these Infamous Wretches whose Mercies are Cruelty to Tyrconnel's first steps in the Government as Lord Deputy in relation to which I shall now usher in at once the removing of the Judges though some of them were turned out before Tyrconnel came to the Sword As Sir Standish Harston Baronet one of the Barons of the Exchequer Sir Richard Reynolds Baronet one of the Judges of the King's-Bench and Johnson one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas The Consult was in London before Tyrconnel came to the Government whether the Judges should not be turned out before the Earl of Clarendon was removed to represent him odious to the People if he complyed or disobedient to the King if he seemed unwilling in the matter as they believed he would For they observed that he and the Lord Chancellor Porter began to startle at the Commands from England before they received any account of their removal and Porter publickly declared That he came not over to serve a turn nor would act any thing against his Conscience and as a Testimony of this he found at his return to London that he could not without some difficulty obtain the favour of kissing the King's hand but at length gaining admittance he humbly asked the King What he had done that he was so used For it had been a considerable expence to him to remove his Family To which the King replyed That 't was his own fault which was an expression not very unintelligible Porter went several times after to Court and stood in the King's Eye but he never vouchsafed to speak to him or to take the least notice of him But to come to the Judges it was not thought safe to turn them all out nor any more of them till the Government was in a hand that was Catholick For some of the Council I mean the Cabal were afraid of proceeding in their design too fast especially Powis who urged a slow Progress as accounting it most safe and this made him not be confided in as to their secret and blacker Designs though in his Lady they reposed an intire Confidence as being thought the greatest Politician among them and were not a little ambitious that the Earl of Shaftsbury in the Popish Plot had given her that Character This Debate concerning the Judges was long and often some were for making a clear riddance and to have the Reformation begin in the Courts of Judicature They having already the Military part of the Government in their hands might with greater Facility secure the Civil But the moderate Party prevailed and one in a Court to colour the actions of the rest must be left But that which stuck with them was that Sir William Davis Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench must not be moved for two Reasons The First was That he had been of the Duke's Party in the time of the Popish Plot behaving himself so loyal that he had been sent over if Dissolving the Parliament had not preserved him but this was the least part of his Strength The Second therefore and most prevalent Inducement was his Marriage with the Countess of Clancarthy whose Son had Married the Earl of Sunderland's Daughter and Sunderland was to be denied nothing Besides Sir William Davis was a Diseased infirm man given over for some years and to expedite his Journey for another World for he was a thoughtful man his Brother Judge Nugent the first Popish Judge that was put in pass'd Patent for Sir William Davis's place of Lord Chief Justice in reversion a sad Presage in those times where men must die when and how their Adversaries pleased This being resolved the choice was soon made Lord Chief Baron Hen makes way also for Rice and in Rice's room Sir Linch succeeds in the Common-Pleas In the High Court of Chancery was placed Sir Alexander Fitton a man notorious on Record so exempts me from the pains of giving the Reader a Character of him in this place but little regard was to be had to the man so long as he was fitted to that interest which was then promoting it being very remarkable That of what Perswasion soever they were which they employed at this time they chose men of the most branded Reputations and whose Principles were such as could brave Conscience The three Protestant Judges had their several Capacities and Inclinations for their Service the Lord Chief Justice Davis I speak not of for he was decreed to die and did soon after but the three Standards for the Cause were the Lord Chief Justice Keating for the Common-Pleas Lyndon for the King's-Bench and Baron Worth for the Exchequer The Lord Chief Justice Keating had always been a Servant of the Duke of Yorks was a Native of the place as the Irish call them his Family for many Ages there and Naturalized into Irish he was somewhat accounted to be Popishly inclined and therefore that Party thought themselves sure of him but he was a person of more sense than to pursue the Chace with greater expedition than safety He was rich and single and small hopes would not spur him on to an indiscreet forwardness however as to the main they questioned not his Affection to the Cause Lyndon though in his affection no friend to the Irish Government yet lay under the powerful temptation of a numerous Family and his not abounding in Riches made him the more Passive though he behaved himself the best of the three and when it laid in his power shewed himself an English-man Baron W was the Man they most depended upon and he was so well known that year W 't was in vain to pretend indifferency nor did he but was the first man in the Exchequer where there was more business than in all the Courts besides that struck the fatal blow in all Causes where the English were concerned as in the Sequel will appear in the Charters and private Causes of the English that came before him The Courts being thus setled the next thing year 1687 to be performed was calling in the Charters and here Tyrconnel endeavoured to proceed in the same method that the Lords Justices had done before in perswading the City to deliver up their Arms. But one art in State-Policy could not easily be imposed twice in a year and the English had a fresh Impression upon their Memories by what plausible perswasive Rhetorick they had been cajoled out of their Arms and now to have a like Delusion pass upon them in depriving them of their Laws was a colour not natural enough to deceive them a second time However this was the method of the proceeding Tyrconnel during the Lord Clarendon's Government had procured the King's Letter that all Roman Catholicks should be admitted into the freedom of all the Corporations of the Kingdom which Letter was artfully contrived with a great deal of sweetness and of endearing expressions as that it proceeded from his Majesty's great care of the general good of the Kingdom and was graciously designed by
A Full and Impartial Account Of all the SECRET CONSULTS Negotiations Stratagems and Intriegues OF THE Romish Party IN IRELAND From 1660 to this present Year 1689. For the Settlement of Popery in that Kingdom LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC LXXX IX TO THE READER TO Preface to the ensuing Pamphlet will I am sensible be attributed to a vain humour of the Age rather than to more important Considerations But however that may be the Apprehension of some yet the more Judicious will I doubt not be of another Opinion when they perceive a whole Series of the most profound Policies and Designs drawn with that rudeness and disproportion as equally requires their Candour as well as my Apology Indeed to give an exact pourtraicture of this Intriegue which in all its circumstances appears very extraordinary and surprizing would require Apelles his favourable chance or at least a more Artificial Representation than must be expected in the following Discourse All that I can pretend to is an Impartial Account of the Matter of Fact and that being chiefly aimed at will with sober Men be in some sort at least interpreted A Dispensation for the want of exteriour Ornament or however that may prove I deem'd it much more serviceable to the Publick to present the Reader with this rough draught rather than conceal that which with what imperfection soever 't is managed must needs be useful to all Protestants and especially at this Juncture For here the Reader has an Account of the first steps that were made in Ireland for the Introduction of Popery into that Kingdom together with a Description of what obstacles and repulses this Design met with how 't was still carried on notwithstanding its frequent Interruptions and Discouragements and by what private Cabals and after what secret Machinations Here is represented the admirable diligence of an indefatigable Romish Genius for the promotion of the Catholick Cause which in several periods of State and vicissitudes of that Government still kept its design on foot sometimes retreating a few paces backward when they found it necessary and at others not only retrieving that disadvantage but continuing a greater Progress when they met with occasions favourable to their Design which at last they carefully improved to that ripeness wherein it now stands and to which it has attained by an unparallel'd Violation of the Laws and Constitutions of the Realm by the most violent and unjust Proceedings in the Reign of the late King James of which you have an ample and copious Relation in the following Sheets Full and Impartial Account Of all the SECRET CONSULTS Negotiations Stratagems and Intriegues OF THE Romish Party in Ireland from 1660 to this present Year 1689. for the Settlement of Popery in that Kingdom c. WHEN the natural Consequent of our late intestine Differences had in a short time produced so many various Scenes of Government till by a circular Motion we center'd in our first Model and so like Pythagoras his transmigration of Souls were metamorphosed into so many differing Shapes till at last in the Year One thousand six hundred and sixty we became animated with our first Dispositions to Monarchy by the Restoration of King Charles the Second then it was that several Disputes arose which were Debated before the King and Council concerning the Settlement of Ireland the Lord of Santry Lord Chief Justice of Ireland a Man equally eminent for Law as well as Loyalty in an excellent and learned Speech represented to the Board the horrid Rebellion of Ireland together with those Barbarous and Inhumane Massacres which he had been an eye Witness of In Opposition to which Sir Nicholas Plunkett a Man also very skilful in the Law but a Knight of the Pope's making and one that had acted his part in all the Rebellion of Ireland assumed the Defence of the Natives of that Kingdom but as his Cause was too apparently bad to be maintained with any tolerable Success so was his Understanding in the Law inferiour to the Lord Chief Justice Santry's who carried the Debate with great Applause in the Opinion of all that heard it and had his Advice been accordingly pursued 't was thought few of the Irish would have got their Estates and at that time if by mistake the Lord of Ormond and Lord Anglesey had not joined with the Court-Party 't was believed that what the Lord Santry urged as Law must have prevailed in point of Right for in those days the Interest of the Duke of York which afterwards grew to a mighty height as you will perceive by the Sequel was not so powerful as to have prevented it That which he chiefly insisted upon as to matter of Law was That 't was most agreeable to the Law of the Land as well as most equal for the Subject to be Tried by the Common Law where they would meet with a fair and indifferent Tryal by Juries of their Neighbours and in this case could have no wrong done them but that the Court of Claims was like the Usurper's high-High-Court of Justice Arbitrary and Unlimited This touch'd the Irish to the quick for they being conscious of their Guilt most of 'em Indicted and Outlawed for Treason despaired upon their Trial at the Bar to make any considerable Defence The Government of Ireland was first put into year 1660 the hands of Lords Justices which were Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor the Earl of Mountrath and the Earl of Orrery the first a Lawyer the latter Men that had signally behaved themselves against the Irish during the whole Rebellion Under the Government of these Men a Parliament was called in the City of Dublin and the Convention which sat upon the King's Restoration dissolved The first thing they proceeded upon were the Bills sent them from England for by the Law of Ireland Intituled Poyning's Act the Parliament of Ireland can read no Bill in their House which proceeds not by these Steps First The Chief Governour and Council of Ireland draw up a Bill and send it over to the King and Council in England who either approve or correct it as they think convenient and so in the second place return it back to the Chief Governor and Council and these send it to the House of Commons who have only a Negative Voice and can neither alter nor amend a word of it This by way of Digression which differing so much from the Practice of the Parliament of England induced me not to think it altogether unpleasant or unnecessary to present the Reader with this brief Account of it But to return to the Parliament the variety of interests in that Kingdom gave birth to several Disputes among them for the accommodating whereof it was thought necessary at Court to send over a Lord Lieutenant for about this time a great Controversie arose among all Parties which was founded upon this occasion A new interest was set on foot in
inconsiderable Actor in the Affairs of the Romish Court one Thomas Sheridon This Man was Educated in Trinity Colledge near Dublin where he commenced Master of Arts and after that entered into the Holy Order of a Deacon of the Church of Ireland but upon an intimate Acquaintance contracted with the Jesuitical Party was discovered by these politick Engineers of State to be a Person whose natural sagacity joyn'd with his artificial improvements as to which none of his co-temporaries in the University could dispute the Precedence might justly render him a fit Object for their purpose This Design of theirs co-operating with his boundless Ambition made him not sollicitous to aspire to an higher rank in the Church though otherwise his pregnant parts might reasonably have entitled him to very eminent preferment in it but now that he had another Game to play he suddenly to the Admiration of all that knew or heard of him abandons his Sacred and assumes a Civil Profession that of a Collector of the Customes in an out-Port of Ireland a place he was as unqualified for as he was deem'd capable of that of the Church the place but an hundred and twenty pounds per annum He remained three or four Years in this place but not to the small amazement of such as were acquainted with his profuseness For 't was visible that his Sallary could not answer a quarter of his Expence living at a very extravagant height in imitation of his Master Coleman At last the Intriegue appeared more intelligible to some inquisitive Men who began more narrowly to prie into it For 't was considered that his being Collector of Corkeâ— a great place of Commerce by Sea afforded him Intelligence from all parts whereby Letters from Rome Spain c. to all the Popish Clergy could arrive safely through his Hands and as this was answerable to their first design of fixing him in that Station so did it render him the more considerable amongst them notwithstanding that to avoid all suspicion he still put on the disguise of the Protestant Religion which he counterfeited with so ingenious an air that most believed him extream in that Profession and were apt to think him inclin'd to Presbytery as deriving it from his Masters the Farmers who were called The Fanatick Farmers being a Sett of Brewers in London Thus we see how this bigotted Votary of the Romish Church transformed himself into a different shape and eovered his black Design with the Mask of Presbytery as the Stalking Horse to other Fowle upon which his aim was set But as this disguise could not remove the suspicions of the most judicious discerning Men who considered his assuming an Employment quite contrary to the Stream of his former Education and to that eminent Figure which in all probability he might have aspired to in the Church as an Introduction to some secret Project which at present they could not comprehend but soon after became fully informed in it For the aforesaid Farmers going off Sheridon before their time was fully expired obtains leave from them to go for London and there the Vizard he had formerly worn was soon thrown off and he as in his proper colours appeared an absolute Creature of the Duke of York's and at that time a great Consult was held to bring on the Deliverance of Ireland For now the poor Catholicks there after their late disappointment in the before-mentioned Intriegue of the Corporation were almost in despair and moreover his Royal Highness was in danger of losing his most faithful adherents many hundreds of them having continued there incognito since the L B 's time expecting to be Officers and these Men were very impatient The Earl of Essex was then in the Government year 1673 of Ireland a person whose great integrity and prudence in the steady piloting of this tottering Ship of the State is not easie to describe This Skilful Manager of the Helm Steer'd so judiciously at this nice juncture that notwithstanding the unwearied endeavours of the Papists nothing could be effected to their advantage whilest he kept the Sword. Wherefore a Project was thought on to take the Farm of the Revenue of Ireland by which the whole Revenue of the Kingdom must pass through their hands besides that this offered to them the command of the Sea-Ports together with the conveniency of employing in the Revenue Fifteen Hundred Officers fit for their purpose This being set on foot took well and Sheridon acted his share in it with great applause For his being a Collector added to his Natural Ingenuity and great parts had now rendred him a great Proficient in the Affairs of the Customs and the Revenue The Caution required in the management of this Intriegue hindered the Duke from appearing in it and Coleman was deem'd also a person very unfit to be concerned for though he assumed the shape of a Protestant at that time yet was he shrewdly suspected of Popery After several Debates it was concluded That year 1675 Sheridon was the most proper instrument to carry on this affair but then his credit in London was not considerable enough for a matter of this great moment So after several attempts recourse was at last had to one Muschamp then in London an old Projector and one of the present Farmers but a poor man. This Muschamp acquaints another greater Projector than himself one Sir J. S. but he was a man of moderate fame however they could get none of substance to joyn with them and both these were projecting heads and acquainted with Sir W. P. a man of Ireland of a great fortune and whose Principles were most consonant to this concern who upon the proposal being made to him embrac'd it with this assurance of having men of Estates joyned with them This being related by Sheridon to the Duke and Coleman to effect it 't was found necessary to draw in some man of value which seem'd to be a matter of great difficulty But at last one Ryder a young man that had of his own and Sisters Fortune Twenty Thousand Pounds was named but his being publickly known as an intimate Favourite of the Duke's was lookt upon as almost an inseparable Obstacle For all matters relating to Ireland were so closely and tenderly handled that notwithstanding the Duke carried the greatest stroak yet acted so much at a distance that he appeared to be outwardly unconcerned However the exigency of this affair was such as necessitated him to shew himself more open in this than upon former occasions and therefore to facilitate their purpose Ryder was engaged together with some other small men who were also prevailed upon The business thus lain they appeared upon the Stage and bid for the whole Revenue of Ireland The Earl of Essex who received constant intelligence from Court and from some of the Popish Clergy in Ireland about this time had an account of designs to remove him from the Government and how one part lay in taking the Farm upon which he
obtains leave to go for England year 1675 leaving the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard Justices Upon his arrival at Court he perceived the Game ran high for Popery and the best way to prevent it was not by downright opposition he therefore concludes upon a more prevailing method which was to make court to the Duke of York which he managed with so much art and so skilful an Address as indeed he was very capable of doing beyond their Conclave at Rome that notwithstanding it was resolved that he should depart yet was he kept so long in England till orders came from the Holy Fathers for his return to Ireland He had so far wound himself into the Duke's good-opinion of him that he thought him secure for their Party and as the first testimony of his Integrity he had Instructions from him to promote Sheridon and the Farmers which the Earl managed with such great wisdom as at once to please the Duke and yet to be serviceable to the Protestants of Ireland who had now been in a lost irrecoverable condition if his admirable Conduct had not prevented it And now this great Man returns for Ireland to year 1676 steer again in that Government threatened by approaching Tempests the Farmers also going over enter upon their business Sir W. P. became very notorious in declaring not only to employ Papists but that he would have the Priests collect the Hearth-money Some were apt to believe that this was done on purpose to get off but those who were most intimate with him speak quite otherwise and that the hopes of being created a Lord and a Privy Counsellor so transported him beyond all the bounds of moderation as induced him to take this violent course the more to ingratiate himself with the Duke but like the Ass in the Fable beat his Master down in imitation of the Spaniels fawning and though he was a man of great Learning and of a Mathematical Head and bred abroad yet so vehemently desirous of Riches as hurried him often into great Extravagancies The Earl of Essex being Landed in Ireland had a difficult Game to play he had 't is believed made fair Promises of being kind to the Irish and to stand by the Farmers to the first he gave good words and received them well at Court but the Farmers they began to model their Officers and if some speedy and effectual stop was not put to these Proceedings the whole Ports of the Kingdom would soon be in Papists hands which was like to prove a matter of most dangerous consequence To defeat this Intriegue required a more than ordinary presence of mind and a deep foresight which as this wise Earl was endowed with in a very high measure so did he signally shew it upon this occasion There was but one way to effect it and that was by raising scruples as to the value of the Farmers and their Securities but this he must not appear in but instructs some of his Confidents of the Council to act that part sor him and there was one who till this late Catastrophe was thought to be of great Integrity and Honour the Lord Granard he was bold and daring and a Mortal Enemy to Sir J. S. wherefore he moves at the Council-Board that inspection should be made into the Securities of these Farmers The Proposal was well accepted by the rest of the Council For indeed they were Men as Sir W. P. said truly of them viz. Farmers pick'd up in the Streets with this disadvantage that take the-first seven men you meet and they shall exceed these for every thing but cheating The Earl of Essex seemed to oppose the Council in this Vote put it off and acquainted the Farmers and also gave an account of it to the Duke whom he had now so far gain'd upon as to become a Confident But every day usher'd in new Complaints against the Farmers running away with the Money of the Kingdom c. which for some time the Earl seemed to decline but at last in appearance against the Grain agrees with the Council and sends over to the King the Objections against the Farmers which in short were so great that they were not to be trusted Whereupon Commissioners of inspection were set over them one was the Earl of Essex's Confident and these men attended to the motion of the Farmers with so vigilant an eye that nothing could be effected In this manner was this great and dangerous Plot carried on for several years by the Duke and his Minions most miraculously defeated by the unparallell'd Conduct of that Prudent Earl who so far out-vy'd the Romish Politicks as to cajole that party into an approbation of those Proceedings which proved fatally destructive of their design which so disheartened those two accomplices R and Sheridon that they flung up their Parts and returned to Court the last to attend his Master Coleman who happened to come in a fit time to succeed him in his Employment for not long after this the Popish Plot was brought upon the Stage in which Coleman was Prime Minister who being afterwards Executed and Sheridon speaking something in favour of his cause was apprehended and after some time was brought on his knees at the Bar of the House of Commons where he had impudence beyond humane shape to set forth in a flourishing Speech the greatness of his Family viz. that he was in the right Line of the Kings of Vlster anciently called O Sheridon that to his Father belonged a vast Estate which by the misfortune of War meaning the former Rebellion he was wrongfully put out of with abundance of the like impudent falshoods and most notorious untruths Whereas indeed his Father too honest a man for so base and so degenerate a Son was before the late Rebellion in the County of Caven taken in a poor Boy into a Bishop's House for a Turn-spit and the Bishop observing the Boy to be of a Docible Temper and capable of instruction and finding him educated a Papist charitably put him to School where he was taught his Grammar and was found to be so industrious a Proficient in School-learning as encouraged the good Bishop to Ordain him a Deacon in which capacity he continued under the Bishop till he died And when the Rebellion broke out so violently that few English were left in the Countrey yet this poor man remained with such as stayed and read Prayers among them till all were either Murthered or had deserted the place But he being a poor Old Man and having nothing to remove continued where he was the Irish suffering him to reside amongst them but by all their Importunities notwithstanding their great eagerness to make Converts compassing both Sea and Land to proselyte any to their Church could never prevail upon him to go to Mass This Man had three Sons which as well as those turbulent times would admit he educated Protestants and upon Oliver's reduction of Ireland he was so taken with the Character