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-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
persons by their united Interests one for the Church the other for the Dissenters kept things in a quiet posture in Ireland and were so Cajol'd by King James as made them not only of opinion but perswaded others to be so too that the King would never expose himself to the hazard of preferring Papists in that Kingdom where the English and Scots were so unanimous against 'em And besides that they were so well furnished with Arms as having the Arms of the Militia so lately setled in their hands But the Popish Party grew bold and insolent and every day afforded but too convincing occasions of new fears to the Protestants Monmouth's Discomfiture gave liberty to the Irish more than ever to contrive Plots and to fasten them upon the Protestants which put the whole Kingdom into a Ferment for the Irish pretended that the Protestants assembled together in great numbers in the night and to gain the more credit to these Hellish Inventions the Vulgar Irish were instructed to leave their Houses and to hide every Night in their Bogs upon a pretence of fear that the English would come in the Night and cut their Throats a Practice as notorious in the Church of Rome as unheard of among Protestants and which there could not be the least Ground or Foundation for at this juncture For besides that in most parts of the Kingdom the Irish were infinitely more numerous than the English nay in some an hundred Families for one I suppose I speak much short of the true account which shewed the impossibility of putting any such thing in execution had it been ever intended and must needs be accounted an absurd and ridiculous contrivance to any man of common sense So were the Irish though conscious to themselves of their own Bloody Actions in the former Rebellion well enough assured that the English never imagined much less would attempt any such thing They were convinced as well by their Practices which had been but too favourable and indulgent to the Natives in the former Reign as by the Principles of their Religion that they were not men of Blood nay and would frequently confess that they were never known to be addicted to Cruelty and Murther to Barbarous Massacres and Inhumane Assassinations which they could not excuse some of themselves from And indeed whoever considers the difference betwixt the Reformed and Romish Church in this respect must needs acknowledge a most strange opposition betwixt them To see the Ancient Practices of the Heathen Emperors so drawn to the life nay out-done by the present Romish Faction is to some a Demonstration that the Persecuting Spirit which reigned with so much predominancy in the Infant days of Christianity is now strongly revived in this degenerate Church which is apparently in this and other Principles upon her Retrograde motion to Ancient Gentilism And upon the other hand whoever considers that Spirit of Peace and Meekness of Mercifulness and an Universal Charity which governs with so absolute an Empire in the minds of those who have duly embraced our Profession must needs own That our English carries that true Badge and Characteristick Evidence of Christianity for which the Primitive Church was justly accounted so illustrious But not to dwell any longer upon this Reflection with what malice and injustice soever the English were represented as Night-Walkers and designing to murther the Irish yet were Examinations of these Impeachments taken by Justices of the Peace calculated for the purpose and these were sent to the Lords Justices and Council and although the Accusations were notoriously false and irrational as has been already shewn yet for not being prosecuted with that open partiality and rigour which these envious implacable Spirits were impatient for Complaints were made to the King by the Irish and he to gratifie their malice sent private instructions with a Reprimand to the Lords Justices about this affair Upon which a Proclamation was issued forth forbidding all Night-Meetings c. though the Lords Justices and Council well knew there was no such thing This Artifice of the Irish was but in order to make way for greater mischief by preparing Evidences to bring the most considerable of the English into Plots Their first onset was with one Moor of Clonmel who was Indicted for High-Treason before Sir John Mead in the Palatinate of Tipperary This Moor was a person of a vast Estate which made them bend their whole force against him Now to countenance the design Tyrconnel and Justin Mac Carthy came to Clonmel to the Trial and in the Publick Court assum'd to reproach the Judge and the Jury Mac Carthy calling him Fanatick and he and Talbot aspersing him and the Duke of Ormond for employing such a Rogue with other Calumnies in such Language as was only fit for such Blood-hounds to express Notwithstanding Moore and some others that were impeached were quitted But such an extravagantly partial account was sent over to the Court of that action that the King questioned the Duke of Ormond how he came to employ such a Fanatick to which the Duke replied he did it in duty to his Majesty as believing he could not entrust a better man than one of his Majesties Servants for so he was when Duke of York being then his Attorney General in Ireland Tyrconnel then began to model the Army but year 1685 the introductory part first to be performed was to get in all the Arms from the Protestants and this design was varnished over in as fair Colours as the Ground would bear But however its direct tendency was plainly obvious and visible to every Eye The King and Council writ over to the Lords Justices and Council that there was reason to believe that the Rebellion of Monmouth had been of that spreading Contagion as to infect many and delude more It was not therefore safe for the Kingdom to have the Arms of the Militia dispersed abroad but they would be in a greater readiness for the Militia and their own defence to have them deposited in the several Stores of each County Upon which instructions a Proclamation issued forth and to make it take the better effect the Lord Primate first began with the City of Dublin and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen makes an Elegant Speech to them magnifying their unshaken Loyalty in the worst of times and withal adding that their ready Obedience and prevalent example would be of great service to the King and Kingdom And in the close of his Speech tells them that they expected their compliance in bringing in their Arms which should be always ready for their Service The City were sensible of their condition but knew likewise that 't was to no purpose to dispute as to their obedience so brought in their Arms. The Countrey pursu'd this Precedent and to render the design more effectual the Irish gave out That if any Arms were reserved in the Protestants hands such would be interpreted as persons disaffected to the King and
other part was to be under such Qualifications as that the King might dispose of it to such as he found to be obedient Sons This if the King would have pursued a Parliament they could have had when they pleased fitted for their turn all Corporations being already put into Popish hands and all the Sheriffs of the Counties being Papists would be sure not to make returns to their disadvantage This Consult being come to this ripeness 't was year 1688 concluded that Rice should go over as Plenipotentiary in negotiating this Affair which was mannaged with that privacy and reservedness that not one of the Council knew of it till the Warrant was signed for the Yatcht to carry him over But as soon as this became publick the Lord Chief Justice Nugent flew about like lightening to all his Friends to make an interest to go over with Rice which Neagle and Rice privately opposed for as one of them told the Author he was good for nothing but to spoil a business when nothing could prevail he pretended some affairs of his own and so obtained leave to go over and for the honour of the business was joined with Rice to present that which was publickly to be offered but was not in any part of the cret intriegue to render the undertaking more prosperous For the Deliverance of the Irish Nation they Embark'd upon St. Patrick's Day but considering the bad success they met with they might as well have put him out of their Kalendar as by a particular order from Rome they had formerly done St. Luke because upon that Holy-day the English had obtained a great Victory over them in the last Rebellion But to return to the Irish Embassadors for so they were called here in England over they came and after Rice had paid a Visit to the Jesuits of whose Society he was once a Novice and had been educated in their Colledge he made his first Court to the Lord Sunderland Father Peters he found not favourable to his design but the French Faction was his chief dependance to whom he had always a recourse in his private Consults without communicating any thing to his Colleague whom he kept in great ignorance of the private intriegue of Castlemain against the Lord Deputy 'T was Rice's chief business to possess the Conclave with a great opinion of the Lord Deputy's extraordinary Zeal for the promotion of the Catholick Cause and that he had made a much greater Progress in it before that time if the want of a Parliament and the continuance of the Act of Settlement had not retarded that design without which Rice alledged That 't was impossible to make Converts or to Proselyte any to their Party who thought themselves Masters of the Kingdom whilst they had the Laws on their side and made it their boast That the King durst not attempt to meddle with them So that as Affairs stood there seemed a more rational probability that the Roman Catholicks should condescend to the Protestants than they to the Roman Catholicks Thus was Rice very active and industrious in urging and propagating the intriegue which when it was fully comprehended by his Party Father Peters was with much difficulty influenced so far as to join in it though at first he could not be prevailed upon to hear of it For he was absolutely byass'd for Castlemain's interest and being no Politician but a perfect fury and of an Imperious Temper was wont to contemn every thing that was not his humour But this Project being a work of expedition in Ireland and in his own Style to Convert or Confound the Hereticks there he at last embraced it and when once he became interessed nothing must be done but by his direction and advice so 't was concluded upon that the Project should be laid open before Sunderland and that when he was made Master of it he and Father Peters would wait on the King with it And to oblige Sunderland's more chearful and hearty concurrence in this Affaiâ— he was to be made sensible what signal advantages would be derived to his Lordship from so great a Revolution in that Kingdom a matter which required no great art so to instil it into him as to make it intelligible But notwithstanding Father Peters adherence to this Project yet did he continue in his former Inclinations for removing Tyrconnel And 't was believed that happy difference among the several Romish Factions was the prime occasion of diverting this fatal blow design'd for Ireland The business was in the Closet fully discours'd to the King by none but Sunderland and Peters who with the liberty of a digression I must acquaint the Reader was not infallible in keeping Secrets The King was soon fully inclined to the thing but how to pass it at the Council Hic labor hoc opus est there lay the stress of the business for he was very apprehensive that such as were opposite to Tyrconnel's continuance in the Government of Ireland would be more violent against his being there with a Parliament too great for such a Man whom the Council had in contempt Peters thought he could easily remove that obstacle by introducing the Popes recommendation of Castlemain but over that the French King had laid his hand to whom the poor King was become a Vassal Amidst these difficulties 't was hard to form a resolution but however 't was agreed to that the two Judges should be publickly introduc'd to the King with their project for calling a Parliament in Ireland and to lay at his Majesty's feet the deplorable condition of his Catholick Subjects there occasioned by the palpable injustice and oppression of the Act of Settlement which was so notorious that the vety Protestants themselves were ashamed of it and would gladly part with enough to satisfie the Irish in case that they might have a good Act of Parliament to secure the rest All this was put in practice and they brought to Whitehall where the King received their Project in writing and told them he would advise with his Council about it Now 't was the constant method of King James in any thing of weight or importance to consider it first in the Cabal before 't was proposed at Council-Board yet this thing upon which entirely depended the Settlement or ruine of a Kingdom had not that Sanction but was carried immediately to the Council which was matter of admiration to many but supposed to be done for one of these two Reasons either that the King was conscious that those of the Cabinet would not suffer it to proceed any farther but was in hopes so to influence the Judges and other Tools he had at the Council-Board to vote for it Or else that he would shew his indifferency in the matter that so it might not be thought any private intrigue The King brought this project the first Council-day and in few words acquainted the Council with its importance and contents and by whom presented to him no man spoke a
half of the Kingdom in value lost notwithstanding at the same time the most innocent of the Irish were depriv'd of their Estates and the greatest Rebels got more than their own This was the first step advanc'd for the introduction of Popery into that Kingdom and notwithstanding the small Progress it had then seemingly made it so far encouraged even in this time of its Infancy the most considerable of the Irish as often to intimate to the English That in a short time the Protestants and they must be of one Religion 'T was very remarkable That in the Year year 1668 One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight Talbot Brother to Tyrconnel and Titular Archbishop of Dublin Landing at a place called the Skerish within Twelve Miles of that City and being very Hospitably entertained by one Captain Coddington Lodging all Night at his House the next Morning took him aside and after the most Affectionate Expressions of Kindness asked him what Title he had to that Estate for that he observed he had expended considerably upon its improvement Coddington answered That 't was an old Estate belonging to the Earl of Twomond Talbot replyed That was nothing it did belong to the Church and it would all be taken away therefore advised him to lay out no more upon it but get what he could and then desert it All this was offered upon strong injunctions of the most Inviolable Secrecy The Duke of Ormond was then Lord Lieutenant and nothing advantagious to their Interests could be managed whilst he continued in that Post which was the rise to divers Consultations at Court for his removal It had been too palpable for the Popish Party to have appeared interessed in it wherefore an Intriegue was then formed of renewing the ancient Animosities betwixt him and the Duke of Buckingham This was reduced to Act and the effect was proportionable to the design The next thing to be considered was who should succeed him which was a matter that required a very nice and critical management They pitched upon the Lord Roberts as a person that had been formerly disappointed year 1669 of that Station which begetting a prejudice in him and meeting with a Vindicative Spirit whose temper they knew to be such would prompt him invidiously to inspect into or else to create faults in the Government of the Duke of Ormond which was the end of the Court-Intriegue and of his advancement as knowing that his uneasiness to those of that Kingdom would serve to prepare a fair reception for the L B a Man of whose inclinations to their interest the Popish Party had the most convincing assurances and agreeably to this whole Scheme of policy the Lord Roberts remained Lord Lieutenant about Six Months and then the L. B. was sent over Talbot now Tyrconnel leaves the Court and year 1670 follows his Brother the Titular Archbishop and lives privately but notwithstanding his Retirement is still engaged in all the Secret Counsels with Sir Ellis Leaton the Lord Lieutenant's Secretary And now to accomplish their purpose the first thing to be done was to set up a pretence that the King when in Exile had obliged himself to the French King to restore the Irish to their Religion and their Estates and lest a neglect of this should occasion a Breach with France something must be acted in pursuance to it So it was ordered That notwithstanding the Law to prefer Irish Papists to the Commission of the year 1671 Peace in which they behaved themselves with that partiality and insolence Properties inherent to most if not all of them that they became odious even to the judicious of their own party The next thing was to regulate the Corporations year 1672 which by an Act of the last Parliament there was power for the Lord Lieutenant and Council to do This was managed with such great secrecy that none were made acquainted with it till it was actually drawn and brought ready to the Council-Board The next day there was sent to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of Dublin an Order for them to call a Common-Council and to turn them out and to make a new Government in the City This they well understood would create a disturbance which they were desirous so to improve among the Citizens as to render the Protestants disaffected for which purpose they industriously laboured to irritate and provoke them as the L B had done the Year before when a number of Boys got up in a Tumult to pull down a Bridge which was erecting contrary to the desire of the City where when the Lord Mayor and Constables had suppress'd them the Lord Lieutenant ordered Soldiers as they were carrying them to Prison who discharg'd several Shots amongst them and killed some of them But to return to the Order of Council for modelling the Corporation the Aldermen gave ready obedience though they feared the bottom of the Design This compliance of the Aldermen necessitated them to take new measures for the most considerable of the Aldermen were Men of New Interest and had been noted for keeping out Papists from the City Freedom and whilest these Aldermen were in Power no Popish Design could succeed and therefore to facilitate by another what they could not effect by former Stratagems the next work was to prepossess the Populace with prejudice against the Aldermen representing them as the Authors and Contrivers of this New Model though as it was afterwards proved upon an hearing before the Earl of Essex and Council when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland they never heard word of 'em till they were brought to 'em to the Tole-sale with orders to put 'em in Execution At that time there came over to Dublin a Person year 1672 who assumed several names a practice as agreeable to the Interest and Policy of the Church of Rome and as common as that of variety of Shapes and Professions sometime he went by the name of Payne at others by that of Nevell and was found to be the same person that was afterwards committed to Newgate for some high Misdemeanour relating to Coleman and the Popish Plot. This Nevell as has since been apparent in the instance before named had his part with Coleman and was sent over for Ireland as his proper Province wherein to act the designed Tragedy He remained for some time obscure in Dublin and after that was received into the Castle but never appeared till this as was deem'd seasonable juncture and then in the capacity of Under Secretary to Sir Ellis Leaton His business was to infuse into the Populace of the City of Dublin an Opinion of the Treachery of their Recorder Sir William Davis and to make the pretext the more plausible he had Instructions to add That the Recorder and the Lord Primate then Lord Chancellour counselled the L. B. to enact those Laws for the abolishing of the Ancient Government of the City and farther insinuating that this was done at the desire and instigation and by the contrivance of
of Families which flocked over from Dublin to the Isle of Man and other places Indeed I cannot recal to mind the great Consternation the dismal Apprehensions and Panick Fears which possess'd the hearts of all Protestants at this juâ—cture without reviving like Aeneas his repetition of the Trojan Miseries to the Carthaginian Queen those deep impressions of sorrow those Infandos dolores under which I was then almost sunk and overwhelmed Now every thing discovered a gloomy and Melancholy prospect and seemed to be attended with so many Discouragements that many that had Patentee Employments obtained Licence from the Lord Lieutenant under the Broad-Seal to come away and all that lay in his Excellency's power for the help and assistance of the Protestants he zealously performed It was interpreted by many as a signal Act of Providence propitious to the English that the Winds continued for some time contrary after that this furious Zealot for the Cause as impatient as a Wild Bull in a Net was come to the Sea-side which disappointment did not a little discompose him whose prejudice and ambition equally inspired him with eagerness to supplant his Predecessor whom he had looked upon as his Corrival in the Government This favourable delay was religiously respected by many as a certain warning or admonition from God to his people to fly from those heavy Judgments which had been long imminent but now in an actual readiness to descend upon that Poor Distressed Kingdom But he whose Arrival was dreaded every moment as the most fatal misery that could fall upon the Nation at last after being thus retarded to the unspeakable terrour of the Protestants Landed at Dublin And the Lord Clarendon who had a particular favour conferred upon him to continue for one Week in the Government after Tyrconnel's Landing at his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Dublin's Palace resigned the Sword to Tyrconnel with an admirable Speech to him setting forth his exact observance of the Commands of the King his Master and faithful discharging of that great trust which had been committed to him and concluding with his Impartial Administration of Justice to all Partys in these or the like words addressed to Tyrconnel That as he had kept an equal hand of Justice to the Roman Catholicks so he hoped his Lordship would to the Protestants Never was a Sword washed with so many Tears as this a most doleful presage of its being so in blood It would surpass the Art of Rhetorick to set forth the dreadful Reflections which the poor afflicted Protestants made upon this Ominous Revolution No Oratour could find words to express the fatal Calamities which were now derived from the consequence of this change it presaged the worst of evils and seemed to carry in all its parts the most dismal Characters of an Irreversible Extirpation of the Protestant Interest and Religion Most of the English were possessed with the daily fears of a general Massacre to be suddainly put in Execution and that in a most inhuman manner and this produced the strangest Convulsions in the minds of men that a most exquisite grief could be capable of Others were more temperate in their sorrows and were of opinion that notwithstanding Popery was the Scene which must be acted yet they were in hopes by some more plausible way than that of downright murthering They considered that the last Rebellion had heaped so much Infamy upon the Irish and had justly rendered them such Barbarous and Inhumane Savages to the whole Christian World that to obliterate that deserved reproach they would now take some milder course which though it might have something more of Humanity in it would yet be as effectual to the design the utter Subversion of the Protestant Interest and Religion In fine Quot homines tot sententiae their Sentiments were as various as their Fears But however all concurred in this That Popery was the Game that must not only be Played but win too whatever Arts were used to obtain the upshot The Lord Clarendon before he surrendered the Government was very curious to inform himself of the Constitution and Condition of Ireland and at his going over carried with him Copies of Records Surveys c. of that Kingdom and among other things it is said that he desired the Lord Chief Justice Keating now in Rebellion in Ireland and one of the fatal instruments for the ruine of that Kingdom to give him his opinion in Writing both as to the Legality and Justice of the Act of Settlement as also to answer those Objections which had been made against it by Neagle all which he amply performed and which my Lord Clarendon upon his Arrival at Court shewed to the King who sent the Copy over to Tyrconnel who spared not to reproach Keating for this action which Keating at first disowned but the matter being too plain to admit of an absolute denial at length began to make the best Excuse he could My Lord Clarendon being shipped for England now does the open and full Triumph of the Irish ambitiously shew it self in this advantagious light in all its grandeur and magnificence The dejected condition of the English made their Victory more glorious 'T was now impossible for the Natives to forbear insulting over the English at an insupportable rate as if they had been actually their Slaves bound to the Wheels of their Chariots That sober thought of Sesostris when he had his Coach drawn by four Kings was not a reflection to be entertained by them at this juncture The Day was now their own and Post mortem nulla voluptas they failed not to use it as extravagantly whilst they enjoyed it What Affronts and Indignities were now cast upon the English How barbarously Hector'd and Insulted over by these Huffing Rhodomontadoes How injured and oppressed by publick acts of notorious injustice How abused as to their good Names reviled as to their Religion and reproached as Englishmen and Protestants Called Fanatick Dogs and Damn'd Hereticks is so publickly known as requires not much pains to describe Those of the Protestants who had been the most obliging to the Irish were sure to meet with the most ungrateful returns and if they had been so charitable as to relieve them in their necessities as the English a merciful and too easie natured a People had frequently done they would now in requital seize upon what they had by open force or else set others of their own Creatures to do it If any of the English had lent Money to them or bargained for Goods and Commodities of the Countrey whereby the Irish were become their Debtors their usual payment especially if they were in necessity and afraid that Executions would be obtained against their persons or substance was repairing to the next Irish Justice of the Peace and swearing of High-Treason against their Creditors though oftentimes in kindness to them they had been forborn with a year or two from discharging the Debt But I pass from speaking any more of
him for the encouragement of Trade and the uniting of the Affections of his Subjects and in order to put this in execution the City of Dublin was to lead the way and to be the Precedent to the whole Kingdom And therefore in pursuance to the tenour of the aforesaid Letter the Lord Mayor calls a General Assembly wherein the Kings Letter was read upon which the City made their humble Address to the Lord Lieutenant and Council setting forth that they found the City by Act of Parliament bound up and the if they should act according to the Letter they incurred a Forfeiture of their Charters and therefore humbly prayed the Lord Lieutenant and Council to lay their Condition at his Majesty's Feet who they did humbly conceive was mis-informed in this matter This retarded the freedom of the Papists for some time but another Mayor one Castleton who is still in Dublin succeeding he passed the Irish Freemen and in consequence to this the same was done in the whole Kingdom This was laid with ingenuity enough for promoting the Irish design yet received not its hoped for effect which was by this means to procure freedom for so many of the Irish in every Corporation as by the Majority of their Suffrages might out-vote the English in the Election of Popish Magistrates which upon Tyrconnel's Accession to the Government might facilitate the surrendring the Charters and so render the Kingdom as they stiled it entirely Catholick But this device how speciously soever contrived did not reach the end of its Projectors For notwithstanding the great Endeavours and active Industry of the Irish yet most of the Corporations out-ballanced them in the number of Protestants Tyrconnel perceiving himself frustrated of his expectation by the numerous Party of the English has an immediate recourse to the way before-mentioned of the Lords Justices and to put this in practice sends for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and there acquaints them that he had in charge from his Master the King to tell them as being the chief City of the Kingdom and unto which as such he intended the greatest Marks of his Favour that it was his pleasure to call in all the Charters of the Kingdom not with design to take away any thing from them but to enlarge their Priviledges by which act of bounty and favour he might the more endear them unto him He farther told them that his Majesty expected their ready compliance so as that their chearful surrendry of their Charter might become examplary to the rest of the Kingdom The Lord Mayor returned the answer usual in such cases which was that he would call an Assembly and move it to them and the next day he accordingly did so acquainting them with what the Lord Deputy had given him in charge The Assembly was not long upon their Resolves but the manner of delivering them afforded the greatest matter of debate the result whereof was this That the Lord Mayor Recorder and Aldermen should wait upon his Excellency and acquaint his Lordship that as the City had ever been exemplary in their Loyalty and faithful Obedience to the Kings and Queens of England so they should ever continue in the same and therefore humbly conceived it to be their Duty to lay at his Majesty's feet the great Services they had done the Crown under the Grants and Immunities of One Hundred and Chirty Charters they had then in their Treasury from his Majesties Royal Ancestors and they humbly prayed his Excellency to favour them in a kind representation of their condition to his Majesty which they hoped would prevail with his Majesty for the continuance of their Ancient Government under so many Gracious Grants and Charters Upon the making of this return there was present the King's Attorney and Sollicitor The first being a most Virulent and Inveterate Papist nothing of friendship was expected from him but the latter was not doubted yet contrary to expectation argued stifly against the City The Lord Deputy as extravagantly mad to meet with this return which so absolutely thwarted his design fell into a great fit of violent Passion and in a raging Tempest told them That this was the continuance of their former Rebellion that they had turned out all the Loyal Snbjects in the last War of Ireland and that they would do so now were it in their power And it was because they so lately disputed the King's Commands for admitting Catholick Free-men that caused his Majesty to call in their Charters and in the close of this furious Speech advised the Lord Mayor to call the Assembly again and obey the King or it would be worse for them Wherefore the Lord Mayor humbly besought his Excellency to signifie his pleasure to the Assembly by a Letter under his hand alledging that they would not regard a Verbal Repetition of it which they had been already acquainted with as also urging that it had been the constant practice of the Chief Governour to send their Letter upon occasions of publick business to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons And if his Excellency would please to follow this usual method he would act as in duty bound in obedience to it To which the Sollicitor General replyed that there was no necessity of any such Formality but 't was sufficient if his Excellency signify'd his Commands by word of Mouth in which they ought to acquiesce Upon this the Lord Mayor called another Assembly and great Debates arose how to demean themselves in this nice Criticism of Affairs But as to the surrendry of their Charter 't was what they unanimously resolved against After some Dispute as to the manner of Addressing the Lord Deputy in this case 't was at last resolved and concluded That the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons should make their Application to his Excellency with Reasons why they could not surrender their Charter and to pray his Excellency to allow them time to Petition the King not doubting but His Majesty would be graciously pleased to take into his Princely Consideration as well their Exemplary Loyalty as Eminent Sufferings for His Royal Father of Blessed Memory Upon which they produced a Letter from King Charles the First dated at Oxford which contained great Acknowledgments of their great Loyalty and Faithfulness to him which he gave them high assurances of being eminently rewarded if it pleased the Divine Providence to restore him to his Crown and its just Rights and Prerogatives The aforesaid Representatives of the City also prayed Tyrconnel to represent their condition favourably to His Majesty but he answered them roughly and according to his former Austerity told them That on the contrary he would Write against them and in the interim according to the Directions he brought over with him from England a Quo Warranto issued forth against the City Who called another Common Council and there agreed upon a Petition to the King and sent over with it their Recorder Sir Richard Rieves who behaved year 1687
acquired a fair Reputation among the Popish Party for his success in these Arts of Delusion and Treachery and they in their Secret Cabals did not a little magnifie and applaud their Politicks which they thought they so amused the English with laughing at the Credulity of the Heretick Dogs for so their Grandees in their private Meetings would frequently call them Having thus obtained their wish as to the surrendry of the Charters the next work was to agree upon a Model for the men This debate was strongly canvassed several ways and that which chiefly puzled them and even put 'em almost to a Non-plus was that the King would have nothing of this transacted at Court for fear of meeting with opposition there This Exigency of not being suffered to receive advice from England exposed them to great Difficulties for they were utter Strangers to the Laws and Government of Corporations as indeed they were to all matters of Government having been conversant in nothing but Secret Plots and Private Contrivances how to unhinge and discompose all Governments and as an aggravation of their misfortune except Rice Daly and Neagle there was not a man of them in the Privy Council that had common sense if you will believe themselves for Rice and Daly would often complain that nothing could pass at the Council-Board that concerned the Publick but their Countrymen must first ask Teig If that would not spoil his Pottatoe-Garden Necessity at last supply'd the place of Invention and a method was agreed upon which reduced Corporations to perfect Slavery and this in all the Circumstances of that affair was their prime and ultimate aim For as to matter of Trade or improving of the Nation these were Speculations of too Metaphysical a nature for men of their size and former way of Education as was demonstrated in the first Proclamation issued forth by Tyrconnel and his Council to break an Act of Parliament in taking off the duty of Iron and admitting it so into the Kingdom whereby they might encourage Merchants to bring in Pieces of Eight from Spain and so hasty they were to have the honour of this admirable contrivance that without asking the King's leave which is always done before any Proclamation relating to the Revenue Pass They put it in execution but as soon as 't was heard of in England a Proclamation came from the King forbidding this wise act made by these great States-men And so ill this presumptuous folly of theirs was interpreted That the Lord Bellasis swore in Council that That Fellow in Ireland was Fool and Mad-man year 1687 enough to ruine ten Kingdoms Father Petres corrected him severely for this foul miscarriage and writ to him That if he acted not with greater Caution the King could not possibly preserve him in that Government These Documents and severe Reprimands of the Ghostly Father were so religiously observed by him that for the future he would proceed in nothing but ball out at the Council-Board and call them Fools and Blockheads if they spake any thing that was contradicted by the English Privy-Council Their great Confident was the Lord Chief Justice Keating who knowing that he had an Ascendant over them as to Parts was so imperious and insulting that sometimes he was taken to task but had wit enough to submit yet often was very uneasie to them But however he in publick and W. in private for he was not of the Privy-Council directed them in the management of the affair of the Charters And when they had got the shape and model of them presented by these Temporizing Painters who drew to the life according to the Popish fancy then they proceeded to an Election of the men to name in their Charters and here they begged pardon of their Advisers and would be their own Directors 'T was their Rule to have in the great Cities who were most English one third Protestants and two thirds Papists but then these that they called Protestants were Quakers or other Enthusiasticks and two or three in a Charter of such Protestants as either their considerable Estates or loose Principles would secure to their Party by that means leaving not a man of true Value or Courage in any Corporation in the Kingdom and although they took in Lords and Gentlemen out of the Countrey into all their Corporations yet could they not compleat them without additional numbers of Scandalous and Contemptible men In one Corporation in the North the first Magistrate of the Town was a Man that had been burnt in the Hand Here you see by what impious Arts and fraudulent Machinations the several Corporations were cheated and trapanned out of their Charters most of them wheedled and grosly imposed upon by a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing Secretary Ellis who stuck not to make great Promises of enlarging their Priviledges and the like though he knew nothing to be more destructive of the Protestant Interest and Religion of which he owned himself a Professor And as his wearing of a Protestant Mask contributed very much to the success of this intrigue so did the same Vizard put on by Keating and W. not a little facilitate the Model of the new Charters of which they contrived the Plat-form and then 't was easie for the Popish Faction to super-struct upon it the palpableness of whose design was in nothing more fully evident than in putting in of all manner of Fanatical Enthusiasts into their new Charters under the notion of Protestants For 't was evident that some of these were as irreconcileable Enemies to the Protestant Church as they were Friends to and Confederates with the Romish As for instance The Quakers concerning which ridiculous Profession Who is or can be ignorant that 't was derived from the Jesuits Who knows not that these have sharpened their Weapons at the Romish Forge and that their prime Leaders whatever they otherwise pretend to do inwardly own Ignatius Loyola as their Founder These were therefore too much their own Creatures to be neglected by them as not only appears by their former Principles if those monstrous Absurdities they maintain may be reckoned to be such but also by their present Practices as their vindicating the late King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience though it manifestly tended to the introduction of Popery and their zealous espousing of his interest at this day do fully shew But amidst all the new arts of modelling the Corporations neither their Brethren the Quakers nor other of their Adherents could give them such effectual assistance but that often they were put to their shifts and necessitated to elect men of the blackest Characters and most infamous Reputations as appears from their choosing a Magistrate that had been burnt in the Hand Here was admirable justice indeed to be expected where he who had not only held up his hand but been punished in so scandalous a manner at the Bar was now to sit upon the Bench. But as the Popish Party were put to these Difficulties of getting
any sort of men how notoriously infamous soever to fill up their Charters so were they as much perplexed to find out men that would pay for them For not ten in the whole Kingdom would or could discharge the Fees for them Wherefore to encourage them the Lord Deputy ordered That the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General Neagle should abate half of their Fees But all would not do so that most of the new Charters are yet in the Attorney General 's hands for want of paying the Fees and the several Corporations act without them The infinite numbers of people deserting the Kingdom from all parts of it upon Tyrconnel's coming to the Government made the Towns and Cities almost waste discouraged all manner of Trade and sunk the Revenue to an incredible Ebb and deduction from its former value These weighty Arguments were strongly pressed at Court to Tyrconnel's disadvantage upon which he obtains leave to meet the King at Chester and carries with him his great Minister year 1687 and Counsellor Rice who being chief Baron of the Exchequer was to be believed above any it being King James's Maxim That he would hear no man in any thing that did not properly lie under his Province Rice was fitly enough qualified to sooth up the King with fine Stories and a specious representation of Affairs which he could the more easily do in regard there was none present to contradict him and so this Cloud blew over though many did believe and were in hopes that it would have broke with that violence upon Tyrconnel that he would never have returned again as Lord Deputy There as yet remained some Protestant Officers in the Army which upon this interview were ordered to be disbanded excepting some few who 't is believed had made fair Promises which they had not occasion as yet to put in execution Nor did King James require more than a private assurance of their Faith and Inclinations to his interest it being too early to make a publick Declaration as yet The Judges were abroad upon their Circuit year 1687 whilst Tyrconnel was in England pursuing such instructions as he had prescribed to them before his departure which were severe and prejudicial enough to the English and to their Protestant Clergy notwithstanding his late Proclamation superadded to others before from the King that they should enjoy all their Ecclesiastical Rites and Just Dues as they had formerly done The Clergy having since the beginning of King James's Reign lain under great Grievances as to the non-payment of their dues especially Surplice Fees which in that Kingdom they call Book-money and is very considerable to them by reason of the numerousness of Irish Families in most places took the opportunity at the Assizes in the several Circuits to represent their condition to the Judges as Persons from whom they expected Redress but on the contrary met with very dissatisfactory and unequal returns For though the Judges could not disown the legality of those small Dues called the Book money because founded upon the same Law with the greater Tythes as the Irish of the Country unanimously did notwithstanding that they had paid them in the former Reign yet did they so manifestly discourage the Clergy in their Addresses to them taking all advantages against them that could be offered and as studiously declining every Argument made in their favour as they were ready to embrace and hearken to what could be objected against them though meer Forgeries of the Irish and thereby so animated the Natives against them that they seemed to do them as much injustice though under specious and fair pretences as if they had publickly told the Papists that they ought not to pay them any thing Though at the same time and with the same breath that they were guilty of this execrable partiality they had the confidence to avow the justice of their proceedings towards the Clergy for whom they would have had them believe that they entertained the most equitable and upright intentions This would require a large Discourse if accurately handled but my unskilfulness in a matter out of my Province and peculiar to Ecclesiasticks will I hope be excused though thus slenderly touched upon but thought it better to speak something imperfectly of it than wholly omit an Affair which was so universal in the Reign of the late King James and so publickly transacted in the whole Kingdom The Judges found the Gaols full stocked with Toryes and Irish Robbers but Irish Sheriffs and Irish Juries were so Gracious as to vouchsafe them so general a deliverance that not one in forty was found guilty And in such Cases where Matter of Fact was notoriously plain or any of the Grandees were any way interessed in belief of the Criminals as 't was rare almost to a miracle if none were and the Evidence not to be taken off then 't was usual for the Prisoner at the Bar to be called by wrong Names and so discharged for want of Prosecution To these Arts of evading condign punishment for their Execrable Crimes several Menaces were added to terrifie the Plaintiff from prosecuting as that otherwise their Houses should be burnt their Cattle stole their substance destroyed and perhaps their own Throats cut which as often threatened so not seldom put in execution a sad discouragement to the poor English who lay under the daily hazard of being Robbed and Pillaged by the Irish and if they happened to seize the Malefactors must either discontinue any farther prosecution against them or else be exposed to greater mischief For the Proof and Demonstration whereof not to insist upon too many others take the following Instance which for the eminency of the Person and Barbarity of the several Facts may supply the rest acted by the Earl of C This Earls Eldest Son a great Favourite of the Duke of York's was with him at Sea and there killed and leaving no Heir his younger Brother was brought out of a Convent in France and instated in the Earldom The Duke of Ormond who always endeavoured to Naturalize the Irish Families into English embraced this opportunity there being none living but his Sister and this Earl who was next to a Natural to Marry him to a Daughter of the Earl of Kildare's in Ireland a firm Protestant and capable of an Intrigue beyond her Sex by this Lady he had several Children and one Son who is now Earl He was by the Duke of Ormond sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury and by him carefully bred up a Protestant and Educated at Oxford His Uncle Justin Mac Carthy as it since appears for the promotion of the Catholick Cause without the knowledge of his Mother or the Duke of Ormond Marries him when not Sixteen Years of Age to the Earl of Sunderland's Daughter and immediately sends him for Ireland where he continued a Protestant until the coming of King James to the Crown and then like the rest of his Country-men at that juncture returned to his old Vomit
accounted it to be if he stood not in his Majesty's favour The King gave him no other Answer but that he must return to the Lord Deputy and there justifie himself this he reckoned to be hard upon him but waiting upon the Lord Sunderland for some order to carry back upon which he grounded his Trial 't was thought fit to name the Chief Judges to hear and to report back the Matter to the King as they should find it With this order he returns for Ireland together with a Letter of Recommendation from Sunderland to the Lord Deputy praying his Lordship to take Compassion of the Poor Man who was sufficiently mortify'd by what he had already suffered in the loss of his Secretaries Place and that if his Excellency should pursue him farther to the losing of his Commissioners Place in the Customs he was a Ruined Man for that the King had declared if Matters alledged against him were proved he should never have any Employment in his Dominions and in the Close added That Acts of Clemency were suitable to persons of his Excellency's Quality and Station c. But matters were now come to too high a pitch and the breach was too wide ever to be patched up together again as it had been once already by Judge Daly's mediation betwixt them Sheridon or some in his stead had even in Dublin whilst this was transacting spoke contemptibly of the Lord Deputy in order to applaud Sheridon as a Triumphant Conquerour For so the Populace had cryed him up in Dublin and the Protestant Party in Ireland out of Enmity to Tyrconnel which it seems they thought to be the worse man of the two though in reality Sheridon as an Apostate was the greater Villain Upon Sheridon's Arrival at Dublin he repaired to the Castle with his Papers but was not admitted to the presence of the Lord Deputy He then goes to the Custom-house and there sits among his Brethren The next day the Lord Deputy advises with the Judges what to do with him for his Stomach could not digest his enjoying any Place in the Kingdom whilst he continued Chief Governour The Judges Counselled to appoint a Day of Hearing and in the mean time to suspend him from sitting in the Custom-House Sheridon had this order sent him upon which he came to the Castle and disputed his being suspended as if not in the Lord Deputy's Power This Demeanour was an Aggravation to his former and upon farther consulting with the Judges 't was agreed That since much of the proof of Sheridon's Bribery depended upon the Officers concerned in the Revenue 't would be absolutely necessary to heap as much Ignominy and Disgrace upon him in that Province as was possible which to effect the Commissioners of the Customs were sent for and ordered to write to all the Collectors of the Kingdom not to keep any correspondence with Sheridon in regard that he was suspended from acting in the Revenue A day being appointed for Sheridon to come to an Hearing he moved for more time which was readily granted for at this time another blow from Rome came against Tyrconnel which required his best Ministers to divert which was as follows The Earl of Castlemain had for some time been returned from his Embassy to the Pope but was Invested in no Preferment which he complained of to his Holiness which was seconded by Father Peters upon the receipt of whose Letters his Holiness writes over to his Nuncio to Address to the King in his behalf who was as ready to gratifie him in something as the other to embrace it but at present there was no vacancy But to supply that Father Peters takes opportunity to strike at Jeffreys the Lord Chancellor for tampering in the business of Magdalen-College in order to which he roundly acquaints the King That the most effectual course whereby to accomplish his design by establishing the Catholick Religion was to let his Prime Ministers and the World understand that no service they had or could do should protect them or be deemed of any account if they failed in the least Iota or minutest Circumstance relating to the Catholick Cause This Argument was so pursued with a constant uninterrupted vigour by the Nuncio and Father Peters that 't was brought to the Cabinet and upon the Seventeenth of December at NIght in this Year it was resolved That Jeffreys should be put out and that three of the Lords of the Treasury should be made Lords Commissioners of the Broad Seal and that Castlemain should be Lord Treasurer This Resolve continued not ten days but upon the suddain the Scene changed and Jeffreys fixed more firm than ever The true cause of this was never known but 't was observed that the Queen and Sunderland adhered to him This administred fresh cause of disgust to Castlemain and to the Church Party for now it began to appear that Affairs moved by the French Interest in opposition to that of Rome Such insuperable Difficulties had the Folly of that poor unfortunate King exposed him to His Zeal and Affection led him to adhere to Rome but his dependance was intirely built upon France The Church Cabal embraced the opportunity of the Lord Deputy's and Sheridon's Quarrelling wherein to recommend Castlemain as a fit person for the Government of Ireland representing to the full how injurious those Scandalous Impeachments of the Lord Deputy and Sheridon had been to and how much they had retarded the Progress of the Catholick Cause Farther urging that Tyrconnel had proceeded by too slow a motion and that he had effected nothing but the turning out of a few Soldiers and discourageing and frightening away the Industrious English who might many of them by Indulgence and Encouragement have been prevailed upon to espouse their Religion That Castlemain was a Man of great Parts and of a fine curious Head for the accomplishing of such a Work as the Reducing and Converting of Hereticks This was soon sent to Tyrconnel and by his Pensioner in London Communicated to Paris which the Deputy acquaints his two Grand States-men Rice and Neagle with who to dissipate this approaching Storm sit up Night and Day even to the hazard of Rice's Life who was an Infirm Man. Their whole Consult was as appeared afterwards what Apology to make for their small Proficiency in Proselyting Men to their Religion or at least in indearing them to the espousal of the Romish Cause and Interest and after many Essays the most Authentick was that whilst the English were Masters of their Lands they feared not the Government but as Satan answered in the Case of Job Touch them but in their Estates and they will either run into Treason or Conversion This being resolved upon Rice and Neagle were to draw up the substance of an Act which they did in that nature as gave in a manner the Lands of the whole Kingdom into the power of the King and although the Catholicks were to have but half of their Estates yet the