Praelatorum All those Judgments Sayings Acts and Covenants VVe submit to the Judgment of the See Apostolick Hugo Archiepiscopus Armachanus Thomas Archiepiscopus Casselensis Malachius Archiepiscopus Guamenum David Episcopus Osoren Frater Boetius Episcopus Elphinensis Frater Patricius Episcopus Waterforden Lysmoren Frater Rochus Episcopus Kildaren Johannis Electus Claunfarten Emerus Electus Dunen Conoren Frater Josephus Everard Procurator Archiepiscopi Dublinens Doctor Johannes Creagh Procurator Episcopus Lymeriten David Bourck Willielmus O Connell Procurator Episcopi Imolacen Donatus O Tearnan Procurator Episcopi Laonen Doctor Dionysius Harty Decanus Laonensis Doctor Michael Hacket Vicar gener Waterforden Gulielmus Devocer Vic. gener Fernesen Thomas Roch Vicar Generalis Ossoren Frater Lucas Archer Abbas Sanctae Crucis Frater Anthonius de Rosario Ord. praed Vicar Provincial Robertus Nugent Societat Jesu in Heb. Frater Thadeus Connoldus Ang. pro Provinc Johannes Wareinge Decanus Lymericen Frater Patricius Darcye Guardian Dublin Frater Thomas Strange Guardian Waterford Frater Joseph Lancton Prior Kilkenny Frater Tho. Tearnon Guard de Dundalk Frater Johannes Reyly Guard Kilkenny Frater Boetius Egnanus Guard Buttevant Jordanus Boork Archidiaconus Lymericensis APPENDIX VIII Fol. 98. Orders made and established by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the rest of the general Assembly for the Kingdom of Ireland met at the City of Kilkenny the 24th day of October Anno Dom. 1642. and in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord the King Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland c. 1. IMprimis That the Roman Catholick Church in Ireland shall and may have and enjoy the Priviledges and Immunities according to the great Charter made and declared within the Realm of England in the ninth year of King H. 3. sometime King of England and the Lord of Ireland and afterwards enacted and confirmed in this Realm of Ireland and that the Common Law of England and all the Statutes of force in this Kingdom which are not against the Catholick Roman Religion on the Liberties of the Natives and other Liberties of this Kingdom shall be observed throughout the whole Kingdom and that all Proceedings in Civil and Criminal Cases shall be according to the said Laws 2. Item That all and every person and persons within this Realm shall bear Faith and true Allegiance unto our Soveraign Lord King Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland His Heirs and Successors and shall uphold and maintain his and their Rights and lawful Prerogatives with the utmost skill and power of such person or persons against all manner of persons whatsoever 3. Item That the Common Laws of England and Ireland and the said Statutes called the great Charter and every Clause Branch and Article thereof and all other Statutes confirming expounding or declaring the same shall be punctually observed within this Kingdom so far forth as the Condition of the present times during these times can by possibilities give way thereunto and after the War is ended the same to be observed without any Limitation or Restriction whatsoever 4. Inasmuch as the City of Dublin is the usual and principal Seat of Justice in this Kingdom where the Parliament and ordinary Courts were held and some other places where principal Councils were sometimes kept and as yet possessed and commanded by the malignant party who are Enemies to God and their King and his Majesties well-affected Subjects The Assembly is necessitated during this VVar in some formalities and circumstances to deviate from the proceedings prescrib'd by the said Laws and Statutes nevertheless retaineth the substance and Essence thereof so far-forth as the endless malice and cruelty of their Enemies the said malignant party doth permit
then to accompany the said Commission with our Letters to the said Commissioners wherein We signified to them that although by the said Commission We gave them that power yet We did then let them know that for those who were Chief among the Rebels and Ring-leaders of the rest to disobedience that We adjudged them less worthy of favour then the others whom they had mis-guided And therefore for those principal persons We required them to take care not to be too forward without first consulting this Board in proffering or promising mercy to those unless they the Commissioners saw it of great and unavoidable necessity Which power entrusted by Us with the said Commissioners was then granted in respect of the conjuncture of affaires at that time and to answer the then sudden extremities in the publick service And whereas We have now received information that a long time after the said power entrusted with them and when the State of the Countrey was far different from the Condition wherein it stood at the issuing of the said Commission and after the general Conspiracy was fully discovered and that the Rebels of all degrees and conditions had with hateful and bloody obstinacy declared their purpose to extirp the Brittish throughout the whole Kingdom without hope of reconcilement other then by the strength of his Majesties forces some of the said Commissioners notwithstanding the premonition given them by Our said Letters and without consulting this Board therein have given Protections of late to many of the said Rebels being principal persons and freeholders which Protections are in sundry respects found to be a mighty hindrance to His Majesties service in those parts and tending to His Majesties loss and disadvantage And albeit We are informed that those persons so protected have by their mis-behaviours since the Protections granted to them violated the express or implyed conditions of all Protections which besides the unreasonableness of the granting of them contrary to the intent of Our direction in Our said Letters might justly give cause to have those Rebells immediately faln upon and cut off Yet in regard We who are entrusted here by His Majesty for the Government of this His Kingdom and People are so tender of His Majesties honour as We neither have done nor will do any thing that by any construction can be interpreted a breach of any word given by Us or any other authorized by Us. We think fit before we proceed to the just correction of those Rebels hereby to publish and declare that all the said Protections granted since the first of March last to any person or persons whatsoever in the County of Downe or other Counties above named shall at the end of ten days next after the pubishing of this Proclamation at Down-Patrick or Strangford in the said County of Down or at any other publick place in any of the said Counties respectively stand void and be annulled repealed and revoked And we do hereby accordingly from and after the said ten days revoke repeal make void and annull them and every of them to all intents and purposes as if they had never been granted and do Order that from and after the said ten days they be of no force nor derive any benefit protection or security to any of the parties to whom they were so granted And this Proclamation We require the Sheriff of the County of Downe and the several Sheriffs of the said several Counties respectively to cause to be proclaimed and published at Down-Patrick and Strangford aforesaid and at some publick places in the said several Counties respectively that so all persons whom it may concern may take notice thereof and that hereafter when by the Power and Strength of Hu Majesties Army the said Offenders receive due punishment for their high transgressions they may not have any colour to presend the beast breach of word in this State or any the Ministers thereof Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 19th day of August 1641. La. Dublin Ormond Ossory Cha. Lambert Ad. Loftus J. Temple Tho. Lucas Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith Pope Urban the Eight's Grant of Indulgence to Owen Roe O Neal referrable to Fol. 136. mentioned in Mahony's Disp. Apologet. p. 41. Dilecto filio Eugenio O Nello DIlecte fili Salutem Nullum praetermittere soles occasionem quâ non Majorum tuorum Vestigiis insistens Eximium Zelum propagandae Ecclesiae studium perspectum facis idque luculènter in praesentia praestitisti in Hiberniam proficisci cogitans ut Catholicorum rationibus praesto sis Quam ob rem pergratae Nobis advenerunt Literae quibus Hujusmodi itineris deliberationem declaras rei faelicitèr gerendae principium à caelesti ope auspicatus non minus humilitèr quam religiose Apostolicam benedictionem a Nobis postulas Praeclarum hunc in te ardorem constantiam adversus haereticos verae fidei animum non parum laudamus tuaeque jam pridem pietatis conscii à te expectamus in hac opportunitate strenui atque excelsi roboris documenta quae antehac singularem nominis famam tibi comparârunt Illorum paritèr commendamus Consilium quos tuo excitans exemplo significasti speramus autem fore ut Altissimus tuae causae praesto sit ut Notam faciat in populis Virtutem suam Interim ut confidentius cuncta aggrediamini Nos divinam Clementiam indesinentèr orantes ut adversariorum conatus in nihilum redigat tibi caeterisque Catholicorum rem in praedicto regno Curaturis nostram libentèr impartimur benedictionem Universisqne singulis si verè paenitentes confessi fuerint Sacrâ Communione si fieri possit debitè refecti plenariam suorum peccatorum veniam remissionem atque in Mortis articulo Indulgentiam etiam plenariam elargimur Datum Romae sub Annulo Piscatoris die 8. Octobris 1642. Pontificatûs Nostri Anno 20. APPENDIX X. Fol. 141. By the Lords Justices and Councel Jo. Borlase Hen. Tichborne WHereas We have lately seen a Printed Paper intitled a solemn League and Covenant for reformation and defence of Religion the Honour and happiness of the King and the Peace and safety of the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which seems to have been Printed at London on the ninth day of October 1643. And forasmuch as in the said League or Covenant there are divers things contained not only tending to a seditious Combination against His Majesty but also contrary to the municipal Laws of this Kingdom of Ireland and destructive to the Church-Government established by Law in this Kingdom And for that by the Laws of this Kingdom no Oath ought to be tendred to or taken by any person or persons whatsoever in this Kingdom but before a Judge or other person thereunto Lawfully Authorised by His Majesty and for that the said League or Covenant is now endeavoured to be set on foot in this Kingdom without His Majesties Privity Direction or Allowance And in regard it is directly
contrary to the Liberty and Freedom of the Subject to be by any such Oath or Covenant pre-engaged And for that the setting on foot at this time in this Kingdom the said League or Covenant without His Majesties Allowance may not only beget much distraction and unquietness amongst His Majesties good Subjects but also may prove very penal to all those who shall presume to tender or take the same We therefore for prevention of such mischiefs do in His Majesties Name strictly charge and command all His Majesties good Subjects of what degree or quality soever within this Kingdom upon their Allegiance to His Majesties that they presume not to enter into or take the said League Covenant or Oath And we do likewise inhibit and forbid all His Majesties Subjects in this Kingdom to impose administer or tender the said League Oath or Covenant And if notwithstanding this our Proclamation any person shall presume to impose tender or take the said League Oath or Covenant We shall proceed against him or them with all severity according to the known Laws of the Land Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 18. day of Decemb. 1643. Ri. Bolton Canc. La. Dublin Ormonde Roscomon Edw. Brabazon Ant. Midensis Cha. Lambart Geo. Shurley Gerrard Lowther Tho. Rotherham Fra. Willoughby Tho. Lucas Ja. Ware G. Wentworth GOD SAVE THE KING APPENDIX XI Fol. 141. The Copy of a Letter written by direction of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament Assembled to several Commanders and Officers of his Majesties Army and others in the Kingdom of Ireland AFter our very hearty Commendations The Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament in this His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland have commanded us to signifie unto you that they have lately seen a Printed Paper intituled a solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and defence of Religion the honour and happiness of the King and the Peace and safety of the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which seems to have been Printed at London on the ninth day of October 1643. That they have also seen a Printed Proclamation dated the eighteenth day of December last and set out by the Right Honourable the late Lords Justices and Council expressing diverse great and Weighty Reasons against the said League and Covenant and therefore Commanding all his Majesties good Subjects of what Degree or Quality soever within this Kingdom upon their Allegiance to his Majesty That they presume not to enter into or take the said League Covenant or Oath and inhibiting and forbidding all His Majesties Subjects in this Kingdom to impose administer or tender the said League Oath or Covenant That upon serious debate and consideration taken by the Lords and Commons of the said League and Covenant and Proclamation They find the said Proclamation to have been set out with great Wisdom and Reason and do highly Commend the Judgement of the said Lords Justices and Council therein and as both Houses do fully concurr therein in all the parts thereof So they have expresly Commanded us to signifie the same unto you and in their names to let you know That it is their express Pleasure that you and all the Commanders Officers and Souldiers of His Majesties Army and all others His Majesties Subjects in this Kingdom whom it may concern do render all due Obedience and Observation to the said Proclamation in all the parts thereof And this being to no ther end We remain Your very Loving Friends Ri. Bolton Canc. Maur. Eustace Speaker of the House of Commons Dublin Castle xviii die April Anno Dom. 1644. Fol. 142. There is mention made of the Protestants Arrival at Oxford where they deliver'd to his Majesty this Petition To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of divers of your Majesties Protestant Subjects in your Kingdom of Ireland as well Commanders of Your Majesties Army here as others whose Names are subscrib'd in the behalf of themselves and other Your Protestant Subjects in this Your Kingdom Sheweth THAT this Your Highness Kingdom reduced with the vast Expence of Treasure and much effusion of British blood to the obedience of the Imperial Crown of England hath been by the Princely care of your Royal Progenitors especially of Queen Elizabeth and of Your Royal Father of ever blessed Memory and your Sacred Majesty in many parts happily planted great sums of Moneys disbursed in Buildings and Improvements Churches edified and endowed and frequented with multitudes of good Protestants and your yearly Customs and Revenues rais'd to great yearly sums by the industry of your Protestant Subjects especially and great sums of Money by way of Subsidies and Contributions chearfully paid unto your Majesty by your said Subjects In which happiness this your Kingdom hath flourished in a long-continued Peace and under your Highness most glorious and happy Government until that by the present general Conspiracy and Rebellion rais'd out of Detestation of Your blessed Government and for rooting out of the Protestant Religion and so for the dispossessing of Your Majesty of this Your said Kingdom without the least occasion offered by Your Majesty or Your Protestant Subjects And notwithstanding that Your Majesty immediately before had enlarg'd beyond president Your Royal favour and bounty to them in granting all that their and our joint Agents did desire of Your Majesty And we continuing amongst them in all Love and Amity without distrust Your Petitioners and others who labour'd to oppose those damnable Designs and Practices have been driven from their Dwellings Estates and Fortunes their Houses and Churches burnt and demolished All Monuments of Civility utterly defaced Your Majesties Forts and places of strength thrown down and the Common and Statute-Laws of this Your Kingdom utterly confounded by taking upon themselves the exercise of all manner of Authorities and Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical and Civil both by Sea and Land proper and peculiar to Your Sacred Majesty being Your just Prerogatives and the Royal Flowers of Your Imperial Diadem to the Disherison of Your Crown and Your Royal Revenues brought to nothing and the Protestant Clergy with their Revenues and support for the present destroyed This Your Kingdom in all parts formerly inhabited with Brittish Protestants now depopulated of them and many thousands of Your Protestant Subjects most barbarously used stripped naked tortur'd famish'd hang'd buried alive drown'd and otherwise by all barbarous cruel sorts of Death murther'd such as yet remain of them are reduced to that extremity that very few of them have wherewithal to maintain a Being and all of them so terrified and afflicted with those barbarous and inhuman cruelties the true report whereof being now spread abroad into the Christian World Your Suppliants conceive fears that Your Majesties Brittish Subjects will be discouraged from coming again to inhabit this Kingdom and the remnant of what is left will be forced to depart All this being done by the Conspiracy of the Papists who did publickly declare the utter extirpation of the
requiring and authorizing you as Commander of them in Chief to arm array divide distribute dispose conduct lead and govern in Chief the said Forces according to your best discretion and with the said Forces to resist pursue follow apprehend and put to death kill and slay as well by Battle as otherwaies all and singular the said Conspirators Traitors and their Adherents according to your discretion And according to your Conscience and discretion to proceed against them or any of them or by Martial Law by hanging them or any of them till they be dead according as it hath been accustomed in time of open Rebellion and also to take wast and spoil their or any of their Castles Holds Forts Houses Goods and Territories or otherwise to preserve the lives of them or any of them and to receive them into his Majesties favour and mercy and to forbear the devastation of their or any of their Castles Holds Forts Houses Goods and Territories aforementioned according to your discretion Further hereby requiring and authorizing you to do execute and perform all and singular such other things for Examination of persons suspected discovery of Traitors and their Adherents parlying with and granting protections to them or any of them taking up of Carts Carriages and other Conveniences sending and retaining Espials Victualing the said Forces and other things whatsoever conducing to the purpose aforementioned as you in your discretion shall think fit and the necessity of the service require further hereby requiring and authorizing you as Commander in Chief to constitute and appoint such Officers and Ministers respectively for the better performance and execution of all and singular the premises as you in your discretion shall think fit And do hereby require and command all and singular his Majesties Sheriffs Officers and Ministers and loving Subjects of and within the County of Meath and the borders thereof upon their Faith and Allegiance to his Majesty and to his Crown to be aiding helping and assisting to you in the doing and Executing of all and singular the premises This our Commission to continue during our Pleasure only and for the so doing this shall be your sufficient Warrant Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin November 1641. To our very good Lord Nicholas Gormanstowne Vic. Com. R. Dillon Jo. Temple Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith Fol. 86. l. 45. Osburn's Castle as also of the notable service of Ballially in the County of Clare well defended by Bridgeman and Cuff though slenderly succoured by Bowatty how oft soever invoked of whose neglect they were not a little sensible Fol 88. l. 39. a Careful General 's not upon diffidence that his Commands entrusted to others would be the insufficienter executed No his Souldiers had long experienced even the best of Quality amongst them that no commands were to be disobeyed But that the Souldier seeing his General to share in labour might undergo the like with more willingness and courage Examples of hardship born by such as might have ease wonderfully work on those who can have no exemption Fol. 97. l. 4. Laws of the Land This Oath of Association the later Paragraph excepted was the 26th of July 1644. in the General Assembly of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland at Kilkenny declared by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Knights and Burgesses of that house full and binding without addition of any other words thereunto and enjoyned to be took by all sorts of People Fol. 104. l. 28. That War and by some speeches it was apprehended that the drift in requiring subscriptions was to engage the Army against his Majesty in detestation whereof some Officers rent the Book of Subscriptions in pieces Fol. 105. l. 303. 8000 men A necessity the State was then unhappily reduced to and as his Majesty takes notice that his Ministers who suffered the return of his Army and their quartering in the City were not to be blam'd if they durst not suffer the Souldiers to march farr or stay long in the Enemies Country when there was but 40. Barrels of Powder in all the Store Fol. 106. l. 14. their Weight and afterwards by the King's approbation with C. R. with a Crown on one side and the value on the other Fol. 120. l. 4. with 300 l. In as much as their General Bourk having a good opinion of his Gallantry sent a Summons signifying That He was commanded by the Councel of the Confederate Catholiques of Ireland to demand the delivery of the Castle to his hands for the use of his Majesty and if not deliver'd upon this Summons Mercy was not to be expected although for his part He desired not the effusion of Christian blood yet if such a Paper-house should be kept against him who had such an Army such Artillery a day longer he could not by the practice of VVar be censur'd cruel if no Quarter were given a terrible Minaâ—e and considering the force he had and the Weakness of the House not irrational Fol. 140. l. 32. their Coneurrence In November 1643. the Parliament in Ireland sitting the House of Commons had in debate a Remonstrance declaring the Inhumanity of the Rebels that it might be recommended to the King a Committee was sent from the House to the Lords Justices who advising with the upper House at that time very thin and highly influenc'd were answer'd That there were greater matters of State to be considered so nothing further proceeded thereon Fol. 155. l. 44. with the Rebels which Perinchief writes was procured by the Scots to make their Ware more valuable Fol. 156. l. 6. witnessing the Conclusion which as the Cessation His Majesty prosesseth to have been forced to during the late troubles and was compelled to give the Irish a full Pardon for what they had before done amiss upon their return to their Duty and their Promise of giving Him a vigorous Assistance which how answer'd by their obedience hereafter appears Fol. 167. l. 39. into England who carried with them these Propositions from the Lord Lieutenant to the Parliament of England 1. That the said Lord Lieutenant will prosecute the VVar against the Irish Rebels as vigorously as he shall be enabled thereunto by the Parliament of England and that he will faithfully serve the Crown of England therein 2. That whilst he hath the Government of this Kingdom and the Command of the Armies therein none of the supplies of Men Moneys Arms Munition Victuals or any other Provisions of what kind or nature soever which shall by the Parliament of England be sent over or joined with the Forces already under his Command nor any of the said Forces now under his Command nor any other Forces that shall be under his Command shall in any wise be employed either within this Kingdom or without it but by the express Direction of the said Parliament of England 3. That he will not upon any Command or by virtue of any Power or Authority whatsoever enter into any Treaty with the said
cruel and inhumane outrages and acts of Hostility within this Realm The said Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled being justly mov'd with a right sense of the said disloyal rebellious proceedings and actions of the Persons aforesaid do hereby protest and declare That the said Lords and Commons from their hearts do detest and abhor the said abominable actions and that they shall and will to their uttermost power maintain the Rights of his Majesties Crown and Government of this Realm and the peace and safety thereof as well against the persons aforesaid their Abettors Adherents as also against all Foreign Princes Potentates and other Persons and attempts whatsoever And in case the Persons aforesaid do not repent of their aforesaid Actions and lay down Arms and become humble Suitors to his Majesty for Grace and Mercy in such convenient time and in such manner and form as by his Majesty or the Chief Governour or Governours and the Council of this Realm shall be set down The said Lords and Commons do further protest and declare That they will take up Arms and will with their Lives and Fortunes suppress them and their attempts in such a way as by the Authority of the Parliament of this Kingdom with the approbation of his Excellent Majesty or of his Majesties Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom shall be thought most effectual Copia vera exam per Phil. Percivall Cleric Parliament And after that the Parliament had sate two days to whom the Lords Justices had imparted his Majesties gracious intentions not to depart from any his former favours promised to them for setling their Estates who should remain faithful and Loyal and that the Lords Justices had shorten'd the Prorogation to the 11th of January the Lord Viscount Costelough impower'd by the Lords went for England not long before having been sworn a Privy Counsellor in Ireland even since the Rebellion with whom the Lord Taaff also embarck'd having before presented to the Lords Justices and Council from many of the Gentry and Inhabitants of the County of Longford in Rebellion a rebellious and scandalous Letter in the nature of a Remonstrance full of pretended Grievances and unreasonable Demands as namely to have freedom of Religion a Repeal of all Laws made to the contrary and the like Upon the information of which especially that there should be a toleration of the Popish Religion in Ireland it was resolv'd on the 8th of December 1641. upon solemn Debate by the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England That they would never give consent to any Toleration of the Popish Religion in Ireland or in any other his Majesties Dominions Which Vote hath been since adjudged a main motive for making the War a cause of Religion consequently of calling in Foreign Princes to their aid and assistance which before ever this Vote past to ground the least pretence thereupon the Irish made Religion the principal end of their Insurrection and this Proposition was as you see one of the first to be demanded which gave the Parliament a cause for the Vote fore-mention'd In pursuance of which Sir Benjamin Rudyard whom the cause ever made eloquent thus delivered his sense Mr. Speaker PEradventure I could have wish'd that Toleration of Religion had not at this time come in question but now it is brought on the Stage I am brought to the Stake When Religion is so nearly concern'd I love not to take any Civil or Politick respects into consideration Reason of State hath almost eaten up all the Laws and Religion of Christendom I have often heard it discours'd whether we should make Religion an Argument of any of our undertakings abroad wherein the wiser sort have been very nice and tender believing that the over-number of Papists would overwhelm us yet I have been long of opinion that our Attempts and Assistances have so often miscarri'd because we have not boldly and publickly avowed our Religion It may be God thinks we are too many who can conquer as well with few as with many Shall the Irish now make their Religion the cause of their Rebellion and shall we be asham'd or afraid to maintain our Religion in reducing them to their Duty and Obedience God will not honour them who do not honour him Let us remember that expostulation in the Chronicles Why transgress ye the commandments of God so that ye cannot prosper This is a great transgression to shrink from God in his truth When we deny the Irish a Toleration we do not withdraw the eases and favours they have heretofore enjoy'd Greater I am sure than they would afford us if we were in their power Wherefore Mr. Speaker let us uphold our Religion and trust God with the success Upon which and other motions thereupon the Vote mention'd proceeded without dispute and that the cause thereof might appear we shall refer you to the Longford Letter it self What reception it had at the Council-board may easily be conceiv'd by these Lords speedy repair into England who afterwards centred in that which in time brought on a Cessation of Arms with the Rebels in its own place to be spoke of The Lord Dillon upon his coming into England was seiz'd on by the Parliament and his Papers rifled according to a Vote in Parliament the 3d. of November which by the Confederates was look'd upon as a heinous crime though the discovery of the Concerns in Ireland as well as the management of the War were entrusted to the English Parliament so no crime in them But he escaped from them at last and went to the King having in his private Instructions orders to move that no Forces might be sent over out of England but that the whole work might be left to the Remonstrants and that they would then undertake to suppress the Rebels themselves In the interim we must not omit that some of both Houses of Parliament in Ireland lately met but now Prorogu'd were appointed to treat with the Rebels So they receiv'd their Instructions from the Lords Justices who were to impower them under the great Seal thereunto But instead of any happy effects thereon the Rebels were so puffed up with their Victories over the poor surpriz'd unresisting innocent English as they barbarously tore the Order of Parliament together with the Letter sent unto them promising themselves success and Dominion in all their Attempts By this time the State had receiv'd an Answer from the Lord Lieutenant of the Account they had given him of the Rebellion wherein he certified the Lords Justices that he understood his Majesty had receiv'd some Advertisements out of the North of Ireland of the present Rebellion and that the Business of Ireland might not suffer by his stay in Scotland which was somewhat longer than he expected his Majesty had refer'd the whole Business of Ireland to the Parliament of England who after a most serious and solemn information of this horrid Plot by a select Committee
and their Possessions restored to them or their Heirs from whom the same were taken they nevertheless answering to the Crown the Rents and Services proprotionable reserv'd upon the Undertakers 12. That the Transportation of all Native Commodities to all Places of the World in Peace with his Majesty may be free and lawfull his Customs first paid and that the Statutes of 10 11 and 13 of Queen Elizabeth for restraining the Exportation of Native Commodities be repealed 13. That all Preferments Ecclefiastical Civil and Martial in this Kingdom that lye in his Majesties Gift may be conferr'd on the Natives of this Kingdom onely such as his Majesty shall think meet without any distinction for Religion Provided always that upon the Princes of his Blood of England he may bestow what Places he shall think meet 14. That a Martial and Admiral of this Kingdom may be elected in it to have perpetual succession therein with the same Preheminency Authority and Jurisdiction as they respectively have in England and that the said Places be ever conferr'd upon Noblemen Natives of this Kingdom 15. That there may be Train'd-bands in all Cities Towns Corporate and Counties of this Kingdom arm'd and provided for at the charge of the several Counties Cities and Towns and commanded by the Natives of the same who shall be nam'd by the Counties Cities and Towns respectively 16. That his Majesty may release all Tenures in Capite and by Knights Service in consideration whereof he shall receive a setled Revenue of 12000 l. per annum being double the sum which he casually receives by them Reliefs Seismes Licenses for Alienations Escuage and Aids nevertheless to remain 17. That all Monopolies may be for ever taken away by Act of Parliament 18. That such new Corporations that have not the face of Corporate Towns and were erected to give Voices in Parliament may be dissolved and their Votes taken away and hereafter none such to be admitted to Voices in Parliament Lastly That there may be Agents chosen in Parliament or otherwise as thought meet to attend continually his Majesty to represent the Grievances of this Nation that they may be removable by such as did elect them and in case of death or removance others may be for ever successively substituted in that Place Propositions so destructive to the Crown of England the English Interest and Protestant Religion as I conceive none are so hardy as to maintain their rationality as long as the Crown of England is able to improve the Power of her Conquest More I might add but each Proposition carrieth in it self its insolency and vanity which by the Rebels success on the British through their Treacheries and Surprisals they were encouraged to propose with such audacity However the State in hope to gain time till Supplies might come listned to an offer made by some Popish Priests to treat with the Rebels Whereupon Dr. Cale pretending how far he could prevail with the Rebels was admitted thereunto by a Warrant from the State in confidence that he could obtain better terms than the former But Sir Phelim O-Neal would yield to no Treaty unless the Lord Mac-Guire Mac-Mahone and the rest in the Castle might be freed Which the State refusing with indignation that design ended And that the City of Dublin might be supplied with Corn the Market growing very thin through the Confederates seizing on the Protestants Corn in the Haggard the Lords Justices and Council having that example publish'd a Proclamation the 28th of Decemb. 1641. That all Corn-Masters within fifteen miles of Dublin should be careful to send their Corn to the City to be sold at the Rates following viz. Wheat Pease and Beans at 20 s. a Dublin Peck and Oats at 6 s. 8 d. a Barrel Whereupon the Market was somewhat though not considerable to their urgent occasions reliev'd rather than the Irish would suffer their Corn to be thrashed outby Warrants from the Lord Gormanston for the use of the Irish Army then lying before Tredath or burnt by the State to prevent that inconvenience And that nothing irregular might justly be imputed to the State who studied the preservation of his Majesties Subjects or those indeed who but pretended without appearance to the contrary a submission to his Ministers the 14th of January 1641. they publish'd a severe Proclamation against Pillagers and Voluntiers not listed under some Colonel or Commander So early was the vigilancy of the State in what might preserve their Integrity and Repute Which some finding contrary to their envious Licentiousness wanted not boldness to encourage the Soldiers to a return for England Which the Lords Justices and Council having notice of publish'd this Proclamation By the Lords Justices and Council William Parsons John Borlase WE do hereby in his Majesties Name charge and command all his Majesties Soldiers of this Army that upon pain of death none of them presume to depart hence for England without express license in that behalf from the Lieutenant General of the Army And we command all Owners and Masters of Ships Barques and other Vessels that upon pain of death none of them do permit or suffer any of the said Soldiers to go aboard them or to be carried from hence into England And we require the Searcher and all other Officers and Waiters of the Customs that they and every of them do take special care to prevent the Shipping or Importing of any of the said Soldiers as aforesaid whereof they may not fail Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin 18th Jan. 1641. Ormond Ossory R. Dillon Ad. Loftus J. Temple Charles Coote Fran. Willoughby Rob. Meredith And now the Flame having march'd through Ulster and Leimster it discovers its fury about the beginning of December 1641. in Munster which Provincetill that time by the moderation of the State had stifled its rage then expressing its consent with the other Provinces The Rebels of Wexford Kilkenny and Caterlaugh coming over the River to prey and spoil the County of Waterford To resist which the Lord President of Munster Sir William Sellenger who to that time had behav'd himself with much Prudence Vigilance and Honour hastned to encounter them whom though he was far inferiour to in number he then discomfited and restored to the Owners what Prey he recovered in which action he found many of his Provincials yet suffer'd none of them to be hurt supposing they came to save their Goods not being interess'd in the Conspiracy which afterwards he found general Mr. Purcell called the Baron of Loghmo exciting about the 9th of December in Tipperary the Irish to rob and spoil the British and Protestants acting with many others daily villanies being armed by a long Provision underhand and furnish'd with the Wealth of the British and Protestants in that Province which was very great and considerable And that Connaght might not be said to be quiet the Lord President of that Province the Lord Rannelaugh coming thither from Dublin about the beginning
in any case whatsoever or to maintain or defend the same shall forfeit his Lands and Goods as in case of Rebellion Before which there was no pretence some thought to make the War a matter of Religion Whereas I do not conceive that that Clause is any more then what was in several Acts provided as Anno 28. H. 8. Capite 13. Anno 2. Eliz. Cap. 1. as elsewhere And by his Majesties Letter to the Marquiss of Ormond the 15th of Decem. 1644. is there specified That many Acts in favour of the Irish should be repeal'd but those against Appeals to Rome and Praemunire should stand That had not the Rebels first intended what afterwards they pursued that Clause could not have made them more obstinate Rebels nothing being in it but what was before in force Now besides other miseries which aggravated the unhappiness of the State at that time there flocked to the City from all Parts such as having escaped the fury of the Rebels sheltered themselves there of which by reason of the diseases they had contracted by their journey and ill usage there died many else prov'd a burthen to the City Which the Confederates of the Pale would have the World believe was mercy and Signal Humanity in them not to have imbrued their hands in the blood of any British Protestants When as the lingring deaths and Exigences these were put to exceeded any death which at once might have been inflicted though after the Siege of Tredath that the old English Papists of the Pale were driven into Ulster they as a meritorious act vaunted that they had killed more English and Protestants in Fingall then were killed in many other Counties for the discoveries of whose miseries and what besides others had suffered by the Rebels the Lords Justices authorised several Commissioners to state their Case and the state of the deplorable English by two Commissions the one bearing date the 23d of December the other the 18th of January both in the 17th year of his Majesties Reign whereby the Murders Losses and Cruelties committed upon the English and Protestants were discovered on Oath and presented in a Remonstrance by the Dispoil'd Clergy of Ireland to the Honourable House of Commons in England And lest the Remonstrance should seem the act of a few Persons highly interessed in their own Concerns it was accompanied with a Letter from the Lords Justices and Council dated at Dublin the 7th of March 1641. to the Speaker of the said House of Commons the Remonstrance shewing such depredations of Goods such cruelties exercis'd on the Persons and Lives of the loyal Subjects such wasting and defacing of all monuments of Civility with such Prophanation of Holy Places and Religion that by the most barbarous and heathenish Nations the like could not in any Age be found to be perpetrated of which I might say more having not yet forgot the cruelties legible in most Noble and antient Families But the day would fail us should we sum up what is in the Clergies Remonstrance Printed at London 1642. briefly mention'd to which and the History of the Irish Rebellion 1646. from p. 84. to 136 we must refer you that the Proofs of all may be before your eyes May they be writ on our Posts of our houses and our Gates that they may be looked upon and remembred for ever what Amalek did when we were faint and weary and he feared not God! Thus the State having to their power supported his Majesties Authority and the English Interest searching out whatsomever might fathom the bottom of this Conspiracy they being driven to great necessities trampled on by the Enemy not further able to support their own miseries When the last of December 1641. arriv'd at Dublin from the Parliament of England Sir Simon Harcourt with a Regiment of 1200 Foot a Gentleman of Good Extraction long bred in the Low-Countreys the School of War under Sir Horatio the Lord Vere that renown'd and Excellent Person one of the most noted and eminent Commanders of the late Age He was design'd Governour of Dublin much to the comfort of the Protestants and terrour of the Rebels soon after whose arrival the City being secur'd thereby the Lords Justices commanded forth Sir Charles Coote with such Forces as could be spared to Swoards about the 10th of January following the better to let them know how far the State resented their Insolencies whom no assurance fair or open Resolves or any free course could satisfie Sir Charles Coote found the access to the Village straightly block'd up yet so managed the attempt as he soon forc'd them to a flight beating them out of their Fortifications and killed 200 of their men without any considerable loss on his side more then Sir Laurenzo Carey second Son of the Lord Falkland late Lord Deputy a Gentleman of excellent and ingenious Parts well principled and one whose vertues and resolution promised much happiness to the State After setling of which Place Sir Charles Coote return'd to Dublin and ere long there arrived from England by Order of the Parliament three Regiments of Foot the Lord-Lieutenants Regiment under the Conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Monk since Duke of Albemarle the second under the Command of Sir Michael Earnely and the other under the Command of Colonel Cromwell and two Regiments of Horse one belonging to Philip Lord Lisle General of the Horse and the other under the Command of Sir Richard Greenvile That now the English Interest began to revive the Irish being much disheartned thereby yet grew confident in their Allies and Confederacy they had made through the whole Nation to weaken which and vindicate his Majesties Honour the State received the 20th of January a Proclamation from his Majesty dated the first of the same month declaring them Rebels and Traitors and that it might want no solemnity to impress the greater Character of obedience His Majesty was pleased to Sign all the Proclamations with his Royal Hand affixing also thereto his Privy Signet a circumstance scarce presidenc'd The Original of which I have in my Custody Charles R. WHereas diverse lewd and wicked Persons have of late risen in Rebellion in our Kingdom of Ireland surpriz'd diverse of our Forts and Castles possessed themselves thereof surpriz'd some of our Garrisons possest themselves of some of our Magazeen of Arms and Ammunition dispossest many of our good and loyal Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants of their Houses and Lands rob'd and spoil'd many thousands of our good Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants of their Goods to great values Massacred multitudes of them imprison'd many others and some who have the Honour to serve us as Privy Counsellors of that our Kingdom We therefore having taken the same into our Royal consideration and abhorring the wicked disloyalty and horrible acts committed by those Persons do hereby not onely declare our just Indignation thereof but also do declare them and their Adherents and Abettors and all
Rebels attesting that the 100000 l. borrowed of the Subscription-Money for Ireland they soon re-paid with advantage being then forc'd to make use of it to prepare a competent Army for the defence of the King and Kingdom without any prejudice to the Affairs of Ireland whose subsistence depends on the welfare of this In Answer to which it was replied That that Kingdom were the Money restored in the mean time suffered by that Diversion and that had the Lord Wharton's Forces been approved of there was no further security that those should have been sent for Ireland than other Forces that were rais'd for that purpose and yet imployed against his Majesty at Edge-hill the other Exceptions of the Parliament in his Majesty's Papers being also answer'd which begot a Reply not altogether pertinent in this place to pursue However the Parliaments imploying the 100000 l. contrary to the Interest of the foremention'd Act in the 17th year of Car. 1. with his Majesties full consent before he left the Parliament was the cause that it produced so little good effect for Ireland many of the Subscribers taking that occasion as others before had done upon his Majesties motion to go for Ireland to withdraw their subscriptions and others not to pay in their Money which was with so much Caution provided for and guarded with so many advantagious Circumstances for all the Adventurers as if it had been carried on and seasonably applied with that Care and Sincerity it ought to have been it would in a little time have reduc'd that whole Kingdom and have eas'd that poor People of many of those Calamities they have since endur'd The want of which put the Lords Justices and State on many difficulties Yet that something might seem to be done there was an Order of the Commons House of Parliament the 3d. of August 1642. That the Ministers about the City of London should be desired to exhort the People to bestow old Garments and Apparel upon the distressed Protestants in Ireland in reference to which the 19th of September following the Lord Mayor of London ordered that those Cloaths should be brought to Yorkshire-hall in Blackwel-hall to be ready for shipping them for Ireland and a vast Supply was brought in Charity never so much manifested its compassion as in that Cause which afterwards was entrusted to a Reverend Person who discharged his trust with singular Prudence and Integrity though as to the Army these Cloaths never reach'd or intended And now the Rebels finding their Strength much augmented by the unhappy differences in England their chief Contrivers of the Conspiracy the Clergy met at Kilkenny and there Established in a General-Congregation several Considerations for their future Government Upon which Proceedings and the validity of the 6th Article of those Prelate-Dignities and learned men the first General-Assembly at Kilkenny sate the 10th of November 1642. according to what Scobel gives us an account of Though Peter Walsh one of the Assembly certainly to be credited in his second part of the first Treaties of his History and vindication of the Loyal Formulary writes that the first General or National-Assembly of the Confederates began at Kilkenny the 24th of October 1642. and continued to the 9th of January following upon which day they were dissolved having constituted to succeed them the Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland and that they might be the better tied together with the Holy bond of Union and Concord as is expressed in the thirty third Article of the General Assembly and the third of the Congregation They framed the ensuing Oath of Association to be taken by all in that Confederacy The Preamble to the Oath of Association WHereas the Roman Catholicks of this Kingdom have been inforc'd to take Arms for the necessary defence and preservation as well of their Religion Plotted and by many foul Practises endeavour'd to be quite suppress'd by the Puritan Faction as likewise their Lives Estates and Liberties as also for the defence and safeguard of his Majesties Regal Power just Prerogatives Honour State and Rights invaded upon and for that it is requisite that there should be an unanimous Consent and real Union between all the Catholicks of this Realm to maintain the Premisses and strengthen them against their Adversaries It is thought fit by them that they and whosoever shall adhere unto their Party as a Confederate should for the better assurance of their adhering fidelity and constancy to the publick Cause take the ensuing Oath The Oath of Association I A. B. do profess swear and protest before God and his Saints and his Angels that I will during my life bear true Faith and Allegiance to my Soveraign Lord Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland and to his Heirs and lawful Successors and that I will to my power during my life defend uphold maintain all his and their just Prerogatives Estates and Rights the Power and Priviledge of the Parliament of this Realm the Fundamental Laws of Ireland the free exercise of the Roman Catholick Faith and Religion throughout this Land and the Lives just Liberties Possessions Estates and Rights of all those that have taken or shall take this Oath and perform the Contents thereof and that I will obey and ratifie all the Orders and Decrees made and to be made by the supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of this Kingdom concerning the said publick Cause and that I will not seek directly or indirectly any Pardon or Protection for any Act done or to be done touching this general Cause without the consent of the major part of the said Council and that I will not directly or indirectly do any Act or Acts that shall prejudice the said Cause but will to the hazard of my Life and Estate assist prosecute and maintain the same Moreover I do further swear That I will not accept of or submit unto any Peace made or to be made with the said Confederate Catholicks without the consent and approbation of the general Assembly of the said Confederate Catholicks And for the preservation and strengthning of the Association and Union of the Kingdom that upon any Peace or Accommodation to be made or concluded with the said Confederate Catholicks as aforesaid I will to the utmost of my power insist upon and maintain the ensuing Propositions until a Peace as aforesaid be made and the Matters to be agreed upon in the Articles of Peace be establish'd and secured by Parliament So help me God and his holy Gospel The Propositions mention'd in the aforesaid Oath 1. THat the Roman Catholicks both Clergy and Laity to their several Capacities have free and publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion and Function throughout the Kingdom in as full lustre and splendor as it was in the Reign of King Henry the 7th or any other Catholick King 's his Predecessors Kings of England and Lords of Ireland either in
the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and Council And now many of those Officers who had served his Majesty most signally in Ireland were treated with to recruit his Forces in and about Chester to which end all the encouragement that his Majesty had given in his Letters of the 4th and 7th of September were faithfully imparted to them and what could possibly be rais'd for their Transportation was effectually done Whereupon several Regiments as Sir Mich. Earnely's Sir Rich. Fleetwoods Colonel Gibson Colonel Monk Colonel Warren and others hasted over but with such Reluctancy of the Common Souldiers as the sharpest Proclamations of which there were several hardly restrain'd them from flying their Colours both before and after their arrival in England To prevent which and that the Souldiers might be secur'd in their Loyalty to his Majesty the Lieutenant General compos'd this Oath I Resting fully assured of his Majesties most Princely Truth and Goodness do freely and from my heart promise vow and protest in the presence of Almighty God that I will to the utmost of my Power and with the hazard of my Life maintain and defend the true Protestant Religion establish'd in the Church of England his Majesties sacred Person his Heirs and lawful Successors and his Majesties just Powers and Prerogatives against the Forces now under the Conduct of the Earl of Essex and against all other Forces whatsoever that are or shall be rais'd contrary to his Majesties Commands and Authority And I will do my best endeavour to procure and re-establish the Peace and Quietness of the Kingdom of England And I will neither directly or indirectly divulge or communicate any thing to the said Earl of Essex his Officers or any other to hinder or prejudice the Designs of his Majesty in the Conduct or Imployment of his Army Which that it may be taken by every Souldier follows the Precept By the Lieutenant General of his Majesties Army WHereas his Majesty hath been pleas'd to command the present transportation of a part of his Army here into England I do think fit and hereby Order that every Officer and Souldier to be transported hence do take the Oath above-written before they depart this Harbour Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin 13. of Octob. 1643. Ormond And in respect that upon their going many Souldiers listed themselves under other Officers the Lord Lieutenant besides other Courses publisht the 13. of November an Edict that no Souldiers under penalty of death should depart from their former Commanders and Officers and that no Commanders and Officers on pain of displeasure should dare to entertain any Souldiers so offending And the 4th of Feb. 1643. the Lord General publisht a Proclamation That if any Souldier should stay behind that was commanded to go over or should after he was transported over into England run away from his Colours he being afterwards apprehended should presently suffer death without mercy Upon which as you see many came over into England and at Hawerden Castle Beeston Castle Bartomley Church Dedington House Acton Church and Durtwich improved their time but the main body the 25. of January 1643. was utterly defeated by Sir Thomas Fairfax raising the Siege of Namptwich 1500 common Souldiers besides Officers being there taken Prisoners besides those that were slain so that what advantage accrewed to the Regal Army by their coming over many believ'd was not very considerable unless those who came out of Munster were more successful The general if not all those who came to his Majesties assistance out of Ireland were his own Forces which he had sent against the Rebels from whom I cannot yet learn after all their professions of having no one hollow thought or subtile practice to serve two Masters or standing Neuters whilst their King was Party that any formed Regiment or considerable Party reach'd England no! it will hereafter appear how shamefully they deserted his Majesties Affairs even in Ireland it self when their Interest might have united them in Loyalty and Obedience Some months after the arrival of these and other Forces out of Ireland the Parliament of England made an Ordinance against the giving of any Quarter to any Irish man or to any Papist born in Ireland taken in Hostility against the Parliament by Sea or Land which his Majesty thought very severe they being called to the service of their Natural Prince The coming over of the English made several that were not so forward suspected in their Loyalty though in truth never any Prince had an Army more intirely affecting his Person then the generality of his Militia of Ireland who being sent thither or rais'd there were not yet wean'd from the Justice of that Cause hardly matchable in any example the War being said long since a great Instrument of State not an ambitious War of Foraigns but a recovery of Subjects and that after Lenity of Conditions often tried not onely to obedience but to Humanity and Policy from more then Indian Barbarism whereas the Affairs of England imbrued Relations in one anothers blood and the Concerns of Ireland were as much his Majesties as the other and the Cause undoubtedly Gods The Lords Justices and Council this while had a great task and not so much as straw to the Work the Confederates paying in the Money viz. 30800 l. they promised the 16th of September towards the maintenance of his Majesties Army this Cessation very uncertain as their Cows and Cattle of the worst taking within three days after the Cessation near 369 head of choice English Cattle from the suburbs of Dublin acting besides many other violencies on divers Castles Forts and Houses so as this agreement with the Rebels seemed rather a Protection then a Cessation of Acts of Hostility That in this extremity the Lords Justices Providence and Care how great soever could remedy little being their business now was to proceed in another course then formerly they had the Election of which grew hourly the heavier upon them by reason of the discontents which constantly arose from the Inhabitants and the Protestants now more then ever sensible of their Condition the Irish Agents making all the speed they could to repair with their Propositions to his Majesty then at Oxford according to an Article in the Cessation and his Majesties Proclamation thereupon by which they were allowed to send Agents to his Majesty of which the Protestants in and about Dublin being very apprehensive lest his Majesty should be pre-possessed of the Rebels sence they thought it most convenient to dispatch Agents presently to his Majesty and to that end about the 6th of October 1643. they meeting at the Earl of Kildare's house fram'd a Petition to the Lords Justices and Council humbly beseeching their Lordships for their License unto such as they should appoint to attend his Majesty in their behalf whereunto the Lords Justices and Council the 12. of the same month expressed their forwardness declaring how his
Ja. Ware God save the King An Abreviate of the Articles of Peace concluded by the Marquiss of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Commissioner for the King and the Lord Mountgarret President of the Supream Council the Lord Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Dermot O Brian Patrick Darcy Jeffery Brown and John Dillon Esquires Commissioners for the Irish. 1. THat the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Kingdom of Ireland or any of them be not bound or obliged to take the Oath of Supremacy expressed in the second of Queen Elis. commonly called the Oath of Supremacy 2. That a Parliament may be held on or before the last day of November next and that these Articles agreed on may be transmitted into England according to the usual Form and passed provided that nothing may be passed to the Prejudice of either Protestant or Catholick Party other then such things as upon this Treaty shall be concluded 3. That all Acts made by both or either Houses of Parliament to the Blemish or Prejudice of his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects since the 7th of August 1641. shall be vacated by Acts of Parliament 4. That no Actions of Law shall be removed before the said Parliament in case it be sooner called then the last of November And that all Impediments which may hinder the Roman Catholicks to sit in the next Parliament shall be remov'd before the Parliament sit 5. That all Debts do Stand in state as they were in the beginning of these Troubles 6. That the Plantation in Connaght Kilkenny Clare Thomond Tipperary Limrick and Wickloe may be revoked by Act of Parliament and their Estates secur'd in the next Sessions 7. That the Natives may erect one or more Inns of Court in or near the City of Dublin they taking an Oath as also one or more Universities to be Govern'd as his Majesty shall appoint as also to have Schools for Education of Youth in the Kingdom 8. That Places of Command of Forts Castles Garrisons Towns and other Places of Importance and all Places of Honour Profit and Trust shall be conferr'd with equal Indifferency upon the Catholicks as his Majesties other Subjects according to their respective Merits and Abilities 9. That 12000 l. Sterling be paid the King yearly for the Court of Wards 10. That no Peer may be capable of more Proxies then two And that no Lords Vote in Parliament unless in 5 years a Lord Baron purchase in Ireland 200 l. per anum a Viscount 400 l. and an Earl 600 l. or lose their Votes till they purchase 11. That the Independency of the Parliament of Ireland on the Kingdom of England shall be decided by Declaration of both Houses agreeable to the Laws of the Kingdom of Ireland 12. That the Council Table shall contain itself within its bounds in handling Matters of State as Patents of Plantations Offices c. and not meddle with matter betwixt Party and Party 13. That all Acts concerning Staple or Native Commodities of this Kingdom shall be repeal'd except Wooll and Woollfels and that the Commissioners the Lord Mountgarret and others named in the 26 Article shall be Authoriz'd under the Great Seal to moderate and ascertain the rates of Merchandize to be exported and imported 14. That no Governor be longer Resident then his Majesty shall find for the good of his People and that they make no purchase other then by Lease for the Provision of their Houses 15. That an Act of Oblivion may be passed without extending to any who will not accept of this Peace 16. That no Governor or any other Prime Minister of State in Ireland shall be Farmers of his Majesties Customs 17. That a Repeal of all Monopolies be passed 18. That Commissioners be appointed to regulate the Court of Castle-Chamber 19. That Acts Prohibiting Plowing by Horse-tails and burning of Oats in the Straw be repealed 20. That Course be taken against the Disobedience of the Cessation and Peace 21. That such Graces as were promised by his Majesty in the Fourth year of his Reign and sued for by a Committee of both Houses of Parliament and not express'd in these Articles may in the next ensuing Parliament be desir'd of his Majesty 22. That Maritine Causes be determin'd here without Appeal into England 23. That the increase of Rents lately rais'd upon the Commission of defective Titles be repeal'd 24. That all Interests of Money due by way of Debt Mortgage or otherwise and not yet satisfi'd since the 23. of Octob. 1641. to pay no more than 5l per Cent. 25. That the Commissioners have power to determine all Cases within their Quarters until the perfection of these Articles by Parliament and raise 10000 Men for his Majesty 26. That the Lord Mountgarret Muskery Sir Dan. O Bryan Sir Lucas Dillon Nich. Plunket Rich. Bealing Philip Mac-Hugh O Relie Terlogh O Neal Thomas Flemming Patrick Darcy Gerald Fennel and Jeffery Brown or any five of them be for the present Commissioners of the Peace Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-Delivery in the present Quarters of the Confederate Catholicks with power of Justice of Peace Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-Delivery as in former times of Peace they have usually had 27. That none of the Roman Catholick Party before there be a Settlement by Parliament Sue Implead or Arrest or be Sued Impleaded or Arrested in any Court other than before the Commissioners or in the several Corporations or other Judicatures within their Quarters 28. That the Confederate Catholicks continue in their Possessions until Settlement by Parliament and to be Commanded by his Majesties Chief Governour with the advice and consent of the Commissioners or any Five of them 29. That all Customs from the perfection of these Articles are to be paid into his Majesties Receipt and to his use as also all Rent due at Easter next till a full Settlement of Parliament 30. That the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-Delivery shall have power to hear and determine all Offences committed or done or to be committed or done from the 15th day of September 1643. until the first day of the next Parliament Thus the Marquess having perform'd all on his part that could be expected from him and was in his power to do and having receiv'd from other Parts all the assurance he could require there being no other way of engaging the publick Faith of the Nation than that to which they had so formally engaged themselves to him in he intended nothing then but how his Majesty might speedily receive some fruit of that Peace and Accommodation he thence expected by sending assistance to him And to that purpose with advice and upon invitation of several Persons who had great Authority and Power amongst the Confederate Catholicks the Lord Lieutenant took a Journey himself to Kilkenny where he was receiv'd with that Respect and Reverence as was due to his Person and to the Place he held and with such expressions of Triumph and Joy as gave him cause
to the hazard of our lives those Rebels of this Kingdom who shall refuse their obedience to his Majesty upon such terms as he hath thought fit by us to require it and we shall endeavour to the utmost the suppressing of that Independent-Party who have thus fiercely laboured the extirpation of the true Protestant Religion the ruine of our Prince the dishonour of Parliament and the Vassalage of our Fellow-Subjects against all those who shall depend upon them or adhere unto them And that this our undertaking might not appear obnoxious to the Trade of England but that we desire a firm Union and Agreement be preserved betwixt us we do likewise declare that we will continue free Traffick and Commerce with all his Majesties good Subjects of England and that we will not in the least manner prejudice any of them that shall have recourse to our Harbours either in their Bodies Ships or Goods nor shall we take any thing from them without payment of ready money for the same And now that by his Majesties said Command we have proceeded to re-enter upon the work of his Service in this Province We conceive no higher testimony can be given of his Majesties acceptation or of the estimation we bear about us towards their Proceedings than by resorting unto them in Person with his Majesties Authority and exhibiting unto them the incouragement and satisfaction they may receive in this assurance That as we bear an especial regard to their present undertakings and performances accompanied with a real sense of their former sufferings so lest there should any advantage be derived unto those who endeavour to improve all opportunities of sowing sedition and distrust by this suggestion that the former differences in Judgment and Opinion which have induced persons to serve diversly under his Majesty and the Parliament will occasion prejudice or ill resentments to arise towards such Persons as have not formerly concurred in Judgment with others in his Majesties Service We do declare that we are qualifi'd with special Power and Authority from his Majesty to assure them that no distinction shall be made in any such Consideration but that all Persons now interested and engaged in this Cause shall be reflected upon with equal fervour and regard and that we shall make it our endeavours so to improve and confirm his Majesties Gracious disposure towards them as that we will never call to memory any past difference in Opinion Judgment Action or Profession to the prejudice of any Member of this Army or any Person relating to it but on the contrary shall be very ready to attest our good affections towards them in the discharge of such good Offices as shall be in our power in return whereof we shall onely expect their perseverance in their present Ingagements for his Majesties Service with such alacrity constancy and affection as may suit with their late publick Declaration and Professions To whom we desire this assurance also may be inculcated That as we shall in the future use our utmost care and diligence to provide for their preservation from the like hardships to those they have formerly undergone so we have already employ'd our best industry and endeavours for the settlement of such a course as we may with most reason hope will in these uncertain times produce a constant and competent Subsistance for them enabling them to make such a progress in their present undertakings as may with the accomplishment of the great ends thereof establish their own Honour and Content Thus much we have thought fit to publish unto the World to furnish it with an evidence of strong conviction against us if we ever swerve to the best of our power from the just ways of maintaining the true Protestant Religion the Honour and Interest of his Sacred Majesty the just Rights of Parliament the Liberties of the Subjects and the safety quiet and welfare of the People intrusted to our Care At Cork 6. Octob. 1648. Here it must not be forgotten that during the time the Marquis was in France and after the Parliaments Forces had upon so great inequality of number defeated the Irish and in all Encounters driven them into their Fastnesses the Confederate Catholicks had easily discern'd the mischiefs they had brought upon themselves by forcing the Kings Authority out of the Kingdom and introducing another which had no purposes of mercy towards them And therefore they had sent the Lord Marquis of Antrim who from the beginning had passionately serv'd them in their most intimate Concerns the Lord Viscount Muskery and others as their Commissioners to the Queen of England and to her Son the Prince of Wales who were both then at Paris to beseech them since by reason of the King's imprisonment they could not be suffered to apply themselves to his Majesty to take compassion of the miserable condition of Ireland and to restore that Nation to their protection making ample professions and protestations of Duty and of applying themselves for the future to his Majesties Service if they might be once again own'd by him and countenanced and conducted by his Authority And thereupon the Queen and Prince answered those Persons That they would shortly send a Person qualifi'd to treat with them who should have power to give them whatsoever was requisite to their security and happiness With which Answer they return'd well satisfi'd into Ireland So that as soon as the Lord Lieutenant was Landed at Cork he wrote the 4th of October to the Assembly of the Confederate Catholicks then at Kilkenny That he was upon the humble Petition which they had presented to the Queen and Prince come with full power to conclude a Peace with them and to that purpose desir'd that as little time might be lost as was possible and that Commissioners might be sent to him at his House at Carrick whither he would go to expect them within 14 miles of the Place where the Assembly then sate who were so much gladder of his presence by the obligation which they had newly received from the Kings Authority For when the Nuncio and Owen O Neil had thought to have surprized them and to have compelled them to renounce the Cessation the Lord Inchequin being sent unto by them for his protection had march'd with his Army to their relief and forc'd O Neal over the Shannon thereby restoring them to liberty and freedom so that they return'd a message of joy and congratulation to the Lord Lieutenant for his safe arrival and appointed Commissioners to treat with him at the place appointed A Copy of the Marquis of Ormond's Letter to the Supreme Council afore-mention'd was gotten by Colonel Jones and sent over to the Committee of Derby-house and being read in the House of Commons it was Voted to be sent down into the Isle of Wight to the Commissioners then Treating there with the King to know if he would avow it and in case he did disavow it that then he would declare against
of them that would accept of it together with the Excommunication of the Marquess now Duke of Ormond and the order of Publication thereof whereupon Sir Nicholas Plunket who subscribed the said Instructions and principally insisted on the forementioned Particulars was sent for by the Committee of Lords who had the Examination of that Affair and acknowledging his hand-writing Report thereof was made to his Majesty and Council by whom it was ordered about the 14th of March 1661. That no more Petitions or Addresses should be received by the Irish to the obstruction of the Settlement of that Kingdom and that Sir Nicholas Plunket should thence-forward no more presume to come into his Majesties Presence nor to Court Likewise there was produced an Oath previously taken by several of the Popish Nobility Clergy and others of the Gentry of Ireland before the Articles of Peace made in 1648. which they so much insist upon wherein they swear and engage That if those Articles of Peace were not in every particular for their advantage performed they would not be concluded by any thing therein Which appear'd to be so damnable a Piece of Treachery as it was highly resented in Council and the rather for that his Grace stood up and justified that to his knowledge it was a Truth And lest the memory of so great a Deliverance should slip out of our thoughts I shall in the next place present you with the Anniversary Act for its observance that this may be to us not less then the Passover to the Israelites for a Memorial and a Feast to the Lord throughout our Generations by an Ordinance for ever AN ACT FOR Keeping and Celebrating the three and twentieth day of October as an Anniversary Thanksgiving in this Kingdom WHereas many Malignant and Rebellious Papists and Jesuits Friers Seminary Priests and other Superstitious Orders of the Popish pretended Clergy most disloyally treacherously and wickedly conspired to surprize His Majesties Castle of Dublin His Majesties principal Fort of this Kingdom of Ireland the City of Dublin and all other Cities and Fortifications of this Realm and that all the Protestants and English throughout the whole Kingdom that would not joyn with them should be cut off and finally by a general Rebellion to deprive our late Sovereign Lord of ever blessed memory King Charles the First of this his ancient and rightful Crown and Sovereignty of this Kingdom and to possess themselves thereof all which was by the said Conspirators plotted and intended to be acted on the three and twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord God One thousand six hundred forty and one a Conspiracy so generally inhumane barbarous and cruel as the like was never before heard of in any Age or Kingdom and if it had taken effect in that fulness which was intended by the Conspirators it had occasioned the utter ruine of this whole Kingdom and the Government thereof And however it pleased Almighty God in his unsearchable Wisdom and Justice as a just punishment and deserved correction to his People for their sins and the sins of this Kingdom to permit then and afterwards the effecting of a great part of that Destruction complotted by those wicked Conspirators whereby many thousand British and Protestants have been massacred many thousands of others of them have been afflicted and tormented with the most exquisite torments that malice could suggest and all Mens Estates as well those whom they barbarously murthered as all other good Subjects were wasted ruined and destroyed yet as his Divine Majesty hath in all Ages shown his Power and Mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of his Church and in the protection of Religious Kings and States so even in the midst of his Justice he was graciously pleased to extend Mercy to his Majesty and to this his Kingdom and good Subjects therein not only in mercifully discovering to the then Lords Justices by one Owen O Connelly a meer Irish Man but trained up in the Protestant Religion who out of a sense of his Duty and Loyalty to his Majesty and for the preservation of his good People and as an effect of that Religion he was trained up in revealed that hideous and bloody Treason not many hours before the appointed time for the Execution thereof but also in preserving the said Castle and City of Dublin and some other Cities Towns and Castles in the Kingdom from the bloody hands of the barbarous Conspirators as also in thereby rendring deliverance of the Lives of the said Lords Justices and Council and of all the British and Protestants in Dublin and in the said other Cities Towns and Castles preserved and of sundry other British and Protestants faln into the hands of those rebellious Conspirators and likewise in sending us Succours out of England hither by the Piety Care and Wisdom of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles the First whereby with Gods blessing the good Subjects of this Kingdom have hitherto continued safe under his mighty Protection notwithstanding the unexampled rage and implacable malice of those merciless Rebels Wherefore as we do most humbly and justly acknowledge Gods Justice in our deserved punishments in those Calamities which from the Councils and Actions of those Conspirators and their Adherents have faln upon us in this Kingdom in general so we do in like manner acknowledge that even in exercising of that his Justice he remembred Mercy also and magnified his Mercies to us in those great Blessings which we humbly confess to have proceeded meerly from his infinite Goodness and Mercy and therefore to his most holy Name we do ascribe all Honour Glory and Praise And to the end this unfeigned Thankfulness may never be forgotten but may be had in a perpetual Remembrance that all Ages to come may yield Praises to his Divine Majesty for the same and have in memory that joyful Day of Deliverance Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same that the three and twentieth day of October shall be kept and celebrated as an Anniversary holy day in this Kingdom for ever and that all Persons do at that day forbear all bodily Labour and the exercise of their Trades and that all and singular Ministers in every Cathedral and Parish Church or other usual place for Common-Prayer within this Realm of Ireland shall always upon the three and twentieth day of October say Morning Prayer and give thanks to Almighty God for that most happy and miraculous Deliverance and Preservation far above the expectations of those wretched Conspirators And that all and every Person and Persons inhabiting within this Realm of Ireland shall yearly upon the three and twentieth day of October diligently and faithfully resort to the Parish Church or Chappel accustomed or to some usual Church or Chappel where the said Morning Prayer Preaching or other Service of God
through the World ever equall'd it in the Circumstances that accompanied the Butcheries Massacres Cruelties yea the mercy of the Rebels in that War though in the end fatal to the Irish themselves above any thing that ever befel that Nation so as the greatness of their Sufferings may well testifie the remarkableness of their Crimes sutable to the innocent blood they had barbarously shed and the devastations they had made of a most flourishing and well setled Kingdom APPENDIX I. Fol. 10. Questions wherein the House of Commons humbly desires that the House of the Lords would be pleased to require the Judges to deliver their Resolutions INasmuch as the Subjects of this Kingdom are Free Loyal and Dutiful Subjects to his Most Excellent Majesty their Natural Leige Lord and King and to be governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of force in this Kingdom in the same manner and form as his Majesty's Subjects of the Kingdom are and ought to be governed by the said Common Laws and Statutes of force in that Kingdom which of right the Subjects of this Kingdom do Challenge and make their Protestation to be their Birthright and best Inheritance Yet inasmuch as the unlawful Actions and Proceedings of some of his Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice of late years Introduced and Practised in this Kingdom did tend to the Infringing and Violation of the Laws Liberties and Freedom of the said Subjects of this Kingdom contrary to his Majesties Royal and Pious intentions Therefore the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled not for any doubt or ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concering the Premises nor of the ensuing questions but for manifestation and declaration of a clear Truth and of the said Laws and Statutes already planted and for many Ages past setled in this Kingdom The said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do therefore pray that the House of the Lords may be pleased to command the Judges of this Kingdom forthwith to declare in Writing their Resolutions of and unto the ensuing questions and subscribe to the same 1. Whether the Judges of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of force in this Kingdom 2. Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgement or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases and whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit Judgement or Execution thereupon what punishment do they incurr for their deviation and transgression therein 3. Whether the King's Majesties Privy Councel either with the Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom or without him or them be a place of Judicature by the Common Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accounts Portions or Title of Lands or any of them and which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law and of what force are their Orders and Decree in such Cases or any of them 4. The like of the Chief Governours alone 5. Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended trangressions against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them 6. In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom and Councel may punish by Fine Imprisonment mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise and whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like Punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what Punishment do they incurr that Vote for the same 7. Of what force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberty Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether they or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by infringing any such Act of State Proclamation or both what Punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy-Councellors incurr that Vote for such Acts and Execution thereof 8. Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to Marshal Law and whether any man in time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be sentenced to Death If so by whom and in what Cases If not what Punishment do they incurr that in time of Peace execute Marshal Law 9. Whether voluntary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for affirmance or disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be Punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore 10. Why and by what Law and by what rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to reducement of Fines and other Penalty in the Castle-Chamber or Councel-Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is censured when as revera he might be innocent thereof though suborned Proofs or circumstances might induce a Censure 11. Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judge of Goal-delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny the Copies of Indictment of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to the Law 12. What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the respit of homage arbitrarily to what rate they please to what value they may raise it by what Law they may distinguish between the respit of homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are approportionable by Parliament 13. Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal unto his Majesty for redress of Injuries or for other lawful Actions if so why and in what condition of Persons and by what Law 14. Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de mero Jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so why and by what Law and whether the Confirmation of a Dean de facto of the Bishops grant be good and valid in Law or no if not by what Law 15. Whether the issuing of Quo warrantoes out of the Kings-Bench or Exchequer against Bourroughs that antiently and recently sent Burgesses to Parliament to shew cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament be legal if not what punishment ought to be inflicted upon those that are or have been the Occasioners Procurers and
who shut up the said places and other passages and ways to his Majesties Justice and Mercy from his Majesties well-affected Subjects of this Kingdom for the Exaltation therefore of the holy Roman Catholick Church for the advancement of his Majesties Service and the preservation of the Lives Estates and liberties of his Majesties true Subjects of this Kingdom against the Injustice Murders Massacres Rapes Depredations Robberies Burnings frequent breaches of Quarter and publick Faith and destruction daily perpetrated and acted upon his Majesties said Subjects and advis'd contriv'd and daily exercis'd by the said malignant Party some of them managing the Government and Affairs of State in Dublin some other parts of this Kingdom to his Highness great disservice and complying with their Confederates the malignant Party in England and elsewhere who as it is manifest to all the world do complot and practice to dishonour and destroy his Majesty his Royal Consort the Queen their Issue and the Monarchal Government which is of most dangerous consequence to all the Monarchs and Princes in Christendom The said Assembly doth order and establish a Councel by name A Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland who are to consist of the number of 24. to be forthwith nam'd by the Assembly whereof 12 at the least to be forthwith nam'd shall reside in this Kingdom or where-else they shall think expedient And the members of the said Council shall have equal Votes and two parts of the three or more concurring present Votes to conclude and no fewer to sit in Council than 9 whereof 7 at least are to concur And of the 24 a President shall be nam'd of the Assembly who is to be one of the twelve resident and if in case of his death absence or sickness the rest of these who shall be resident may name a Vice-president of the 24. And the said Council shall have the Power and preheminence following viz. The Lords Generals and all other Commanders of Armies and Civil Magistrates and Officers in the several Provinces shall observe their Orders and Decrees and shall do nothing contrary to their directions and shall give them speedy advertisement and account of their proceedings and actions with as much expedition as may be That the said Council shall have power to order and determine all such matters as by this Assembly shall be left undetermined and shall be recommended unto them and their Orders therein to be of force until the next Assembly and after until the same be revoked That the said Council shall have Power and Authority to do and execute all manner of Acts and things conducing to the advancement of the Catholick Cause and the good of this Kingdom and concerning this VVar as if done by the Assembly And shall have power to hear and determine all matters Capital Criminal or Civil except the Right or Title of Land That the Generals and other Commanders of Armies and all Governors and civil Magistrates and all other persons within this Realm shall obey the Orders and Decrees of the said Council touching the present Service That the Council shall have for their Guard the number of 500 Foot and 200 Horse to be equally extracted out of the Armies of the four Provinces 5. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that in every Province of this Kingdom there shall be a Provincial-councel and in every County a County-councel the Provincial-councel to be compos'd of the number of two of each County and the said Provincial-councel shall chuse a President for themselves 6. That the Provincial-councel shall sit four times a Year and oftner if there be cause for it That they shall have power and Authority to renew or reverse the Judgment of the County-councel the party complaining entring Security De adjudicat ' solvend ' And shall during the trouble have power to hear and determine all matters of the Crown as Judges of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol-delivery were wont to do so that no Spiritual person be present at the determining matters of blood And shall have power to hear and determine all civil Causes and to establish Rents and Possessions so that they meddle not with the Title of Land other than in case of Dower and Joynture And the Sheriffs Provincial-generals and all Commanders of the Armies in case of Disobedience are respectively required to execute the Decrees and Orders And in case of Debts and Accounts great consideration is to be had of the disabilities of Creditors occasion'd by the VVar. 7. Item In every County there shall be a County-councel consisting of one or two of each Barony at the Election of the County and where there are no Baronies the Councel of such County to consist of the number of 12. And the said County-council shall have power and Authority in all points as Justices of the Peace to hear and determine all the matters concerning the Offices of the Justice of Peace and all matters of the Crown happening within every such County and the Delinquent may if he please have his Trial in the Province and to hear and determine Debts Trespasses and personal Demands and to do all things as Justices of the Peace were accustomed to do and to restore and establish possessions taken by force or fraud since these troubles And likewise to take a special care that Tenants and Farmers be kept to their Farms where they were used and to be preserv'd from Extortion and Oppression And that Trades Tradesmen Manufactures Agriculture and Husbandry be maintained and duly kept 8. Item In Cities and Towns Corporate Justice is to be done and the Laws executed as is accustomed 9. Item In every County there shall be Coroners High-Sheriffs High-Constables and petty-Constables and Gaolers who are to do their respective Offices as accustomed the High-Sheriff to be confirm'd or nominated by the Supream Council and the High-Sheriff is required to execute the Commands Orders and Decrees of the Provincial and County-council 10. Item In every County the High-Sheriff shall be Provost-Marshal and shall have power to execute a Layman not worth 5 l. and none other for Murther Man-slaughter Burglary Theft Robbery or other capital Offence provided the party to be executed may have 24 hours time to prepare his Soul And that the Supream and Provincial-council shall and may name more Provost-Marshals as they shall think expedient qualified with the like Authority 11. Item It is further order'd that no Temporal Government or Jurisdiction shall be assumed kept or exercised in this Kingdom or within any County or Province thereof during these troubles other than is before expressed except such Jurisdiction and Government as is or shall be approv'd by the General Assembly or the Supream Council 12. Item It is further order'd that whosoever hath enter'd since the first day of October 1641. or shall hereafter during the continuance of the War in this Kingdom enter into the Lands Tenements or Hereditaments at or immediately before the first day of
Protestant Religion and all the Brittish Professors thereof out of this Your Majesties Kingdom And to the end it may the better in some measure appear Your Suppliants have made choice of Captain William Ridgeway Sir Francis Hamilton Knight and Baronet Captain Michael Jones and Mr. Fenton Parsons whom they have employed and authorized as their Agents to manifest the truth thereof in such Particulars as for the present they are furnish'd withal referring the more ample manifestation thereof to the said Captain William Ridgeway Sir Francis Hamilton Captain Jones and Fenton Parsons or any three or more of them and such other Agents as shall with all convenient speed be sent as occasion shall require to attend Your Majesty from Your Protestant Subjects of the several Provinces of this Your Kingdom VVe therefore Your Majesties most humble loyal and obedient Protestant-Subjects casting down our selves at Your Royal feet and flying to You for succour and redress in these our great Calamities as our most gracious Soveraign Lord and King and next and immediately under Almighty God our Protector and Defence most humbly beseeching Your Sacred Majesty to admit into Your Royal Presence from time to time our said Agents and in Your great VVisdom to take into Your Princely Care and Consideration the distressed Estate and humble desires of Your said Subjects so that to the Glory of God Your Majesties Honour and the happiness of Your good Subjects the Protestant Religion may be restored throughout the whole Kingdom to its lustre that the losses of Your Protestant Subjects may be repaired in such manner and measure as Your Majesty in Your Princely VVisdom shall think fit and that this Your Kingdom may be setled as that Your said Protestant Subjects may hereafter live therein under the happy Government of Your Majesty and Your Royal Posterity with comfort and security whereby Your Majesty will render Your self through the whole VVorld a most just and Glorious Defender of the Protestant Religion and draw down a Blessing on all other Your Royal Undertakings for which Your Petitioners will ever pray c. Subscribed by the Earl of Kildare Lord Viscount Montgomery Lord Blany and many others To which they received this Answer by His Majesties Command At Our Court at Oxford the 25th of April 1644. His Majesty being very sensible of the Petitioners Losses and sufferings is ready to hear and relieve them as the Exigencie of his Affairs will permit and wisheth the Petitioners to propose what they think fit in particular for his Majesties Information and the Petitioners Remedy and future Security Edw. Nicholas Upon the reading of the Petition His Majesty was pleased to say That He knew the Contents of the Petition to be Truth APPENDIX XII Fol. 142. The Propositions of the Roman Catholicks of Ireland humbly presented to His Sacred Majesty in pursuance of their Remonstrance of Grievances and to be annexed to the said Remonstrance together with the humble Answer of the Agents for the Protestants of Ireland to the said Propositions made in pursuance of Your Majesties directions of the 9th of May 1644. requiring the same 1. Pro. THAT all Acts made against the Professors of the Roman Catholick faith whereby any restraint penalty Mulct or incapacity may be laid upon any Roman Catholicks within the Kingdom of Ireland may be repealed and the said Catholicks to be allowed the freedom of the Roman Catholick Religion Answ. To the first we say that this hath been the pretence of almost all those who have entred into Rebellion in the Kingdom of Ireland at any time since the Reformation of Religion there which was setled by Acts of Parliament above eighty years since and hath wrought good effects ever since for the peace and welfare both of the Church and Kingdom there and of the Church and Kingdom of England and Protestant party throughout all Christendom and so hath been found wholesom and necessary by long experience and the repealing of those Laws will set up Popery again both in Jurisdiction profession and practice as that was before the said Reformation and introduce among other inconveniencies the Supremacy of Rome and take away or much endanger Your Majesties Supream and just Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical Administration of honour and power not to be endured the said Acts extending as well to seditious Sectaries as to Popish Recusants so as by the repeal thereof any man may seem to be left to chuse his own Religion in that Kingdom which must needs beget great confusion and the abounding of the Roman Clergy hath been one of the greatest occasions of this late Rebellion besides it is humbly desired that Your Majesty will be pleased to take into Your gracious consideration a Clause in the Act of Parliament passed by Your Majesties Royal Assent in England in the 17th year of Your Raign touching punishments to be inflicted upon those that shall introduce the Authority of the See of Rome in any Cause whatsoever 2. Pro. That Your Majesty will be pleased to call a free Parliament in the said Kingdom to be held and continued as in the said Remonstrance is expressed and the Statute of the 10th year of King Hen. 7. called Poyning's Acts explaining or enlarging the same be suspended during that Parliament for the speedy settlement of the present Affairs and the repeal thereof be there further considered of Answ. VVhereas their desire to have a free Parliament called reflecteth by secret and cunning implication upon Your Majesties present Parliament in Ireland as if it were not a free Parliament we humbly beseech Your Majesty to present how dangerous it is to make such insinuation or intimation to your people of that Kingdom touching that Parliament wherein several Acts of Parliament have already past the validity whereof may be endangered if the Parliament should not be approved as a free Parliament and it is a point of high nature as we humbly conceive is not properly to be dismissed but in Parliament and Your Majesties said Parliament now sitting is a free Parliament in Law holden before a person of honour and fortune in the Kingdom composed of good loyal and well-affected Subjects to Your Majesty who doubtless will be ready to comply in all things that shall appear to be pious and just for the good of the True Protestant Religion and for Your Majesties service and the good of the Church and State that if this present Parliament should be dissolved it would be a great terrour and discontent to all Your Majesties Protestant Subjects of the Kingdom and may be also a means to force many of Your Majesties Subjects to quit that Kingdom or peradventure to adhere to some other party there in opposition of the Romish Irish Confederates rather than to be liable to their power which effects may prove of most dangerous consequence and we humbly offer to Your Majesties consideration Your own gracious Expression mentioned in the grounds and motives inducing Your Majesty to agree to a
of your Subjects by reason of the Court of Wards and respit of Homage be taken away and certain revenue in Lieu thereof setled upon your Majesty without diminution of your Majesties profits Answ. We know of no Oppression by reason of the Court of Wards and we humbly conceive that the Court of Wards is of great use for the raising of your Majesties Revenues the preservation of your Majesties Tenures and chiefly the Education of the Gentry in the Protestant Religion and in Civility and Learning and good Manners who otherwise would be brought up in ignorance and barbarism their Estates be ruined by their Kindred and Friends and continue their depending upon their Chieftains and Lords to the great prejudice of your Majesties service and Protestant Subjects and there being no colour of exception to your Majesties just Title to Wardships we know not why the taking away of your Court concerning the same should be pressed unless it be to prevent the Education of the Lords and Gentry that fall Wards in the Protestant Religion For that part of this Proposition which concerns respit of Homage we humbly conceive that reasonable that some way may be settled for that if that standeth with your Majesties good pleasure without prejudice to your Majesty or your Majesties Protestant Subjects 10. Pro. That no Lord not estated in the Kingdom or estated and not resident shall have Vote in the said Parliament by Proxie or otherwise and none admitted to the House of Commons but such as shall be estated and resident within the Kingdom Answ. We humbly conceive that in the year 1641. by the Graces which your Majesty then granted to your Subjects of Ireland the matter of this Proposition was in a fair way regulated by your utter abolishing of blank Proxies and limiting Lords present and attending in the Parliament of Ireland that no one of them should be capable of more Proxies then two and prescribing the Peers of that Kingdom not there resident to purchase fitting proportions of Land in Ireland within five years from the last of July 1641. or else to loose their Votes till they should make such purchases which purchases by reason of the troubles hapning in the Kingdom and which have continued for two years and a half have not peradventure yet been made and therefore your Majesty may now be pleased and may take just occasion to enlarge that time for five years more from the time when that Kingdom may again be settled in a happy firm peace and as to members of the House of Commons the same is most fit as we humbly conceive to be regulated by the Laws and Statutes of that Kingdom 11. Pro. That an Act be passed in the next Parliament declaratory that the Parliament of Ireland is a free Parliament of it self independant of and not subordinate to the Parliament of England and that the Subjects of Ireland are immediately subject to your Majesty as in right of your revenue and that the Members of the said Parliament of Ireland and all other the Subjects of Ireland are independant and no way to be ordered or concluded by the Parliament of England and are only to be ordered and governed within that Kingdom by your Majesty and such Governours as are or shall be there appointed and by the Parliament of that Kingdom according to the Laws of the Land Answ. This Proposition concerns your Majesties High Court of Parliament both of England and Ireland and is beyond our abilities who are not acquainted with the Records and Presidents of this Nature to give an answer thereunto and therefore we humbly desire your Majesties pardon for not answering unto the same 12. Pro. That the assumed Power or Jurisdiction in the Council-Board of determining all manner of Causes be limited to matters of State and all Patents Estates and Grants illegally and extrajudiciously avoided there or elsewhere be left in state as before and the parties grieved their Heirs or Assigns till legal eviction Answ. The Council-Table hath aways excercised Jursdiction in some cases ever since the English Government was setled in that Kingdom and is of long continuance in cases of some Nature as the beginning thereof appeareth not which seemeth to be by prescription and hath always been armed with Power to examin upon Oath as a Court of Justice or in the nature of a Court of Justice in cases of some natures and may be very necessary still in many cases especially for the present till your Majesties Laws may more generally be received in that Kingdom and we conceive that Board is so well limited by printed Instructions in your Majesties Royal Fathers time and by your Majesties Graces in the seventeenth year of your Reign that it needeth for this present little or no regulating at all howbeit they humbly referr that to your Majesties great wisdom and goodness to do therein as to Law and Justice shall appertain 13. Pro. That the Statutes of the 11th 12th and 13th years of Queen Elizabeth concerning the Staple Commodities be repealed referving to his Majesty lawful and just Poundage and a Book of Rates be setled by an indifferent Committy of both Houses for all Comodities Answ. The matter of this Proposition is settled in a fitting and good way by your Majesty already as we conceive amongst the Graces granted by your Majesty to your people of Ireland in the Seventeenth year of your Majesties Reign to which we humbly referr our selves 14. Pro. That insomuch as the long continuance of the chief Governour or Governours of that Kingdom in that place of so great eminency and power hath been a principall occasion that much Tyranny and Oppression hath been used and exercised upon the Subjects of that Kingdom that your Majesty will be pleased to continue such Governours hereafter but for three years and that none once employed therein be appointed for the same again until the expiration of six years next after the end of the first three years and that an Act pass to disanul such Governour or Governours during their Government directly or indirectly in Use Trust or otherwise to make any manner of Purchase or acquisition of any Mannors Lands Tenements or Hereditaments within that Kingdom other then from your Majesties own Heirs and Successors Answ. We humbly conceive that this Proposition tendeth to lay a false and scandalous aspersion on your Majesties gracious Government over Ireland and that it toucheth very high upon your Wisdom Justice and Power and under colour of supposed Corruptions pretended to be in the greatest Officer that Commandeth under your Majesty there if he continue so long in his Government as may well enable him to find out and discover the true State of the Kingdom and the dangerous disposition and designs of the Popish party there to prevent him therein and to turne him out from doing Service before or as soon as he is throughly informed and experienced how to do the same and then to hold him excluded so long
Answers they had Humbly offered pretending not to be Judges but submissive Petitioners for what was committed to their Charge APPENDIX XIII Fol. 144. The Humble Propositions of your Majesties Protestant Agents of Ireland in pursuance of the humble Petition of your Majesties Protestant Subjects as well Commanders of your Majesties Army there as others presented to your Majesty the 18th day of April 1644. and answered by your Majesty the 25 of the same 1. WE most humbly desire the Establishment of the true Protestant Religion in Ireland according to the Laws and Statutes in the said Kingdom now in force 2. That the Popish Titular Arch-Bishops Bishops Jesuits Friers and Priests and all others of the Roman Clergy be banished out of Ireland because they have been the stirrers up of all Rebellion and while they continue there there can be no hope of safety for your Majesties Protestant Subjects And that all the Laws and Statutes established in that Kingdom against Popery and Popish Recusants may continue of force and be put in due Execution 3. That Restitution may be made of all our Churches and Church Rights and Revenues and all our Churches and Chappels re-edified and put in as good Estate as they were at the breaking out of the Rebellion and as they ought to be at the Charge of the Confederate Roman Catholicks as they call themselves who have been the occasion of the Destruction of the said Churches and possessed themselves of the Profits and Revenues thereof 4. That the Parliament now sitting in Ireland may be continued there for the better settlement of the Kingdom and that all Persons duly indicted in the said Kingdom of Treason Felonie or other heinous Crimes may be duly and legally proceeded against outlaw'd tried and adjudged according to Law And that all Persons lawfully convicted and attainted or to be convicted and attainted for the same may receive due punishment accordingly 5. That no Man may take upon him or execute the Office of a Major or Magistrate in any Corporation or the Office of a Sheriff or Justice of Peace in any City or County in the said Kingdom until he have first taken the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance 6. That all Popish Lawyers who refuse to take the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance may be suppress'd and restrain'd from practice in that Kingdom the rather because the Lawyers in England do not here practice until they take the Oath of Supremacy And it hath been found by woful Experience that the Advice of Popish Lawyers to the people of Ireland hath been a great cause of their continued Disobedience 7. That there may be a present absolute Suppression and Dissolution of all the assumed Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power which the said Confederates exercise over Your Majesties Subjects both in Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal 8. That all the Arms and Ammunition of the said Confederates be speedily brought into Your Majesties Stores 9. That Your Majesties Protestant Subjects ruin'd and destroy'd by the said Confederates may be repair'd for their great losses out of the Estates of the said Confederates not formerly by any Acts of this present Parliament in England otherwise dispos'd of whereby they may the better be enabl'd to re-inhabit and defend the said Kingdom of Ireland 10. That the said Confederates may rebuild the several Plantation-Houses and Castles destroy'd by them in Ireland in as good state as they were at the breaking out of the Rebellion which Your Majesties Protestant Subjects have been bound by their several Patents to build and maintain for Your Majesties Service 11. That the great Arrears of Rent due to Your Majestie out of the Estates of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects at and since Michaelmas 1641. may be paid unto Your Majestie by such of the said Confederates who have either receiv'd the said Rents to the uses of the said Confederates or destroy'd the same by disabling Your Majesties Protestant Subjects to pay the same And have also destroy'd all or the most part of all other Rents or means of support belonging to Your said Protestant Subjects And that Your said Protestant Subjects may be discharg'd of all such Arrears of Rents to Your Majestie 12. That the said Confederates may give satisfaction to the Army for the great Arrears due unto them since the Rebellion and that such Commanders as have rais'd Forces at their own Charges and laid forth great sums of Money out of their own Purses and engag'd themselves for Money and Provisions to keep themselves their Holds and Souldiers under their Commands in the due necessary Defence of Your Majesties Rights and Laws may be in due sort satisfied to the encouragement of others in like times and Cases which may happen 13. That touching such parts of the Confederate Estates as being forfeited for their Treasons are come or shall duly come into Your Majesties hands and possession by that Title Your Majesty after the due satisfaction first made to such as claim by former Acts of Parliament would be pleased to take the same into your own hands and possession and for the necessary encrease of Your Majesties Revenue and better security of the said Kingdom of Ireland and the Protestant Subjects living under your gracious Government there to plant the same with Brittish and Protestants upon reasonable and honourable Terms 14. That one good walled Town may be built and kept repair'd in every County of the said Kingdom of Ireland and endow'd and furnish'd with necessary and sufficient means of legal and just Government and Defence for the better security of Your Majesties Laws and Rights more especially the true Protestant Religion in time of Danger in any of which Towns no Papist may be permitted to dwell or inhabit 15. That for the better satisfaction of Justice and Your Majesties Honour and for the future security of the said Kingdom and Your Majesties Protestant Subjects there exemplary punishment according to Law may be inflicted upon such as have there traiterously levied VVar and taken up Arms against Your Majesties Protestant Subjects and Laws and therein against Your Majesty especially upon such as have had their hands in the shedding of Innocent blood or had to do with the first Plot or Conspiracy or since that time have done any notorious Murther or Covert Act of Treason 16. That all Your Majesties Towns Forts and places of strength destroy'd by the said Confederates since the said Rebellion may be by them and at their Charges re-edified and deliver'd up into Your Majesties hands to be duly put into the Government under Your Majestie and Your Laws of your good Protestants And that all Strengths and Fortifications made and set up by the said Confederates since the said Rebellion may be slighted and thrown down or else deliver'd up and disposed of for Protestant Government and Security as aforesaid 17. That according to the Presidents of former times in cases of General Rebellions in Ireland the Attainders which have been duly had by Outlawry for
Treason done in this Rebellion may be establish'd and confirm'd by Act of Parliament to be in due form of Law transmitted and passed in Ireland and that such Traitors as for want of Protestant and indifferent Jurors to indict them in the proper County are not yet indicted nor convicted or attainted by Outlawry or otherwise may upon due proof of their offences be by like Acts of Parliament convicted and attainted and all such offenders forfeit their Estates as to Law appertaineth and Your Majesty to be adjudged and put in possession without any Office or Inquisition to be had 18. That Your Majesties Protestant Subjects may be restored to the quiet Possession of all their Castles Houses Mannors Lands Tenements Hereditaments and Leases and to the quiet possession of the Rents thereof as they had the same before and at the time of the breaking forth of this Rebellion and from whence without due Process and Judgment of Law they have since then been put or kept out and may be answer'd of and for all the Mean Profits of the same in the interim and for all the time until they shall be so restored 19. That Your Majesties said Protestant Subjects may also be restor'd to all their Moneys Plate Jewels Houshold-stuff Goods and Chattels whatsoever which without due Process or Judgment in Law have been by the said Confederates taken or detain'd from them since the contriving of the said Rebellion which may be gain'd in kind or the full value thereof if the same may not be had in kind and the like restitution to be made for all such things which during the said time have been deliver'd to any person or persons of the said Confederates in trust to be kept or preserv'd but are by colour thereof still withholden 20. That the establishment and maintenance of a compleat Protestant-Army and sufficient Protestant-Souldiers and Forces for the time to come be speedily taken into Your Majesties prudent just and gracious Consideration and such a course laid down and continued according to the Rules of good Government that Your Majesties Right and Laws the Protestant Religion and peace of that Kingdom be no more endanger'd by the like Rebellions in time to come 21. That whereas it appeareth in Print that the said Confederates amongst other things aim at the repeal of Poyning's Law thereby to open an easie and ready way in the passing of Acts of Parliament in Ireland without having them first well consider'd of in England which may produce many dangerous Consequences both to that Kingdom and to Your Majesties other Dominions Your Majesty would be pleased to resent and reject all Propositions tending to introduce so great a diminution of Your Royal and necessary Power for the confirmation of your Royal Estate and protection of Your good Protestant Subjects both there and elsewhere 22. That Your Majesty out of Your grace and favour to your Protestant Subjects of Ireland would be pleased to consider effectually of answering them that you will not give order for or allow of the transmitting into Ireland any Act of general Oblivion Release or discharge of Actions or Suits whereby Your Majesties said Protestant Subjects there may be barred or depriv'd of their Legal Remedies which by Your Majesties Laws and Statutes of that Kingdom they may have against the said Confederates or any of them or any of their party for or in respect of any wrongs done unto them or any of their Ancestors or Predecessors in or concerning their Lives Liberties Persons Lands Goods or Estates since the contriving and breaking forth of the said Rebellion 23. That some fit course may be consider'd of to prevent the filling or over-laying of the Commons House of Parliament in Ireland with Popish Recusants being ill-affected Members and that provision be duly made that none shall Vote or sit therein but such as shall first take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy 24. That the proofs and manifestations of the truth of the several matters contain'd in the Petition of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects of Ireland lately presented to Your Majesty may be duly examined discussed and in that respect the final Conclusion of things respited for a convenient time their Agents being ready to attend with Proofs in that behalf as your Majesty shall appoint In answer wereunto it was replied by the Committee of Lords and others of Irish affaires at Oxford 1. That their Lordships did not think that the Propositions presented by the Protestant Agents to his Majesty and that morning read before their Lordships were the sence of the Protestants of Ireland 2. That those Propositions were not agreeable to the Instructions given the said Agents by the Protestants of Ireland 3. That if those Propositions were drawn they would lay a prejudice on his Majesty and his Ministers to Posterity these remaining on Record if a Treaty should go on and Peace follow which the Kings necessity did enforce and that the Lords of the Committee apprehended the said Agents did flatly oppose a Peace with the Irish. 4. That it would be impossible for the King to grant the Protestants Agents desires and grant a Peace to the Irish. 5. That the Lords of the Committee desired the Protestant Agents to propose a way to effect their desires either by Force or Treaty considering the condition of his Majesties Affaires in England To the first the Protestant Agents replied that they humbly conceived that the Propositions which they had presented to his Majesty were the sence of of the Protestants of Ireland To the Second That the Propositions are agreeable to the Instructions given to the said Agents by the Protestants of Ireland and conduced to the well settlement of that Kingdom To the Third That they had no thought to draw prejudice on his Majesty or their Lordships by putting in those Propositions neither had they so soon put in Propositions had not his Majesty by his Answer to the Protestant Petition directed the same To the Fourth The said Agents humbly conceived that they were imployed to make proof of the effect of the Protestant Petition to manifest the inhumane Cruelties of the Rebels and then to offer such things as they thought fit for the Security of the Protestants in in their Religion Lives Liberties and Fortunes That the said Protestants had no disaffection to Peace so as punishment might be inflicted according to Law as in the Propositions are expressed and that the said Protestants might be repaired for their great losses out of the Estates of the Rebels not formerly by any Acts of this present Parliament in England otherwise disposed of which the said Agents desired might be represented to his Majesty and the Lords of the Committee accordingly To the Fifth That the said Protestant Agents were Strangers to his Majesties Affairs in England and conceived that part more proper for the advice of his Councils then the said Agents and therefore desired to be excused for medling in the treaty further then the
inclination the Irish endeavour to delude him * Arthur Annesly Esq. Sir Robert King Sir Robert Meredith Colonel John Moore Colonel Michael Jones who carried over a Regiment of Horse and 1000 Foot and was made Commander in chief of all the Forces within the Province of Leimster and Governor of Dublin who upon his entrance upon the Place found 11 old Regiments of Foot which he reduced to 7. viz. The Earl of Kildare's the Lord Moor's Sir Henry Tichburn Sir John Borlase Jun. Colonel Francis Willoughby Colonel Baily and Flowers in all about 4000. no Recruit being sent to any of them 1647 * Edw. Parry Laonensis Jac. Margetson nunc temporis Armachanus Ben. Culme Anibr Anngier Ja. Sybald Godf. Rhodes Hen. Hall exin Episc Acadensis Jos. War Jo. Brookbank Gilbert Dean Dud. Boswell Rob. Parry Joan. Creighton Can. Edw. Syng exin Ardfertensis Rob. Dickson Rand. Ince Hen. Byrch Rich. Powell The Marquis of Ormond having free access to the King acquaints him of the Impression he had made in many for his Service Some of the Scots being convinc'd of what they had done amiss in his Majesties Service better resolve and encourage the Marquis of Ormond to return into Ireland The subtilty of the Independent Army The Marquis now suspected by the Army Gen. Preston routs Colonel Jones Preston's advance on a design to Dublin * The Lord Digby Dungan-hill Battel the 8. of Aug. 1647. by some term'd Linch-Knock Battel Jones's and Monk's good Service The Battle of Knocknones or Knockness Inchiquin meditates the Alteration of his Party The Marquess of Ormond provides to return into Ireland pre-possessing the Marquess of Clanrickard and the Lord Taaff with the Design The Lord Inchiquin of the same Party 1648. The Nuncio pursued close and then quits the Kingdom Viz. 23. of Feb. 1648 9. An Express of the Nuncio's Behaviour Jones finding Clanrickard active stirs forth and takes in someCastles Several suspected to be for the Marquess of Ormond sent into England Colonel Monk seizes on Carickfergus Some suspicions that the Lord Inchequin would have submitted to the Parliament The Lord Inchequin taken off his inclinations by hopes of greater Honour The Marquis of Ormond's return into Ireland The Marquis of Antrim and the Lord Muskery sent to the Queen and the Prince in France to consider the Confederates Condition The Queen and Prince's Answer His Majesties Answer to the Parliaments Message touching the Lord Lieutenant The Confederates Commissioners come to the Lord Lieutenant at Carrick The Peace of 1648. concluded * Sir Richard Blake Knight The Lord Lieutenant's Speech upon the presenting of the Articles of Peace The LordLieutenant by the Commissioners of Trust infinitely abridged in his Office The Commissioners of Trust. * Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costeloe Lord President of Connaght Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander MacDonnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnwal Baronet Geoffry Brown Donnogh Ocallagham Tirlagh O Neal Miles Reily Gerald Fennel Esquires Owen O Neal and Antrim refuse to submit to the Peace The Scots not yet willing to joyn in the Peace The Lord Lieutenant treats with Jones to come in 1649. Inchequin does the like but in-effectually The difficulty the Lord Lieutenant encountred in forming his Army The Lord Lieutenant finds Arms and Money no ways answerable to his expectation The Lord Lieutenant constitutes the Officers of the Army to march against Dublin The Lord Lieutenant begins the Campaign in May but was forced to use his own Credit to begin the service some write but with 8000 Foot and 2000 Horse Dublin resolv'd to be first attempted The Lord Lieutenant appears before Dublin The Lord Inchequin defeats a Party of Jones's Horse sent to Tredagh The Lord Inchequin takes in Tredagh Owen O Neal and the Parliaments Party agree Inchequin routs Farral Takes in Dundalk Colonel Monk dismissed the Parliaments Service Inchequin takes in Trim. Owen O Neal in behalf of the Parliament raises the Siege of Londonderry Sir Charles Coot censured for his compliance with Owen O Neil The Lord Lieutenant upon the view of his Army found it considerable rather to Block up the City than make a Regular Siege Colonel Reynolds Hunks and Venables arrive at Dublin Cromwel accepts of the Lieutenantship The Lord Inchequin suspecting Cromwel might land in Munster went thither A Party sent to fortifie Baggatrath under Purcel * Major General Parcel The Lord Lieutenant's Forces routed at Rathmines The Defeat at Rathmines alter'd Consultations The Lord Lieutenant from Rathmines retires to Kilkenny Colonel Jones besieging Tredath was raised by the Lord Lieutenants coming to Trim. Cromwel lands at Dublin Cromwel gains Tredath by Storm c. * Near Eniscorfy there was a Monastery of Franciscans which upon the approach of the Army quitted the Place and their Provisions very considerable Cromwel takes in Wexford The Lord Lieutenant sought all opportunities to fight Cromwel Carrick taken in The Means the Lord Lieutenant took to reduce O Neal. The Commissioners of Trust dissent from the Lord Lieutenant O Neal dies The Garrisons in Munster revolt to the Parliament The Revolt of the Munster Garrisons begot a Jealousie in the Irish Army Cromwel makes his Attempt upon Waterford but draws off to his Winter-Quarters Cromwel draws off from Waterford goes to Dungarvan Colonel Jones dies about the 18th of Decem. The Lord Lieutenant's Endeavour to impede Cromwel The Lord Lieutenant's gallant Attempt to relieve the Party that went to take in Passage The Lord Lieutenant disappointed in retaking of Carrick and good Service done by Colonel Milo Power The Treachery of Waterford against the Lord Lieutenant His Account of the State of Ireland to the King The Clergy the Fomentors of all mis-conceits against the Lord Lieutenant His desire to clear their suspicions being by their Orders onely met at Kilkenny The Clergies Assembly at Cloanmacnoise whence they intitle their Merits The Deputies of the Counties adjourn to Juni 1650. The Siege of Clonmel Limerick so far from complying as it performed not outward Civility The Assembly appointed at Loghreogh The Citizens of Limericks animosity against the Lord Inchiquin The Citizens of Limerick insinuate to the Lord Inchiquin as much against the Lord Lieutenant as before they did against him The second Assembly at Loghreogh The Lord Lieutenant had license from the King on the disobedience of the Irish to withdraw The Assembly at Loghreogh address to the Lord Lieutenant upon his resolves to leave the Kingdom Wolf's Insurrection Limerick still refractory and contemptious The Bishop of Clogher defeated His Character The Confederate Clergies Resolution to meet at Jamestown The Lord Lieutenants Reply to the Clergies insolent Letter The Clergies Answer The Bishop of Dromore and Doctor Kelly's Negotiation with the Lord Lieutenant The Message from the Bishops being justly resented by the Lord Lieutenant he writes to them to meet him at Loghreoh but they augment their Contempts The Bishops of Jamestown instead of what
be lost in the common Rubbish And I dare not disown those Conjectures the Deserving being to be in everlasting Remembrance Nor hath it in all Ages and amongst the worthiest Persons been esteem'd Pride but Justice to erect Memorials and Altars to Meriting Heroes Though herein I conceive none could be so much concern'd who would have less insisted thereon then my self resolving to be sparing in what I might have been prodigal How contrary soever it may be Conjectur'd by some who pleas'd with the publick breath dare blaspheme those whom they could never wean from their Countries Interest or Religion though as to an utter extirpation which was strongly insisted on by many I may affirm that they whom the Malice of some would traduce were ever so far from that abominating the thought as the Rebels Reformation not their Ruine was their Principal care well distinguishing betwixt the Head and the Train which a most eminent and noble Person just to his Honour ever avouch'd Something 's it may be were not always suited to the just standard of the Law which in such Exigences have ever been indulged though not commanded The preservation of a State being more than the security of a Person And thence Prudence as well as Justice hath been a necessary Attendant on Magistrates No State being so secur'd by her Laws as that something emergent may not require a speedier Help the effect of which if severe being out of the common Road is the Offenders not the State Fault And hereupon a known Instrument of State perfectly experienc'd in that Road excellently well Cautions Not to weigh and measure Statesmen's Proceedings by grains and scruples lest the publick Affairs of a Kingdom lie wast whilst men of Honour and Fortune in medling with them are sure to loose The Rebels by their Pamphlets affirm that few Murthers if any were done till some examples of that nature were acted by the English whereas the contrary plainly appears by those Examinations in the Remonstrance of diverse remarkable Passages concerning the Church and Kingdom of Ireland which cannot be waded whatever R. S. in his Collections of Murthers would insinuate as if that was only framed to win Compassion and Succour from England or scandalize Authority whereas it is clear the Remonstrance was passed on such undeniable Evidences that the Circumstances he takes notice off to justisie his own of Time Place and Persons as if they were not considered in the Remonstrance are generally observed and that on Oath Not encouraged as he would infer from the hurry of the Times and the Examinants Frights but before his Majesties Commissioners a Circumstance this Detractor dare not pretend to what Favour soever he thinks to draw from Cromwel's proceedings Summo Jure in Ireland which was on another score than we shall here insist on and were promiscuously cruel yet those lessen nothing of the Irish Barbarism at First or indeed of their Mercy at Last in stripping the English in so miserable a Season driving them from their Habitations and exposing them to the Woods and Deserts for their Rest and Sustenance such as remain'd being deluded by the Rebels promises and wedded to their own Habitations were generally Massacred Certainly the lingring and sad Deaths which attended many are justly to be accounted the highest Barbarism worse than whatever determin'd in a short time how cruel soever Though some who would be thought Civil and Compassionate think they merit much in not having as they write not others their hands actually imbrued in the Blood of any of the British Protestants of which its believ'd there are but few if any that may be justly intituled to that Clemency However are they not to be accounted equally Guilty who mov'd by the same Councils Subsisted by the same maintenance Whose Victory was their Victory and the Blood shed by One was the consent of the Other Qui non vetat peccare cum possit jubet Especially when they knew of the Villanies that had passed and yet sided with the Party so imbrued and fleshed in Blood No Check being given to that Career when Leinster and Ulster Valence and Brabant agreed However we have contexed in this History few examples of Murthers and Cruelties in reference to the Luxury of the Rebels took in the Scene The effect of whose Malice and Animosity being in truth the Burthen of the whole is not omitted as not abounding in Proofs but because the Martyrology of the Clergy and the Protestants deserve an account a-part Besides though there be some Gleanings of Murthers in Ulster Connaght and Leinster yet the care which was took to register those in Munster hath been obstructed as the others if they had not been early might have been so too However they are not lost though at present confin'd Some Remarks on the Rebels Pamphlets and Pretentions we have coursorarily answer'd Not holding our selves obliged to reply to each Particular else the Volume would swell too big Besides there are many things which in reading an Intelligent Person cannot but blow over with an easie Breath Some are so ridiculous others improbable most without their Circumstances what is fairer Varnish'd we have from their own Principles or their Parties Confession clear'd therein not so much veiling Truths whether for or against us as disclosing their nakedness a deformed Face needs a Fucus The Favourers of that Party insist much on the Parliaments being Prorogued which should have met soon after the Insurrection whereby what they would have presented to the King by way of Accommodation was say they thereby prevented and that the Lords and old English of the Pale who had been constant to the Crown in other Rebellions were by the usage of the State forced to take part with the Ulster Rebels The first of these is in the main discoursed of to which we must add as being an undeniable consequence of their Desires then That their endeavours to meet at that time in Parliament was to no other end but that the Plot having been discover'd whereby they could not strike hands at first with the Northern Rebels without apparent Rebellion which they were willing to screen under fairer pretences They might in Parliament the more solemnly contest with the King for their Religion and Liberty which neither the just Jealousies of the State or the Distractions then could rationally admit of lest meeting in such numbers as a Parliament would colourably bring to Town they might take new Councils the former seeming in some part to be disappointed And as to the Latter the truth thereof is already cleared from Fol. 39. to 42. nor indeed needs there any thing more to be said but what his Majesty C. I. on this subject verified to the Protestant's Agents at Oxford 1644. That what the Rebels pleaded as to this Particular was not his Belief but an Assertion of the Irish And when the Protestant Agents would further have cleared this Point some at Court being apt to blow
Conspiracies hatch'd our ruine not discernable ere the Monster arriv'd at its Birth a Prodigy scarce credible in so vigilant a State Though when it 's consider'd how tenderly the great concerns of Religion the principal wheels of all Commotion in a State were handled the astonishment that things aspir'd to so much Villany may easily be unridl'd Towards the end of the Lord Falkland's Government there being great need of Money for support of the standing Army in Ireland and maintaining of 500 Horse and 5000 Foot much by extraordinary means having been otherwise disposed the Catholicks of Ireland glad of the occasion seem'd very forward to supply the State in hopes of a Connivance if not a Toleration of their Religion though therein they were onely to bear their share or rather offered their Mite with the Protestants which they improved to so great an insolence as the Lord Falkland with the Council was forced to take notice in a Proclamation dated the 1st of April 1629. That the late Intermission of Legal Proceedings against Popish pretended Titulary Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Deans Vicars General Jesuits Friers and others of that sort that derive their pretended Authority and Orders from the See of Rome in contempt of his Majesties Royal Power and Authority had bred such an extraordinary insolence and presumption in them as he was necessitated to charge and command them in his Majesties name to for bear the exercise of their Popish Rites and Ceremonies Notwithstanding which their Insolencies afterwards so increased as that the power of the High Commission rais'd in respect of them being withdrawn they erected a new University at Dublin to confront his Majesties Colledge there continuing their Nunneries and Monasteries that thence many things were objected against the Lord Falkland's Government to clear which the Council of Ireland in his defence to the King the 28th of April 1629. declared That towards the insolencies of the Papists and the late outragious presumption of the unsetled Irish in some parts your Deputy and Council of late us'd particular Abstinence holding themselves somewhat limited concerning them by late Insinuations Letters and Directions from England And yet afterwards so mindful too were the Lords of the Council in England of what had been by the State of Ireland happily supprest that the 31 of January 1629. they return'd their acknowledgment and put the State of Ireland in mind How much it concern'd the good Government of Ireland to prevent in time the first growing of such evils for that where such People are permitted to swarm they will soon grow licentious and endure no Government but their own which cannot otherwise be restored than by a due and seasonable execution of the Law and of such Directions as from time to time have been sent from his Majesty and Council c. further encouraging them to carry a soft or harder hand according to their discretions Which I do not find but they prudently observ'd though all was too little to root out the Leven that had season'd the Batch during the Government of the then Lords Justices As Dr. Bedel the Reverend Bishop of Kilmore takes notice of at large with a deep and hearty resentment worthy his Piety Courage and Learning till the arrival of Thomas Lord Viscount Wentworth who by his singular Wisdom Courage and quick Intelligence so managed affairs there though some thought they were carried on too severely as doubtless the Nation in general was never more seemingly in obedience what ever afterwards was aggravated against that Noble Person whose behaviour was less pleasing to some men interess'd in the detection of their morose and sinister dealings than to the Nation which flourish'd under his Auspicious Government Reverence is that wherewith Princes are girt from God Yet then the contrivance of some Spirits was so restless as Anno 1634. being the 10th of King Charls the First they design'd to have engag'd the Nation in a War which one Ever Mac-Mahon an eminent Popish Priest privately discovered to some of the Privy Council at Dublin at whose feet he prostrated himself for mercy having with others been employ'd abroad to Foreign Princes viz. the Pope the Kings of France Spain and other Princes on that service as in the Relation writ by the Lord Macquire in the Tower is apparent the Design having been of as ancient a Date as the Isle of Rhee's Enterprise 1628. About which time the Earl of Tyrone and Cardinal Richlieu held an intimate correspondence though the King of France's Wars then in Italy frustrated for that time the Insurrection and Invasion Upon the discovery of which Ever Mac-Mahon seeming penitent had his Pardon So that the thing being onely treated of in general the prudence of the Governour giving the People no suspicion that he feared it and yet watched against it blasted their design The same Providence we may also believe this Noble Person had in the antecedent warnings which the Reverend Dean of Kilmore particularly mentions though he in reference to the Intregues of State mov'd not so visibly as to make every one capable of his foresight Prime Ministers are not to level their proceedings to the capacities of all who pretend vigilancy of the State yet thence during his Government all things in the Publick proceeded with a serene countenance so as the Lord Deputy Wentworth came for England and return'd into Ireland several times with his Majesties greatest Approbation and the Peace of the Nation Anno 1634. a Parliament was summon'd in Ireland by his motion 1. For that the Contribution from the Countrey towards the maintenance of the Army ended that December 2. For that the Revenues there fell short of his Majesties Charges 20000 l. yearly 3. That there was a Debt of 80000 l. upon the Crown 4. For that there had been no Subsidies but one since the beginning of King James's Reign and the People were now grown wealthy being continued in their Estates who ever had enjoy'd them twenty years By the Supply of which Parliament the Lord Deputy paid the 80000 l. Debt due from the Crown than which nothing was more to his Majesties Honour and his Servants Integrity in testimony of which his Majesty saith That they cannot but witness who know that Kingdom that during the Government there by Lieutenants of his choice that Kingdom enjoyed more Plenty and Peace than ever it had since it was under the subjection of the Crown of England Traffick by Sea and Trade by Land increas'd Values of Land improv'd Shipping multipli'd beyond belief never was the Protestant Religion more advanc'd nor the Protestants protected in greater security against the Papists Inasmuch as we must remember you the Parliament capitulating with him to nominate a Governour for Ireland that the present Rebellion was begun when there was no Lieutenant there and when the Power which had been formerly us'd in that Kingdom was question'd and disgrac'd when those in the Parliament there by whom that Rebellion was hatch'd
were countenanc'd in their Complaints and Prosecution And as to the Progress of Religion there receive from the Bishop of Derry this account in his Discourse of the Sabbath where having occasion to mention the incomparable and pious Primate Archbishop Usher he takes notice That having liv'd sundry years a Bishop in the Province of Ulster whilst the Political part of the care of that Church lay heavy upon his shoulders he prais'd God they were like Candles in the Levitical Temple looking one towards another and all towards the Stem no contention arising amongst them but who should hate contention most and pursue the Peace of the Church with swiftest paces inasmuch as if the high-soaring Counsels of some short-wing'd Christians whose eyes regarded nothing but the present Prey with the Rebellious practises of the Irish Enemy tied together like Samson's Foxes with Firebrands at their tails had not thrust them away from the Stern and chas'd them from their Sees with Bellona's bloody Whip They might before this time without either persecution or noise have given a more welcome and comfortable account of the Irish Church than our Age is likely to produce The last time this Noble Person the Earl of Strafford enter'd Ireland was the 18th of March 1639. when he arriv'd at Dublin Lord Lieutenant a little before having in an extraordinary Solemnity and conflux of Ambassadors and Peers been made Earl of Strafford at which time he appear'd in Parliament begun the 16th of March in the 14th of King Charles the I. expressing his Majesties Necessities in such terms as immediately Four entire Subsidies without further expostulation were unanimously consented unto the freedom of which added much to the largeness of the gift with which he rais'd 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse additional to the Veterain Forces which at the breaking forth of the Rebellion consisted but of 2297 Foot and 943 Horse And so having setled his Majesties affairs in Ireland he went for England to the Parliament at Westminster summon'd by his Mediation the 13th of April 1640. being attended from Ireland with the acclamations of the whole House of Parliament yet legible in a very remarkable manner in the Preamble of their Act of Subsidies Anno 16 Car. 1. yet afterwards we know his fate Never writes Perinshief sufficiently bewail'd by the King till the issue of his blood dri'd up those of his tears All the actions of his Government were narrowly sifted and though no one thing after the mercenary Tongues of the Lawyers had endeavour'd to render him a Monster of men could be found Treason many accumulated were so voted That him whom even now the Parliament of Ireland extolled as an excellent Governour and one for whose due and sincere Administration of Justice they had principally consented to so great a Subsidy they afterwards pursued as the cause of all their mischiefs and so by their Agents even those who afterwards complotted the Rebellion incens'd the Parliament at Westminster against him as they denied all that they had attributed to his Worth fixing on him what-ever might contribute to a praevious Government or the Kingdom 's impoverishment the state of which cannot be better clear'd than by what his Majesty in a full Council at White-hall the 27th of Ian. 1640. seem'd clearly to acquiesce in upon the Earl of Strafford's avowing of the Answer to the Irish Remonstrance against him ordering that a Copy thereof should be forthwith given by the Clerk of the Council to the Committee of Ireland then attending upon him since Registred among the publick Records Thus was this great Man accused thus justifi'd yet all was not sufficient to exempt him from the destructive Bill of Attainder suggesting His tyrannous and exorbitant Power over the Liberties and Estates of his Majesties Subjects in Ireland laying and assessing of Soldiers by his own authority upon the Subject against their consent saying also that he had an Army in Ireland which his Majesty might make use of to reduce this Kingdom meaning England as appears by the Act which passed the 10th of May 1641. His Majesty having Sign'd a Commission to the Earl of Arundel the Lord Privy Seal the Lord High Chamberlain and others to that intent which had an after Act vacating the authority of the precedent for future imitation sufficiently thereby saith his Majesty telling the World that some remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard measure and such as they would be loth should be repeated to themselves And that it might remain to Potesterity to whom the Age is accomptable for her Actions what he suffered in his Trial and by what artifices he was brought to it the Act for the reversal of the Earl of Straffords Attainder Anno xiv Car. II. fully shows to which it may seem impertinent to add more Histories and the Occurrences of those times having presented his Actions at his Trial more significant than I dare pretend to such a Scene of Justice attended with that Magnificence in its Structure such Seats for their Majesties for Ambassadors and the most discerning Audience of England not being to be parallel'd Therefore I shall conclude as to Him with what his Majesty speaks in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That his great abilities were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great Errors and many Enemies whereof he could not but contract good store while moving in so high a Sphere and with so vigorous a Lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious Exhalations which condens'd by a Popular Odium were capable to cast a Cloud upon the brightest Merit and Integrity c. Yet saith this Excellent King I could never be convinc'd of any such criminousness in him having heard all the particulars of his great Cause from one end to the other as willingly to expose his life to the stroke of Justice and the malice of his Enemies However He suffered on Tower-hill the 12th of May 1641. taking his death with as much Christianity as Courage though some account nothing Christian that is not Effeminate of whom we should say more but must refer the rest to what is extant in Print The 19th of May following Robert Earl of Leicester was designed by his Majesty Lord Lieutenant of Ireland newly return'd from his Embassy in France where he had discharg'd his Trust with singular Prudence and Courage as he had done before in Denmark and elsewhere The choice of whom exceedingly endear'd his Majesties Wisdom to the most knowing and intelligent Party of the Nation the Earl having been one never engag'd in Monopolies one of the Grievances of the Times or the publick Complaints of the Kingdom but being long experienc'd in State-affairs promised nothing save his Majesties Honour and the Kingdoms security Being thought by his knowledge in Martial Affairs and other his great Abilities to be no doubt abundantly capable to reduce the Irish to
a due obedience Yet after all having attended his Majesty at York and other Places as the Court mov'd for his Dispatch he came in Novem. to Chester in expectation of an easie remove thence into Ireland but falling indispos'd at Chester was commanded back to Oxford about the beginning of Ian. 1642. so as in conclusion he ever going never went His stay was at first resented by the King then the Parliament to evidence the truth he writes a Letter from York to the Earl of Northumberland which by Order of Parliament the 26th of Septemb. 1642. was printed wherein he writes That he besought his Majesty that he might not be staid at Court for that the Affairs of Ireland requir'd his speedy repair thither or at least that some Governour if he were not thought worthy of it should be presently sent into that Kingdom And upon the 21 of Septemb. he appear'd in Parliament informing the Houses That he could never since his first going to his Majesty get his Commission Seal'd till the 18th of Septemb. referring himself to the pleasure of the Houses whether they would dispatch him for Ireland or no. Whereupon the 1st of October following his Case was again debated and it was Voted for the future That the said Earl should not put in execution any Instructions from his Majesty concerning the Affairs in Ireland until such time as they should be made known and approved by them After which many things in his Instructions were debated and it being mov'd the 4th of Novemb. in a Conference of the Houses that he was ready to set forward for that Service he had his Dismiss So as I have said he came to Chester and was remanded back to Oxford the important Affairs of Ireland being in another Channel than as yet they appear'd visibly to run in Though it was a good while after before he had his discharge from that Employment being kept in suspence till others had perfected their Design by which there accrued to him a great Arrear somewhat consider'd in the Act of Settlement though short of what he was prejudic'd thereby Upon the Earl of Straffords quitting Ireland Christopher Wendesford Esq Master of the Rolls the 3d. of April 1640. was sworn Lord Deputy He managed the Government with much Policy advantage to his Majesty and faithfulness to his intimate Friend and Ally the Earl of Strafford adjourning the Parliament in November following somewhat to the dis-satisfaction of the Members who before their Dissolution made shift to form a Remonstrance against the Earl of Strafford which he would have prevented to have been sent for England could he as he endeavour'd have staid the Committee of the Parliament in Ireland from going over the greatest part of which were Papists which the Irish took as a good Omen But he being not able to hinder them they finding conveniences from every Port grew thereupon much discontented and having quick intelligence how affairs were carried against the Earl of Strafford He died the 3d. of December following betwixt whom even from their Youth there had been an especial intimacy nor did it afterwards grow cooler but more strengthned in Judgment After his decease Robert Lord Dillon of Kilkenny-West and Sir William Parsons Knight and Baronet Master of the Court of Wards Decemb. 30. were sworn Lords Justices But it was not long before the Committee of Ireland then at Court so prevail'd as that his Majesty displac'd the Lord Dillon a Person of notable Parts and one by his Son's Marriage with the Earl of Strafford's Sister passionately concern'd in the Earl's Case Yet lest the Execution of his Majesties Graces to his Subjects of Ireland obtain'd by their late Committee's sollicitation should be deferr'd till those who were design'd to succeed the Lord Dillon were in Office his Majesty was pleas'd to direct a Letter dated the 4th of Ianuary in the 16th year of his Reign to his Privy Council of Ireland and Sir William Parsons and Sir Iohn Borlase then design'd Justices to grant amongst other things that his Subsidies there should be reduced to a lesser rate than formerly and that all Letters directed to the Lord Deputy Justices Chief Governour or Governours or to any other Officers or Ministers of that Realm either concerning the publick Affairs or private Interests of any Subject there might be entred into his Signet-Office in England to the end that they might be upon occasion found to take Copies of for the Subjects better information in such publick things as may concern them as also that all Dispatches from Ireland should safely be kept apart that like recourse may be had to them for the better satisfaction of the Subject who shall be concern'd therein And whereas in the former Governour 's time there were endeavours to hinder some Agents of Parliament to have recourse into England his Majesty taking notice That for asmuch as the Committee of the Parliament of Ireland John Bellew Esq and Oliver Cassel with others employ'd thence have repair'd into his Kingdom of England to represent their Grievances He hath manifested his gracious condescensions to them admitting them into his Royal Presence forbidding his Counsellors in Ireland or any other Officers or Ministers of that State to proceed any ways against them or any of them for the same And that his Subjects shall have Copies of Records Certificates Orders of Council Publick Letters or other Entries for the Declaration of their Grievances made In grateful acknowledgment of which the Parliament then sitting the 10th of Febr. 1640. order'd That the said Letter should be forthwith Entr'd amongst the Ordinances and Records of that House So that if there had not been a general defection long anvil'd in the minds of that People the event of so unnatural and horrid a Rebellion as few months after happen'd could not have been the issue of such remarkable Condescensions The 10th of Febr. 1640. his Majesty instituted Sir William Parsons Master of the Court of Wards before mention'd long experienc'd in the Affairs of Ireland and Sir Iohn Borlase Knight Master of the Ordnance Lords Justices One well known to his Majesty by the Eminency of his Imployments abroad and the opinion He had of his integrity and skill in Military Affairs the Discipline of the Army having been ever under his Charge since his arrival there These writes an Honourable Person appli'd themselves with all manner of gentle Lenitives to mollifie the sharp humours rais'd by the rigid passages of the former Government They declar'd themselves against all such proceedings as they found any way varying from the Common Law They gave all due encouragement to the Parliament then sitting endeavouring the reasonable ease and contentment of the People freely assenting to all such Acts as really tended to the Legal Reformation They betook themselves wholly to the advice of the Council and caus'd all matters as well of the Crown as Popular Interests to be handled in his Majesties Courts of Justice no ways admitting
it by any publick Writing that the Design seem'd a Birth acceptable to the Catholick Community And the Pope by his Nuncio afterwards to whom the general part of the Clergy and Natives adhear'd in effect maintain'd what Mahony had deliver'd for wholesome Doctrine accounting the Popes Bulls and Interdictions and Absolutions how long soever since publish'd still in the same force and vigour as they were the first day of their publication And it is very few years since writes this Honourable Person that upon the meeting of the Secular and Regular Clergy of Ireland before-mention'd to frame an Address to the King in testimony of their obedience disclaiming any Temporal Authority in the Popes the Court of Rome was so alarm'd by it that Cardinal Barbarin writ to them to desist from any such Declaration putting them in mind that the Kingdom of England was still under Excommunication And Walsh acquaints us at large of Mac-Mahon the Irish Jesuits printed Book of the lawfulness of killing not onely all the Protestants but even all such of the Roman Catholick Irish who should stand for the Crown of England and the Rights of the King to Ireland A Tenent agreeable to Salamanca's approbation of Oneal's Rebellion 1602. instigated by Pope Clement the 8th whereby it 's declared That all Catholicks who followed the English Standard against Prince Oneal mortally sinned And Osulevan the Priest in King James's Reign said It was a Doctrine fetch'd from Hell that Catholicks in Ireland should joyn with the Queens Forces which were Protestants against the Rebels Catholicks in Ireland and that such English ought to be no less set upon than the Turks So that whatsoever delusive Tenents have been broach'd of late as to perswade us the Adder is without sting the contrary hath been written in letters of blood not in his Majesty's Kingdoms only but wheresome-ever the Papal Power was exalted That persons professing the Reformed Religion are but Tenants at Will for their Lives and Fortunes and through Centuries of Ages it appears that as their Fleeces grow they are shorn till a time of slaughter be appointed That hence we may see at what we should have arriv'd had the Irish been fortunate in their attempt for though the loyal Formulary or Remonstrance highly magnified by some may seem a Bond of Iron it may easily by the Pope become weaker than a Rope of Straw During the Summer Sessions of Parliament already spoke of wherein the Heads of the Rebellion were closely complotting some under a suspicion that the Earl of Strafford's Servants in revenge of their Lord's death intended a Mischief to the Parliament mov'd the House and accordingly had Orders that the Lords Justices would let his Majesty's Stores for Powder and Arms be search'd which by a Committee they so curiously perform'd as they turn'd over several improbable Chests to find it out and when they had seen that there was none according to what the Officers of the Ordnance had before assur'd them yet they seem'd unsatisfied and repair'd on a new Order to the Lords Justices to be admitted to see the Stores of Powder and Arms plac'd in other Parts in and about the Castle To whom the Lord Justice Borlase Master of the Ordnance principally interess'd in securing his Majesties Stores answer'd That those were the King 's precious Jewels not to be without special Gause shewed assuring them further that they needed not to be afraid for that upon his Honour there was no Powder underneath either of the Houses of Parliament as at the Trial of the Lord Mac Quire at the King's Bench in Westminster was openly in Court testified by the Lord Blaney a great sufferer a worthy and gallant Person the said Lord Justice Borlase having at that time such a motion in his blood upon the importunity of that enquiry as he would afterwards often mention that action of theirs as aiming how slightly soever then looked on by others at some further mark than was thâ—n discernable So that at that instant he denied them whereat they seem'd discontented as being left in uncertainty in what state his Majesty's Stores stood which they desired particularly to know the late new Army being disbanded then and their Arms brought in that if the Powder and Arms were not there they might find them elsewhere or if there then by the intended surprize to be sure of them and to know where on the sudden to find them In which search the Lord Mac Quire was a chief actor and very inquisitive Thus in order to their Design they made ready for the Business passing that Session of Parliament began the xi of May 1641. for the most part away in Protestations Declarations Votes upon the Queries the stay of Souldiers from going over Seas and private Petitions little to the good of the Common-wealth or advancement of his Majesty's Service whereof the Lords Justices and Councel having notice finding withal that the Popish Party in both Houses grew to so great a height as was scarce compatible to the present Government they imparted by a Message to both Houses the 14th of July following their intention to give a recess for some months the harvest coming on and both Houses growing thin Which intimation of a recess both Houses readily assented to so that the 7th of August the Lords Justices adjourn'd the Houses to the 9th of November following which afterwards the Members of Parliament aggravated as a great unkindness the Committee of Parliament being expected from England and arriv'd at Dublin near the end of August Whereas when the Parliament was adjourn'd and before there was no certainty of their Committee's return the Earl of Roscommon who few days before coming from England expressing in plain terms that the Bills desired were not likely in any short time to be dispatch'd as the Letters from the Irish Committee at London which this Lord brought over inform'd too and That they were daily about their dispatch but could not guess when they might have it Yet as I have took notice in August beyond expectation the Committee return'd upon whose arrival the Lords Justices and Councel desirous to give them all satisfaction imaginable sate daily composing of Acts to be passed the next Sessions of Parliament for the benefit of his Majesty and the good of his Subjects on which the Members of Parliament then at Dublin and their Committee newly arriv'd seem'd with great contentment to retire into the Countrey the Lords Justices forthwith sending Briefs to all the Ports in the Kingdom of the Graces concerning Customs commanding the Officers punctually to obey those his Majesty's Directions particularly what-ever concern'd Wool Tobacco as all other things of that nature wherein his Majesty had been pleas'd to gratifie the Committee They gave Order also for drawing a Bill for repeal of the Preamble of the Act of Subsidies They also desired Sir William Cole and Sir James Montgomery two of the Committee if they could ever take the Assizes in the County
insequutus est cum multis sequalibus in Lagenia vero se adjunxerant Jacobus Vice-Comes de Baltinglass cum Kavanachiis Briniis aliis Nobilibus illius Provinciae visa est magnis piis Principibus Causa Dei tractari quia pro fide bellum susceptum intellexerunt Copias etiam auxiliares transmiserunt sed propter Delicta seculi irritus fuit Conatus Deo tunc non decernente speratum Bellatoribus effectum tribuere quem in aliud tempus pro alia Generatione aliis Instrumentis modis parandum reservavit atque ita difflatum est Consilium illud dissiluit in partes opus coeptum ipsum infaeliciter dissolutum est neque enim in illa Commotione transire ad refrigerium nostrum voluit Dominus 3. Illa vero Geraldinorum commotione sic praetervecta successit ignis omni late devastans dum flamma ferroque omnia populatur Comes Tyronensis plusquam decennali bello intercipiens hujus Insulae quietem multa visus prospere aggredi multis etiam congressibus victor sed nonnullis victoriis infolescens exercitus tametsi Cohortium antesignari ipse Gubernator Dactor exercitus causam praetulerit honorificam restituendae Religionis nec ullam vellet capitulationem admittere cum Anglis in qua Primario non ageretur De fide Orthodoxa publicè stabilanda per universum regnum quia Tamen via violentia tunc exercita non erat secundum propositum Dei efficax hinc peccatis Hominum irato Numine frustra se exerebant vires Hominum 4. At King James's access to the Crown Waterford Cork and Limerick in Munster Kilkenny and Wexford in Lemster openly oppos'd the King's Title as not being a Catholick but were soon brought into obedience by the Lord Deputy Mountjoy 5. Within four years after the Lord Chichester Deputy Tyrone and O Donnel conspiring with Mac-guire Cormack O Neal O Cahan the Lord Delvin and others design'd a notable Rebellion but were prevented in May 1607. and an Act of Attainder past Anno 11 12 13 Jacobi Cap. 4. 6. The year following Anno scil 1608. Sir Doghertie's War succeeded sharp though short determining in five months encourag'd by the Priests That all who died in that Service went forthwith into Heaven Afterwards the State of Ireland seemed very happy both as to Improvement of Land Plenty and Peace till the year 1634. that Ever Mac-Mahon before mention'd discover'd an intended Plot which by the prudence of the Governour the Lord Wentworth never arriv'd at its design nor afterwards was any thing further suspected till Sir Henry Vane by his Majesties command K. C. 1. gave the Lords Justices the 16th of March notice of a suspected Rebellion of which with its circumstances we have already insisted Though we must say that the result of the former Conspiracies which by the blessedness of the Times prudence of Governours or other accidents were delayed in this Anno sc. 1641. met the accomplishment of them all Yet nothing was here attempted which the bleeding Iphigenia the great Incendiary of that Nation doth not passionately justifie it being in his Divinity and Logick rational That the Irish though not then visibly assaulted might however assume Arms in defence of their Religion and Property both threatned it being writes he a common Doctrine of Divines That it is lawful to prevent an evil that cannot be otherwise avoided than by preventing it nor need the authority of the Prince in that case be required A Doctrine so hellish as none certainly is so besotted but he may easily read therein the ruine of States and Kingdoms excellently answered by the Learned and accurate late Proselyte Dr. Andrew Sal to whom in this point we must refer you And as to matter of Fact bequeath you to the ensuing History clearly evidencing That before the Irish assumed Arms no Instrument was ever thought on much less found against them Formerly indeed it hath been strongly imputed to the State of England that conquering Ireland they did not also endeavour to make them one People holding them Enemies not taking care to settle Civility and a Property amongst them the cause as some thought of frequent Rebellions But though these and some other defects in the Civil Policy some think are inexcusable it may clearly be demonstrated they were not of so large a size as they are mark'd And it may appear by antient Records that the Laws of England were at first communicated to the meer Irish as far as their Barbarism and Cruelties exercis'd on occasions upon the English would well admit But to let these times pass whereof we cannot speak much with any certainty let us now see what fruits we have of all the Royal endeavours of his Gracious Majesty and his two Glorious Predecessors what return for all their Care for all their Charge and for all the English Blood which hath within the compass of the last Age been spilt for purchasing of Peace and introducing of the true Religion and common Civility into Ireland It cannot be denied that since the happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth all the former defects in the Government and Civil Policy have been abundantly supplied and all those Means us'd those Acts perform'd those Designs fully accomplish'd and all things else perfectly brought to pass which in the judgement of all wise Men were conceiv'd would undoubtedly effect the full settlement and reduction of that Kingdom As first The barbarous Customs continually us'd by the Irish have been quite abolished all sorts of People even the most wicked amongst them have been allowed the benefit of the Law and liv'd under the King 's immediate Protection all the Laws of England found useful for that Kingdom have been made currant by Act of Parliament in Ireland many other good Laws enacted and the execution of them hath had free course through all parts of the Kingdom the Courts of Justice have been open and the Judges for the more free distribution of Justice to the People have constantly twice every year gone their Circuits through the several Counties of the whole Land the Church-Government hath been fully setled many preaching Ministers generally plac'd throughout the several Parishes as likewise Free-Schools together with sufficient Maintenance for them have been establisht the Lands belonging to the Natives have been always duely setled according to Law in the Proprietor and what noise soever was rais'd entituling the Crown to Roscommon Mayo Slego Galloway Clare besides some parts of Limerick and Tipperary as one of the Master-pieces of the Earl of Strafford's Service in Ireland nothing was ever effected thereupon though it had cost his Majesty 10000 l. upon the enquiry and had they had patience till the next Sessions of Parliament there was an Act for Limitations pass'd by his Majesty to bar all Titles Claims and Challenges of the Crown before 60 years last past to have cut off all expectations upon the ancient Title and have strengthned by new Grants and Patents all Titles
the State First they agreed That their Loyalty to his Majesty should be still reserv'd say they of the modest sort but both his Revenues and Government must be reduc'd to certain bounds His Rents none other than the antient Reservations before the Plantations and the Customs so order'd as to them should be thought fitting Secondly For the Government such as would be esteem'd Loyal would have it committed into the hands of two Lords Justices one of the antient Irish Race the other of the antient British Inhabitants in the Kingdom provided that they be of the Romish Profession Thirdly That a Parliament be forthwith call'd consisting of whom they shall think fit to be admitted wherein their own Religious Men shall be Assistants Fourthly That Poining's Act must be repeal'd and Ireland declar'd to be a Kingdom independent on England and without any reference to it in any case whatsoever Fifthly All Acts prejudicial to the Romish Religion shall be abolish'd and it to be Enacted That there be none other Profession in the Kingdom but the Romish Sixthly That onely the antient Nobility of the Kingdom shall stand and of them such as shall refuse to conform to the Romish Religion to be remov'd and others put in their room Howsoever the present Earl of Kildare must be put out and another put in his place Seventhly All Plantation Lands to be recall'd and the antient Proprietors to be invested into their former Estates with the Limitations in their Covenant express'd That they had not formerly sold their Interests on valuable Considerations Eighthly That the respective Counties of the Kingdom be subdivided and certain Bounds or Baronies assign'd to the Chief Septs and other of the Nobility who are to be answerable for the Government thereof and that a standing Army may be still in being the respective Governours are to keep a certain number of men to be ready at all Risings out as they term it they also being to build and maintain certain Fortresses in places most convenient within their Precincts And that these Governours be of absolute Power onely responsible to the Parliament Lastly For maintaining a Correspondency with other Nations and for securing the Coasts that also they may be render'd considerable to others a Navy of a certain number of Ships is to be maintain'd that to this end five Houses are to be appointed one in each Province accounting Meath for one of them that to these Houses shall be allotted an Annual Pension of certain thousands of Pounds to be made up of part of the Lands appropriate to Abbeys and a further Contribution to be rais'd in the respective Provinces to that end That these Houses are to be assign'd to a certain order of Knights answerable to that of Malta who are to be Sea-men And to maintain this Fleet that all Prizes are to be apportion'd some part for a Common Bank the rest to be divided to which purpose the selling of Woods serviceable for this use is forbidden The House for this purpose to be assign'd to the Province of Leimster is Kilmainham or rather Howth the Lord of Howth being otherwise to be accommodated provided he joyn with them that place being esteem'd most convenient in respect of situation which they have small grounds to hope for For the effecting of which they consider'd that the Forces of the Kingdom would easily amount to two hundred thousand able men wanting onely Commanders which as I have already took notice of might be supplied from O-Neals Regiment in Flanders and other places breeding up the Irish in Arms and Rebellion And for Money the other Sinew of War they were resolv'd not to want it if it could be rais'd-either from Tenant or the Farmers of the Customs who having it then ready were to bring it to their respective Banks So as nothing was omitted which rationally might further their design Which after the State by Proclamation had made known and many on suspicion were daily seiz'd on Certainties of its success were hourly brought to the State That night the Lord Blany brought the ill news of the Rebels seising upon Castle Blany in the County of Monaghan and his Wife and Children and Servants as also of the surprisal of Carrick Mac-ross a House of the Earl of Essex's and Sir Spotswood's in the same County burning divers Villages robbing and spoiling many English none but Protestants On Sunday Sir Arthur Tirringham gave intelligence that the Irish in Newry had broken up the King's Store of Arms and had seiz'd upon them and the Ammunition there listing themselves under the command of Sir Con Mac-Gennis Knight and one Creely a Monk Thus almost every hour some like Job's Messengers hasted to the State as preserv'd onely to acquaint them of the disasters of their Relations and the sufferings of the Protestants of which with all circumstances to it the Lords Justices and Council gave his Majesty an account by Sir Henry Spotswood being then in Scotland and sent Owen O Conally with Letters dated the 25th of October to the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the effect of which Letter you may see in its proper place In the interim the State being from all parts terrifi'd with the insolencies of the Rebels they scarce knew how to steer their course no Money being in the Treasury and the main part of the Citizens being justly suspected for that being mov'd to advance Money on the occasion will Posterity believe it their whole Community would not reach 50 l. And such as had escaped the violence of the Rebels having nothing but their Persons for a prey could contribute little many of which were so frighted with what they had seen and suffered that like inanimate Bodies they appear'd sensless and stupid However the Lords Justices and Council having secur'd the Castle by a Company of Foot under the command of Sir Francis Willoughby one of the Privy Council a known and experienc'd Soldier and setled Sir Charles Coote also of the Privy Council in the Government of the City wherein as in other Services he proved afterwards signally eminent and noble They advertis'd the Earl of Ormond whom the Rebels boasted they had made of their Party then at his House at Carrick of what had hitherto happen'd desiring him to repair to Dublin with his Troop which he accordingly observ'd about the beginning of November About the 27th of October the Lords Justices and Council sent Commissions to the Lords Viscounts of Clandeboys and of the Ardes to raise the Scots in the Northern Parts they also writ to Sir William and Sir Robert Stewart with other Gentlemen of Quality in the North Giving them power to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword yet so as to rescue such as should submit to his Majesties Grace and Mercy signifying withall That although by the said Commission they gave them full power thereunto yet they did then let them know that for those who were chief among the Rebels and Ring-Leaders of the
Protestants Subjects there I cannot but again earnestly commend the dispach of that Expedition unto you for it is the chief Business that at this time I take to heart and there cannot almost be any Business that I câ—â— have more care of I might now take up some of your time in expressing my Detestation of Rebellions in general and of this in particular But knowing that Deeds and not Declarations must suppress this great Insolency I do here in Word offer you whatsoever my Power Pains or Industry can contribute to this good and necessary Work of reducing the Irish Nation to their true and wonted Obedience And that nothing may be omitted on my Part I must here take notice of the Bill for pressing of Souldiers now depending among you my Lords concerning which I declare that in case it comes so to me as it may not infringe or diminish my Prerogative I will pass it And farther seeing there is a Dispute rais'd I being little beholding to him whosoever at this time began it concerning the bounds of this ancient and undoubted Prerogative to avoid further Debate at this time I offer that the Bill may pass with a Salvo Jure both for King and People leaving such Debates to a time that may better bear them If this be not accepted the fault is not mine that this Bill pass not but theirs that refuse so fair an offer To conclude I conjure you by all that is or can be dear to you or me that laying away all Disputes you go on chearfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland A Charm one should think sufficiently powerful Yet the Lords and Commons in Parliament from his Majesty's Speech took great exceptions suffering the Supplies of Ireland to be retarded demanding of the King the Names of those who had counsell'd Him to take notice of any Debate in the House before it was from'd into a Bill whence began the Cry against evil Counsellors afterwards the pretext of the Misery that ensued Some Forces indeed the Parliament had sent to the Sea-side and others were on their March yet Winds and Tides Votes and Councels did not equally agree so as the Exigences by this means that the State of Ireland was cast upon almost split them Whereupon the Lords Justices and Council publisht a Proclamation dated the 28th of December 1641. Requiring all Persons other than such as had necessary Causes to Dublin such as the Lords Justices the Lieutenant-General of the Army or the Governour of his Majesty's Forces in the City of Dublin should approve or other than such as should bring Provision to the City to be sold should forbear coming to the City or Suburbs thereof upon pain of Death Which was done in time of high necessity Provision being scarce and few repairing to the City but what were Spies and Traitors And because what his Majesty had propos'd before-mention'd for the service of Ireland seem'd to have little effect he again sends a Message to the Lords House by the Lord Chamberlain the 28th of December That being sensible of the Miseries of Ireland the Succours for which went on slowly he offer'd to raise 10000 Voluntiers if the Commons would undertake to pay them A Proposition rather heard than consented to About this time Sir Thomas Carey and Dr. Cale a Sorbonist offer'd from the Rebels these Propositions to the Council Board for a Treaty First That there should be a Toleration of Religion Secondly That Popish Officers as well as Protestant should be admitted to all Employments Thirdly That the Wrongs of Plantations should be repair'd since 1610. Fourthly That there should be a Protlamation to take off the File the Title of Rebels and Traitors All which pass'd somewhat currantly till One then being absent through sickness hearing thereof repair'd to the Council Board though at that time much indispos'd and upon strong Arguments Arguments that would admit of no Sophistry stop'd the proceeding of so dishonourable a Motion so early did some endeavour to force on the State a necessity of complying with the insolent Demands of the Rebels by this faithful Minister of State confidently rejected And here that you may see what the Rebels afterwards thought the only means to reduce Ireland into Peace and Quietness we shall here present you with their Propositions methodically digested The Means to reduce Ireland unto Peace and Quietness 1. THat a general and free Pardon without any exception be granted to all his Majesty's Subjects of this Kingdom and that in pursuance thereof and for strengthning the same an Act of Abolition may pass in the Parliament here 2. That all marks of National distinction between English and Irish may be abolished and taken away by Act of Parliament 3. That by several Acts of Parliament to be respectively passed here and in England it may be declared that the Parliament of Ireland hath no subordination with the Parliament of England but that the same hath in it self supream Jurisdiction in this Kingdom as absolute as the Parliament of England there hath 4. That the Act of the 12th of H. 7th commonly called Poining's Act and all other Acts expounding or explaining the same may be repealed 5. That as in England there pass'd an Act for a Triennial Parliament so there may pass in Ireland another for a Sexennial Parliament 6. That it may be enacted by Parliament that the Act of the 2d of Q. Eliz. in Ireland and all other Acts made against Catholicks or the Catholick Religion since the 20th year of H. 8th may be repeal'd 7. That the Bishopricks Deanaries and all other spiritual Promotions in this Kingdom and all Frieries and Nunneries may be restored to the Catholick Owners and likewise all Impropriations of Tythes and that the Scits Ambits and Precincts of the Religious Houses of the Monks may be restored to them but as to the rest of their temporal Possessions it is not design'd to be taken from the present Proprietors but to be left unto them till God shall otherwise incline their own hearts 8. That such as are now entituled Catholick Archbishops Bishops Abbots or other Dignitaries in this Kingdom by donation of the Pope may during their lives enjoy their spiritual Promotions with Protestation nevertheless and other fit Clauses to be laid down for preservation of his Majesty's Patronages First-fruits and twentieth Parts in Manner and Quantity as now his Highness receives benefit thereby 9. That all Inquisitions taken since the year 1634. to entitle his Majesty to Connaght Thomond Ormond Eliogartie Kilnemanagh Duheara Wickloe and Idvagh may be vacated and their Estates secured according to his Majesties late Graces 10. That an Act of Parliament may pass here for securing the Subjects Title to their several Estates against the Crown upon any Title accrued unto it before sixty years or under colour or pretext of the present Commotions 11. That all Plantations made since the year 1610. may be avoided by Parliament if the Parliament shall hold it just
of November after the Rebellion brake forth found there many of the inferiour Irish and some of the Gentry in Rebellion in the County of Rescommon and Sligo with whom he dealt mildly presuming his former intimate Friendship and some Alliance might work on them but nothing prevail'd they were otherwise harden'd nor had he Force sufficient which they well knew to compel them their Swarms were so numerous their Cruelties so outragious so that at the last they block'd him up in the Castle of Athlone by the help of the Conspirators of Wess-Meath notwithstanding the Commissions of Government the Lords Justices and Council that nothing still might be wanting on the States side to evidence the confidence and trust they were willing to repose in the Prime Natives entrusted the Earl of Clanrickard the Lord Mayo the Lord of Costiloe and others with in which condition he remain'd till the Earl of Ormond Lieutenant General of his Majesties Army carried down two thousand Foot and some Troops of Horse to his Relief the Spring following Notwithstanding the Commission the Lord Rannelaugh had from those whom his Majesty entrusted of the Parliament in England to raise five hundred Protestants nearest adjoyning for the defence of the said Province and to name the Officers his Son Arthur Jones Esq being at the same time made Constable of the Castle of Roscommon in the County of Roscommon and allowed thirty one Protestant Warders to guard the Town and Castle As Sir Robert King at the same time was appointed in the like Command for the Castle of Abbey-boyle Yet the Rebels in the interim burnt the Town of Roscommon and the Bishops Town of Elphin besides many other Englishmen's Habitations surprizing also several Castles of the Earl of Clanrickards in the County of Galloway However Sir Charles Coote Junior vigilant in all concerns so mann'd and guarded Castle-Coot as that being in January 1641. besieg'd by Con O-Rourk with 1200 men he so notably encountred him as within a week he rais'd the Siege as he did Hugh O Connor Son of O Connor Dun of Balintober Titular Prince of Connaght lineally as he would have it descended from Rodderick O-Connor King of Connaght and Monarch of Ireland never afterwards durst make any formal approach against that Castle in as much as Sir Charles Coote fetch'd in Corn and Cattle at liberty Yet the second of March following O-Rourk came with all his Forces to fetch away the Prey of Roscommon before day hurrying them almost to Molinterim before our Forces could come up to him endeavouring to make good a Pass against our men who soon break their stoutest Ranks and killing most of the Rebels recovered the Prey took many Prisoners and amongst the rest Con O-Rourk Thus each Province was in a flame and that it burst not forth all at once was partly out of the backwardness of some who would first in the proceedings of the others see how far and with what security they might put themselves on the Work A horrid Work that had no promising or good Aspect And then others in the Counties of Dublin Meath Lowth who by the aforesaid compact should have furnish'd themselves with Arms from the State under pretence of service against Ulster missing of their Design in full halted a time and many declared not themselves at first by reason the surprising of the Castle of Dublin was prevented Nor did the noble and solemn Resentment of the Parliament in England a little startle others though after that the Winter came close upon them and that the English were almost every where harrast And the succours from England came not so soon as they were expected the Irish every where gathered that heat as in all Places to express their virulency Some will have it that the Gentlemen at Westminster instead of suppressing the Irish speedily by Arms made an Ordinance wholly to extirpate them whereby the Irish extirpated most part of the Protestant Colonies killing Man Woman and Child with most horrible Barbarousness Whereas it is apparent that the greatest and most horrid Massacres were acted before the Parliament could possibly know there was a Rebellion for after that the Plot was detected the Rebels somewhat slackned their first Cruelties though then they proclaim'd That if any Irish should harbour or relieve any English suffer'd to escape them with their lives that it should be penal even to death to such Irish So that though they put not those English actually to the Sword yet by that Design they cut them off more cruelly It being a certain truth not subject to the evasion of the Sophister that in all the four Provinces the horrid cruelties used towards the British either in their bloody Massacres or merciless dispoiling stripping and extirpation of them were generally acted in most parts of the Kingdom before they could gather themselves together to make any considerable resistance against their fury and before the State had assembled their Forces or were enabled by the power of his Majesties Arms to make any inroads into the Countreys possessed by the Rebels A circumstance which totally destroyeth all those vain pretences and fond recriminations which they have since most falsly taken up to palliate this their most abominable Rebellion or actings thereupon Besides in the first Order of the Lords Commons in Parliament of England touching this Concern for the better inducing of the Rebels to repent of their wicked Attempts they did thereby commend it to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or in his absence to the Lord Deputy or Lords Justices there according to the power of the Commission granted them in that behalf To bestow his Majesties gracious Pardon to all such as within a convenient time to be declared by any of the said Magistrates should return to their due obedience Which rule the Lords Justices in all Commissions either to Officers or Marshals they had also before observed that if amongst them there had been any relenting they might have experienc'd the mercy of the State And thus much may be said even for the Parliament that after the expence of much blood and treasure for suppression of the horrid Rebellion in Ireland when they had brought that Affair to such an issue as that a total Reducement and settlement of the Nation was effected whereby they came to divide the Rebels Estates They manifested that it was not the Parliaments intentions to extirpate that whole Nation but they ordered Mercy and Pardon both as to Life and Estate should be extended to all Husband-Men Labourers Artificers yea to higher rank and Quality according to the respective Demerits and Considerations under which they fell and that all should enjoy the benefit of their Articles It is indeed Enacted in the Acts of subscriptions for Ireland that every Person who shall make enter into or take any Compact Bond Covenant Oath promise or agreement to introduce or bring into the said Realm of Ireland the authority of the See of Rome
those who shall hereafter joyn with them or commit the like acts on any of our good Subjects in that Kingdom to be Rebels and Traitors against our Royal Person and Enemies to our Royal Crown of England and Ireland And we do hereby strictly Charge and Command all those Persons who have so presumed to rise in Arms against us and our Royal Authority which we cannot otherwise interpret than acts of high Rebellion and detestable Disloyalty when therein they spoil and destroy our good and loyal Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants that they immediately lay down their Arms and forbear any further acts of Hostility Wherein if they fail we do let them know that we have authorised our Justices of Ireland and other our Chief Governour or Governours and General or Lieutenant-General of our Army there and do hereby accordingly require and authorise them and every of them to prosecute the said Rebels and Traitors with Fire and Sword as Persons who by their high Disloyalty against us their lawful and undoubted King and Soveraign have made themselves unworthy of any Mercy or Favour Wherein our said Justices or other chief Governour or Governours and General or Lieutenant-General of our said Army shall be countenanc'd and supported by us and by our powerful Succours of our good Subjects of England and Scotland that so they may reduce to obedience those wicked disturbers of that Peace which by the blessing of God that Kingdom hath so long and so happily enjoy'd under the Government of our Royal Father and us And this our Royal pleasure we do hereby require our Justices or other chief Governour or Governours of that our Kingdom of Ireland to cause to be published and proclaim'd in and throughout our said Kingdom of Ireland Given under our Signet at our Palace at Westminster the 1st of January in the 17th year of our Reign 1641. Which coming forth so late and but 40 of them onely ordered to be Printed was by the Parliament in their Declaration of the 19th of May 1642. interpreted as a countenance to that Rebellion in answer whereunto his Majesty in his reply to that Declaration shews That the Proclamation not issuing out sooner was because the Lords Justices of that Kingdom desired them no sooner and when they did the number they desired was but twenty which they advised might be Signed by us which we for the expedition of that service commanded to be Printed a Circumstance not required by them thereupon we Sign'd more of them then our Justices desired And that it might further appear how deep a sense his Majesty had of the Rebellion which called upon Him and his People of England for a general Humiliation of all Estates before Almighty God in Prayer and Fasting for drawing down his Mercy and Blessing upon Ireland His Majesty was pleased by a Proclamation dated at Whitehall the 8th of January 1641. Straightly to Charge and Command That the last Wednesday of every Month during the troubles in Ireland a Solemn Fast should be observ'd through his Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales shewing in his own Person and the Court and example thereof which accordingly for some years was observ'd and considerable Collections were gathered at most Churches that day for the miserable People of Ireland Several but especially Sir Benjamin Rudyard excellently speaking on that Subject which being much in a little accept of in his own Words Mr. Speaker THis Day is appointed for a charitable Work a Work of Bowels and Compassion I pray God we may never have the like occasion to move to stir up our Charity These miserable People are made so because of their Religion He that will not suffer for his Religion is unworthy to be saved by it and he is unworthy to enjoy it that will not relieve those that suffer for it I did know but the last year here in England some and they no Papists who were resolv'd to make Ireland their Retreat as the safer Kingdom of the two We do now see a great a dismal Change God knows whose Turn shall be next it is wrapp'd up in his Providence that which happens to one Country may happen to any Time and Chance comes upon all though guided by a certain Hand The right way to make a Man truely sensible of another's Calamity is to think himself in the same case and condition and then to do as he would be done unto Wherefore Mr. Speaker let our Gift be a matter of Bounty not of Covetousness that it may abound to our Account in the Day of Reckoning He that sowes plentifully shall reap plentifully I am sure he that lends to the Lord hath the best Security and cannot be a loser The first President of the Fast before-mention'd which usher'd in the Charity that succeeded was before it came to be Monthly by the Lords House kept in the Abbey of Westminster where the Archbishop of York and the Lord Primate of Ireland preach'd to the Lords as in St. Margrets Westminster Mr. Calamy and Mr. Marshall to the House of Commons Though when his Majesty afterwards found by the ill use made thereof that the Lecturers in their Sermons and Prayers stir'd up and continued the War rais'd against Him in England the great Promoters too thereof deserting the Care of Ireland He the 6th of October 1643. forbad it to be kept and instead thereof expresly commanded a solemn Fast to be observ'd every second Friday of the Month through England and Wales But to return to the King's Proclamation against the Rebels which the bleeding Iphigenia and others of that lying Spirit would have to be grounded on the information of a malignant Part of the Council informing his Majesty that the Catholicks of Ireland without discrimination had enter'd into a Rebellion whereas there was never any such general Information Nay in all the Accounts they gave to his Majesty they still intimated that they hoped the Pale and other Parts would continue their Loyalty affording the Lords of the Pale as other Towns which afterwards shamefully revolted Arms Ammunition Commands informing his Majesty only of what they had discovered in the North with the suspicions that they had learnt on Examinations from others which would have been Treachery in them to have conceal'd and grand Disloyalty Nor doth his Majesty take notice in his Proclamation of any other than that divers lewd and wicked Persons had of late risen in Rebellion in his Kingdom of Ireland not so much therein as naming Papists or Catholicks that thence any of that profession should take Umbrage Nay so circumspect were the Lords Justices and Council at that time that they avoided all expressions which might any ways encourage the Irish to apprehend the English intended to make it a War of Religion However the Rebels were so far from paying obedience to his Majesty's Proclamation afore-mention'd saying it was counterfeit or done by Coertion as they acted now not as before apart but united in
Walls of Cork with great Forces not far from whence the Confederates promising General Garret Barry with the consent of his Council of War the Lord Muskery and others planted his Camp at Rochforts Town holding thereby Cork in a manner besieg'd on the North-side whilst my Lord Roch the Lord of Ikern Dunboin the Baron of Loghmo Mr. Richard Butler with the Tipperary Forces were drawing down on the South till by the valour of those few English then in Town viz. the Lord Inchiquin Col. Vavasor and 400 Musketeers and 90 Horse they were beaten off with the loss of 200 of their Men their Tents and whole Bag and Baggage being taken In the whole Service Sir William St. Leger as long as he had health was active with the meanest Officers of the Army doing many times a private Soldiers duty as well as a careful Generals But finding at length the Rebels multitudes to increase and his Men to decay even in being victorious and the Supplies of Men and Money with Provisions which he expected out of England to come over very slowly and far short of what the necessities of that Province required well understanding too the difference then in England betwixt his Majesty and the Parliament and what were the designs of some putting fair Glosses on the Rebellion of Ireland which his Soul apprehended as one of the most detestable Insurrections of the World These things so troubled his Spirit as being discouraged in the desperate undertakings necessity and the honour of his Nation put him daily upon so deep an impression fixed in his mind as the distemper of his body increasing he wasted away and died at his house at Downrallie four miles from Cork in the County of Cork 1642. and was there buried a little before whose death he writ the second of April 1642. a most significant Letter to the Lord Lieutenant touching the Affairs of that Province and his utter detestation of the Rebels Remonstrance sent him after a motion made for a Cessation which he would have seconded with further testimony of his aversion to their insolency as would have tended much to their dis-encouragement had he been enabled with any reasonable strength so to have done The Command of the Forces in this Province was after the death of Sir William St. Leger for the present by the Lords Justices and Council committed to the Lord Inchequin who had married his Daughter and during his Father in Law 's life had shewed himself very forward in several Services against the Rebels He was a meer Irish-man of the antient Family of O-Brian's but bred up a Protestant and one that had given good testimony of the truth of his Profession as his hatred and detestation of his Countrey-mens Rebellion and having match'd into the Lord President 's Family was held the fittest Person to cast the Command upon till there were another Lord President made by the King or he confirm'd by his Majesty in that Province In the mean time the Lord Inchequin takes some opportunity and having beaten the Rebels Forces at the Battel of Liscarrol in the County of Cork got great reputation by that action The Battel was fought on Saturday the 3d. of September 1642. in which on the English Party was kill'd Lewis Boyle Lord Viscount Kynalmeaky second Son to the late Earl and Brother to this of Cork who behav'd himself most nobly in that Expedition and was buried at Youghall in his Fathers Tomb. And on the Irish side was slain Captain Oliver Stephenson Grandson of him who in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had done eminent service in the Wars against the Earl of Desmond And afterwards the Division increasing in England the sending over a new Lord President was neglected so as the Lord Inchequin continu'd in the Government managing affairs there sometimes for the King against the Parliament sometimes for the Parliament against the King as he conceiv'd might bring on the absolute settlement of that Government upon himself of whom we shall speak more hereafter And now having shewed you the effects of the English Courage strangely reviv'd and managed against the Rebels it will be seasonable to acquaint you by what means the Forces there have been animated to so eminent a Service You have already read the generous resolutions of the Parliament in England upon the first discovery of the Rebellion as the encouragement his Majesty gave them upon his first and second appearance in the House of Lords after his return from Scotland And you have read if it would have been admitted how he would have adventured his Royal Person thither and have rais'd 10000 English Volunteers speedily for that Service if so the House of Commons would have declared that they would pay them which would not be accepted but instead thereof the 24th of January following the Town and Castle of Carickfergus were advised by the two Houses to be given in Command and Keeping to the Scots 2500 of which were to be transported thither and paid by England so as to be accountable according to their Order the 22. of Jan. to the King and Parliament and the Lord General in his Place for all their actions in that Service Which his Majesty was loath to grant as prejudicial to the Crown of England and employing too great trust for Auxiliary Forces Though at the importunity of the Parliament it was so setled at Windsor the 27th of January 1641. But what service the Scots did in those Parts more than subsist by English Pay deserves an enquiry It will now be convenient to acquaint you that after many necessary Propositions to the King from the Parliament passionately affected with the miseries of Ireland it was in the Petition of the House of Commons December the first mov'd That his Majesty would be pleas'd to forbear to alienate any of the Forfeited or Escheated Lands in Ireland which shall accrue to the Crown by reason of this Rebellion that out of these the Crown may be the better supported and some satisfaction made to his Subjects of this Kingdom England for the great Expences they were like to undergo in this War To which his Majesty answer'd That concerning Ireland he understood their desire of not alienating the forfeited Lands thereof to proceed from their much care and love and likewise that it might be a Resolution very fit for him to take But whether it be seasonable to declare resolutions of that nature before the event of a War be seen that he much doubted Howsoever we cannot repli'd his Majesty but thank you for this care and your chearful Engagement for the suppression of that Rebellion upon the speedy effecting whereof the Glory of God in the Protestant Profession the safety of the British there our Honour and that of the Nation so much depends all the Interests of this Kingdom being so involv'd in that business We cannot but quicken your affections therein and shall desire you to frame your
Councils and to give such Expedition to the Work as the nature thereof and the pressures in point of time require and whereof you are daily put in mind by the insolencies and increase of the Rebels Upon which the Parliament willing to omit no time precious in so weighty a Concern past a Bill of Loan towards the Relief of Ireland beginning thus Whereas sit hence the beginning of the late Rebellion in Ireland divers cruel Murthers and Massacres of the Protestants there have been and are daily committed by Popish Rebels in that Kingdom by occasion whereof great multitudes of Godly and Religious People there inhabiting together with their Wives Children and Families for the preservation of their Lives have been enforced to forsake their Habitations Means and Livelihood in that Kingdom and to flee for succour into several parts of his Majesties Realm of England and Dominion of Wales having nothing left to depend upon but the charitable Benevolence of well-disposed Persons The Lords and Commons now assembled in Parliament taking the same into their charitable considerations for the Honour of Almighty God and the preservation of the true Protestant Religion and Professors thereof have resolv'd presently themselves to contribute towards the necessities of the said poor distressed Christians who being many in number it is thought expedient that through all his Majesties Realm of England and Dominion of Wales a general Collection should be with all expedition made for that purpose c. Other Expedients considering the state of the Kingdom at that time not being convenient to be urg'd the effect of which was incredible so vast and free a Sum flowing in thereupon as nothing but a compassionate sense of the sufferings of their Brethren and a duty to their Religion could ever have rais'd so much Yet that being short of their Exigencies the State was then forc'd to another Act pass'd for Subscriptions on certain Propositions for Lands of the Rebels in Ireland To which those of the United Provinces of Holland were also encourag'd by a Declaration of both Houses the 2d of Feb. 1642. which is worthy often to be considered but being long though excellently and with much caution pen'd we shall refer you to the Act it self Anno 17. Carol. primi Immediately upon which Act divers Captains entertain'd for the Irish service adventur'd their first 6 Months Pay upon the Propositions Yet before these Propositions could be brought into an Act that no time in so great a Concern might be omitted both Houses of Parliament joyn'd in a Letter to the High Sheriffs of England that they might publish at the ensuing Lent-Assizes all the Propositions touching his Majesty's Promise to pass the two Millions and half of Acres of Land in Ireland for an encouragement to such as should in the interim subscribe After which the Act fore-mention'd immediately ensued upon the passing of which Act these subscrib'd in the House of Commons Mr. Walter Long 1200 l. Sir Robert Pie 1000 l. the 8th of March 1641. Mr. Samuel Vassall 1200 l. Sir Samuel Rolls of Devon 1000 l. William Lord Munson 2400 l. Sir John Harrison 1200 l. the 19th of March Sir William Brereton 1000 l. the 21. of March Sir Edward Aishcough 600 l. Mr. John and Mr. Edward Ash 1200 l. the 24th of March Sir Gilbert Pickering 600 l. the 25th of March 1642. Sir John Clotworthy in Money 500 l. Sir John Clotworthy for his Entertainment as Colonel in the Irish Wars 500 l. Mr. Henry Martin 1200 l. the 26th of March Mr. Arthur Goodwin 1800 l. Sir Arthur Haslerigge of Leicestershire 1200 l. Mr. Robert Reynolds 1200 l. Sir Robert Parkhurst 1000 l. Sir Thomas Dacres 600 l. Sir John Pots 600 l. Sir Arthur Ingram 1000 l. Dr. Thomas Eden 600 l. Mr. Oliver Cromwel 500 l. Mr. Nathaniel Fines 600 l. Mr. John Pym 600 l. Sir Walter Earle 600 l. Mr. Cornelius Holland 600 l. Sir John Northcot 450 l. Mr. Roger Matthew 300 l. Sir Nathaniel Bernardston 600 l. Sir William Masham 600 l. Sir Martin Lomley for Martin Lomley Esq his Son 1200 l. Mr. Thomas Hoyle of York 600 l. Mr. Anthony Bedingfield and Mr. William Cage 700 l. Sir William Allenson of York 600 l. Mr. William Havengham 600 l. Mr. Harbert Morley 600 l. Sir William Morley 1200 l. Sir John Culpeper 600 l. Sir Edward Partherick 600 l. Richard Shuttleworth Esq 600 l. Mr. John More and Mr. William Thomas 600 l. Mr. John Lisle 600 l. Mr. John Blackston 600 l. Sir Gilbert Gerrard 2000 l. Mr. Bulstrod Whitlock 600 l. Sir Edmond Momford and Mr. Richard Harman 600 l. Mr. John Trenchard 600 l. Mr. John Gurdon 1000 l. Mr. John Barker 1000 l. Mr. William Harrison 600 l. the 29th of March Mr. John Wilde Serjeant at Law and Mr. Thomas Lane 1000 l. Nathaniel Hallows of Derby for himself and others 1400 l. John Franklin 600 l. Mr. George Buller of the County of Cornwal 600 l. Sir Henry Mildmay 600 l. the 1. of April Mr. Oliver St. John 600 l. Sir John Wray 600 l. Sir Thomas Barrington 1200 l. Mr. Robert Goodwin and Mr. John Goodwin 600 l. the 2. of April Mr. Denzil Hollis 1000 l. Mr. John Crew 600 l. Sir John Peyton 600 l. the 4th of April Sir William Plactors 600 l. Sir William Strickland 600 l. Sir Thomas Savine 1000 l. Alexander and Squire Bence 600 l. Mr. John Rolls of Devon 450 l. Mr. John Hampden 1000 l. Mr. William Jesson 300 l. Sir Edward Baynton 600 l. Thomas Lord Wenman and Mr. Richard Winwood 1200 l. the 5th of April Sir William Drake 600 l. Mr. William Spurstow 600 l. Sir John Welyn of Godstow in the County of Surrey for himself and others 1500 l. the 7th of April Mr. Miles Corbet 200 l. the 9th of April And that this intended Design might proceed till the whole made up a considerable sum the Gentlemen of the County of Buckingham freely offer'd unto the House of Commons to lend 6000 l. upon the Act of Contribution for the Affairs of Ireland and to pay in the same before the first of May 1642. which the House took in very good part and accepted of and order'd the 9th of April 1642. that the said 6000 l. should be repaid out of the first Moneys that shall be rais'd in that County upon the Bill of 400000 l. and that Mr. Hampden Mr. Goodwin Mr. Winwood and Mr. Whitlock should return thanks to the County of Bucks from this House for their kind offer and acceptable service And it was further order'd and declared by the House of Commons That if any other County or Persons shall do the like it will be kindly accepted of by them and that the Moneys so lent shall be repaid them with Interest if they desire it out of the Moneys that shall be rais'd in those Counties where such Persons inhabit out of the Bill of 400000 l. To strengthen which precedent Act for Subscriptions c. there was an
his return from Ross which in the case our Forces stood he found difficult to be taken in as though our Ordnance made a breach in their Walls it was found necessary to desert the Siege he was encountred by an Army of the Rebels consisting of about 6000 Foot and 650 Horse well arm'd and horsed yet it pleas'd God so to disappoint their Councels and strength as with those small Forces which the Lord Marquess had with him being of fighting Men 2500. and 500 Horse not well armed and for the most part weakly horsed and those as well Men as Horse much weakned by lying in the Fields several nights in much Cold and Rain and by want of Man's Meat and Horse Meat the Lord Marquess obtain'd a happy and glorious deliverance and victory against those Rebels wherein were slain about 300 of them and many of their Commanders and others of Quality and divers taken Prisoners and amongst those Prisoners Colonel Cullen a Native of this City who being a Colonel in France departed from thence and came hither to assist the Rebels and was Lieutenant General of their Army in the Province of Leimster and the Rebel's Army was totally routed and defeated and their Baggage and Ammunition seized on by his Majesty's Forces who lodged that night where they had gain'd the Victory and on our side about 20 slain in the Fight and divers wounded We have great cause to praise God for magnifying his Goodness and Mercy to his Majesty and this his Kingdom so manifestly and indeed wonderfully in that Victory However the joy due from us upon so happy an occasion is we confess mingled with very great distraction here in the apprehension of our unhappiness to be such as although the Rebels are not able to overcome his Majesty's Army and devour his other good Subjects as they desire yet both his Army and good Subjects are in danger to be devoured by the wants of needful Supplies forth of England For as we formerly signified thither Those Forces were of necessity sent abroad to try what might be done for sustaining them in the Countrey so as to keep them alive till Supplies should get to us But that Design now failing those our hopes are converted into astonishment to behold the unspeakable Miseries of the Officers and Souldiers for want of all things and all those wants made the more insupportable in the want of Food whilst the City being all the help we have is now too apparently found to be unable to help us as it hath hitherto done And divers Commanders and Officers in the Army do now so far express the sense of their Sufferings which indeed are very great and grievous as they declare That they have little hope to be supplied by the Parliament and press with great importunity to be permitted to depart this Kingdom as it will be extream difficult to keep them here By our Letters of the 23d of March we signified thither the unsupportable burthen laid on this City for victualling those of the Army left here when the Marquess of Ormond with the Forces he took with him marched hence which burthen is found every day more heavy than other in regard of the many House-keepers thereby daily breaking up House and scattering their Families leaving still fewer to bear the burthen We also by those Letters and by our Letters of the 25th of February advertised thither the high danger this Kingdom would incur if the Army so sent abroad should by any distress or through want be forced back hither again before our Relief of Victuals should arrive forth of England When we found that those Men were returning back hither although we were and are still full of distraction considering the dismal consequences threatned thereby in respect of our Wants Yet we consulted what we could yet imagine feasible that we had not formerly done to gain some Food for those Men and found that to send them or others abroad into the Countrey we cannot in regard we are not able to advance Money for procuring the many Requisits incident to such an Expedition In the end therefore we were inforced to fix on our former way and to see who had yet any thing left him untaken from him to help us and although there were but few such and some of them poor Merchants whom we have now by the Law of Necessity utterly undone and disabled from being hereafter helpful to us in bringing us in Victuals and other needful Commodities yet were we forc'd to wrest their Commodities from them And certainly there are few here of our selves and others that have not felt their Parts in the inforced rigour of our Proceedings towards preserving the Army so as what with such hard dealing not less grievous to us to do than it is heavy to others to suffer and by our descending against our hearts far below the Honour and Dignity of that Power we represent here under his Royal Majesty we have with unspeakable difficulty prevail'd so as to be able to find Bread for the Souldiers for the space of one Month. We are now expelling hence all Strangers and must instantly send away for England thousands of poor dispoil'd English whose very eating is now unsupportable to this Place And now again and finally We earnesty desire for our Confusions will not now admit the writing of many more Letters if any That his Majesty and the English Nation may not suffer so great if not irrecoverable prejudice and dishonour as must unavoidably be the consequence of our not being reliev'd suddenly but that yet although it be even now at the point to be too late Supplies of Victuals and Munition in present to be hastned hither to keep life until the rest may follow there being no Victual in the Store nor will there be a 100 Barrels of Powder left in store when the out-Garrisons as they must be instantly are supplied and that remainder according to the usual necessary expence besides extraordinary accidents will not last above a month And the residue of our Provisions must also come speedily after or otherwise England cannot hope to secure Ireland or secure themselves against Ireland but in the loss of it must look for such Enemies from hence as will perpetually disturb the Peace of his Majesty and his Kingdom of England and annoy them by Sea and Land as we often formerly represented thither which Mischiefs may yet be prevented if we be yet forthwith enabled from thence with means to overcome this Rebellion We hope that a course is taken there for hastning thither the Provisions of Arms and Munition mention'd in the Docquet sent in our Letter of the 20th of January and the 600 Horses which we then moved might be sent hither for recruits and that the 7893 l. 3 s. for Arms to be provided in Holland besides those we expect in London hath been paid to Anthony Tierens in London or to Daniel Wibrants in Amsterdam and if that Sum had been paid as
very tender unto us But the present distempers of this your Majesties Kingdom of England to our unspeakable grief are grown so great that all future passages by which comfort and life should be conveyed to that gasping Kingdom seem totally to be obstructed so that unless your Gracious Majesty out of your singular Wisdom and Fatherly Care apply some speedy Remedy We your distressed and loyal Subjects of that Kingdom must inevitably perish Our condition represents unto your Majesty the estate of all your Majesties faithful Protestant Subjects in Ireland the influence of Princely favour and goodness so actively distill'd upon your Kingdom of Ireland before the birth of this monstrous Rebellion there and since the same so abundantly express'd in Characters of a deep sense and lively presentment of the bleeding condition thereof gives us hope in this our deplorable extremity to address our selves unto your Sacred Throne humbly beseeching that it may please your Gracious Majesty amongst your other weighty cares so to reflect upon the bleeding condition of that perishing Kingdom that timely relief may be offered otherwise your Loyal Subjects there must yield their Fortunes a Prey their Lives a Sacrifice and their Religion a Scorn to the merciless Rebels powerfully assisted from Abroad Whilst we live we rest in your Majesties Protection if our deaths are design'd in that Cause we will die in your obedience living and dying ever praying for your Majesties long and prosperous Reign over us Montgomery Hard. Waller Arth. Hill Aud. Mervin Unto which his Majesty by his Principal Secretary the Lord Faulkland return'd this Answer from the Court at Oxford the 1st of December 1642. His Majesty hath expresly commanded me to give this Answer to this Petition THat his Majesty hath since the beginning of that monstrous Rebellion had no greater sorrow than for the bleeding condition of that his Kingdom and as he hath by all means labour'd that timely relief might be afforded to the same and consented to all Propositions how disadvantagious soever to himself that have been offer'd him for that purpose and at first recommended their condition to both his Houses of Parliament and immediately of his own meer motion sent over several Commissions and caused some proportion of Arms and Ammunition which the Petitioners well know to have been a great support to the Northern parts of that Kingdom to be conveyed to them out of Scotland and offered to find 10000 Volunteers to undertake that War but hath often since prest by many several Messages that sufficient Succours might be hastned thither and other matters of smaller importance laid by which did divert it and offered and most really intended in his own Royal Person to have undergone the danger of that War for the defence of his good Subjects and the chastisement of those perfidious and barbarous Rebels and in his several Expressions of his desires of Treaty and Peace hath declared the miserable present condition and certain future loss of Ireland to be one of his principal Motives most earnestly to desire that the present Distractions of this Kingdom might be compos'd and that others would concur with him to the same end So his Majesty is well pleas'd that his Offers Concurrence Actions and Expressions are so rightly understood by the Petitioners and those who have employ'd them notwithstanding the groundless and horrid Aspersions which have been cast upon him but wishes that instead of a meer general Complaint to which his Majesty can make no return but of Compassion they could have digested and offered to him any such desires by consenting to which he might convey at least in some degree comfort and life to that gasping Kingdom preserve his distressed and Loyal Subjects of the same from inevitably perishing and the true Protestant Religion from being scorn'd and trampled on by those merciless and Idolatrous Rebels And if the Petitioners can yet think on any such and propose them to his Majesty he assures them that by his readiness to consent and his thanks to them for the proposal he will make it appear to them that their most pressing personal sufferings cannot make them more desirous of relief than his care of the true Religion and of his faithful Subjects and of that Duty which obliges him to his Power to protect both renders him desirous to afford it to them Faulkland Upon the Petition of the Confederates of Ireland his Majesty granted a Commission to the Marquis of Ormond to meet and hear what the Rebels could say or propound for themselves by vertue of which the Earl of St. Albans and Clanrickard the Earl of Roscommon Sir Maurite Eustace and other his Majesties Commissioners met at Trim to whom the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland Commissioners the Lord Viscount Gormanston Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Robert Talbot Baronet and John Walsh Esq produced a Remonstrance the 17th of March 1642. to be presented to his most Excellent Majesty by the name of The Remonstrance of Grievances presented to his Majesty in the name of the Catholicks of Ireland Yet though as you see this Remonstrance was solemnly received by his Majesties Commissioners and by them transmitted to his Majesty as before had been the presumptious Propositions from Cavan the Letter of the Farrals to the Lord Costilough Dr. Cale's Agency from the Rebels the United Lords Letter to the Earl of Castlehaven and the Lord Mountgarret's to the Lieutenant General and all other Addresses to the State as afterwards the Propositions of the Roman Catholicks of Ireland even to his Majesty by their Agents to himself at Oxford Yet the bleeding Iphigenia abounds in so much Impudence as to affirm that to this day the 23d of December 1674. they were not heard to speak for themselves Shameless Soul The Commission from his Majesty that the Rebels might be heard was brought over and confidently delivered at the Council-board the 22. of January by Thomas Bourk Esq a Contriver of the Rebellion to the amazement of All not acquainted with the Plot. In the Remonstrance there are pieced together saith that excellent and judicious Person who knew as well their Sophistry as the States Interest so many vain inconsiderable fancies many subsequent passages acted in the prosecution of the War and such bold false notorious Assertions without any the least ground or colour of truth as without all doubt they absolutely resolv'd first to raise this Rebellion and then to set their Lawyers and Clergy on work to frame such Reasons and Motives as might with some colour of justification serve for Arguments to defend it It is indeed to speak plainly a most infamous Pamphlet full fraught with scandalous aspersions cast upon the present Government and his Majesties Principal Officers of State within this Kingdom it was certainly framed with most virulent intentions not to present their condition and present sufferings to his Majesty but that it might be dispers'd to gain belief amongst Foreign States abroad as well as
being daily inform'd writes this Letter C. R. RIght trusty and Right well beloved Cousen and Councellor we greet you well by our Letters of the 23. of the last month We gave you our Command to Treat and Agree upon a Cessation of Arms for one year with those our Subjects in that our Kingdom who have taken up Arms there against our Authority and having since seen the Propositions which you and the rest of our Commissioners sent us from our said Subjects We find the same to be of such great importance and many things therein alledged so necessary to be further examined and inquired into as we have been the rather induced to have such a Cessation as we have formerly written unto you so as it may be with Honour to us and without prejudice to our Interest and Service This Bearer Mr. William Brent is a Person whom we have purposely sent over to give us an account of your proceedings in a Business of this Consequence to whom you may give credit and by him we shall desire to hear from you when you shall have any Matter of moment to send over unto us Given at our Court at Oxon the 3d. of May 1643. To our right trusty and entirely beloved Cousen and Counsellor James Marquiss of Ormond Lieutenant General of our Army in Ireland This upon the Treaty the Confederates Commissioners acknowledge to have seen but insisted upon one formerly mention'd of the 23. of April more important they conceive which upon promise that upon the agreement of the Treaty perfected they should have a Copy of the Treaty went on though as to his Majesty that there might be a further evidence of his Intentions to subdue the Rebellion in Ireland he being presented the 5th of May 1643. by Sir Robert King William Jephson and Arthur Hill Esquires from the Parliament with a Bill entituled An Act for the speedy payment of Moneys subscribed towards the reducing of the Rebels in Ireland which yet remain'd unpaid was so far from denying to pass the said Act though driven from his Parliament with far the Major part of both Houses that he inclin'd to pass the Act if he might be assured to have it imployed to no other purpose then the Reducing of the Rebels c. Which Conditions not being answered no more was attempted by that Bill a defect not resting in his Majesty but those that sent it whereby the straights in Ireland still increasing the Lords Justices writ to his Majesty as a little before they had done to the Parliament the ensuing Letter May it please your Most Excellent Majesty AS soon as we your Majesties Justices entred into the charge of this Government we took into our consideration at this Board the state of your Army here which we find suffering under unspeakable extremities of want of all things necessary to the support of their Persons or maintenance of the War here being no Victuals Cloaths or other Provisions requisite towards their sustenance no Money to provide them of any thing they want no Arms in your Majesties Stores to supply their many defective Arms not above 40 Barrels of Powder in your Stores no strength of serviceable Horses being now left here and those few that are their Arms for the most part lost or unserviseable no Ships arriv'd here to guard the Coasts and consequently no security rendred to any that might on their private Adventures bring in Provisions of Victuals or other necessaries towards our subsistence and finally no visible means by Sea or Land of being able to preserve for you this your Kingdom and to render deliverance from utter destruction to the Remnant of your good Subjects yet left here We find that your Majesties late Justices and this Board have often and fully by very many Letters advertised the Parliament in England of the extremities of Affairs here and besought relief with all possible importunity which also have been fully represented to your Majesty and to the Lord Lieutenant and to Mr. Secretary Nicholas to be made known to your Majesty And although the Winds have of late for many days and often formerly stood very fair for accessions of supply forth of England hither and that we have still with longing expectations hope to find Provisions arrive here in some degree answerable to the necessities of your Affairs yet now to our unexpressible grief after full 6 months waiting and much longer patience and long-suffering we find all our great expectations answered in a mean and inconsiderable quantity of Provisions viz. 75 Barrels of Butter and 14 Tun of Cheese being but the fourth part of a small Vessels Lading which was sent from London and arriv'd here on the 5th of this Month which is not above 7 or 8 days Provision for that part of the Army which lies in Dublin and the out-Garrisons thereof no Money or Victuals other then that inconsiderable proportion of Victual having arriv'd in this Place as sent from the Parliament of England or any other forth of England for the use of the Army since the beginning of November last We have by the blessing of God been hitherto prosperous and successful in your Majesties Affairs here and should be still hopeful by the mercy of God under the Royal Directions of your Sacred Majesty to vindicate your Majesties Honour and recover your Rights here and take due vengeance on these Traitors for the innocent blood they have spilt if we might be strengthned or supported therein by needful supplies out of England But these supplies having hitherto been expected to come from the Parliament of England on which if your Majesty had not relyed we are assured you would in your high Wisdom have found out some other means to preserve this your Kingdom and so great and apparent a failer having hapned therein and all the former and late long continuing Easterly winds bringing us no other Provisions then those few Cheese and Butter And no advertisement being brought us of any future supplies to be so much as in the way hither whereby there might be any likelihood that considerable means of support for your Majesties Army might arrive here in any reasonable time before that we be totally swallowed up by the Rebels and your Kingdom by them wrested from you we find our selves so disappointed of our hopes from the Parliament as must needs trench to the utter loss of the Kingdom if your Majesty in your high Wisdom ordain not some present means of preservation for us And considering that if now by occasion of that unhappy and unexpected failing of support from thence we shall be less successful in your Services here against the Rebels then hitherto whilst we were enabled with some means to serve you we have been the shame and dishonour may in common construction of those who know not the inwards of the Cause be imputed to us and not to the failing that disabled us And considering principally and above all things the
high and eminent trust of your Affairs here deposited with us by your Sacred Majesty we may not forbear in discharge of our Duty thus freely and plainly to declare our humble apprehensions to the end your Majesty thus truly understanding the terribleness of our Condition may find out some such means of support to preserve to your Majesty and your Royal Posterity this your ancient and rightful Crown and Kingdom and derive deliverance and safety to the Remnant of your good Subjects yet left here as in your excellent Judgment you shall find to be most to your Honour and Advantage And so praying to the King of Kings to guide and direct you for the best in this high and important Cause and in all other your Councels and Actions we humbly remain From your Majesties Castle at Dublin the 11th of May 1643. Your Majesties most Loyal and most Faithful Subjects and Servants The 12th of May the Lord Taaffe Roch and Fitzwilliams arrived out of England and that morning Major Warren and Sir Francis Butler came to the Council the Lords sitting and presented a Petition to the Lords Justices accusing the Lord Parsons of high Misdemeanors and other Treasonable Matters requesting that his Person and Goods might be secur'd though in conclusion nothing was ever filed against him an Evidence to most that there was more of a Design then Crime in the Accusation And having as before presented you with the Lords Justices Letter to his Majesty we should now give you the Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament the 16th of June 1643. concerning the present lamentable estate and miserable condition of Ireland In answer to what the Lords Justices and Council had faithfully acquainted them withall that it may appear how sensible they were of the information they had receiv'd of the straights and exigencies of the Protestant Forces in Ireland which certainly is very Emphatical resenting with a just aggravation the miserable condition of that Kingdom but being legible in Husbands Collections we shall refer you thither not busing our selves how far it prevail'd Certainly the Exigencies of the Souldiers and State of Ireland were then very considerable in as much as his Majesty not being able by any other expedient to remedy as he was perswaded their complaints then by a Cessation he to that end sends this Letter to the Lords Justices C. R. RIght trusty and well beloved Counsellors and right trusty and intirely well beloved Cousen and Counsellor we greet you well The present Distractions here have rendred us as unable as by experience we find the remaining part of the two Houses are unwilling to supply or relieve our Army in Ireland and if the Money we consented should be rais'd in this our Kingdom for the Relief of Ireland had not been diverted by them and Rebelliously imployed against us here in England we should not have been constrain'd to have hearkned to a Cessation of Arms now on that side But since we see no other hope during the unhappy distempers here to settle the Peace of that our Kingdom but by a Cessation of Arms between us and the Irish now in Arms there and doubt very much how our Forces now in that our Kingdom will be there maintain'd if we shall admit of a Cessation We have thought it expedient by these our Letters to recommend it to your care and industry to consider seriously how our Forces on that side may be enabled to subsist during the Cessation and if there may be means found for that we do then hereby Authorise and require you to agree to a Cessation of Arms there for a year and in our Names to assure the said Irish that we are graciously inclin'd to dissolve the present Parliament and call a new one between this and the 10th of November next and to take a course to put all those that shall be chosen Members of the said Parliament into such a condition as they shall not be prejudiced of their Liberty of Assisting Sitting and Voting in the said Parliament for better effecting whereof we do hereby further authorise and require you to give License to such Commissioners as the said Irish shall appoint to come over hither to us to treat of that Business and such other Particulars to be proposed by way of Petition as shall necessarily conduce not onely to the satisfying of the said Cessation but to a preparation of what shall be requisite for the setling of a just honourable and perfect Peace in that our Kingdom And we further require in case the said Irish now in Arms shall agree to such a Cessation and Treaty to advertise us of some such able and fitting Ministers or Servants of ours on that side as you conceive fit to be sent over hither to assist in the Treaty here when Commissioners shall come over from the said Irish. In which Business we require you to use all convenient expedition and to give us a speedy Account for which these our Letters shall be your Warrant Given under our Signet at our Court at Oxford the second day of July in the 19th year of Our Reign 1643. To our right trusty and well-beloved Counsellors Sir John Borlase and Sir Henry Tichborn Kts. Lords Justices of our Kingdom of Ireland and to our right trusty and intirely beloved Cosen and Counsellor James Marquiss of Ormond Lieutenant-General of our Army there But before this Letter came to the Lords Justices the means to a Cessation were thought of Yet the day before the Marquiss of Ormond proceeded to the Treaty which was the 22. of June the chief Protestants of the City of Dublin were called before the Council to know if they would give 10000 l. or have a Cessation the latter they were very unwilling to and the former they could not advance indeed it was well known though it serv'd as an Argument to evidence the necessity the State was put to And the Irish Commissioners the 23. of June presented themselves unto the Marquiss of Ormond in his Tent near Castle Martin in the County of Kildare in the presence of divers Colonels Captains and Officers in his Majesties Army his Lordship sitting in his Chair covered and the Irish Commissioners standing bare after several passages betwixt them all tendred in writing the Irish Commissioners gave his Lordship a Copy of the Authority they had receiv'd from the supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland at Kilkenny in these words WHereas his Majesty's most faithful Subjects the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland were inforced to take Arms for the preservation of their Religion for the defence of his Majesty's just Prerogatives and Rights and the maintenance of the Rights and Liberties of their Countrey labour'd to be destroyed by the Malignant Party And whereas his Majesty in his high Wisdom and Princely Care of his said Subjects Welfare and Safety and at their humble Suit That his Majesty might be graciously pleas'd to hear
Ships Barques or Vessels whatsoever and to treat with any Persons whatsoever for the Loan Hire or Sale of any Ships Barques or Vessels upon such Conditions as you or any one of you shall agree upon with them 3. That in such time and manner as to you shall seem meet you communicate to the Officers and Soldiers of that Our Army this Our intention to make use of their known Courage and Fidelity in the defence of Our Person and Crown against the unnatural Rebellion rais'd against us in this Our Kingdom and against the like labour'd by the Rebels here to be rais'd against Us out of Our Kingdom of Scotland 4. That you signifie unto them that We are the more mov'd and necessitated unto this course for as much as it is resolv'd by some ill affected Persons in that Our Kingdom of Scotland to call over the Army of Our British Subjects out of Our Kingdom of Ireland to the end to make use of them for the Invasion of Us and of Our Good Subjects of England And for as much as this Rebellion against Us under colour of the humility of Our two Houses of Parliament hath exhausted the Means appointed by the concurrence of Our Royal Authority for the sustentation of that Our Army there and by force hath stai'd and taken from Us all those Our Revenues which might have enabled Us to have supplied them in that Our Kingdom so that we ought in reason besides the Bond of their Allegiance to expect their ready concurrence against those Persons who are as well the Causers of all the Miseries they have endured as of all the Injuries We have suffered 5. That you assure them both Officers and Soldiers that upon their Landing here they shall immediately receive Our Pay in the same proportion and manner with the rest of our Army here And you are to assure the Soldiers that all care shall be taken that Cloathes Shoes and other Necessaries be forthwith provided for them after they are Landed here and that care shall be taken for the Provision of such as shall happen to be maim'd here in Our Service and for the payment of all their Arrears that shall be due to any of them that shall happen to be kill'd in the same to their Wives Children or nearest Friends And you are to assure both Officers and Soldiers that we will take special care to reward all such according to their Merit and Quality that shall do us any eminent Service in this Our War against this odious and most unnatural Rebellion 6. We will and require you and do hereby authorize you to use your utmost Interest and Industry for the speedy Transportation of this forementioned part of Our Army with their Arms Horses and such Ammunition and the like as you shall think fit into Our Kingdom of England and particularly if it may be to our Fort of the City of Chester or to the most commodious Haven in North-Wales And for Our obedience in this and every other of these Our Commands this shall be to you and every of you sufficient Warrant Given at Our Court at Eudely-Castle 7th Sept. in the 19th year of Our Reign Superscrib'd as before For the Lords Justices and the Lieutenant General of the English Army To what Party the Cessation was happy will be hard to determine that thereby the Rebels had an opportunity which they improv'd to provide themselves of Arms and Ammunition may easily be conceiv'd in as much as the Parliament of England concluded the Cessation in Ireland was of advantage to none but to the bloody Rebels of that Kingdom Agreeable to what Camd. well observs for as much as in that space wherein a Cessation is allowed to the Rebels the Rebels enjoy free liberty to digest all their secret Plots and Machinations to strengthen their Sides by new Confederacies abroad and to encrease them at home with new Forces whilst all this while the English lay at a costly idleness feeding on the fruits of their Friends and faithful Well-willers when by reason of the Cessation they might not prey upon the Enemy Certain it is the Parliament improv'd the Cessation to a very specious pretence in as much as no estate say they of the Rebels was to be disposed of consequently no Cessation or Peace to be made till the Lords and Commons of the Realm of England should in Parliament by order declare that the said Rebels were subdued and this present Rebellion appeas'd and ended But on the contrary his Majesty shew'd the necessity of his good Protestant Subjects and the Army being not longer able to subsist for want of Supplies enforced that Cessation though he is told again That many since the Cessation have and do subsist And that one end for which the Cessation was made was that the Forces might be brought out of Ireland into England and employ'd against the two Houses Which in Answer his Majesty shews the reason of when the Scots Army before was made use of against him The whole Scene is excellently stated in his Majesties Answer to the two Papers concerning Ireland at the Treaty at Uxbridge How passionately soever the Parliaments Commissioners conclude That whatsoever becomes of us say they if we must perish yet let us go to our graves with that comfort that we have not made Peace with the Enemies of Christ yea even Enemies of Mankind declared and unreconciled Enemies to our Religion and Nation And indeed to give the Parliament their due when they had reduc'd the Affairs of England to their own Module the Rebels of Ireland were frequently chastised and so affectionately pursued that neither Men Money or Courage was wanting to that service Of the first part of which Paragraph his Majesty seems most sensible expressing in his Answer before-mention'd That he would be glad that either a Peace in England or any other Expedient might furnish him with Means and Power to do Justice upon them if this cannot be we must not desperately expose our good Subjects there to Butchery without means or possibility of Protection God will in his due time avenge his own quarrel In the mean time his Gospel gives us leave in case of War to sit down and cast up the cost and estimate our power to go through with it and in such case where Prudence adviseth it is lawful to propose Conditions of Peace though the War otherwise might justly be pursued This wrought much on many But the Parliament who persisted resolutely to have his Majesty disclaim the Cessation would not allow any necessity for it alledging that though some of great estimation with the Parliament whom his Majesties Commissioners produc'd as principally interessed in the managing of Affairs in Ireland and the War there had prest for Supplies as in all likelihood to perish speedily without them yet they were assur'd even by some who were at the Council at that time when those Letters were written that the same was done onely to
of their Interest and security Each Party arrived at Oxford near the midst of April the Confederate Agents got thither soonest having less Remora's in their dispatch The Confederates as men who thought themselves possessed of the whole strength and Power of the Kingdom and the Kings condition in England so weak as he would buy their assistance at any rates demanded upon the Matter the total alteration of Government both in Church and State the very form of making and enacting Laws which is the foundation of Government and which had been practis'd ever since the Reign of King H. 7. must be abolished and instead of Liberty or Toleration for the exercise of the Romish Religion they insisted on such Priviledges Immunities and Power as would have amounted at best but to a Toleration of the Protestant Religion and that no longer then they should think fit to consent to it On the other hand the Committee of Parliament as men who too much felt the smart and anguish of their late sufferings undervalued and condemned the Irish as inferior to them in Courage and Conduct and as possessed of much greater Power by the Cessation then they could retain in War very earnestly prest the execution of the Laws in force Reparation for the dammages they had sustain'd disarming the Irish in such manner and to such a degree as it might not be hereafter in their Power to do more mischief and such other Conditions as People who are able to contend are not usually perswaded to submit unto which the Committee at Oxford for Irish Affairs insisted on with powerful Reasons and Arguments In these so different and distant Applications they who were sent as moderate Men from the Council knew not how to behave themselves but enough discovered that they had not the confidence in the Irish as to be willing that they should be so far trusted that the performance of their Duty should depend onely on their Affection and Allegiance But that there should be a greater Restraint upon them then they were inclin'd to submit to otherwise that the Protestant Religion and English Interest would be sooner rooted out by the Peace they proposed then it could be by the War It is very true that the Irish Agents demean'd themselves to his Majesty with great shew of Modesty and Duty they were Men that lack'd neither Art nor Behaviour and confessed that they believ'd that the Demands they were enjoyn'd to insist upon were such as his Majesty could not consent unto and that the present condition of his Affairs was not so well understood by them or by those who sent them before their coming out of Ireland as it now was which if it had been they were confident they should have had such Instructions as would better have complied with their own Desires and his Majesty's Occasions and therefore frankly offer'd to return and use their utmost Endeavours to incline the Confederate Council whose Deputies they were and who then exercised the supream Power over the Confederate Catholicks of that Kingdom to more Moderation and to return their full submission and obedience to his Majesty upon such Conditions as his Goodness would consent unto for their security But how little of this was perform'd you shall find in the sequel of the Story however the King sent his Command the 16th of Feb. 164. to the Marquess of Ormond to continue and renew their Cessation for another year and likewise a Commission under the Great Seal of England to make a full Peace with his Catholick Subjects upon such Conditions he found agreeable to the publick Good and Welfare and might produce such a Peace and Union in that Kingdom as might vindicate his Regal Power and Authority and suppress the Rebels in England and Scotland And so his Majesty dismissed the Catholick Agents with demonstration of much Grace and Confidence with this good Council which he most pathetically poured out to them at their departure That they should not forget the preservation of the Nation and Religion which they professed and were so zealous for in Ireland depended upon the preservation of his just Rights and Authority in England That they saw his Subjects of Scotland contrary to all Obligations had invaded England and joyned with those Rebels against him who without that assistance would have been speedily reduced to their obedience And therefore if his Catholick Subjects of Ireland made haste upon such Conditions as he might then grant without prejudice to himself and which should be amply sufficient for the security of their Fortunes Lives and Exercise of their Religion to assist him whereby he might be enabled by God's Blessing to suppress that Rebellion they might confidently believe he would never forget to whose Merit he owed his Preservation and Restauration and it would then be in his absolute Power to vouchsafe Graces to them to compleat their happiness and which he gave them his Royal Word he would then dispence in such manner as should not leave them disappointed of any of their just and full Expectations But if by insisting on such Particulars as he could not in Conscience consent to and their Consciences obliged them not to ask or on such as though he could himself be content to yield to yet in that Juncture of Time would bring such great damage to him that all the Supplies they could give or send to him could not countervail and might be as beneficially granted to them hereafter when he might better do it they should delay their joyning with him and so look on till the Rebel's Power prevail'd against him in England and Scotland and suppress'd his Party in those Kingdoms it would then be too late for them to give him help and they would quickly find their Strength in Ireland but an imaginary Support for his or their own Interest and that they who with much difficulty had destroyed him would without any considerable Opposition ruine their Interest and root out their Religion with their Nation from all the Dominions which should be subject to their exorbitant Jurisdiction How much of this prov'd a Prophesie their sad Experience knows and the World cannot but take notice of Soon after the Confederate's Agents were dismissed the Protestant's Committee of Parliament who had managed their Scene with much Courage and Integrity drew off with the King's Favour and Promise to do the utmost he could for them In the managing of which Affairs if they had not been very resolute arm'd with much Truth they would certainly have fall'n under many Inconveniencies For besides what they met with at Oxford they had still Correspondence and accordingly acted as they were animated by a Party of the Protestant Committee of the Parliament of Ireland then resident in Dublin who that they might decline the height of what those at Oxford proposed were tempted by an Order of the Council-Board to certifie Whether the 24 Propositions of his Majesty's Protestant Agents of Ireland presented to
their daily Masses within that Town and all other of our Garrisons where Papists did inhabit they prayed for the advancement of the Catholick Cause which they believed the Rebels fought for And lastly we have lately discovered that the now Major and Corporation had combined with the Rebels to betray the Town to them and for that purpose an Army was drawn to all the parts adjoyning to our Garrisons in the three chiefest whereof we are confident the Rebels had their Party but by Divine Providence before the Plot could be executed the Major presuming on his speedy success contemned the Lord of Inchequin's Authority by opposing the levying of the Moneys granted by the English for the maintenance of the Soldiers just about the nick of time that the Treachery was to be effected And he being committed upon this occasion the Rebels apprehending their design to be discovered with-drew their Forces And lest this should be judged as an act of the Major onely as a private person we desire the World to take notice that as soon as our Army which forced their obedience was removed into England the Papists generally resisted what ever could be propounded for our security and would have dis-enabled us to continue our Garrisons had not the poor stript English taken all that burthen upon themselves Nay they were so insolent that they laboured to get Arms into their hands and to cause us to disband our Soldiers which they affirmed to be kept as an unnecessary charge upon the King that so they might with more facility receive the Irish and ruine us In a word since they pretend the ground of this War to be for Religion and that this is confessed by those who seem'd to adhere to us what faith can be expected from such a People whose Religion permits them to hold none with us By this preceding Relation it is evidently seen that unless we re-assume our Arms we betray the trust committed to us by God the King and Parliament and become slaves both of bodies and souls And therefore we have resolv'd to perform our duty though with apparent hazard of our lives and likewise maintain that which is a thousand times more dear unto us our Religion and also defend our Garrisons for the Kings just use These we take God to witness are our intentions and we beseech him to punish us as strangely as hitherto he hath preserv'd us if we decline at all from these Loyal and Religious resolutions and we firmly hope that the World will by this Declaration be as fully satisfi'd of the justness of our proceedings as we our selves are then though we all lose our lives in this Cause we shall give our Friends occasion to rejoyce and our Enemies to envy at so blessed an end This return of the Munster Forces to the Parliament was not so welcome to them as it was strange to the Lord Lieutenant who thereupon expostulated the business with the Lord Inchequin who the 2d of August writ to his Excellency That on suspitions of another intended surprisal by the Irish and out of a care to protect the English he had clear'd Cork Toughall and Kinsale of the Irish and put himself into a posture of safety which with his return from England was the worse resented for that he was the first man who mov'd the King to send for the Forces of Ireland into England Upon his revolt to the Parliament he dream'd of sudden Supplies but they were at that time so imbroil'd in business as they had little leisure to consider of Ireland and less means to help them so as little was sent to him for eight or ten months after but they made him Lord President of Munster Nor had the Scots much more relief in the North however the new and old Scots under Monro joyning themselves together unanimously made a shift to preserve themselves against the incursions of the Rebels and about Midsummer 1644. they gathered an Army of 10000 Horse and Foot and came into the County of Cavan and sent a Party into Longford and spoil'd much of that Countrey and march'd to Owen Roe and the Earl of Castlehaven who lay with their Army about Tonrages where they encompass'd them and had they been sufficiently vigilant might certainly have defeated the Rebels who through the favour of a close night escaped though pursued and at Finagh-Bridge met with a severe slaughter Nugents house of Carlestown they burnt and hanged him In the interim Duncannon one of the strongest Forts in Ireland under the Command of the Lord Esmond submitted not to the Cessation but being strongly besieged by Preston was surrendred about March 1644. before Sir Arthur Loftus who was to have been Governour of the Fort under his Lordship arrived there with a competent Supply who finding himself disappointed thereof carried his Provisions into Munster and the Lord Esmond soon after died What difference soever there was between some Towns and the Lord Lieutenant yet for the encouragement of any that should bring Commodities to Dublin Tredagh Dundalk Carlingford Cork Kinsale or Youghal for the relief of his Majesties Army and good Subjects there a Proclamation pass'd at Dublin the 20th of May 1644. to free them for six months from all Customs and Impositions in pursuance of a Proclamation from his Majesty at Oxford the 17th of March 1643. In April after the Committee of both Kingdoms in England to whom the affairs of Ireland were from the Parliament committed finding the business of Ireland grow very heavy upon them got themselves quit thereof and the Houses instituted another to sit at the Star-chamber of 13 Lords and 28 Commoners but few in it that understood the business of Ireland besides two Gentlemen whose Interest leading them to several Provinces much injur'd the equal management of the whole and he to whom the Provisions were entrusted order'd them at that rate as the complaint was great About May 1645. there were appointed Commissioners for Ulster Arthur Annesly Esq Sir Robert King and Colonel Beale a Citizen of London who were to carry with them 20000 l. in Money besides Provisions and Ammunition but the dispatch was so slow as they Landed not there till October besides some Commissioners should have joyned with them from Scotland who never came upon the Place so nothing could be orderly done in that the Scots by a late Treaty pretended a Right in the Government of Ireland which his Majesty in his Papers took just Exceptions against they long certainly having it in their Design to make themselves Masters of the North of Ireland since they fail'd of retaining any Interest in the Government in England But Troubles increasing in Scotland through Montross and Colonel Kittoâ—'s joyning together who had certainly taken Edinburgh but that the Plague was violent there several of the late Scotch Regiments were drawn from Ulster that more than what garrison'd Carickfergus Belfast Colrain and some other Places near the Sea-Coast where they committed the
to believe the People were glad to be again receiv'd into his Majesty's Protection A Protection his Majesty evidences to his Commissioners at Uxbridge That it was as inevitably necessary that they should not consent to hinder him therein as he had strong Reasons for the Cessation before unless they could shew how his Protestant Subjects in Ireland may probably at least defend themselves and that he should have no more need to defend his Conscience and Crown from the Injuries of this Rebellion At this Peace the Irish seem'd exceedingly enliven'd but the shew thereof quickly vanish'd and a cloud of Jealousie began again to cover the Land The Pope's Nuncio and the titular Bishops who depended on him envi'd that Nation the happiness and glory they foresaw it would be possess'd of by the execution of that Agreement and so without any colour of Authority either by the old establish'd Laws of that Kingdom or those Rules they had prescrib'd to themselves since the Rebellion they conven'd a Congregation of the Clergy at Waterford a Town most at their devotion where the Titular Bishop of Ferns was in the Chair and refided And therefore it will not be amiss to take a short view of their proceedings that the unhappy oppressed and miserable Ireland may clearly discern to whom it owes those Pressures and Grievances it is now overwhelm'd with and whether that Bishop be to be reckon'd in the number of those who suffer at present for his Zeal to Religion his Allegiance to the King and his Affection to his Countrey or whether his name be to be inserted in that Catalogue which must derive to Posterity the Authors and Fomentors of so odious and causless a Rebellion in which such a Sea of Blood hath been let out and the Betrayers of the Honour and Faith of that Countrey and Nation and who are no less guilty of extirpation of a Religion they so much glory of in that Kingdom than Ireton or Cromwel or that impious Power under which they have perpetrated all their Acts of Blood Cruelty and Desolation At that time the Parliament of England having accommodated the Spaniard with 2000 Men he in lieu thereof so temper'd the Irish ever devoted to that Nation that the Spaniard having then an Agent in Ireland he took them off from doing any thing effectual in our King's business And the Congregation of the Clergy was no sooner assembled then instead of prescribing Acts of Charity and Repentance to the People for the ill they had formerly done and then inflaming their hearts with new Zeal and infusing pious Courage into them to relieve and succour the King from those who oppressed him according to their particular Obligation by their late Agreement which had been the proper Office of Prelates and a Christian Clergy they began to inveigh against the Peace which themselves had so lately approv'd and so formally consented unto as if it had not carefully enough provided for the advancement of Religion and would not suffer it to be proclaim'd in Waterford and sent their Emissaries and their Orders to all considerable Towns and Cities to incense the People against it and against those who wished it should take effect insomuch that when the King at Arms was Proclaiming the Peace at Limerick with that solemnity and Ceremony as in such cases is used throughout the World with his Coat of Arms the Ensign of his Office and accompani'd with the Mayor and Aldermen and the most substantial of the Citizens in their Robes and with all the Ensigns of Magistracy and Authority one Molife a seditious Frier stirr'd up the multitude against him which being led on by one Fanning a person notorious for many outrages and acts of Blood and Inhumanity in the beginning of the Rebellion violently assaulted them and after many opprobrious speeches in contempt of the Peace and the Authority of the King and tearing off the Coat from the Herald beat and wounded him and many of the Magistrates of the City and some of them almost to death And least all this might be excused and charitably interpreted to be the effect of a Popular and Tumultuous Insurrection the Lawful Mayor and other principal Officers who assisted him in the discharge of his Duty were immediately displac'd and Fanning the impious Conductor of that Rabble was made Mayor in his place who by Letters from the Nuncio was thanked for what he had done and encouraged to proceed in the same way and had the Apostolical Benediction bestowed on him for committing such an outrage upon the Priviledged Person of an Herald who in the name of the King came to proclaim Peace As by the Law of Nations must have been adjudged barbarous and unpardonable in any part of the World where Civility is planted if he had come to have denounced War And yet all this while the design it self was carried with so great secresie that the Lord Lieutenant proceeding in his Progress for the setling and composing the humours of the People which he understood to have been in some disorder by the infusions of the ill-affected Clergy never heard of any Force of Arms to second and support those mutinous disorders till being near to the City of Cashell he was advertis'd by Letters from the Mayor that Neal's Army was marching that way and had sent terrible threats to that City if it presum'd to receive the Lord Lieutenant And shortly after he found that Owen O Neal used all possible expedition to get between him and Dublin that so he might have been able to have surprised and destroyed him whereupon the Marquis found it necessary to lose no time in returning thither yet resolved not onely to contain himself from any Acts of Hostility but even from those Trespasses which are hardly avoidable upon Marches and paid so precisely for whatsoever was taken from the Inhabitants throughout all the Catholick Quarters presuming that those Persons of Honour who had transacted the Treaty would have been able to have caused the Peace to be observed in despight of those clamorous undertakers But when the Unchristian Congregation of Waterford had made this Essay of their Power and Jurisdiction they made all possible hast to propagate their Authority and declared the Peace to be void and inhibited all Persons to submit thereunto or to pay any Taxes Imposition or Contribution which had been setled by the said Agreement and without which neither a standing Army which was to be applied to the Reduction of those Towns and Provinces which had put themselves under the Protection of the Parliament of England and never submitted to the former Cessation nor could be comprehended in the Peace could be supported or the 10000 Men rais'd to be transported into England for the succour of the King as had been so Religiously undertaken which inclination of theirs the People so readily obeyed and submitted unto That they committed and delegated the intire and absolute Power of Governing
Toleration of the Romish Catholick Religion had in truth prov'd for the extirpation of the Protestant when they should think fit to put the same in execution Nor was the only Argument and Excuse which they published for these Proceedings more reasonable than the Proceedings themselves which was That the Concessions and Promises made unto them by the Earl of Glamorgan were much larger and greater security for their Religion than those consented to by the Marquess Whereas in truth those Concessions and Promises made by the Earl as we have took notice were dis-avowed and dis-own'd by the Lord Lieutenant before the Peace was concluded and the Earl committed to Prison for his Presumption which though it produced some interruption in the Treaty yet was the same after resumed and the Peace concluded and proclaimed upon the Articles formerly mention'd so that the Allegation of what had been undertaken by the Earl of Glamorgan can be no excuse for their violating the Agreement afterwards concluded with the Marquess Whereby it appears let the most favourable Fucus imaginable be put upon it that though they released the Commissioners for the Treaty as justifiable yet Herod and Pilate were then made Friends each Party consenting to dam the Peace This last wonderful Act put a period to all Hopes of the Marquess of Ormond which Charity and Compassion to the Kingdom and Nation and his discerning Spirit would fain have cherisht in that in-evitable ruine and destruction both must undergo from that distemper of mind that possessed them and had so long boy'd them up against his experience and judgement And now those whose Natures Dispositions and Interest made them most averse to the Parliament of England grew more affrighted at the thoughts of falling under the Power of the Irish so that all Persons of all humours and inclinations who lived under his Government and had dislikes and jealousies enough against each other were yet united and reconciled in their opinions against the Irish. The Council of State besought the Lord Lieutenant to consider whether it were possible to have any better security from them for the performance of any other Agreement he should make than he had for the performance of that which they now receded from and disclaimed And since the Spring was now coming on whereby the number power and strength of their Enemy would be increas'd on all sides and their hopes of Succours was desperate and so it would be only in his election into whose power he would put those who had deserved as well from his Majesty by doing and suffering as Subjects could do whether into the hands of the English who could not deny them protection and justice or of the Irish who had not only dispoil'd them of all their Fortunes and prosecuted them with all animosity and cruelty but declared by their late carriage that they were not capable of security under them they therefore entreated him to send again to the two Houses of Parliament and make some agreement with them which would probably be for their preservation whereas with the other what-ever could be done it was evident it would be for their destruction That which amongst other things of importance made a deep impression in the Marquess was the knowledge that there had been from the beginning of these Troubles a Design in the principal Contrivers of them entirely to alienate the Kingdom of Ireland from the Crown of England to extirpate not only the Protestant but all the Catholicks who were descended from the English and who in truth are no less odious to the old Irish than the other and to put themselves into the protection of some foreign Prince if they should find it impossible to erect some of the old Families And how impossible and extravagant soever this Attempt might reasonably be thought in regard not only all the Catholicks of the English Extraction who were in Quality and Fortune much superiour to the other but many Noble and much the best and greatest Families of the ancient Irish perfectly abhorred and abominated the same writ some Yet it was apparent that the violent Part of the Clergy that now govern'd had really that intention and never intended more to submit to the King's Authority whosoever should be intrusted with it And it had been proposed in the last Assembly by Mr. Anthony Martin and others That they should call in some forreign Prince for protection from whom they had receiv'd Agents as from his most Christian Majesty Monsieur de Monry and Monsieur de Molin from his Catholick Majesty Don Diego de Torres his Secretary from the Duke of Lorrain Monsieur St. Katherine and from Rome they had Petrus Franciscus Scarampi and afterwards Rinuccini Archbishop and Prince of Fermo Nuncio Apostolick for Ireland whose exorbitant Power was Earnest enough how little more they meant to have to do with the King and as it would be thought gave no less an umbrage offence and scandal to the Catholicks of Honour and Discretion than it incensed those who bore no kind of Reverence to the Bishop of Rome to whom as their publick Ministers they sent their Bishop of Ferns and Sir Nicholas Plunket as before Mr. Richard Bealing to Spain they sent Fa. Hugh Bourk to Paris Fa. Matthew Hartegan and to the Duke of Lorrain by general Commission Theobald Lord Viscount Taaff Sir Nich. Plunket and Mr. Geoffry Brown some of whose Instructions we shall here give you that the Temper of that Council and the Affections of those Men what pretence soever veils their Designs may appear from the Instruments themselves Kilkenny 18. Jan. 1647. By the Supream Council and others the Lords Spiritual and Temporal here under-Signing and the Commons of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland Instructions to be observed and by the Lord Bishop of Fernes and Nicholas Plunket Esq Commissioners appointed and authorized by and in the behalf of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland in the Court of Rome 1 Imprimis YOu are to represent unto his Holiness the deplorable Condition wherein the Confederate Catholicks are and for your better information to take with you the Draught of the Representation of the present Condition of the Countrey which you are to enlarge and second by your own Expressions according to your knowledge and therefore desire in regard Ireland and Religion in it is humanely speaking like to be lost that his Holiness in his great Wisdom and Piety will be pleased to make the Preservation of a People so constantly and unanimously Catholick his and the Consistory of the Cardinals their Work And you are to pray his Holiness to afford such present effectual Aids for the preservation of the Nation and the Roman Catholick Religion therein as shall be necessary 2. You are to let his Holiness know That Application is to be made to our Queen and Prince for a settlement of Peace and Tranquillity in the Kingdom of Ireland And that for the effecting thereof the Confederate Catholicks
1647. they unanimously publish'd a Declaration to that end exactly drawn up with great Reason Perspicuity and Eloquence The time that the Marquis of Ormond agreed with the Parliaments Commissioners was near the time that the Army had gotten the King into their hands having taken him from Holmbey out of the custody of the Commissioners to whom the Scots had delivered him And the Marquis of Ormond at his arrival in England found so many specious pretences and professions publish'd by that Party which then had the whole Power of the Army and consequently of the Kingdom that very many believ'd his Majesties Affairs to be in no ill condition more seeming respect was paid to his Person and less restraint upon the resort of his faithful Servants to him than had been from the time that he first put himself into the Scots power The Army took upon them the Government of the Kingdom having solemnly declared That there could be no reasonable hope of a firm and lasting Peace if there were not an equal care to preserve the Interest of the King Queen and Prince as of the Liberties of the People and that both should be with equal care provided for together In this time of freedom and hypocritical compliance the Marquis had free liberty of repairing to the King where he gave him an account of all his actions and of the course he had taken for the reviving and preserving his Majesties Interest in Ireland by setling a Correspondence with many Persons of Honour there who would keep the two Houses of Parliament how great an advantage soever he had given them by the delivery up of Dublin c. into their power if they refus'd to return to his Majesties obedience from obtaining any absolute Dominion in that Countrey and who were most like to reduce the Nation from the Distemper with which they were transported and to incline them to that submission that was due from them to the King with all which his Majesty was very graciously and abundantly satisfied and gave the Marquis direction in case the Independent Army should proceed otherwise than they pretended how he should behave himself and comply with the Irish if he could reduce and dispose them to be instrumental towards his or their own delivery And when his Majesty discovered by the double dealing and hypocritical demeanour of the Officers of the Army of whom he had earlier jealousie than other men as seeing farther into their dark Design the little good they meant him he found it fit to receive some Overtures from the Scottish Commissioners who were still admitted to reside at London and to bear a part in the Managery of the Publick Affairs and now plainly saw that the Independent Army which they had so much despised was grown superiour to them and meant to perform nothing less than what they had so Religiously promised before the King was delivered up at Newcastle The King hereupon commands the Marquis of Ormond to confer with the principal Persons of that Commission who seem'd very sensible of the dishonour their Nation had incurr'd and resolved by uniting the power of that Kingdom for his Majesties Service to undo some of the mischief they had wrought And desired that the Marquis of Ormond would likewise transport himself into Ireland to try once more if he could compose the humours of that People to his Majesties obedience that so those two Kingdoms being entirely reduc'd to their duty might with that assistance they were like to find in England perswade the violent Party to comply with those moderate and just Conclusions which would establish the Peace and Tranquility of the whole in a full happiness to Prince and People And from hence was that first Engagement design'd which was afterwards so unfortunately conducted by the elder Duke Hamilton and concluded with the ruine of himself and of many Worthy and Noble Persons When the Army had by their civil and specious carriage and professions disposed the Kings Party to wish well to them at least better than to the Presbyterians who seem'd to have erected a Model of a more formid and insupportable Tyranny and were less endu'd with the appearances of Humanity and good Nature and had by shuffling themselves into new shapes of Government and admitting Persons of all Conditions to assemble and make Propositions to them in order to the publick Peace given encouragement to most men to believe that all Interests would in some degree be provided for and so had brought themselves into an absolute Power over all Interests they began to lessen their outward Respects and Reverence to the King to inhibit some of his Servants absolutely to resort to him and more to restain the frequent access of the People who out of their innate Duty and Affection delighted to see his Majesty they caused reports to be raised and scattered abroad of some intentions in desperate persons of violence upon his Majesties Person and upon this pretence doubled their Guards and put Officers of stricter vigilance and more surly disposition about him so that whatsoever he said or did or was said unto him was more punctually observed The Marquis of Ormond was look'd upon with a very jealous eye and was forbid to continue his attendance on him or to come within 25 miles of London and that Article in the Agreement at the delivery of Dublin viz. That he should engage his Honour not to act any thing to the prejudice of the Parliament in a twelvemonth there was an intention to put him in mind of by a Letter from the Committee at Derby-house but before the Messenger came where he had been near Bristol he knowing of the King 's being close Prisoner in Carisbrook-Castle and that it would be to little purpose to contest his Articles with the Parliament privately shipt himself away for France where he arrived safely about the end of the year 1647. having spent in England little more than six months For a time we must leave the Marquis in France and return to Colonel Jones in Dublin who with those Forces that were left there by the Marquis of Ormond and such as he brought and received out of England amounting in all to 3000 marched against Colonel Preston approaching with his Leimster Forces to infest Dublin and met him about 12 miles from Dublin who having gotten great advantage of ground routed Jones killed many of his men and took not a few Prisoners Jones himself escaping with much difficulty to Dublin Whether upon this accident or otherwise I cannot determine but great divisions then arose betwixt the old English who had Preston for their General and the old Irish who had Owen Roe O Neal for theirs The old English had a gallant Army consisting of near 10000 Foot and Horse well Arm'd and well Disciplin'd who thought that if they would offer themselves Instruments to destroy the old Irish they might at any time have good Conditions from England therefore under
Churches and Church-Livings they have in present possession and the Exercise of Jurisdiction therein 2. That a Parliament be had within 6 months or when after the Roman Catholicks shall desire 3. That all Laws made in the Parliament of England since 1641. in blemish of the Catholicks are at the next Parliament to be vacated 4. All Indictments against any Catholicks since 1641. be vacated 5. All Impediments to be taken away that Catholicks be elected in Parliament 6. All Debts to remain as they were Feb. 8. 1641. notwithstanding any Attainder 7. The Estates of the Knights Gentlemen and Freeholders of Connaght Clare Thomond Limerick and Tipperary be secured by an Act. 8. All Incapacities of the Natives in Ireland be taken away by Act. 9. All Honours Trusts Imployments or such like be conferred as well upon Catholicks as Protestants 10. That the King take 12000 l. per annum in lieu of the Court of Wards 11. No Noblemen to have more Proxies than two in Parliament and all Blanks to be null 12. That the depending of the Parliament of Ireland upon England shall be as both shall agree and stand with the Laws of Ireland 13. That the Council-Table meddle only with Matters of State 14. That all Acts forbidding the Transport of Wooll be null'd by the next Parliament 15. That if any have been wrong'd by Grants from King James or since they may Petition and have Relief in Parliament 16. That divers particular Lords Knights and Gentlemen who have been as they conceiv'd wrong'd shall now be righted 17. That all who had their Estates taken from them in Cork Toughall and Dungarvan have restoration or Rent 18. That in the next Parliament an Act of Oblivion pass to all in Ireland and that adhered to them 19. That no Officer of Eminency in Ireland farm the Customs 20. An Act to pass against Monopolists 21. That the Court of Castle-Chamber be regulated 22. That the Acts for prohibiting plowing with Horses by the Tayls and burning Oats in the Straw be null 23. An Act for taking off the Grievances of the Kingdom 24. That Maritime Causes be determin'd in Ireland 25. That no Rents be rais'd upon the Subjects under pretence of defective Titles 26. That Interest-Money be forgiven from 1641. 27. That all this be acted and be of force till a Parliament agree the same 28. The Commissioners for the Catholicks that treated agree upon such as shall be Commissioners of the Peace and hear all Causes under 10 l. 29. That all Governours of Towns Castles and Places made by the King be with the Approbation of the Catholick Commissioners 30. That none of his Majesty's Rents be paid until a full Settlement in Parliament 31. That the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer do try Murthers Stealing and all inferiour Trespasses of that nature 32. That hereafter such Differencies as shall arise between Subjects be determin'd by a Court in Ireland not transfer'd to England 33. That the Roman Clergy that behave themselves according to the Agreement be not molested Lastly That his Majesty please to grant what-ever else is necessary for the Roman Catholicks Upon which Peace the Marquess of Ormond the Lord Taaff and that Party engag'd to raise for Munster 4000 Foot and 800 Horse the supream Council and Preston for Leimster 4000 Foot and 800 Horse Inchiquin 3000 Foot and 600 Horse the Lord of Clanrickard for Connaght proportionable to the first In all 15000 Foot and 3000 Horse besides what Owen Roe upon his uniting afterwards might bring in computed to be 5000 Foot and 500 Horse that in the whole a gallanter Army had they been unanimous could scarce have been marshall'd With what Consent and Unity soever this Peace was made by those who had any pretence to Trust or to whom there was the least Deputation of Authority and Power by the Nation yet Owen O Neal with whom the Earl of Antrim joyn'd had the greatest Influence upon the Humours and Inclinations of the old Irish who had given themselves up to the Nuncio and who indeed had a better disciplin'd and consequently a stronger Army at his Command than the Confederates thought he could have gain'd to his Devotion still refused to submit to it So that the Lord Lieutenant as soon as the Peace was concluded was as well to provide against him to remove some Garrisons he held which infested those who obeyed the Acts of the Assembly and to prevent his Incursion as to raise an Army against the Spring to march against the English who were possessed of Dublin and all the Countrey and important Places of that Circuit and who he was sure would be supplied with all assistance of Shipping Men Money Victuals and Ammunition which the Parliament of England who had now murthered their Sovereign and incorporated themselves under the Name and Title of a Common-wealth could send them And he was in a worse condition to prevail against both these by the unhappy Temper and Constitution of the Scots in Ulster who being very numerous and possessed of the strong Towns though in profession they abhorred the Regicides and were not reconcilable to Owen O Neal and his Party were as yet as un-inclined to the Peace made with the Confederates and far from paying an obedience and full submission to the Orders and Government of the Lord Lieutenant maintaining at the same time the Presbyterian Form in their Church and an utter Independency in the State and out of those contradictory Ingredients compounding such a peevish and wayward Affection and Duty to the King as could not be applied to the bearing any part in the great Work the Marquess was incumbent to As soon as he heard of the Murther of the King he proclaim'd our present Sovereign Charles the 2d King of England Scotland France and Ireland at Carrick the 16th of Feb. 1648. And being by a Clause in his late Commission from his Majesty qualified with special Power and Authority to make no distinction in difference of Judgement betwixt any who should subject their Assistance to his Majesty's Service he soon won the Scots to a compliance though under the shackles of their Covenant who immediately us'd the most favourable Arguments they could to win Sir Charles Coot to their Party And to that end from the Congregation of the Presbytery at Belfast the 15th of Feb. 1648. they tempt him by several Representations with their Sence To which the 7th of March ensuing Sir Charles Coot and the Council of War held at London-derry return'd these Reasons for their Dis-agreement First We find no part of God's Word authorizing us being but a Branch of a subordinate Kingdom to declare against the Parliament of England under whom we serve who are the visible Authority of both Kingdoms and against an Army acting by their Power before we receive from themselves a Declaration and Grounds of those Proceedings wherewith they are aspers'd Secondly For the Covenant we have taken on which your Representations seem to
be grounded we cannot find we have sworn to act according to the Principles you now declare For in some things if we admit of your Representation we shall be necessitated to act against what we have sworn unto in the Covenant For The first Article wherein we are bound to a preservation of the present Discipline in Scotland we are in the same Article obliged to a Reformation of the same in England and Ireland according to the Word of God and the Example of the best Reformed Churches which no doubt the Parliament will in due time establish In the interim we are un-satisfied with any Power that acts in this Case without their Direction For what you speak in relation to the King's Person we have yet no certainty out of England concerning that Matter and it is an action of so transcendent degree that till we receive some positive Resolution concerning it from England we ought not to proceed in giving our Sence of it In the 5th Article of the Covenant we are sworn to endeavour the continuing the Kingdoms in Union in which we desire your selves to be Judges if the publishing of your Representations be a probable way to observe the Oath In the 6th Article we are sworn to defend those joyn'd with us in this Covenant and not to suffer our selves directly or indirectly to combine against them Now till we receive a full Declaration of their falling from those Principles of this Covenant how can we with safety to our own Consciences declare a War against them without breaking the Covenant in this Particular In the next place We find some things in your Representations wherein as we conceive you are not rightly informed First In that you say The Parliament hath broken the Covenant in opposing the Presbyterial Government which can no ways appear since the same Government by their appointment is observ'd throughout England and that the Covenant obligeth them to establish the Government no further than is agreeable to God's Word Secondly You say That you have deeply sworn in the first Article to maintain the Church-Government as it is in the Church of Scotland which they have not sworn the part of the Oath for preservation of the Government relating only to the Kingdom of Scotland and the Reformation of Religion to the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Thirdly 'T is affirmed That the Power now governing in England doth labour to establish by Law an universal toleration of all Religions which yet was never done by them Lastly The sad Consequences which will un-avoidably follow if we pursue the Intention of the Representations are these First By declaring such an open War against the Parliament we should deprive our selves of all Succours and Supplies out of England which have been hitherto a great part of our subsistence Secondly The pursuing of such a War will un-avoidably sow such Divisions amongst us who in these Parts are of such different Principles and Practices that we shall soon become instruments of our own ruine Thirdly It will compel us for our own preservation to joyn with the Rebels or desert this Kingdom And lastly It will without any lawful Call engage us in a War against an Army who have under God been the instruments of redeeming England out of thraldom and was not long since acknowledged to have been so instrumental in setling Scotland in the Peace and Quietness it now enjoyeth and this at the Charge of England as the Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland doth thankfully witness These things therefore being duely weighed we desire you in the fear of God seriously to take this our Answer into your Considerations and to remember on whom the guilt of innocent blood will fall if you inforce a War and to set before your eyes the punishment from Heaven which hath still attended the Endeavours of all who have deserted the Quarrel in this Kingdom to engage against the Parliament of England From visible Judgements we are resolv'd by God's assistance to take so good warning as we will not be guilty of destroying the Cause we have so long labour'd into countenance for your Representations till we be better satisfied in our Consciences though we will not directly or indirectly countenance any Sectaries or Schismaticks who-ever is truely so called contrary to our Solemn League and Covenant but we will to the utmost of our Endeavours continue faithful in the prosecution of the Rebels in this Kingdom and their Abettors wherein we shall not doubt of the Blessing and Protection of the Almighty upon our lawful and just Endeavours And for furtherance hereof we desire in the last place that we should all declare against the Peace last made by the Lord Marquess of Ormond as that which will if not protested against ruine and destroy your Service of this Kingdom against the Rebels Here it 's evident that Sir Charles Coot could by no ways be brought on yet the Peace being settled his Excellency endeavour'd to work over Lieutenant General Jones to his Party to which end his Excellency vouchsafed to write to him many Letters from Thurles the 27. of March 1649. all answer'd without the least compliance on Jones's side He by his Reply the 31. of March 1649. charging the fatal and inhumane Act perpetrated on his Majesty to his Excellency's arrival in Ireland during the Treaty at Carisbrook whereby the sincerity of that Treaty was question'd occasionally writes he producing what thereupon followed so as in conclusion he professed That were there neither King or Parliament he should yet stand firm to his Principles to preserve the English Interest in Ireland that being a Cause alien from what was acted in England Foraign to his Work and Trust which if he should not perform would not easily be expiated by a slender or lean Manifest upon which no more Letters pass'd betwixt them though the Lord Inchequin in June from the Camp at Finglass 1649. renewed the Attempt and was answer'd with the like Resolution and some Reflections on his Lordship About which time Ireland came again to be seriously thought of by the Parliament though hitherto it was in some respects made a Stale for several Designs then on foot Jones was much confided in but it was thought requisite the weight of that Business should lye on other shoulders not his Cromwel therefore about the 28 of March was voted General of Ireland Skippon under the Title of Martial General having refused the Command and these ensuing Votes passed thereupon 1. That such Regiments as should be alloted for the Irish Service should have their Arrears audited stated and Debentors given for their respective Services 2. That visible Security should be given so that any Friend or other being intrusted with a Debentor might receive it at a time prescrib'd by the Parliament 3. That those who go for Ireland should be first satisfied for their Arrears since 1645. 4. That out of the 120000 l. per mensem for England and Ireland
Cluanensis Nicholaus Fernensis Edmundus Limericensis Procurarator Episcopi Ossoriensis Franciscus Aladensis Andraeus Finiborensis Joan. Laonensis Fr. Oliverus Dromorensis Fr. Antonius Clonmacnosensis Fr. Hugo Duacensis Fr. Arthur Dunensis Connerensis Fr. Terentius Imolacensis Fr. Patr. Ardagh Oliverius Deis Procurator Episco Medensis Dr. Joa Hussey Procurator Episco Ardfertensis Fr. Joannes Cantwel Abbas S. Crucis Dr. Thadeus Clery Episcop Rapo Procurator Fr. Gregorius o Ferraile Provin Ordinis Praedicatorum Provin Hiber Fr. Thomas Mackeyernane Provin Fratrum Minorum Provin Hiber Walterus Clonfortensis Congregationis Secretar By the Ecclesiastical Congregation of the Kingdom of Ireland WE the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries and Prelates of the Kingdom of Ireland having met at Clonmacnose propria Motu the fourth day of December in the year of our Lord God 1649. to consider of the best means to unite our Flocks for averting Gods wrath fallen on this Nation now bleeding under the evils that Famine Plague and War bring after them for effecting a present Union Decreed the ensuing Acts. 1. We Order and Decree as an Act of this Congregation That all Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries within their respective Diocesses shall enjoyn Publick Prayers Fasting General-Confession and Receiving and other works of Piety toties quoties to withdraw from this Nation Gods Anger and to render them capable of his Mercies 2. We Order and Decree as an Act of this Congregation That a Declaration issue from us letting the People know how vain it is for them to expect from the Common Enemy commanded by Cromwel by Authority from the Rebels of England any assurance of their Religion Lives or Fortunes 3. We Order and Decree as an Act of this Congregation That all Pastors and Preachers be enjoyned to Preach amity And for inducing the People thereunto to declare unto them the absolute necessity that is for the same and as the chief means to preserve the Nation against the extirpation and destruction of their Religion and Fortunes resolved on by the Enemy And we hereby do manifest our detestation against all such Divisions between either Provinces or Families or between old English and old Irish or any the English or Scots adhering to his Majesty And we Decree and Order that all Ecclesiastical Persons fomenting such Dissentions or un-natural Divisions be punished by their respective Prelates and Superiors Juxta gravitatem excessus si opus fuerit suspendantur beneficiali Pastores à beneficio officio ad certum tempus Religiosi autem à Divinis juxto circumstantias delicti Leaving the Laity offending in this kind to be corrected by the Civil Magistrate by Imprisonment Fine Banishment or otherwise as to them shall seem best for plucking by the root so odious a Crime The Execution whereof we most earnestly recommend to all those having Power and that are concerned therein as they will answer to God for the evils that thereout may ensue 4. We Decree and Declare Excommunicated those High-way Robbers commonly called the Idle-Boys that take away the Goods of honest men or force me to pay them Contribution and we likewise declare Excommunicated all such as succour or harbour them or bestow or sell them any Victualing or buy Cattle or any other thing else from them wittingly Likewise all Ecclesiastical Persons Ministring Sacraments to such Robbers or Idle-Boys or burying them in Holy Grave to be suspended ab officio beneficio si quod habent by their respective Superiors juxta gravitatem delicti This our Decree is to oblige within fifteen days after the Publication thereof in the respective Diocesses Signed by Hugo Ardmachanus Fr. Thomas Dublin Thomas Casshel Joan. Archiep. Tuam Fr. Boetius Elphyn Fr. Edmundus Laghlinensis Procurator Waterfordiensis Emerus Clogher Robertus Corcagiensis Cluanensis Nicholaus Fernensis Edmundus Limericensis Procurator Episcopi Ossoriensis Franciscus Aladensis Andreas Finiborensis Joan. Laonensis Fr. Oliverus Dromorensis Fr. Antonius Clonmacnosensis Fr. Hugo Duacensis Fr. Arthurus Dunensis Connerensis Fr. Terentius Imolacensis Fr. Patric Ardagh Oliverius Deis Procurator Episco Medensis Dr. Joannes Hussey Procurator Episcop Ardfertensis Fr. Joannes Cantwel Abbas S. Crucis Dr. Thadeus Clery Episcop Rapo Procurator Walterus Clonfortensis Congregationis Secretar By the Ecclesiastical Congregation of the Kingdom of Ireland WE the Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries and Prelates of this Kingdom of Ireland having met at Clonmacnose propria Motu on the fourth day of December in the year of our Lord God 1649. taking into our consideration among other the Affairs then agitated and determinated for the preservation of the Kingdom that many of our Flock are mislead by a vain opinion of Hopes that the Commander in Chief of the Rebels Forces commonly called the Parliamentaries would afford them good Conditions and that relying thereon they suffer utter destruction of Religion Lives and Fortunes if not prevented To undeceive them in that their ungrounded expectation We do hereby Declare as a most certain Truth that the Enemies Resolution is to extirpate the Catholick Religion out of all his Majesties Dominions as by their several Covenants doth appear and the Practice where-ever their Power doth extend as is manifested by Cromwel's Letter of the 19th of Octob. 1649. to the then Governor of Ross. His words are For that which you mention concerning Liberty of Religion I meddle not with any man's Conscience but if by Liberty of Conscience you mean a Liberty to exercise the Mass I judge it best to use plain dealing and to let you know where the Parliament of England have Power that will not be allowed of This Tyrannical Resolution they have put in execution in Wexford Drogheda Ross and elsewhere And it is notoriously known that by Acts of Parliament called The Acts of Subscription the Estates of the Inhabitants of this Kingdom are sold so as there remaineth now â—o more but to put the Purchasers in possession by the power of Forces drawn out of England And for the common sort of People towards whom if they shew any more moderate usage at the present it is to no other end but for their private advantage and for the better support of their Army intending at the close of their Conquest if they can effect the same as God forbid to root out the Commons also and plant this Land with Colonies to be brought hither out of England as witness the number they have already sent hence for the Tobacco Island and put Enemies in their places And in effect this banishment or other destructions of the common People must follow the Resolution of extirpating the Catholick Religion which is not to be effected without the Massacring or Banishment of the Catholick Inhabitants We cannot therefore in our Duty to God and in discharge of the Care we are obliged to have for the preservation of our Flocks but admonish them not to delude and lose themselves with the vain expectation of Conditions to be had from that merciless Enemy And consequently we
Deputy General or such Guards as he shall appoint not exceeding one hundred men for Johns Gate this day by Sun-Jet and for performance hereof the above-named Lieutenant Colonel Piers Lacy Lieutenant Colonel Donogh O Brion Alderman Dom. White and Nicholas Haly Esquires shall remain as Hostages with the said Deputy General until the surrender of the said City 2. That in consideration hereof all persons now in the City except such as are hereafter excepted shall have Quarter for their Lives liberty of their Persons their Cloathes Money and other Goods so as to be free from Pillage Plunder or other hostile violence in their Persons or Goods during their continuance under the said Deputies safe conduct or protection by vertue of the ensuing Articles respectively But whereas through the practices of some Persons more eminent and active than the rest both amongst the Clergy Military Officers and Citizens and other sorts of men which in the large Conditions formerly tendred for surrender have been rejected the subsequent occasions or opportunities for timely making of Conditions neglected and avoided the dispositions and desires of many Persons within to that purpose opposed resisted and restrained and the generality of the People partly deluded and deceived to the keeping of them in vain expectations of relief from one time to another and partly over-awed or enforced by their power to concur and contribute thus long to the obstinate holding out of the Place therefore the Persons hereafter named with Major General Hugo O Neil the Governour Major General Purcel Sir Jeffery Gallaway Lieutenant Colonel Lacy Captain George Wolfe Captain Lieutenant Sexton the Bishop of Emly John Quillen a Dominican Frier David Roch a Dominican Frier Captain Laurence Welsh a Priest Francis Wolfe a Franciscan Frier Philip O Dwine a Priest Alderman Dom. Fanning Alderman Thomas Stretch Alderman Jordan Roach Edmond Roach Burgess Sir Richard Everard Doctor Higgen Maurice Baggot of Baggots-town and Jeffery Barron being as aforesaid the principal appearing in such practices in this Siege and the holding out so long as also Evan the Welsh Soldier who ran into Limerick and all other persons that have been employed and come into the City as Spies since the fourth day of June last shall be excepted and excluded from any benefit of this Article or any Article ensuing and such of them as can be found within the Garrison shall be rendred up at mercy upon the surrender of the City And any such Person or Persons as shall be found to hide or conceal any of the said excepted Persons or be privy to their concealment or attempt of escape and not discover or do their best endeavour to prevent the same shall thereby be understood to have forfeited the benefit of these Articles to themselves but otherwise none shall lose that benefit for other mens default in their concealment or escape or for the not rendring them up as aforesaid 3. That all Officers Soldiers and all other persons now in the City not excepted in the last precedent Article shall also have liberty to march away with their Clothes Bag and Baggage Money and all other their Goods of what kind soever except Arms Ammunition and other Utensils of War carrying nothing but their own to what Place or Places they shall choose respectively within the Dominion of Ireland not being a Garrison for the Parliament all the Field-Officers of Horse and Foot and Captains of Horse with their Horses Pistols and Swords and other the Commissioned Officers with their Swords onely and shall have three months time after the surrender to remove any Goods of their own that they shall not think fit soever to carry with them And such of them as shall choose to go to any Garrison or Parties of the Enemy shall have Convoy or safe Conduct for that purpose for such time as shall be requisite for their march at the rate of ten miles a day and shall have Carriages and Provisions allowed from the Countrey at the usual Rates 4. That such of the Citizens and Inhabitants interested in the City as are not excepted in the second Article and shall not presently march as aforesaid but desire to continue longer in the City shall upon application for that purpose to the said Deputy General or the chief Officer commanding in Limerick after the surrender have license given them to stay either for such further time as the said Deputy General or the said chief Officer present shall find convenient or until further warning given them to depart and in case of such license given till further warning shall have four months time allowed from and after such warning for the removal of themselves and their Families and six months for the removal of their Goods and during such further time limited or in case of reference to further warning during their continuance there to the time of warning given and for the said four months and six months after respectively shall be protected in their Persons Families and Goods from all injury and violence and at any time as they shall desire which in the said space or spaces respectively shall have liberty and safe conduct for the removal of themselves their Families and Goods to any Place or Places within this Dominion not being Garrison'd for the Parliament as aforesaid and if they shall not be admitted to reside elsewhere in protection within this Dominion they shall have liberty for themselves their Wives Children and Goods to pass beyond the Seas Provided that they pay their due proportion of what Taxes and other Contribution shall be charged upon the City from the day of the surrender to the day of the removal in due proportion with other Places in Ireland and behave themselves as becomes And such of the said Citizens and Inhabitants as having not license to stay until further warning shall within a month after the surrender be ordered to depart shall have the same benefit of the third Article as those that march away immediately upon the surrender 5. That all such Persons now in the City as shall desire to live peaceably and submit to the Parliament of England except the Persons excepted in the second Article aforegoing and except all Clergy-men Priests and Friers of any Order shall upon their application to that purpose have protection to live quietly at any such Place or Places within this Dominion as they shall desire and the said Deputy-General find convenient to admit But such Protection shall not be understood to extend either to the assuring of them either in the enjoyment of their Lands or other Hereditaments or to the granting of other indempnity or freedom from question or prosecution to Justice in a Judicial way for any Crimes they may be guilty of except to such as shall be found fit to have that mercy and favour expresly granted to them or to others for a certain time to be limited for that purpose but to such as shall have protection for a limited time either
required to be aiding and assisting in the execution of this Our Proclamation as often as occasion shall require Given at our Court at Whitehal the first day of June 1660. in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign Afterwards assoon as such matters for so great a Business could be brought about his Majesty the 8th of May summon'd a Parliament at Dublin in which passed the great Act of Settlement after that his Majesty had published the 30th of November 1660. His Gracious Declaration for the settlement of his Kingdom of Ireland and satisfaction of the several Interests of Adventurers and Souldiers and other Subjects there wherein as to the Irish first such are considered as came in upon the Cessation secondly those who honestly and faithfully performed what they promised in the Peace and thirdly such as being beyond Seas cheerfully receiv'd and obeyed his Majesties Commands abroad all which are comprehended in several Articles proceeding from these Heads and the Souldiers and Adventurers by themselves These also who had the Fortune whether through Loyalty or Suspicion that they were not able to bear up against the English Interest to withstand the Nuncio have in the Act of Settlement their Fortunes and themselves secur'd memorable to Posterity who being fewer then those that bowed not their knees to Baal in Israel we cannot but mention it being a Reward for their eminent Sufferings And because the voice of a Parliament next to the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai ought to impress the greatest Reverence on the heart and affections of the People I shall here present you with the Preamble to the Bill of Settlement in Ireland 1662. which in brief commits that to Posterity no Paint can ever Palliate An Act 14 Carol. 2. WHereas an unnatural Insurrection did break forth against your Majesties Royal Father of ever blessed memory his Crown and Dignity in this your Majesties Kingdom of Ireland upon the 23. of October in the year of our Lord God 1641. and manifest it self by the Murthers and Destruction of many thousands of your said Majesties good and loyal Subjects which afterwards universally spreading and diffusing it self over the whole Kingdom setled into and became a formed and almost National Rebellion of the Irish Papists against your Royal Father of blessed memory his Crown and Dignity to the destruction of the English and Protestants inhabiting in Ireland The which Irish Papists being represented in a General Assembly chosen by themselves and acting by a Council called by them The Supream Council of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland did first assume usurp and exercise the Power of Life and Death make Peace and War Levy and Coin Money and many other Acts of Soveraign Authority Treating with Foreign Princes and Potentates for their Government and Protection and afterwards acted under a Foreign Authority by all the said ways disowning and rejecting your Royal Fathers and your Majesties undoubted Right to this Kingdom even while they treacherously used his and your Majesties Names in the outward forms of their Proceedings withal impiously seeming by words and shews to swear unto that which by the whole Series of their Deeds they denied And moreover presuming to pretend his late Majesties Sacred Authority even for their worst actions all which they did amongst other their evil Designs to frighten his good Protestant Subjects from their Loyalty to blast his Majesties Honour and to widen the Breach between his said Majesty and his seduced Subjects in England The which Ends by their said wicked Stratagems they did too successfully and mischievously effect Before this Preamble to the Act of Settlement pass'd the Irish by their Agents in England had an unusual Favour of inspecting that Bill and objecting what they thought fit which they did in the presence of the Commissioners sent out of Ireland by the Convention and Lords Justices and Council even before his Majesty his Council and the Committee of Lords for the Affairs of Ireland to that end especially appointed The debate continuing touching this grand Instrument from the 8th of July 1661. till March following in which the Irish most insisted against the Preamble for that it seem'd to involve the whole Nation in the first designing and raising of the late Rebellion in Ireland and in the barbarous Circumstance thereof whereas they would pretend it was onely the act of a few Persons of broken fortunes followed with the rude multitude c. Praying that nothing might be contain'd in that Preamble in Derogation to his Majesties Articles of Peace or the blemish of his Majesties Loyal Catholick Subjects delivering in at the same time their Reasons against previous Reprisals the variances between the Declaration and Act of Settlement and their defence for their Articles of Peace Insisting much upon their Loyalty after the Lord Lieutenants departure the Catholicks unanimously in their Assembly joyning if you dare credit their reports with the Lord Deputy to oppose the Usurpers as the best means to divert the Parliament from preventing the Kings Designs in England and Scotland for which his Majesty as they say return'd them thanks they rejecting then many advantagious offers from Ireton though they were in a low Condition and so continued faithful till the Lord Deputy was driven to the Mountains and they at liberty to compound for themselves many of which went beyond-Sea to serve his Majesty All which they insist on as a great test of their Loyalty whereas it can never be made evident as is alledged that Proposals were made to that Assembly by the Usurpers and refused by them for the enjoyment of their Rights Priviledges and Inheritances alike with others under their Government for indeed such Proposals were never made nor offered to them in their most flourishing Condition but it is confessed such Terms were tendred and refused by them as were agreeable to a conquering Army to give as that of the Usurpers then was and to a broken scattered Party to expect as the other was being then reduced to Bogs and Woods as their best Holts and yet the Terms so offered and rejected by the Assembly together were soon after embraced by all of them divided into Parts on which they submitted and laid down Arms having by their Conditions liberty to transport themselves into Foraign Parts or to stay in the Kingdom And therefore it doth no more consist with their Honour then with Truth to say they were forced by banishment to an opportunity of serving his Majesty beyond-Seas from whence they date their Merits from him which was more then his late Majesty of blessed memory could obtain from them although obliged thereunto by Allegiance and Articles when his Distress and their Power were sublimated to the highest Pitch and his Prerogative lay at the stake as he did often complain of The Commissioners from the Lords Justices and Council besides this produced the Instructions of the Supream Council to their Agents for Rome France Spain offering the Crown to either
Judges of and in such Quo warrantoes 16. By what Law are Jurors that give Verdict according to their Conscience and are the sole Judges of the fact Censured in the Castle Chamber in great Fines and sometimes Pillored with loss of Eares and boared through the Tongue and sometimes marked in the forehead with a hot Iron and other like infamous Punishment 17. By what Law are men Censurable in the Castle-Chamber with the mutilation of Members or any other brand of Infamy and in what Causes and what punishment in each Case there is due without respit of the quality of the Person or Persons 18. Whether in the Censures in the Castle-Chamber regard be to be had to the words of the great Charter viz. Salvo continemento 19. Whether one that steals a Sheep or commits any other Felony and after flieth the Course of Justice or lyeth in Woods or Mountains upon his keeping be a Traitor if not whether a Proclamation can make him so 20. VVhether the Testimony or Evidence of Rebells Traitors protected Thieves or other infamous Persons be good Evidence in Law to be pressed upon the Trials of men for their lives or whether the Judge or Jurors ought to be Judge of the matter in fact 21. By what Law are Faires and Markets to be held in Capite when no other express Tenure is mentioned by his Majesties Letters Patents or Grants of the same Faires and Markets although the Rent or yearly summe be reserved thereout Declarations of the Law made in Parliament upon the Questions propounded to the Judges in a Sessions this present Parliament 1. THE Subjects of this his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland are a free People and to be governed only according to the Common Law of England and Statutes made and established by Parliament in this Kingdom of Ireland and according to the lawful Customs used in the same 2. That Judges in Ireland ought to take the Oath of the Justices or Judges declared and established in several Parliaments of force in this Kingdom and the said Judges or any of them by colour or under pretext of any Act of State or Proclamation or under colour or pretext of any Writ Letter or direction under the Great-Seal Privy-Seal or Privy-Signet from the King 's most Excellent Majesty or by colour or pretext of any Letter or Commandment from the chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom ought not to hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon And if any Letters Writs or Commands from his Majesty or any other or for any other cause to the Justices or other deputed to do the law and right according to the usage of the Realm in disturbance of the Law or of the execution of the same or of right to the parties the Justices and others aforesaid ought to proceed and hold their Courts and process where the Pleas and matters be depending before them as if no such Letters Writs or Commandments were come to them And in case any Judge or Judges Justice or Justices be found in default therein he or they so found in default ought to incur and undergo due punishment according to the Law and the former Declarations and Propositions in Parliament in that Case made and of force in this Kingdom or as shall be ordered adjudged or declared in Parliament and the Barons of the Exchequer Justices of Assize and Goal-delivery if they be found in default as aforesaid It is hereby declared that they ought to undergo the punishment aforesaid 3. The Councel-Table of this Realm either with the chief Governour or Governours or without the chief Governour or Governours is no Judicature wherein any Actions real personal popular or mixt or any Suit in the nature of the said Actions or any of them can or ought to be Commenced heard or determined And all proceedings at the Councel-Table in any Suit in the nature of the said Actions are void especially Causes particularly provided for by express Acts of Parliament of force in this Kingdom only excepted 4. The proceedings before the Chief Governour or Governours alone in any Action real personal popular or mixt or in any Suit in the nature of any of the said Actions are voted upon Question coram non Judice and void 5. All grants of Monopolies are contrary to the Laws of this Realm and therefore void And no Subject of the said Realm ought to be fined imprisoned or otherwise punished for exercising or using the lawful liberty of a Subject contrary to such Grants 6. The Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governour or Governours and Councel of this Realm or any of them ought not to imprison any of his Majesties Subjects but only in Cases where the Common Laws or Statutes of the Realm do inable and warrant them so to do and they ought not to Fine or to Censure any subject in mutilation of Members standing on the Pillory or other shameful punishment in any Case at the Councel-Table and no Subject ought to be Imprisoned Fined or otherwise punished for infringing any Commands or Proclamations for the support or countenance of Monopolies And if in any Case any person or persons shall be committed by the Command or Warrant of the Chief Governour or Governours and Privy Councel of this Realm or any of them That in any such Case any person or persons so committed or restrained of his or their liberty or suffering imprisonment upon demand or motion made by his or their Councel or other imployed by him or them for that purpose unto the Judges of that Court of King's Bench or Common Pleas in open Court shall without delay upon any pretence whatsoever for the ordinary Fees usually payed for the same have forthwith granted unto him or them a Writ or Writs of habeas Corpus to be directed generally unto all and every Sheriff Gaol-Minister Officer or other person in whose custody the party or parties so committed or restrained shall be at their retorn of the said Writ or VVrits and according to the Command thereof upon due and convenient notice thereof given unto him at the charge of the party or parties who requireth or procureth such VVrit or VVrits and upon security by his or their own Bond or Bonds given to pay the charge of carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners if he or they shall be remanded by the Court to which he or they shall be brought as in like Case hath been used such charges of bringing up and carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners to be always ordered by the Court if any difference shall arise thereabouts bring or cause to be brought the bodies of the said party or parties so committed and restrained unto and before the Judges and Justices of the said Court from whence the said VVrit or VVrits shall issue in open Court and shall then likewise Certify the true cause of such his or their detainor or imprisonment and
thereupon the Court after such retorn made and delivered in open Court shall proceed to examine and determine whether the cause of such Commitment appearing upon the said Retorn be just or legal or not and shall thereupon do what to Justice shall appertain either by delivering bayling or remanding the Prisoner or Prisoners 7. An Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom cannot bind the liberty Inheritance possession or goods of the Subjects of the said Kingdom nor alter the Common Law and the Infringers of any such Act or Proclamation ought not to forfeit Lands Leases Goods or Chattels for the infringing of any such Act of State or Proclamation and the Judges of the Law who do vote for such Acts of State or Proclamation are punishable as breakers and violaters of their Oaths of Judges 8. No Subject of this Kingdom ought to be sentenced to death or Executed by Martial Law in time of peace and if any Subject be so sentenced or executed by Martial Law in time of peace the Authors and Actors of any such Sentence or Execution are punishable by the law of the Land for their so doing as doers of their own wrong and contrary to the said law of the Land 9. No Man ought to be punished in the Castle-Chamber or in any other Court for taking a voluntary Oath before Arbitrators for affirmance or disaffirmance of any thing or the true performance of any thing in Civil Causes Nor are the Arbitrators before whom such voluntary Oaths shall be taken punishable 10. By the Laws and Statutes of the Realm no Man is bound or ought to be compelled to acknowledge the offence layed to his charge or the justness of any Censure past against him in the Castle-Chamber or at the Councel-Table nor ought to be detained in Prison or abridged of his liberty or the reducement of his Fine stayed or delayed until he do acknowledg such offence or the justness of such Censure And it is further declared That no such inforced or wrested confession or acknowledgment can or ought to debar or hinder any Subject from his Bill of Reversal or review of any Sentence or Decree past or conceived against him in the Castle-Chamber or in any other Court 11. The Judges of the Kings Bench or Justices of Gaol-delivery or the Judges of any other Court ought not to deny Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the parties indicted 12. The Barons of the Exchequer ought not to raise the respit of Homage above the usual rates appertaining in and by the course and presidents of that Court continued until the year of our Lord God 1637. And the raising thereof since that time was Arbitrary and against the Law And the Barons of the Exchequer ought not to distinguish between the respit of Homage upon any diversity of the true values of the Knight's Fees 13. The Subjects of this Kingdom may lawfully repair into England to repeal to his Majesty for redress of Injuries or for other their lawful occasions And for their so doing ought not to be punished or questioned upon the Statute of 5. of King Richard the second nor by any other Law or Statute of force in this Kingdom eminent Officers or Ministers of State Commanders and Souldiers of his Majesties Army The Judges and Ministers of his Majesties Courts of Justice and of his Highness Revenues and Customes whose attendance is necessary requisite by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm only excepted 14. Deaneries or other Ecclesiastical Dignities of this Realm are not de mero Jure Donative but some are Donative and some Elective and some are Collative according to their respective foundations And the confirmation of the Bishops grants by a Dean de facto having actually stallum in Choro vocem in Capitulo togegether with the Chapter is good in Law 15. The issuing of Quo warrantoes out of the Court of Kings Bench Court of Exchequer or any other Court against Borroughs that antiently or recently sent Burgesses to the Parliament to shew cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament and the proceedings thereupon are Coram non Judice illegal and void And the right of sending Burgesses to the Parliament is questionable in Parliament only And the occasioners procurers and Judges in such Quowarrantoes and proceedings are punishable as in Parliament shall be thought consonant to Law and Justice 16. Jurors are the sole Judges of the matter in fact and they ought not for giving their Verdict to be bound over to the Court of Castle-Chamber by the Judge or Judges before whom the Verdict was or shall be given 17. No man ought to be censured in the Castle-Chamber in the mutilation of Members or any other Brand of Infamy otherwise or in other Cases then is expresly limited by the Statutes of this Realm in such cases provided 18. In the Censures of the Castle-Chamber especially regard ought to be had to the words of the great Charter viz. Salvo contenemento c. 19. A Felon who flies the course of Justice and lieth in VVoods Mountains or elsewhere upon his keeping is no Traytor and a Proclamation cannot make him a Traytor 20. The Testimony of convicted or protected Rebels Traytors Felons is no sufficient evidence in Law upon the Trial of any person for his life And the credit of the Testimonie of persons accused or impeached and not convicted of Felony or Treason ought to be left to the Jury who are sole Judges of the truth and validity of the said Testimony 21. The King grants Lands to be held in free and Common Soccage as of a Castle or Mannor by Letters Patents under the great Seal and by the same Letters Patents or by other Letters Patents grants a Fair and Market reserving a yearly Rent or sum without expressing any Tenure as to the said Fair or Market the said Fair or Market is not held by Knights-Service in Capite or otherwise in Capite FITZ GERALD's Edict manifesting the Cause of his Rebellion relating to fol 15. Edictum Illustrissimi Domini Jacobi Geraldini de Justitia ejus Belli quod Hibernia pro fide gerit SI ut bellum aliquod justè geratur tria requiruntur Causa Justa Potestas Legitima Legitimus belli administrandi Modus Haec tria in hoc Bello concurrere jam planum fiet Causa enim hujus belli est dei Gloria Cui externum Sacrificii cultum visibilem Sancti Altaris honorem ab Haereticis impiè ablatum nos restituendum curamus Gloria item Christi Cujus Sacramenta gratiam conferre cum Haeretici blasphemè negent Christi Evangelium ejusdem infirmitatis accusant ob quam lex reprobata fuit Gloria item Ecclesiae Catholicae quam contra Scripturarum veritatem Haeretici aliquot saeculis obscuram mundo ignotam fuisse mentiuntur At in Dei Nomine per Christi Sacramenta sanctificando
raised by my Lord Strafford against Scotland First that every one should endeavour to draw his own friends into that Act. and at least those that did live in one County with them and when they had so done they send to the Irish in the Low-Countryes and Spain to let them know of the day and resolution so that they be over with them by that day or soon after with supply of Arms and Ammunition as they could that there should be a set day appointed and every own in his own quarters should rise out that day and seize on all Arms he could get in his County and this day to be near Winter so that England could not be able to send forces into Ireland before May and by that time there was no doubt to be made but that they themselves should be supplied by the Irish beyond Seas who he said could not miss of help from either Spain or the Pope but that his resolutions were not in all things allowed For first it was resolved nothing should be done until first they had sent to the Irish over-Seas to know their advice and what hope of success they could give for in them as they said all their hope of relief was and they would have both their advice and resolution before any further proceedings more than to speak to and try Gentlemen of the Kingdom every one as they could conveniently to see in case they would at any time grow to a resolution what to be and strength they must trust to then Mr. Moore told them that it was to no purpose to spend much time in speaking to the Gentry For there was no doubt to be made of the Irish that they would be ready at any time And that all the doubt was in the Gentry of the Pale but he said that for his own part he was really assured when they had risen out the Pale Gentry would not stay long after at least that they would not oppose them in any thing but be Neuters and if in case they did that they had men enough in the Kingdom without them Moreover he said he had spoke to a great man who then should be nameless that would not fail at the appointed day of rising out to appear and to be seen in the Act. But that until then he was sworn not to reveal him and that was all that was done at that meeting only that Mr. Moore should the next Lent following make a journey down into the North to know what was done there and that he also might inform them what he had done and so on parting Mr. Phillip Reyly and I did importune Mr. Moore for the knowledge of that great man that he spake of and on long entreaty after binding us to new secrecy not to discover him till the day should be appointed he told that it was the Lord of Mayo who was very powerful in Command of men in those parts of Connaght wherein he lived and that there was no doubt to be made of him no more than was of himself and so we parted The next Lent following Mr. Moore according to his promise came into Ulster by reason it was the time of Assizes in several Counties there he met only with Mr. Reyly and nothing was then done but all matters put off till the May following where we or most of us should meet at Dublin it being both Parliament and Term-time In the mean time there landed one Neale O Neale sent by the Earl of Tyrone out of Spain to speak with the Gentry of his Name and Kindred to let them know that he had treated with Cardinal Richelieu for obtaining succour to come for Ireland and that he prevailed with the Cardinal so that he was to have Arms Ammution and Money from him on demand to come for Ireland and that he only expected a Convenient time to come away and to desire them to be in a readiness and to procure all others whom they could to be so likewise which message did set on the proceedings very much so that Mr. Moore Mr. Reyly my brother and I meeting the next May at Dublin and the same Messenger there too It was resolved that he should return to the Earl into Spain with their Resolution which was that they would rise out twelve or fourteen dayes before or after Allhallontide as they should see cause and that he should not fail to be with them by that time There was a report at that time and before that the Earl of Tyrone was killed which was not believed by reason of many such reports formerly which we found to be false and so the Messenger departed with directions that if the Earls death were true he should repair into the Low-Countrys to Colonel Owen O Neale and acquaint him with his Commission from the Earl whereof it was thought he was not ignorant and to return an Answer sent by him and to see what he would advise or would do himself therein But presently after his departure the certainty of the Earls death was known and on further Resolution it was agreed that an express Messenger should be sent to the Colonel to make all the Resolutions known to him and to return speedily with his Answer And so one Toole O Comely a Priest as I think Parish Priest to Mr. Moore was sent away to Colonel O Neale In the interim there came several Letters and News out of England to Dublin of Proclamations against the Catholicks in England and also that the Army raised in Ireland should be disbanded and conveyed into Scotland And presently after several Colonels and Captains Landed with directions to carry away those men amongst whom Colonel Plunkett Colonel Burne and Captain Bryan O Neale came but did not all come together for Plunkett landed before my coming out of Town and the other two after wherein a great fear of Suppressing of Religion was conceived and especially by the Gentry of the Pale and it was very common amongst them that it would be very inconvenient to suffer so many men to be conveyed out of the Kingdom it being as was said very confidently reported that the Scottish Army did threaten never to lay down Arms until an uniformity of Religion were in the three Kingdoms and the Catholick Religion suppressed And thereupon both Houses of Parliament began to oppose their going and the Houses were divided in their Opinions some would have them go others not but what the definitive conclusion of the Houses was touching the point I cannot tell for by leave from the House of Lords I departed into the Country before the Prorogation But before my departure I was informed by John Barnewall a Fryer that those Gentlemen of the Pale and some other Members of the House of Commons had several meetings and consultations how they might make stay of the Souldiers in the Kingdom and likewise to arm them in defence of the King being much injured both of England and Scotland then as they were
informed and to prevent any attempt against Religion and presently after I departed into the Country and Mr. Reyly being a Member of the House of Commons stayed the Prorogation and on his coming into the Country sent to me to meet him and I came to his House where he told me that he heard for certain that the former Narration of Barnewall to me for I did acquaint him with it was true and that he heard it from several there also was Emar mac Mahone made firmly privy to all our proceedings at Mr. Reylys lately come out of the Pale where he met with the aforenamed John Barnewall who told him as much and he formerly told me and moreover that those Colonels that lately came over did proffer their Service and industry in that Act and so would raise their men under colour to convey them into Spain and then seize on the Castle of Dublin and with their Arms there to Arm their Souldiers and have them ready for any occasion that should be commanded them but that they had not concluded any thing because they were not assured how the Gentlemen of the remote parts of the Kingdom and especially of Ulster would stand affected to that Act and that assurance of that doubt was all their impediment Then we three began to think how we might assure them help and of the assistance of Ulster Gentlemen It was thought that one should be sent to them to acquaint them there with and they made choice of me to come by reason as they said that my Wife was allyed to them and their Countrey-woman and would believe me trust me sooner than other of their parts they or most of them being of the Pale And so without as much as to return home to furnish my self for such a Journey Volens nolens they prevailed or rather forced me to come to Dublin to confer with those Colonels and that was the last August was Twelve-month Coming to Town I met Sir James Dillon accidentally before I came to my Lodging who was one of those Colonels and after Salutations he demanded of me where my Lodging was which when I told him and parted the next day being abroad about some other occasions in Town I met him as he said coming to wait on me in my Chamber but being a good way from it he desired me to go into his own Chamber being near at hand And then began to discourse of the present sufferings and afflictions of that Kingdom and particularly of Religion and how they were to expect no redress the Parliament in England intending and the Scots resolving never to lay down Arms until the Catholick Religion were suppressed Then he likewise began to lay down what danger it would be to suffer so many able Men as was to go with them to depart the Kingdom in such a time Neither said he do their other Gentlemen that are Colonels and my self affect our own private profit so as to prefer it before the general good of the Kingdom And knowing you are well affected thereunto and I hope said he ready to put your helping-hand to it upon occasion I will let you know the resolution of those other Gentlemen and mine which is if we are ready to raise our Men and after to seize on the Castle where there is great great store of Arms and arm our selves there This was the first motion that ever I heard of taking the Castle for it never came into our thoughts formerly nor am I perswaded ever would if it had not proceeded from those Colonels who were the first motioners and contrivers thereof for ought known to me and then to be ready to prevent and resist any danger that the Gentlemen of the Kingdom like thereof and help us For we of our selves neither are able nor will do any thing therein without their assistance I began according to the directions that were sent with me to approve of their Resolution and also to let him know how sure he might be of the assistance of those of Ulster Then he told us that for my more satisfaction I should confer with the rest of the Colonels themselves as many as are privy to the Action and accordingly a place of meeting was appointed that afternoon and on the time and place appointed there met Sir James himself Colonel Bourne and Colonel Plunket And that former Discourse being renewed they began to lay down the Obstacles to that Enterprise and how they should be redressed 1st If there should VVar ensue how there should be Money had to pay the Souldiers 2ly How and where they should procure succours from Forreign parts 3dly How to draw in the Pale Gentlemen 4thly Who should undertake to surprise the Castle and how it should be done To the first it was answered That the Rents in the Kingdom every where not having respect whose they should be due to the Lords and Gentlemen thereof should be collected to pay the Souldiers And moreover they might be sure nay that there was no doubt thereof to procure money from the Pope who gave several promises formerly to my Lord of Tyrone in case he could make way to come into Ireland to maintain six thousand men yearly at his own charge and that notwithstanding that my Lord of Tyrone was dead yet that he would continue the same forwardness now To the second it was answered by Colonel Bourne that help from abroad could not fail them For said he Colonel O Neal told me that he had or would procure in readiness I do not remember which of those the Colonel spake or whether he spoke positive that Colonel O Neal had Arms or would procure them Arms for ten thousand men And moreover said he I make no great question that if we send into Spain we shall not miss of aid for I being in London the last year in the Scots troubles I was in conference with one of the Spanish Ambassadours there then and talking of their troubles then a-foot he said That if the Irish did then rise too and send to Spain their Messengers would be received under Canopies of Gold These last words he told me and some one man of those that were present privately whose name I cannot call to mind neither well remember I whether he spoke to them all or no then it was thought that when they were both in Arms for defence of the Catholick cause they would be succoured by the Catholick Princes of Christendom To the third it was answered by Colonel Plunket That he was as morally certain for those were his words as he could be of any thing that the Pale Gentleman would joyn with them and assist them For he said I have spoke to several of them since my landing in the Kingdom and I find them very ready and willing and withal I have at London spoke to some of the Committees and particularly to my Lord of Gormonstowne to let them know his resolution and they approved it very well
Dublin without suspicion and it was answered that under pretence of carrying them to those Colonels that were conveying Souldiers into the Kingdom it might safely be done and to that purpose Sir Phelim O Neale Mr. Moore and the Captain had several blank Patents with Deputations to make Captains to those Colonels which they sent to those that should send men to Dublin for the more colour they bethought of what was to be done in the Country that day and it was resolved that every one privy to that matter in every part of the Kingdom should rise up that day and seize on all the Forts and Arms in the several Counties to make all the Gentry Prisoners the more to assure themselves against any averse fortune and not to kill any but where of necessity they must be forced thereunto by opposition and that those that were appointed for taking of the Castle should observe and in particular the Gentry All their Army in Ulster to take that day Londonderry which Sir Phelim did undertake and Knockfergus which they thought Sir Henry mac O Neale would do and to that end Sir Phelim's Brother Torilagh O Neale should be sent to them and the Newry which should be undertaken by Sir Conne Magennis and his Brothers for whom Sir Phelim in regard they were his Brothers in Law his deceased Lady being their Sister did undertake Moreover it was agreed that Sir Phelim Mr. Reyly Mr. Coll mac Mahone and my Brother should with all the speed they could after that day raise all the forces they could and follow us to Dublin But to Arm the men and succour and attend and garrison the Town and Castle And likewise Mr. Moore should appoint Lemster Gentlemen to send like supply of men then there was fear of the Scots conceived that they should presently oppose themselves and that would make the matter more difficult and to avoid which danger it was resolved on not to meddle with them or any thing belonging to them and to demean themselves towards them as if they were of themselves which they thought would pacifie them from any opposition and if the Scots would not accept of that offer of amity but would oppose them they were in good hope to cause a stir in Scotland that might divert them from them and I believe the ground for that hope was that two years before in or about the beginning of the Scots troubles my Lord of Tyrone sent one Torilagh O Neal a Priest out of Spain and that this I take it was the time that he was in Treaty with Cardinal Richelieu to my Lord of Argile to Treat with him for help from my Lord for him to come into Ireland as was said for Marriage between the said Earl and my Lord of Argiles Daughter or Sister I know not which and this Messenger was in Ireland with whom Mr. Torilagh O Neale Sir Phelim's Brother had conference from whom this Relation was had that said Messenger went into Scotland as I did hear from the said Mr. Neale or from Ever mac Mahone aforenamed I know not from which of them but what he did there I could never hear by reason that my Lord of Tyrone was presently after killed they were the more confirmed therein hearing that my Lord of Argile did say near to the same time as I guess and when the Army was raised in Ireland as I think to a great Lady in Scotland I know not her name but did hear that she was much imbarqued in the troubles of that Kingdom there she questioning how they could subsist against the two Kingdoms of England and Ireland that if the King did endeavour to stir Ireland against them he would kindle such a Fire in Ireland as would hardly or never be quenched And moreover they knew my Lord to be Powerful with the Highlanders Redshanks in Scotland whom they thought would be prone and ready to such Actions they for the most part descended out of Ireland holding the Irish Language and Manners still and so we parted The next day being Wednesday Leghrosse every man went about his own task and so when I came home I acquainted my Brother with all that was done and what they had appointed him to do and did like according as they had appointed me send to Mr. Reyly to let him know as much and the 18th of the same Month I began my Journy to Dublin and when I came to Dublin being the day bofore the appointed day for putting that Resolution in execution there I met with Captain Conne O Neale sent out of the Low-Countreys by Colonel O Neal who was sent after the Messenger sent by us formerly to the said Colonel was by him disappointed with his Answer to encourage us in our Resolution and to speedy Performance with assurance of Succour which he said would not fail of the Colonels behalf and for the more certainty of help from him and to assure us that the Colonel had good hopes to procure aid from others he said that it was he himself that was imployed from him to Cardinal Richelieu twice that some men who gave very fair promises to assure the Colonels expectations with which he said that the said Colonel was really with himself assured of the Cardinals aid and that he was likewise commanded by the Colonel upon our Resolution of the day to give notice thereof to him and that he would be within 14. days over with them with aid but he landed 9. or 10. days before and meeting with Captain Brian O Neal who made him acquainted with what was Resolved He did write all the matter to Colonel O Neale so as he was sure of his speedy coming And so that Evening he and I came to meet the other Gentlemen and there were met Mr. Moore Colonel Bourne Colonel Plunkett Captain Fox and other Lemster Gentlemen a Captain I think of the Bournes but I am not sure whether a Bourne or Toole and Captain Bryan O Neale and taking an account of those that should have been there it was found that Sir Phelim O Neale Mr. Collo mac Mahone did fail of sending their men and Colonel Bourne did miss Sir Morgan Gavanagh that had promised him to be there but he said he was sure he would not fail to be that Night or the next Morning in Town And of the two hundred men that were appointed there were only eighty present yet notwithstanding they were resolved to go on in their Resolution and all the difference was at what time of the day they would set on the Castle and after some debate it was resolved in the Afternoon and the rather hoping to meet the Colonel there then for they said if they should take Castle and be enforced by any extremity for not reciving timely succour out of the Country having them they could not want and so parted that Night but to meet in the Morning to see further what was to be done and immediately thereon I came to my
Cahel mac Bryne Farrall APPENDIX VI. Fol. 65. By the Lords Justices and Councel W. Parsons Jo. Borlasse IT is well known to all men but more particularly to his Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom who have all gathered plentiful and comfortable fruits of his Majesties blessed Government how abundantly careful his Majesty hath been in the whole course of his Government of the peace and safety of this his Kingdom and how graciously he hath laboured to derive to all his Subjects therein all those benefits and comforts which from a most gracious King could be conferred on his Subjects to make them a happy people whereof he hath given many great testimonies And as at all times he endeavoured to give them due contentment and satisfaction so even then whilst the Rebels now in Arms were conspiring mischief against Him and his Crown and Kingdom he was then exercising Acts of Grace and benignity towards them granting to his Subjects here the fulness of their own desires in all things so far as with Honour or Justice he possibly could and particularly when the Committees of both Houses of Parliament here this last Summer attended his Majesty in England at which time amongst many other things graciously assented to by Him he was content even with apparent loss and disadvantage to himself to depart with sundry his Rights of very great value which lawfully and justly he might have retained And as his continual goodness to his people and his Princely care of their prosperity and preservation shall to the unspeakable joy and comfort of all his good Subjects render him glorious to all Posterity so the wicked ingratitude and treacherous disloyaltie of those Rebels shall render them infamous to all Ages and utterly inexcusable even in the judgment of those who for any respect either formerly wished well to their persons or now pity them in their transgressions And although the said persons now in Rebellion were in no degree provoked by any just cause of publique grief received from his Majesty or his Ministers to undertake such desperate wickedness neither can justly assign any severity or rigour in the execution of those Laws which are in force in this Kingdom against Papists nor indeed any cause at all other then the unnatural hatred which those persons in Rebellion do bear the Brittish and Protestants whom they desire and publickly profess to root out from amongst them The more strange in that very many of themselves are descended of English whence is the original and foundation of all their Estates and those great benefits which they have hitherto enjoyed and whence their Predecessors and others then well affected in this Kingdom have been at all times since the Conquest cherished relieved countenanced and supported against the ancient Enemies of the Kings people of England many of the Irish also having received their Estates and livelyhood from the unexampled bounty and goodness of the Kings of England Yet such is their inbred ingratitude and disloyaltie as they conspired to massacre Us the Lords Justices and Councel and all the Brittish and Protestants universally throughout this Kingdom and to seize into their hands not only his Majesties Castle of Dublin the principal Fort in this Kingdom but also all other the fortifications thereof though by the infinite goodness and mercy of God those wicked and devillish Conspiracies were brought to light and some of the Principal Conspirators imprisoned in his Majesties Castle of Dublin by Us by his Majesties Authority so as those wicked and damnable plots are disappointed in the chief parts thereof His Majesties said Castle of Dublin and City of Dublin being preserved and put into such a condition of strength as if any of them or their Adherents shall presume to make any attempt thereupon they shall God willing receive that correction shame confusion and destruction which is due to their treacherous and detestable disloyaltie And in pursuit of their bloody intentions they assembled themselves in Arms in hostile manner with Banners displayed surprised divers of his Majesties Forts and Garrisons possessed themselves thereof robbed and spoiled many thousands of his Majesties good Subjects Brittish and Protestants of all their Goods dispossessed them of their Houses and Lands murthered many of them upon the place stripped naked many others of them and so exposed them to nakedness cold and famine as they thereof died imprisoned many others some of them persons of eminent quality laid Siege to divers of his Majesties Forts and Towns yet in his Majesties hands and committed many other barbarous cruelties and execrable inhumanities upon the Persons and Estates of the Brittish and Protestant Subjects of the Kingdom without regard of quality age or sex And to cover their wickedness in those cruel Acts so to deceive the World and to make way if they could to the effecting of their mischievous ends they add yet to their wickedness a further degree of impiety pretending outwardly that what they do is for the maintenance and advancement of the King's Prerogative whereas it appears manifestly that their aims and purposes inwardly are if it were possible for them so to do to wrest from him his Royal Crown and Scepter and his just Soveraignty over this Kingdom and Nation and to deprive him and his lawful Ministers of all Authority and Power here and to place it on such persons as they think fit which can no way stand with his Majesties just Prerogative nor can any equal-minded man be seduced to believe that they can wish well to his Royal Person or any thing that is his who in their actions have expressed such unheard-of hatred malice and scorn of the Brittish Nation as they have done And such is their madness as they consider not that his Sacred Majesty disdains to have his Name or Power so boldly traduced by such wicked malefactors Rebels having never in any Age been esteemed fit supporters of the King's Prerogative much less these who under countenance thereof labour to deface and shake off his Government and extirp his most loyal and faithful Subjects of his other Kingdoms and here whose preservation above all earthly things is and always hath been his Majesties principal study and endeavour which even these Traytors themselves have abundantly found with comfort if they could have been sensible of it And whereas divers Lords and Gentlemen of the English Pale preferred petition unto Us in the behalf of themselves and the rest of the Pale and other the old English of this Kingdom shewing that whereas a late conspiracy of Treason was discovered of ill-affected persons of the old Irish and that thereupon Proclamation was published by Us wherein among other things it was declared that the said Conspiracy was perpetrated by Irish Papists without distinction of any and they doubting that by those general words of Irish Papists they might seem to be involved though they declared themselves confident that we did not intend to include them therein in regard they alleadged they were
October either by himself or his Under-tenants or by receiving the Rents Issues or profits thereof shall immediately restore upon demand the said possession to the party or parties so put out with such reasonable damages as the Council-provincial shall think fit And if the party do refuse to restore the said possession as aforesaid upon the Demand of the party so put out his Heirs or Assigns made to the said possessor his Servants and Adherents in the Premisses or publication of this Order in the Parish where such Land lieth that upon his or their denial thereof or default therein he his Heirs and Assigns shall be for ever after debarr'd and secluded from all and every Right Title Interest or Demand which he or they make or pretend to all or any the said Lands Tenements Hereditaments And if after such Denial or Default made the said party his Heirs or Assigns shall not immediately restore the possession of the said Lands Tenements or Hereditaments so gain'd to the party griev'd his Heirs or Assigns That he they or his Adherents in the premises shall be declared and proceeded with as Enemies provided and so it is meant That if any of the parties so put out be declar'd a Neuter or Enemy by the Supream or Provincial-councel then the party who gain'd the possession as aforesaid shall give up the possession to such person or persons as shall be nam'd either by the said Council-provincial or Supream Council to be dispos'd of towards the maintenance of the general Cause upon the pain and penalty aforesaid And as for the Rents and mean profits of the said Lands Tenements and Hereditaments and all kind of Rents and the Goods or Chattels taken or detain'd from any Catholick as aforesaid due satisfaction is to be made for the same to the parties from whom the Rents Goods or Chattles were or shall be detain'd since these troubles begun as the Provincial and County-council shall respectively order 13. Item It is further ordered and established for the removal of evil disorder and enmity and to the end all Men may bend their thoughts and actions to the common Cause that all possessions of Lands and Hereditaments shall continue and remain unto such as have already join'd in this Union as they have been for three years past next before the beginning of these Troubles And that no Title of Lands shall be drawn into any Debate or Question until the next Assembly other than in case of Mortgages Leases and particular Estates de facto determin'd or determinable by Effluxion or other determination thereof 14. Item For the avoiding of National distinction between the Subjects of his Majesties Dominions which this Assembly doth utterly detest and abhor and which ought not to be endured in a well-govern'd Commonwealth It is ordered and established that upon pain of the highest punishment which may be inflicted by Authority of this Assembly that every Roman Catholick as well English Welsh as Scotch who was of that profession before the troubles and who will come and please to reside in this Kingdom and join in the present Union shall be preserv'd and cherish'd in his Life Goods and Estates by the Power Authority and force if need require of all the Catholicks of Ireland as fully and freely as any Native born therein and shall be acquitted and eas'd of one third part in three parts to be divided of publick Charges or Levies rais'd or to be rais'd for the maintenance of this holy VVar. 15. Item And it is further ordered and establish'd that there shall be no distinction or comparison made betwixt old Irish and old and new English or between Septs or Families or between Citizens and Townsmen and Countreymen joyning in union upon pain of the highest punishment that can be inflicted by any of the Councils aforesaid according to the nature and quality of the Offences and Division like to spring thence 16. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that all new Converts born in any of his Majesties Dominions or elsewhere without occasion given by the persons converted to the contrary and joyning in this Cause shall be accounted Catholick Natives to all intents and purposes 17. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that all Artificers Artizans Navigators and Mariners not being Denizens who shall please to reside in this Kingdom shall during their Residence in this Kingdom after such time as they and their Families shall be here setled have and enjoy the free liberty and priviledges of Natives in all respects 18. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that in regard of of the present Estate and condition of this Kingdom if any Catholick or Catholicks are admitted of or permitted to continue in the Inns of Court and to the end the laudable Laws of England may not die amidst the Disasters of these times one Inn of Court shall be erected in such a place of this Kingdom as to the Supream Council shall be thought fit for the training of the Gentry of this Kingdom to the knowledg of these Laws 19. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that no Lord Gentleman or any other person shall raise or keep any Company of Souldiers but such as shall be authoriz'd by the Supream Council Provincial-council or County-council or Magistrate within their own Corporate Towns And that the Statute against Sesse and Coin or Livery be duly put in execution And that no Company or Souldiers whatsoever shall be paid or reliev'd by the Countrey except such as are and shall be inrolled in the Marshal List And none shall be billeted but by the Constable 20. Item It is further ordered and establish'd for the advancement of Learning that in every Province of the Kingdom Free-Schools shall be erected and maintain'd so many and in such places and in such manner and form as by the Metropolitan of the Diocess in their respective Provinces shall be thought fit 21. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that the King's Customs Rents Revenues Arrears and Debts And the Rents Estates and profits of the Lands Hereditaments Goods and Chattels of the Enemies which are or shall be declared by the Provincial or Supream Council or by the General Council to be receiv'd and collected and be dispos'd for his Majesties use and service 22. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that Church-lands and Tithes impropriate in the Catholick-owners before these troubles and joyning in this Cause may be left to them according to their several Estates until the same be disposed of by Parliament they in the interim answering the Rents as accustomed 23. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that in every County there be Collectors and Receivers to be approved in the County-council for the same And that they be accountable to the County-council for the same which County-council shall be accountable to the Provincial-council therein half-yearly and the Provincial-council to the Supream-Council yearly to the end the same may not be conceal'd or
them 6. Pro. That the late Officers taken or found upon feigned or old Titles since the year 1634 to intitle Your Majestie to several Counties in Connaght Thornond the County of Typperary Limrick and Kelkenny and Wicklowe be vacated and taken off the File and the possessors thereof setled and secure in their ancient Estates by act of Parliament and that the like Act of limitation of Your Majesties Titles for the security of the Estates of your Subjects in that Kingdom be passed in that Parliament as was Enacted in the 21. year of his late Majesties Raign in this Kingdom Answ. VVe know not of any Offices found or feigned Titles nor what the Confederates may demand in respect of any graces promised by your Majesty which we intend not nor have any occasion to dispute but do humbly conceive that all those who have committed Treason in the late Rebellion subsequent to your Majesties promise of those Graces have thereby forfeited the benefit thereof together with the Lands to which the said Graces might else have related and so their whole Estates are now justly fallen to your Majesty by their Rebellion which we conceive is of great importance for your Majesties service to be taken into consideration as First with regard of the Statutes made in the present Parliament of England Secondly That necessary increase of your Majesties Revenue decayed by the present Rebellion Thirdly The abolishing the evil Customs of the Irish and preservation of Religion Laws and Government there Fourthly The satisfaction of the Protestant Subjects losses in some measure Fifthly The Arrears of your Majesties Army and other debts contracted for the War and for preservation of that Kingdom to your Majesty Sixthly The bringing in of more Brittish on the Plantation Seventhly The building of some walled-Towns in remote and desolate places for the security of that Kingdom and your Maiesties good Subjects there Eightly The taking of the Natives from their former dependency on their Chieftains who usurped an absolute Power over them to the dimunition of all Regal Power and to the oppression of the inferiors 7. Pro. That all marks of incapacity imposed upon the Natives of that Kingdom to purchase or acquire Lands Leases Offices or Hereditaments be taken away by Act of Parliament and the same to extend to the securing of Purchases Leases or Grants already made and that for the Education of Youth an Act be passed in the next Parliament for the erecting of one or more Inns of Court Universities Free and Common-Schools Answ. This we conceive concerneth some of the late Plantations and no other part of that Kingdom and that the restriction herein mentioned is found to be of great use especially for the indifferency of Tryals strength of the Government and for Trade and Traffick and we humbly conceive that if other Plantations shall not proceed for the setling and securing of the Kingdom and that if no restraint be made of Popish purchasing or buying of the Protestants out of their former Plantations where they were prudently settled though now cast out of their Estates by the late Rebellion and unable to Plant the same again for want of means and therefore probably upon easy terms will part from their Estates to the Confederates that those Plantations will be destroyed to the great prejudice of your Majesties Service and endangering of the safety of that Kingdom Touching bearing of Offices we humbly conceive that their now conformity to the Laws and Statutes of that Realm is the only mark of incapacity imposed upon them we humbly conceive that they ought not to expect to be more capable there then the English Natives are here in England in like case for Schools in Ireland there are divers setled in that Kingdom already by the Laws and Statutes of that Realm if any person well affected shall erect and endow any more Schools there at their own charges so that the School-master and Scholars may be governed according to Laws Customs and Orders of England and the rest of Free-Schools here we cannot apprehend any just exception thereunto but touching Universities and Inns of Court we humbly conceive that this part of the proposition savoureth of some desire to become Independant upon England or to make aspersion on the Religion and Laws of the Kingdom which can never be truely happy but in the good unity of both in the true Protestant Religion and in the Laws of England for as for matter of charge such of the Natives that are desirous to breed their Sons for Learning in Divinity can be well content to send them to the Universities of Lovane Doway and other Popish places in forreign Kingdoms and for Civil Law or Physick to Padua and other places which draws great Treasure yearly out of your Majesties Dominions but will send few or none of them to Oxford or Cambrige where they might as cheaply be bred up and become as Learned which course we conceive is holden out of their Pride and disaffection towards this Kingdom and the true Religion here professed and for the Laws of the Land which are for the Common Law agreeable to England and so for the greatest part of the Statutes the Inns of Court in England are sufficient and the Protestants come thither without grudging and that is a means to civilize them after the English customs to make them familiar and in love with the Language and Nation to preserve Law in the Purity when the Professors of it shall draw from one Original Fountain and see the manner of the Practice of that in the same great Channel where his Majesties Courts of Justice of England do flow most clearly whereas by separation of the Kingdoms in that place of their principal instruction where their foundations in Learning are to be laid a degenerate corruption in Religion and Justice may haply be introduced and spread with much more difficulty to be corrected and restrained afterwards by any Discipline to be used in Ireland or punishment there to be inflicted for departing from the true grounds of things which are best preserved in unity when they grow out of the same root then if such Universities and Inns of Court as are proposed should be granted all which we humbly submit to your Majesties most Pious and Prudent consideration and judgment 8. Pro. That the Offices and Places of Command Honour Profit and Trust within that Kngdom be conferred upon Roman Catholicks Natives in equality and indifferency with your Majesties other Subjects Answ. We humbly conceive that the Roman Catholicks Natives of Ireland may have the like Offices and Places as the Roman Catholicks Natives of England here have and not otherwise howbeit we conceive that in the generality they haye not deserved so much by their late Rebellion therefore we see not why they should be endowed with any new or farther capacities or priviledges then they have by the Laws and Statutes now in force in that Kingdom 9. Pro. That the insupportable Oppression
reflected on their own security and their Religion in hope that though they adhered to the Parliament who at that time had shaken off the Regal Power whereunto they never assented there might yet be a possibility through a Change to reinvest all again in the Royal Line with a Preservation in the interim of themselves and their Religion which were like wholly to be ruin'd by a joint compliance with the Confederates Fol. 265. l. 25. was Light And had he done otherwise his Provost Marshal's Commission being grounded on the King's Proclamation of the first of January 1641. to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword and by Orders of the State forbidden also to allow any Quarter to those whom they found in Arms especially all Priests known Incendiaries of the Rebellion and prime Actors of exemplary Cruelties might have been brought to have answer'd his Contempt at a Councel of VVar. Fol. 282. l. 25. Power touching the Articles of the Rendition of which some Questions have risen especially about Waterford In as much as Ireton in vindication thereof published There this Manifest by way of Warning to such as he intended to free the City of which I am the willinger to insert for that the Behaviour of the Inhabitants the Nature of the Place and the Genius of the Irish devoted to Superstition are hereby more clear and significant WHEREAS upon the Rendition of the City of Waterford to the State of England Articles of Agreement between Commissioners on my part and others of theirs for and on the behalf of the Soldiers and Citizens of VVaterford it was agreed and concluded amongst other things that all the Inhabitants of the said City should have liberty to carry away their Goods to what place they please within this Dominion or beyond the Seas within the space of three Months and should have them protected for their use in the mean time paying equal Contribution with the rest of their Neighbours And that such of them as should desire and be thought fit to stay should enjoy their Goods there or dispose of them otherwise during their stay paying the like Contribution and when they should desire or have warning to depart should have three Months time from the warning given on their part for the removal of what they have remaining with safe conducts answerable in the several cases aforemention'd respectively as in the 7th Article of the said Agreement is exprest I have now thought fit to give them warning to depart according to the intent of the said Article whereof all the Inhabiters that then were and yet are within the said City and have not had such warning personally otherwise are hereby to take notice of it from the tenth day of February instant at their perils and though no other reason need be given for the doing of a thing so consonant to and agreeing with both the letter and declared intention of the Article yet for more full and clear satisfaction to all that desire it I think it not amiss to publish and declare the reasons inducing me to it as followeth First I held my self bound in discharge of that trust I have from them I serve to put all places of strength now within our power into such a posture and condition before our taking the Field as that I may through the blessing of God give a good account of them to those that have intrusted me And this I thought I could not do without timely giving of such warning to the people of this City who by their principles and practices at least for the most part do appear so far disaffected to us and the Cause and Interest we serve in and so unlikely to be faithful and trusty to us if we should trust them to stay there especially considering that there is yet no Castle or Cittadel whereby that City can be secured from being in the power of the people that inhabit it without leaving great numbers of Soldiers to overpower them I need not say much to demonstrate their unfitness to be in such a case confided in by us their actions speaking so loud and large as they do to that purpose telling us they are our Enemies witness their practices all the time of this VVar but more especially in their carriage of late As to the first all know and they cannot be ignorant that the City of Waterford hath been one of the chief places in this Dominion which hath maintain'd and upheld the trade of Piracy upon the English both by receiving the Goods so taken by others from the English and thereby much encouraging those Thieves and Robbers in their wicked Practises and also by setting forth and maintaining Ships or Frigats of their own for the same Pyratical trade To their carriage of late especially since our endeavouring the reducement of the place their continued obstinacy even almost to utmost extremity and their refusing all overtures made to them for returning them to their due obedience and delivery up of that place upon good terms for themselves even when it was in their own power to have done it having no Garrison at all in it to over-power them till they received one from the Enemy and fetch'd it in with their own Boats from the other side of the River in view of our Army then treating fairly with them are sufficient arguments of their unfitness to be trusted by us in so much power of betraying such a place to the party they so much adhere unto in their judgments and affections And to this purpose I shall desire them but to remember what was offered by the Lord Lieutenant and refused by them when we came first against the City and what trouble hazard and expence they have put us to then and since As also what was offered by us a second time in the Treaty at Dunkit and by the Letters proceeding that occasion'd it And how it was received by them as some of them yet present in the City acting then as Commissioners in the name of the rest well know And how at last they necessitated us to march down with our whole Army and Artillery against them before they would deliver and we have no reason to think they had delivered then but the extremity of sickness and want of provisions together with their own fears of danger induced them to it seeing us come prepared in every respect through God's blessing to have forc'd them if they had not yielded And whether persons that do their utmost to the last in holding out a place against us upon such an account as they did be fit to be let stay in that place with us where they may have such opportunities of betraying it when the Army may be ingaged at a remote distance I leave to all rational men to judge considering we are free by the Articles to turn them out upon due warning A further ground leading me to conclude them unfit to be trusted by us in such a case
she my Brother the Earl of Antrim hath taken the Castle and City of Dublin having lately moved thither for the same purpose and not to please the Dutchess as was given out and my brother Alexander mac Donnell according to the general Appointment hath taken the Town and Castle of Carrickfergus He the Deponent then asked what they meant to do with those whom they had disarmed and pillaged She said as long as their preservation should be deemed consistent with the publick safety they should injoy their lives when otherwise better their enemy perish than themselves which was but a very cold comfort to a Freshman prisoner as my self was And also said That Sir Phelim O Neil told this Deponent in December last that his stock in money amounted to 80000 sterling wherewith he said he was able to maintain an Army for one year though all shifts else failed And that Captain Alexander Hovenden told him that as soon as his brother Sir Phelim was created Earl of Tyron and great O Neil he wrote Letters and sent them by Friars to the Pope and Kings of Spain and France but would not discover the Contents And further saith That about the first of March last the said Alexander told the Deponent that the Friars of Drogheda by Father Thomas brother to the Lord of Slane had the second time invited Sir Phelim thither and offered to betray the Town unto him by making or discovering the Deponent knoweth not whether a breach in the Wall through which he might march six men a breast The Deponent saw this Friar the same time in Armagh whom Sir Phelim took by the hand and brought to the Deponent saying This is the Friar that said Mass at Finglass upon Sunday morning and in the Afternoon did beat Sir Charles Coote at swords I hope said the Friar to say Mass in Christ-Church Dublin within eight weeks And further Deposed that he this Deponent asked many both of their Commanders and Friars what chiefly moved them to take up Arms They said Why may not we as well and better fight for Religion which is the Substance than the Scots did for Ceremonies which are but Shadows and that my Lord of Strafford's Government was intolerable The Deponent answered That that Government how insupportable soever was indifferent and lay no heavier upon them then on him and the rest of the Brittish Protestants They replied That the Deponent and the rest of the Brittish were no considerable part of the Kingdom and that over and above all this they were certainly informed that the Parliament of England had a plot to bring them all to Church or to cut off all the Papists in the Kings Dominions in England by the English Protestants or as they call them Puritans in Ireland by the Scots And further deposeth That he asked as seeming very careful of their saftety what hope of Aid they had and from whom as also what discreet and able men they had to imploy as Agents to their Friends beyond the Sea They said if they held out this next Winter they were sure and certain in the Spring to receive Aid from the Pope France and Spain and that the Clergy of Spain had already contributed five thousand Arms and Powder for a whole year then in readiness They said their best and only Agents were their Priests and Friars but especially the forenamed Paulo Neil upon whose coming with advice from Spain they presently opened the War and that since the War began in the very dead of Winter he both went with Letters and returned with Instructions from Spain in one Month professing the good Cause had suffered much prejudice if he had been hanged in Dublin And this Deponent further saith That he demanded why sometimes they pretended a Commission from the King at other times from the Queen since all Wisemen knew that the King would not grant a Commission against himself and the Queen could not They being Commanders and Friars said That it was lawful for them to pretend what they could in advancement of their Cause That many of the Garrison Souldiers now their Prisoners whom they determined to imploy in the War and to train others would not serve them in regard of their Oath unless they were made so to believe That in all Wars rumours and lies served many times to as good purpose as Arms and that they would not disclaim any advantage But they said for the Queen in regard as a Catholick she had enemies enough already they would command their Priests publickly at Mass to discharge the people from speaking of her as a Cause or Abetter of the present Troubles And the Deponent also asked Sir Phelim O Neil what his demands were without which his Lordship and the rest would not lay down Arms At first he told this Deponent That they required only Liberty of Conscience But afterwards as his Power so his Demands were multiplied They must have no Lord Deputy great Officers of State Privy Councellors Judges or Justices of Peace but of the Irish Nation no standing Army in the Kingdom all Tythes payable by Papists to be paid to Popish Priests Church Lands to be restóred to their Bishops All Plantations since primo Jacobi to be disannulled none made hereafter no payments of debts due to the Brittish or restitution of any thing taken in the Wars all Fortifications and Strengths to be in the hands of the Irish with power to erect and build more if they thought fit all Strangers meaning Brittish to be restrained from coming over all Acts of Parliament against Popery and Papists together with Poynings Act to be repealed and the Irish Parliament to be made Independent But saith that others told him this Deponent that although all these Demands were granted yet Sir Phelim for his own part was not resolv'd to lay down Arms unless his Majesty would confirm unto him the Earldom of Tyrone with all the ancient Patrimony and Priviledges belonging to the O Neils And further saith that in March 1641. Alexander Hovenden by Sir Phelim's direction sent from the Camp before Drogheda a Prophecy said to be found in the Abbey of Kells importing that Tyrone or Sir Phelim after the Conquest and Settlement of Ireland should fight five set Battels in England in the last whereof he should be killed upon Dunsmore-heath but not before he had driven King Charles with his whole Posterity out of England who should be afterwards profugi in terra aliena in aeternum The Paper it self with the Deponents whole Library to the value of seven or eight hundred pounds was lately burnt by the Scots under the Conduct of the Lord Viscount Montgomery since that Prophecy the Deponent saith he hath often seen Captain Tirlagh mac Brian O Neil a great man in the County of Armagh with many others no mean Commanders drinking Healths upon the knee to Sir Phelim O Neil Lord General of the Catholick Army in Ulster Earl
Ireland or England 2. That the secular Clergy of Ireland viz. Primates Archbishops Bishops Ordinaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Prebendaries and other Dignitaries Parsons Vicars and all other Pastors of the secular Clergy and their respective Successors shall have and enjoy all and all manner of Jurisdictions Priviledges Immunities in as full and ample manner as the Roman Catholicks secular Clergy had or enjoy'd the same within this Realm at any time during the Reign of the late H. 7. sometimes King of England and Lord of Ireland any Law Declaration of Law Statute Power and Authority whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding 3. That all Laws and Statutes made since the 20th year of King H. 8. whereby any Restraint Penalty Mulct Incapacity or Restriction whatsoever is or may be laid upon any of the Roman Catholicks either of the Clergy or of the Laity for such the said free Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion within this Kingdom and of their several Functions Jurisdictions and Priviledges may be repeal'd revoked and declared void by one or more Acts of Parliament to be pas'd therein 4. That all Primates Archbishops Bishops Ordinaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Chancellors Treasures Chaunters Provosts Wardens of Collegiate Churches Prebendaries and other Dignitaries Parsons Vicars and other Pastors of the Roman Catholick secular Clergy and their respective Successors shall have hold and enjoy all the Churches and Church-Livings in as large and ample manner as the late Protestant Clergy respectively enjoy'd the same on the first day of October in the year of our Lord 1641. together with all the Profits Emoluments Perquisits Liberties and the Rights to their respective Sees and Churches belonging as well in all Places now in the possession of the Confederate Confederate Catholicks as also in all other places that shall be recovered by the said Confederate Catholicks from the adverse Party within this Kingdom saving to the Roman Catholick Laity their Rights according to the Laws of the Land And that the Supreme Council the legitimate issue of the General Assembly might look with the better face of Authority they fram'd to themselves a Seal bearing the mark of a long Cross on the right side whereof a Crown and a Harp on the left with a Dove above and a flaming Heart below the Cross and round about this Inscription Pro Deo pro Rege Patria Hibernia unanimis with which they seal'd their Credentials to Princes and under that Seal pass'd their principal Acts of Sovereignty Having now modell'd themselves into a separate State confronting his Majesties Royal Government setled in Dublin ordering in their Supreme Council at Kilkenny in the said Province of Leimster all their Affairs Civil and Military through the whole Kingdom As to War they had their Forces under the Conduct of four well experienc'd Generals before mentioned answering the several Provinces of Leimster Munster Connaght and Ulster Giving out Letters of Mart An Example of which together with the Authority they assum'd notwithstanding his Majesties Proclamation of the 1st of January 1641. we shall hear give you at large By the Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland TO all Men to whom this Present shall come We the Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholicks of this Realm send Greeting Know ye That we have taken into our serious consideration the great and necessary use we have of Ships of War for the defence of the Coasts of this Realm and advancement and furtherance of Commerce with Foreign Nations and for opposing his Majesties Enemies who daily hinder and annoy his Majesties good Subjects of this Kingdom by Sea and stop all free Trade in this Realm and abroad have therefore constituted and appointed and do hereby ordain constitute and appoint our well-beloved Friend Captain Francis Oliver Native of Flanders having received good testimony of his sufficiency and integrity to be Captain of the Ship called St. Michael the Archangel of burthen 120 Lasts or Tuns or thereabouts hereby giving and granting unto the said Captain full and absolute Power Commission and Authority to furnish the said Ship with all Necessaries fit for Sea and War and with the same to cross the Seas and take hinder and prejudice all such as he shall find or meet of His Majesties Enemies the Enemies of the General Catholick Cause now in hand in this Kingdom their Ships and Goods whatsoever either by Sea or Land by what means soever and the said Shipping or Goods to set to sale and dispose of as lawful Prizes and open Enemies Goods saving unto his Majesty and his lawful Officers and unto all other Person or Persons Bodies Politick and Corporate all Rights Requisites and Duties due or usual answered out of all Prizes And we hereby command all Officers of all our Ports Harbours and Havens within our Jurisdiction throughout this Realm to admit the said Captain Francis Oliver and his Companies Ships and Goods from time to time to pass and repass come and go without molestation or trouble And that all Commanders of Forts and all other Officers of his Majesties loving Subjects to be aiding and assisting unto him in execution and furtherance of the Premisses whatsoever and as often as occasion shall require And lastly we pray all Foreign Princes States and Potentates to defend protect assist and favour the said Captain his Ships and Goods when and as often as he shall come into their respective Coasts and Harbours This our Commission to continue during pleasure Given at Kilkenny the last of December 1642. Was signed Mountgarret Hugo Armachanus Gormanston Johan Episc. Clonfertensis Nic. Plunket Patr. Darcy James Cusack Jeffry Brown And as to Civils they had their Officers of State Justices of Oyer and Terminer and of the Peace with their Courts of Judicature in several kinds and Councils Supreme County Provincial and on occasion National this being as Parliamentary called their General Assembly They had their Negotiations also abroad and from abroad and by Envoys Agents and publick Ministers Extraordinary and Resident they receiv'd the sense of other Princes and return'd their own being also by those Princes treated at home in like manner as if they had been some State absolute or more considerable of which read the Appendix All the subsequent Acts being derived from the Orders establish'd at Kilkenny the 24th of October 1642. By what I have mention'd you may see how the Rebels endeavour'd to get credit abroad and repute at home managing their Concerns with so much subtilty as having them anvil'd in every Covent nothing was omitted to mature their designs or colour what they had now begun with the fairest pretence whilst the State in the interim through the distractions in England daily increasing which gave fresh fuel to the Rebels presumption were so straitned for want of Supplies that the Lords Justices having by all the ways imaginable represented as well to his Majesty as to the Parliament the miserable condition they
the issue of that Treaty was and what regard there was had therein to the King's Honour we have in the next Place reason to mention And the rather for that those whom the Marquess of Clanrickard authorized to Treat with the Duke of Lorraign had most perfidiously wav'd his Instructions resuming to themselves a Deputation and Authority from the People and Kingdom of Ireland An Insolency so great as the Lord Deputy resents it with a just Indignation First we shall give you their Agreement then his Letter An Agreement betwixt Charles the 4th Duke of Lorrain and Theobald Lord Viscount Taaff Sir Nicholas Plunket and Jeffrey Brown deputed and authorized by the People and Kingdom of Ireland 1. THe most Illustrious Duke is to be vested with Royal Power under the Title of Protector Royal of Ireland 2. Because Religion is the prime End and Subject of the Treaty all is to begin with an Imploring Application to the Pope for his Paternal Benediction and Help That he will not be wanting in things Spiritual or Temporal in consideration whereof it is Protested that constant perpetual Obsequiousness of Duty and Faithfulness shall be paid to his Holiness and the Apostolick See 3. In consideration of this Royal Protector 's Power granted the Duke is by War to prosecute the Kings Enemies and afford him all possible Assistance 4. The said Duke is to do nothing in Derogation of the Kings Authority or Jurisdiction in Ireland but rather to amplifie it And having restored the Kingdom and Religion to its due pristine Estate he is to resign cheerfully the Kingdom to the King 5. Before Resignation as aforesaid the Duke is to be re-imbursed all by him pre-impended in this Business and for this Re-imbursment a general and exact Obedience to the Duke in Faith and Fidelity from the Kingdom and People is made and to be observ'd without reservation to any other Superiority whatsoever 6. The Duke is not to fail on his part to expel out of Ireland Hereticks Enemies to the King and his Religion and to recover and defend all things belonging to the faithful Subjects of Ireland 7. The Duke is Solely and Absolutely to exercise all Military Power for the present and future in Ireland as to the nomination of all Commanders and guiding all Martial Proceedings at his own Pleasure and in his own Person unless he in his absence substitute some other Catholick Person 8. The Duke is to introduce no Innovation in the Towns c. to him assigned repugnant to the Securities Priviledges Immunities Proprieties Lands Estates or antient Laws of the Irish reserving onely to himself Authority to apply Remedies to any thing accruing wherein publick prejudice may be concern'd 9. The Duke is not to interpose in Administration of Judicial or Civil Affairs but leave them to be proceeded in according to the Fundamental Laws and publick Form of the Kings chief Governor and the Assembly instituted 10. The manner of calling Assemblies to be as formerly unless complaint arise against their Government or other extraordinary Emergencies hinder And then according to the antient Laws the cutting off the Assembly is to be at the Pleasure of his Highness 11. When the work is done in Ireland by consent of a General Assembly the Duke promises to afford Agents to the King against Rebelling Adversaries in other Kingdoms 12. In case the Duke cannot go in Person into Ireland it is free in his Choice and Pleasure to depute any other man of Catholick Piety who shall be independent on the Militia and in Civil Matters shall be received to all manner of Councils in the same right as any other Counsellor or Commissioner 13. All Cities Castles Lands taken from the English shall revert to the Owners if Catholicks who have constantly persevered in the Catholick Quarters under the Duke Yet the Duke's Military Power shall be intire over the same to Garrison and dispose of them for publick Security at his Pleasure 14. All Pay to the Souldiers is to pass from the Duke as well out of the publick Revenues as the Duke's Coffers when that fails Provided that the Duke disburses of his proper Money for publick uses for the future to be repaid him as his former Disbursements 15. All Goods of Enemies and Dilinquents are to be converted to the publick Military Charges and towards rewarding great Merits by the Duke with advice of the General Assembly 16. The Duke besides 20000 l. already contributed promises all further Accommodations and Supplements for War together with his Power and Industry what is not above the reach of his Faculties and beneath the necessities of the War towards the repayment whereof as well principal as the annual provenue and use thereof the whole Nation of Ireland is to be liable until the last penny be paid And for Caution in the mean time the Duke is to be seized and possessed in his own hands of Galway Limerick Athenry the Castle and Town of Athlone and Waterford and the Royal Fort of Duncannon when recovered from the Enemy and these are to remain to him and his Heirs until full and intire satisfaction receiv'd and to pay just Obedience and be garrison'd and commanded at his Pleasure 17. In laying of publick Taxes and levying the same for the Dukes satisfaction the Duke do proceed by Advice of the General Assembly and all aggrieved Parties in case of inequality to seek Redress from the General Assembly 18. For liquidating and stateing the Dukes Disbursements a certain Method shall be agreed on between the Duke and the said Transactors but for the Persons to be intrusted in that Charge the General Assembly is to alter them at their Pleasure 19 The Duke shall make no Peace nor Cessation without the Lord Deputy or General Assembly 20. The Lord Deputy and General Assembly shall make no Peace without the consent of the Duke July 22. 1651. Signed Charles of Lorraign The Lord Marquess of Clanrickard Lord Deputy of Ireland his Letter to the Duke of Lorraign Octob. 20th 1651. May it please your Highness I Had the Honour on the 12th of this instant to receive a Letter from your Highness dated the 10th of September wherein you are pleased to express your great zeal for the advancement of the Catholick Religion in this Kingdom your great affection to the King my Master and your good opinion of this Nation and your compassion of their sufferings and your great readiness to afford them aid and assistance even equal with your own nearest concernments and that your Highness received such satisfaction from the Queen and Duke of York as did much strengthen those resolutions so as they might sooner appear but for the stay made here of Monsieur St. Catherin and his long Northern Voyage upon his return and referred what concerned the agreement to the relation of those Commissioners I had imployed to your Highness to treat upon that subject of Assistance and Relief for this Kingdom I with much alacrity congratulate
your Highness pious intentions for the preservation of the Catholick Religion your great and Princely care to recover his Majesties Rights and Interests from his Rebel Subjects of England and the high obligation you put upon this Nation by your tender regard of them and desire to redeem them from the great miseries and afflictions they have endured and the eminent dangers they are in And it shall be a principal part of my ambition to be an useful instrument to serve your Highness in so famous and glorious an enterprize And that I may be the more capable to contribute somewhat to so religious and just ends First in discharge of my conscience toward God my duty to the King my Master and to dis-abuse your Highness and give a clear and perfect information so far as comes to my knowledge I am obliged to represent unto your Highness that by the title of the Agreement and Articles therein contained made by those Commissioners I imployed to your Highness and but lately come into my hands They have violated the trust reposed in them by having cast off and declined the Commission and Instructions they had from me in the King my Masters behalf and all other Powers that could by any other means be derived from him and pretend to make an agreement with your Highness in the name of the Kingdom and People of Ireland for which they had not nor could have any warrantable Authority and have abused your Highness by a counterfeit shew of a private Instrument fraudulently procured and signed as I am informed by some inconsiderable and factious Persons ill-affected to his Majesties Authority without any knowledge or consent of the generality of the Nation or Persons of greatest Quality or Interest therein and who under a seeming zeal and pretence of service to your Highness labour more to satisfie their private ambitions then the advantage of Religion or the Nation or the prosperous success of your Highness generous undertakings And to manifest the clearness of mine own proceeding and make such deceitful Practices more apparent I send your Highness herewith an authentick Copy of my Instructions which accompanied their Commission when I imployed them to your Highness as a sufficient evidence to convince them And having thus fully manifested their breach of publick Trust I am obliged in the King my Masters name to protest against their unwarrantable proceedings and to declare all the Agreements and Acts whatsoever concluded by those Commissioners to be void and illegal being not derived from or consonant to his Majesties Authority being in duty bound thus far to vindicate the King my Masters Honour and Authority and to preserve his just and undoubted Rights from such deceitful and rebellious Practices as likewise with an humble and respective care to prevent those prejudices that might befal your Highness in being deluded by counterfeit shews in doing you greater Honour where it is apparent that any undertaking laid upon such false and ill-grounded Principles as have been smoothly digested and fixed upon that Nation as their desire and request must overthrow all those Heroick and Prince-like Acts your Highness hath proposed to your self for Gods glory and service the restauration of oppressed Majesty and the relief of his distressed Kingdom which would at length fall into intestine broils and divivisions if not forceably driven into desperation I shall now with a hopeful and chearful importunity upon a clear score free from those deceits propose to your Highness that for the advancement of all those great ends you aim at and in the King my Masters behalf and in the name of all the Loyal Catholick Subjects of this Nation and for the preservation of those important cautionary Places that are security for your Highness past and present disbursements you will be pleased to quicken and hasten those aids and assistances you intended for the relief of Ireland and I have with my whole power and through the greatest hazards striven to defend them for you and to preserve all other Ports that may be at all times of advantage and safeguard to your Fleets and Men of War having yet many good Harbours left but also engage in the King my Masters name that whatsoever may prove to your satisfaction that is any way consistent with his Honour and Authority and have made my humble applications to the Queens Majesty and my Lord Lieutenant the King being in Scotland further to agree confirm and secure whatsoever may be of advantage to your Highness and if the last Galliot had but brought 10000 l. for this instant time it would have contributed more to the recovery of this Kingdom then far greater sums delayed by enabling our Forces to meet together for the relief of Limerick which cannot but be in great distress after so long a Siege and which if lost although I shall endeavour to prevent it will cost much treasure to be regained And if your Highness will be pleased to go on chearfully freely and seasonably with this great work I make no question but God will give so great a blessing thereto as that my self and all the Loyal Subjects of this Kingdom may soon and justly proclaim and leave recorded to posterity that your Highness was the great and glorious restorer of our Religion Monarch and Nation and that your Highness may not be discouraged or diverted from this generous enterprize by the malice or invectives of any ill affected it is a necessary duty in me to represent unto your Highness that the Bishop of Ferns who as I am informed hath gained some interest in your favour is a Person that hath ever been violent against and malicious to his Majesty's Authority and Government and a fatal Instrument in contriving and fomenting all those divisions and differences that have rent asunder this Kingdom the introduction to our present miseries and weak condition And that your Highness may clearly know his disposition I send herewithal a Copy of part of a Letter written by him directed to the Lord Taaffe Sir Nicholas Plunket and Jeffery Brown and humbly submitted to your judgment whether those expressions be agreeable to the temper of the Apostolical Spirit and considering whose Person and Authority I represent what ought to be the reward of such a crime I must therefore desire your Highness in the King my Masters behalf that he may not be countenanc'd or intrusted in any Affairs that have relation to his Majesties Interest in this Kingdom where I have constantly endeavoured by all possible service to deserve your Highness good opinion and obtaining that favour to be a most faithful acknowledger of it in the capacity and under the title of Your Highness most humble and obliged Servant CLANRICKARD Athenree 20th Octob. 1651. Thus the Lord Deputy very faithfully discharged his duty and great cause there was to protest against such proceedings of the Confederates they putting his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland into the hands of a Foreign Prince and in that