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A64081 Tyrconnel's proceedings in Ireland, and motion in council, as to the burning of Dublin together with a speech then made against it, sent to a person of quality in London. 1688 (1688) Wing T3580; ESTC R21381 2,943 4

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Tyrconnel 's Proceedings in Ireland AND Motion in Council as to the Burning of Dublin Together with a Speech then made against it Sent to a Person of Quality in London Dublin the 27th of January 1688. My Lord WEre your Lordship here you would not so much admire that you have not Money remitted you Tyrconnel hath in several Bodies of old and new raised Men 30000 24000 of which have neither Pay nor any Subsistence but what they take from the Country who are also Robbed of their Corn and Cattle twenty thirty forty at a time insomuch that some Farmers are fled with their Rent in their Pockets Some have left all the Robbers left them and are gone for England where we hear many good Families of them want Bread many more would go but cannot make Money of any thing the best EnglishCow is offered for Ten Shillings and all other Stock proportionable nay some have offered black Cattel at Elve Pound a Score and cannot get it For three Weeks past there hath not been bought or sold the value of Twenty Pound besides what is absolutely necessary for support of Life in this City where Money is so scarce that one Neighbour will not trust another for Two pence Tyrconnel hath declared he cannot expect Money for the King's Revenue but will take the value in Kinde of the growth of the Country and how it will be livied that way your Lordship may imagine Four Thousand persons have deserted Dublin and more than Eight Thousand other parts and gone out of the Kingdom those that remain secure only preparing for flight and unless some speedy stop by Protection f●nd England the Country will be waste and reduced to a worse condition and those Protestants who have Estates here be in the same case as if they had none The Tories march boldly through the Country a hundred and two hundred in a Company and drive away black Cattel and Sheep at noon day And the Irish say already they wonder at the Impudence of any English to pretend a Title to any thing in Ireland And those of them that are rich have given great Sums for support of a War which the Priests and Fryers call a Holy War and preach Damnation to all who Assist not in Purse or Person The Lord Mayor of Dublin hath given 6000 l. the late Lord Mayor Sir T. Hackett 2000 Mr. Kenedy the Marchant in Bridge street 1500 the Mayor of Drogheda 2000 the City of Galloway in Money and Goods 30000 l. and all the other Papist Counties Cities and Towns are following their example So that they expect in three Months a Bank of Five Hundred Thousand Pounds To which may be added the Encouragement given this Week from the French King by the Marquess Du Ponte who hath brought Arms and Ammunition for 15000 Men and assured more Men and Money and this day went hence for Waterford where he Embarques back for France The Irish fear nothing but an English Army of 20000 Horse and Foot and the Protestants that they will not come time enough to deliver them Tyrconnel hath not only publickly threatned in case of Invasion from England to Burn Dublin but to Motion it this Week in Council in order thereto to which one of the Council replied in the Speech following and notwithstanding their Boasting it 's believed they dare not do it for the reasons herein mentioned A Speech or Disswasive from the Burning of Dublin pronounced at a Juncto of Council The Five and Twentieth of January 1688. MY LORD THE warmth and flames of this Debate kindled by the Subject Matter thereof hath proceeded so far as to incense us so much among ourselves into Passion and I hope that those flames will never reach to the Destruction of this Noble City and the Inhabitants thereof The Question is Whether the Circumstances wherein we are it be adviseable to Burn this City The matter in debate is of great weight and as I conceive of as equal concernment to the Roman Catholicks as to the English Protestants interested and Residing therein for if we shall consider the Freehold Goods and Chattels belonging to the one or the other you shall not find any great difference in the Value Why therefore should we destroy those whom we effect and are bound to preserve together whith those whom we think fit to punish for we know that in the flames of a general Conflagration the Interest of one and the other cannot be distinguished In the next place it 's to be considered how far the whole Country and Foreigners may be concerned in so vast a Distraction Consider how much the Country will be impoverished by destroying their great Commerce with the City and whether Lands in the Country will continue in the half Value they now bear should they be deprived of venting their Corn Cattle and other their Commodities in this City Consider furthermore that according to the Rules hithertofore observed in the prosecution of War nothing can prove more dangerous than for the over mastered Party or at least fear to be such What can be reason to burn so famous so great so opulent a City as we are now possest of If we be or shall soon be upon the access of English Forces or burning of this City will prove an Example to them at whose mercy we shall lye to prosecute the whole Country with Fire and Sword and then it will be known that our Party tho' not so much concerned in the Freehold of Ireland are greater Masters of Corn both in Field and Haggard which they upon so great provocation would set on fire whereas now they have no design to destroy the Country or the Inhabitants thereof they intending no more than to deliver the English Protestants from the the terrour of a new raised Army of the Irish and the setling of them in safety so that unless we should begin Acts of Hostility such as the burning of Dublin would be the whole body of the Country and City Inhabitants thereof and even the common Souldiers laying down their Arms may follow their former Callings without being further questioned leaving the Landed Officers of the new raised Irish Forces whereby the English have so much been terrified together with the Unqualified Judges and Civil Officers to the punishment of the Law or to the Mercy of those who do or shall bear sway in England Furthermore we cannot forget that the burning of Houses is Treason by the Law of Ireland How great a Treason therefore would it be to burn this famous City If a War were so severely prosecuted against us as by Force to drive all the Inhabitants out of this Kingdom leaving no hope ever for us to return again it might then seem perhaps reasonable to destroy the Country and City but no Hostile Act being intended to the Disquiet of the Nation the whole scope of the Power of England being no more than to give vigour to the Laws of the Kingdom and the Exercise thereof Why should we burn Dublin ingaging our selves and the whole Nation in a War and thereby bring Misery to our selves and the whole Nation under pretence of doing that which we are no way able to effect Let us therefore by a wise submission while our Adversaries are on the other side of the Water and I know the Officers and Souldiers of the old Army will consent passifie them by ondering a general laying down of Arms which I am confident will not only deliver the whole Irish Nation from Destruction th●● also assure them of greater prospect felicity then ever they yet enjoyed so far as may agree with the Laws of the Land. And why should we expect in so prostrate a Condition more advantage than the Law will afford us I am sure I have hither to said nothing but what intended for the service of the Irish Nation for whom I am very much concerned as a Native thereof and I am perswaded that all of you in a right Judgment cannot but approve of what I have said If so it is sufficient and I shall add no more then this my last Advertisement The Attempt of Burning the City will be very difficult the Opposition you will meet in doing it will be very great and bloody and being once Attempted whether Effected or not will prove the most ruinous Destraction that ever befel this Nation which I wish may by your Prudence be prevented