Rex sub eo paratus ad servitium suum ut homo suus c. And King Henry the II. making William Fitz Audelm his Lieutenant of Ireland he hath it thus in his Commission Archiepiscopis Episcopis Regibus Baronibus omnibus fidelibus suis in Hibernia salutem King John also granted divers Characters unto the Irish Lords under the Title of Kings and so did Henry the III d. unto a Petty-King of Thoumond Rex Regi Thoumond Salutem c. Those Governed the People by their Brehon Laws they made their own Magistrates and Officers they Pardoned and Punished all Malefactors and made War and Peace one with another without Controulment After which several Attempts were made and Rebellions more or less broke out in every King's Reign And to omit those of Perkin Warbeck and others in the Reign of Henry 7. The Rebellion of Fitz Gerald and the rest of that Faction in King Henry 8th's time in the Year 1535. cost England Forty Thousand Pounds a Summ reputed so great in those days and so much disturbed that blustering Prince that he called the appeasing this Rebellion a New Conquest and put the Question to his Council how Ireland should be managed to bear the Charge of its own preservation and whether by Act of Parliament every Man's Estate should not be made liable to contribute its proportion or wehther by Virtue of this New Conquest the King might not seize on all the Estates of that Kingdom Temporal and Spiritual Cox 242. But tho' this wou'd not do yet he found out another A Statute against Absentees way to make a Statute against Absentees whereby a great part of the County of Carlow was taken from the Duke of Norfolk and other Lands from other great Men and from some Monasteries in England that held Land in Ireland for that by the absence of these and the neglecting their own private Estates whereby the Irish daily gained ground they brought the Publick into danger However this Rebellious Spirit continued in Ireland all Queen Elizabeth's time even to the ninth of King James the First as Sir John Davis observes but if he had lived in our days he wou'd have seen good reasons to say it was always the Genius of the People And one Mr. Lawrence has since that endeavoured to prove that Ireland was never intirely subjected to the Crown of England nor the Lands properly called the King's Lands until the Act of Settlement passed in the 12th Year of King Charles the Second for before this the Chief Inhabitants in all Cities and Towns were Papists as Sheriffs Justices of the Peace c by which means that Party was wonderfully encouraged and strengthened and besides the Irish before the late Rebellion were by far the greatest Proprietors tho' afterwards they enjoyed not much above a fifth part of the whole that is in propriety by which means and the industrious Management of some of the Chief Governours the English Interest was very far advanced in this Country before the death of King Charles the Second for tho' some Clouds arose before yet the Sun shone pretty clear till the Death of that Monarch made it more than Twilight with the English of that Country and then the late dark Night of Confusion approached so suddenly that it gave them no time to set things in Order till they cou'd not in a manner see where they were a going This put a full stop to the Carreer of all their Prosperity for a great many considerable Buildings and other Improvements in and about Dublin and other places in the Kingdom being pretty far advanced at that Juncture they were left off very abruptly the Workman throwing away his Tools and the Husbandman neglecting his Plow at the News as if they had then foreseen their approaching Misery and were amazed to find the Irish arm so fast on all hands by which they were assured that other sorts of Weapons than they had used for the Country's improving were soon like to grow more in fashion and that to the undoing of what themselves had so honestly endeavoured to make up So that the Irish were not then nor indeed are as yet so subdued as that no further Storm may ever be feared to arise from that corner And certainly the not thorowly endeavouring to make Ireland bear the Charge of its own preservation has in all Ages been very much to the disadvantage of Ireland shou'd be put into a Condition to bear its own Burden England But to carry this no higher than the Year 1595 the time of Tyrone's Rebellion which Cambden in his Annals tells us cost 1198717 l. to suppress Or if we compute the Charge of its first Conquest and the suppressing the several Rebellions from that time till this of Tyrone's to cost but double as much as this did as they needs must since before that Ireland never enjoyed seven Years peace at one time Then I say long e're this all those Rebellions had been forgot and the Trade and Product of Ireland more than trebly recompenced England for her former Blood and Treasure But as the Degenerate English grew more and more in love with the Irish and their Customs and so took their part against England The Charges encreased to more prodigious Sums and they generally make use of it as a great Argument for what they did of late that it was the Blood and Treasure of their Ancestors that first gained that Kingdom to the English Interest and therefore tho' they differed in Opinion yet it was very unreasonable that they should be quite excluded from sharing in the Government with those that were of a much later Date But this Objection is of an older standing than either the former War or this last for we are told that so great Heats have arose formerly between the English of Birth and the English of Blood in Ireland that they held different Parliaments and endeavoured by all means Possible to ruine one another But 't is observ'd by very Learned Men in this Kingdom that tho' the English have often fallen out amongst themselves and there were generally found in many places of the Kingdom such of English extraction as would joyn with the Irish against England yet the People of the Pale were always firm and Loyal to the Crown and the greatest strength that England had against the Irish Nation for which they were often plentifully Rewarded 'till in the Year 1641 they all broke loose which they say was occasioned thus Tho since the first Conquest of Ireland there have been continued feuds in that Kingdom between the People of both Nations upon the account of Interest yet when the Reformation was once set on foot the Breach was widned upon that account it being what the Natives of that Country have always endeavoured to destroy and with it the English Interest there but finding this a very difficult Task by reason that the old English of the Pale tho' many of them were of
indeed the Militia were as active to suppress them However the White Serjeant with one Mackabe and Cavenagh were very troublesome nigh Kildare Those were three Fellows all under the same Circumstances who running away from the Irish Army they got small Parties of Rogues together and haunted the Bogg of Allen and other places of the Country thereabouts which were particularly well known to them and by that means gave the Inhabitants no small disturbance They were hunted by the Militia nigh this time and three of the White Serjeant's men Shot at one time and two of Mackabe's at another and soon after three more were killed near Murney And our publick Accounts tell us of a hundred and ten Rapparees killed by Captain Baggott's Militia Dragoons since the beginning of this Month in several Parties But Cavenagh and his Men being afraid to trade any more in the Bogg of Allen they remove towards the Mountains of Wicklow where Lieutenant Cooly met with them and killing fifteen took their Captain upon which the rest dispersed or joyned with Mackabe and the White Sergeant May the 20th Mark Baggot formerly spoke of Mark Baggâ— hanged being condemned and reprieved till now was this Day hanged having said nothing to the purpose but that our best places to pass the Shannon were Melick and Banoher May 24. Major Welden of the Militia and Captain Phillips of Colonel Earls's Regiment kill thirteen Rapparees near Montmelick Captain Vnderhill of my Lord Lisburn's Regiment with sixty Foot and ten Dragoons goes to Ballenderry May the 26th where they met with a Party of nigh three hundred of the Irish Army whom they engaged killing Captain Geoghagan and four more Officers and as the Account was fifty private Men. Next Day the same Captain went out with only twenty four Men and kill'd twelve but being set upon by a good Party of the Irish commanded by Colonel Geoghagan he made his retreat to Dunore Castle having only one Man kill'd and another wounded The same Day some Dutch Horse being come to the Camp now at Mullingar a Party of them went abroad kill'd several Rapparees and brought in thirty Prisoners At this time Lieutenant-General Douglas was marched Lieutenant-General Douglas encamps with a Party at Ardagh out of the North with a Body of Men and encamped at a place called Ardagh in the County of Longford twelve Miles from Mullingar And the Duke of Wirtenberg was gone towards Thurles where the Foreigners that quartered last Winter in Munster were ordered to Rendezvouz and to be ready to joyn the rest of the Army nigh Banoher where our Great Men had some thoughts at that time of passing Our Train of Artillery was also upon their march from Dublin to Mullingar being such an one as never had been seen before in that Kingdom Major-General Ruvigny is now at the Camp at Mullingar Our Great Officers take the Field whither went Major-General Mackay on the 28th who came lately from Scotland Major-General Kirk and Sir John Lanier go for England and land at Neston on the thirtieth And much about the same time the Duke of Leinster's Regiment of Horse formerly my Lord Devonshire's landed in England and march'd towards Coventry Major-General Talmash being sent by His Majesty to assist the other Great Officers this Campaign in Ireland landed at Dublin the latter end of May having with him Sir Martin Beckman chief Ingineer and in a Day or two he went towards the Camp About this time the Gentlemen of the County of East-Meath meeting at Trim agreed to scoure the Red Bog nigh that place where the Rapparees haunted and had done much mischief during the last Winter the issue was that thirty five were kill'd and six more fairly hanged Some were also kill'd by the Militia of the County of Waterford and others near Kilmallock by Parties that advanced so far By Packets from England the General had an Account by Letters from Monsieur de Opdam Lieutenant-General of the Horse in Holland who went to Breda about the exchange of Prisoners taken at the Boyne Cork Kinsale c. with the Dutch taken at the Battle of Fleur that the French refused to release the Irish Officers under such Characters as they gave themselves but left them under very ill Circumstances upbraiding them in terms very disrespectful tho' they released the Irish Soldiers and sent them to Thoulon Marseilles c. for the Sea-service This Month now draws towards an end and all People that had any business towards the Camp are resorting thither in order to which the Lords-Justices set out a Proclamation Commanding all Sutlers and others to carry no Ale or other Liquors to the Camp but what was good and well brewed and to be at least six Days old to prevent Fluxes and other Distempers There was also another Proclamation Commanding all Persons that designed to be Sutlers to come to Dublin for Licenses and to renew those each Journey But this being found inconvenient for the Army it was recalled May the 30th Lieutenant-General Ginckel went The General goes to the Camp from Dublin and lying that Night at Tycroghan next Day his Excellency came to the Camp at Mullingar where he found Foot viz. Major-General Kirk's Lord Meath's Lord Lisburn's Lord Cutts's Colonel Foulks's Colonel Brewer's Lord George Hamilton's and Colonel Earls's Horse Sir John Lanier's Brigadier Villers's Colonel Langston's Rydesel's Roucour's and Monopovillon's with Colonel Leveson's Dragoons who before his coming over was made a Brigadier by His Majesty The Soldiers every Day in one Regiment or another began to appear fine in their new Cloths and before the Army took the Field the Lords-Justices with the Advice of the General appointed several Officers that had been or were actually then in the Army to Command the Militia in different places of the Kingdom not as being Absolute but rather Superintendents of the whole As in the County of Cork Major Stroud was imployed in the Counties of Wickloe and Wexford Major Brooks and Captain Phillips as were also Major Tichburn Lieutenant-Colonel Toby Caulfield and others in several other places CHAP. V. June 1691. The Fortifications at Mullingar contracted into a narrower compass A Stratagem of the Irish to get Horses The Irish march towards Athlone Our Army goes towards Ballymore That place besieged Its Situation described Four Batteries planted The General 's Message sent in writing A Parley beat The Fort surrendred Ballymore better fortified The Army march towards Athlone and joyned by the Duke of Wirtenberg We approach the Town Batteries planted The order of the Attack The English Town taken Batteries against the Irish Town The Enemy ruin our Works A design to pass the Shannon The Enemy burn our close Gallery A Councel of War held A Party ordered to pass the River The Town stormed An Express sent to St. Ruth A part of our Army left in the Country and why Major Culliford surprizes some of the Irish Inniskeen fortified JVne the 1st Very
for England with the Lords Justices and most of the Nobility and Gentry in and about Dublin went to Ringsend and there taking leave he went on board the Monmouth-Yacht which sailed next Morning for England The 6th several of the Transport-Ships that went with The Transport-Ships return from France the first of the Irish Forces to France returned to Cork having Landed the Men at Brest and the Week following about Twenty more came back to Dublin they all spoke well of the French Treatment of them in accommodating them with several Necessaries which they extreamly wanted but that the Irish did not find themselves so very welcome as they expected to have been though at their Landing an Express was sent to the late King to St. Germains to give him an Account of it he seemed to be very well pleased with their coming and sent the following Letter to Lieut. General Sheldon then the Officer in Chief with the Irish JAMES Rex HAving been informed of the Capitulation and Surrender of Limerick and of the other Places which Remained King James's Letter to the Irish to us in our Kingdom of Ireland and of the necessities which forced the Lords Justices and the General Officers of our Forces thereunto We will not defer to let you know and the rest of the Officers that came along with you that we are extreamly Satisfied with your and their Conduct and of the Valour of the Souldiers during the Siege but most Particularly of your and their Declaration and Resolution to come and Serve where we are And we assure you and Order you to assure both Officers and Souldiers that are come along with you that we shall never forget this Act of Loyalty nor fail when in a Capacity to give them above others Particular Marks of our Favour In the mean time you are to Inform them that they are to Serve under our Command and by our Commissions and if we find that a Considerable number is come with the Fleet it will induce Vs to go Personally to see them and Regiment them Our Brother the King of France hath already given Orders to Cloath them and furnish them with all necessaries and to give them Quarters of Refreshment So We bid you heartily Farewell Given at Our Court at St. Germaine the 27th of November 1691. But how good soever the Late King's Intentions towards Their Reception in France his Irish might be yet it was and is the French King who Orders every thing in his own Dominions as he Pleases nor had the French any good opinion of the Irish at their Landing as appeared by the Quarters of Refreshment assigned them which were at first only the Lanes and Hedges about Brest not admitting any of them into the City and at the same time this Letter was sent from the Late King there came Orders from his Brother of France to Reduce all or most of the Irish Officers the Colonels to Captains and the Captains to Lieutenants and Ensigns and the Subalterns to Sergeants or private Centinels and no wonder for what ever the Irish might hope for before their departure yet it was very improbable that they who only were put into such Posts in Ireland upon point of necessity because they could get no better should be continued so in France which is one of the most Warlike and Refin'd Nations in the World however this ill Treatment as the Irish took it to be did so exasperate them that several would gladly have returned into Ireland and offered largely for their Passage but were prevented by the strict Guards that were set upon them But they wrote to several of their Friends in Ireland giving an Account of their severe usage which made several Desert from my Lord Lucan that were not as yet gone as more would have done had he not soon after this Advice put them on Ship-Board One of those Letters sent from France after their first Landing since it gives a full Account of their Reception and Usage I think it worth my Pains to Transcribe SIR NEver People that left their All to come hither to Serve were so meanly received as those miserable Irish were here they have been much longer than necessary in Disimbarking them and will be at least Three days more though the Intendant has been pressed with great earnestness to take them a Shoar when they are Landed they lye in the Fields a Night or two at least before they are sent into their Quarters and then they get neither Money nor Cloaths and but little of any thing else The Major Generals are made Colonels the Colonels Captains the Majors Lieutenants and the Captains Serjeants and many of them but Private Men insomuch that as I pass along the Streets the Souldiers wish they had died in Ireland before they came here and many of the Officers express themselves to the same purpose and are extreamly dejected and melancholly some of them hope this will be Regulated tho' I see no great reason for it for this day there came a frivolous Complaint against some of Colonel Nugent 's Men and the Intendant threatned to break him for it and I do not doubt but he 'll be as good as his word in a short time For upon all occasions he uses their Officers with the greatest Insolence and Contempt imaginable Some of them having complained and told him they hoped to have been advanced here rather than thus reform'd he told them if they did not like it they might go back the Ships were in the Harbour that brought them tho' at the same time the Owners on Board the Transport Ships were ordered not to take any of them on Board again upon pain of Death This is all matter of Fact and a great deal more such usages they meet with too tedious to relate c. This News spreading abroad in the Country on Several desert that were not yet Shipt off Tuesday the 8th of December Colonel Mackdermot's and Colonol Brian Oneal's Regiments and a day or two after Colonel Foelix Oneal's who were part of the Irish Forces designed for France they quitted their design and refused to go on Board returning to Clare where some of them delivered up their Arms to Colonel Tiffin and went homewards in order to their living peaceably in the Country and the rest were subsisted as the other Irish Forces were Those that were now Embarquing had not much The Irish severely dealt withal at their Embarquing better usage on this side the Water for a great many of them having Wives and Children they made what shift they cou'd to desert rather than leave their Families behind to starve which my Lord Lucan and Major General Waughop perceiving they Publish a Declaration That as many of the Irish as had a mind to 't should have Liberty to Transport their Families along with themselves And accordingly a vast Rabble of all sorts were brought to the Water-side when the Major General pretending to Ship the
forced most of them to fly from thence to secure their Lives against an Insolent and ungovernable Irish Army who by order from the Government seized upon all the Horses and Arms they could find in the Hands of the Protestants throughout the Kingdom and made all possible Preparations to resist a powerful Army from England which was but reasonable to look for since it 's so inconsistent with the Laws Interest and Policy of this Kingdom to have Ireland in any other hands but their own On the 12th of March the Late King with about The Late King lands in Ireland 1800 men from France landed at Kinsale in the West of Ireland And on the 14th several of the Northern Protestants that had betaken themselves to Arms were routed at a place called Drummore by Lieut. Gen. Hambleton who was some time before sent into Ireland to treat with my Lord Tyrconnel to deliver up the Sword but joining with his Lordship and the Irish at his Landing he was preferred to that Post He had with him at Drummore about 2000 of the Irish standing Army and nigh as many Rapareers though he killed but few of the Protestants they making a Running Fight of it as others also did at Killileigh Claudyfoord and some other Places several flying into England or Scotland though the most resolute amongst them went towards London-Derry where in a short time they were actually besieged by the greatest part of the Irish Army And then the Irish make Preparations for the sitting of their Parliament which was on the 7th of May 1689. wherein all the mere Irish were admitted as An Irish Parliament called Members and most of the English Nobility Gentry Clergy and substantial Tradesmen of that Kingdom were attainted by name their Estates and Goods being declared forfeited if they returned not by a certain day which to the greatest part was next to an impossibility There were some Protestants however in this Parliament who endeavoured to do their Absent Brethren and the Protestant Interest all the faithful service imaginable particularly the Bishop of Meath who made several excellent Speeches in the House of Lords in opposition to their Proceedings but the Current was then too strong to be stopt and whoever endeavoured it their Attempts were fruitless But the greatest Thorn in their sides at that time in The Siege of London-derry Ireland was the City of London-derry which contemned both their Threats and fair Promises baffling the chieâ— of their Forces for at least Four Months together without any extraordinary Supplies from England till they were reduced to the last Extremity Yet on the 25th of March the Besieged had some Arms and Ammunition brought them by Captain James Hambleton And on the 13th of April Collonel Richards and Collonel Cunningham were sent with Two Regiments from England to their Assistance who coming to the Lough of Derry and being ordered to obey the then Governour Lundy's directions they were told by him That the Town could not hold out a Week and that their coming in would only be the loss of their men and the Besieged also and advised them to return which they did tho they lost their Regiments upon it A GROUND PLAT OF LONDON-DERRY tc Then went Major-General Kirk with his own Regiment Sir John Hanmer's and Brigadier Stuart's who anchor'd in the Lough Two Months during which Major-General Kirk sent to their relief time a great many French Commanders were sent to the Irish Camp and also the late King himself went down to encourage the Besiegers fresh Supplies of men going thither daily but all to no purpose which when he saw how unsuccessful the Attempts of his Irish Army against the Town were like to prove it 's confidently reported that he exprest himself to this effect That if he had had as many English-men in his Army as he had of others they would have brought him it stone by stone ere that But being weary of so tedious a Siege he returned to Dublin and at last the Dartmonth Frigat forced her way up to the Town and the Irish raised their Siege on the last of July The Management of this Affair was blamed by some of themselves who were either for pushing on the Siege with their whole Army or else for making a Blockade and so going into Scotland with the rest of the Army as my Lord Melfort advised and as my Lord Dunee earnestly writ for several times but some of the Irish Officers advised the late King to a Medium by making a slow and regular Siege which would teach his men to be the better Soldiers but thereby he lost his opportunity in not sending to reinforce Dundee whereby he might at least have changed the seat of the War Nor were the Inniskilliners behind their Neighbours of Derry in opppsing the Irish on all occasions for besides several Actions of moment performed by them at other times the very day before the Siege of Derry was raised the Inniskilliners hearing of about Six thousand of the Irish Army commanded by Major-General Mackarty commonly called my Lord Moncashel that were marching towards them in order to Besiege their Town also they very bravely met them nigh Twenty Miles from home and at a place called Newtown Butler near Croom-Castle they fought and routed the Irish killing and drowning in Loughs and Bogs nigh Three thousand The Battel at Newtown Butler Mackarty himself and some few more being taken Prisoners The whole Body of the Inniskilliners both Horse and Foot were not above Two thousand and scarce Twenty of those were killed with about Fifty more wounded This I have had confirmed by several very good men of that Party and it 's in a great measure owned by the Irish themselves After these Affronts the Irish Army retire into Leinster Duke Schonberg lands with an Army in Ireland and Munster in order to recruit and refresh themselves when they had soon an account to their sorrow That Duke Schonbergh General of all Their Majesties of Great Britain's Forces was landed with an Army at Bangor in the North of Ireland This was on Tuesday August the 13th and on the 17th the General with his Army marched to Belfast from whence on the 20th he sent Five Regiments of Foot with some Horse to Invest the Town of Carrickfergus and the next day followed himself with the remainder of the Army There were Two Regiments of Foot in the Town under Mackarty Moore the Governor and Owen Mackarty who held it out till the 27th at what time the following Articles were agreed to and signed Articles of Agreement between Frederick Duke of Schonbergh General of Their Majesties Forces and Col. Charles Mackarty Moore Governor of Carrickfergus August 27. 1689. Art I. THAT the Garison shall march out with flying Articles of Carrickfergus Colours Arms lighted Matches and their own Baggage to morrow by Ten a Clock II. That in regard the Garison are in such Disorders none be admitted into
of the Regiments and the numbers in each to be 39320 Foot 3471 Horse and 2480 Dragoons which in all make an Army of 50271. besides their Rapparees in all the Corners of the Countrey but these were all that they had to man the whole Garisons of Ireland so that they were not above 27000 at the Boyn besides the French But to return About the 8th or 9th of July it was known abroad That His Majesty had an Account of the Misfortune of the English and Dutch Fleets at which time he divided his Army and marched himself towards Kilkenny with the greatest part of it For though His Majesty was sensible that going with his whole Army towards Athlone and so into Connaght was the readiest way to reduce the Irish yet having some Reasons to apprehend that the French after the Battel of Flerus might send off Detachments from their Army and so disturb England or at least send part of their Fleet and burn his Transport-Ships he made hast to secure Waterford Haven for them since the Bay of Dublin is no Place of safety Sending at the same time Lieutenant-General Douglas with three Regiments of Horse two of Dragoons and ten of Foot towards Athlone Ffty miles to the Northwest from Dublin before which Place he came on the 17th with the aforesaid Party Twelve Field-pieces and two small Mortars The Irish burnt and deferted that part of Athlone on Leinster side the Bridge called the English Town But seeing our Party and our Train not suitable to such an Undertaking and having three Regiments of Foot nine Troops of Dragoons and two of Horse in and about the Town with a fresh supply of Forces not far off they positively refused to deliver up the Place which Lieutenant-General Douglas seeing no hopes of forcing them to on Friday the 25th early in the morning he raised his Siege and marched to join the King's Army again having not lost above Thirty men before the place but near Three hundred by Sickness and other Accidents Our rising from before that Town did so puff up the Irish that one Malady the Late King 's High Sheriff for the County of Longford got at least Three thousand of the Rabble or such like People together near Mullingar where they hectored and swaggered for some days but Collonel Woolsley with his own Horse and two Regiments of Foot being sent back to secure that part of the Countrey about Forty of his Horse being an Advance Guard fell in with a Party of the Irish towards the Evening which giving the Alarm to the rest they immediately began to disperse and every man to shift for himself and Night coming on our Party had only the opportunity of killing about Thirty of them High Sheriff Malady himself being wounded and never since able to raise such another posse Commitatus But to return to His Majesty's Camp which on the 9th he pitched at a place called Cromlin two miles to the West of Dublin where the King setled the method A Commission about Forfeited Goods of granting Protections according to his Declaration And then gave a Commission to Francis Earl of Longford Anthony Lord Bishop of Meath Robert Fitz-Gerald Esq Sir Henry Fane Doctor Gorge William Robinson Esq Joseph Coghlin Esq Edward Corker Esq and Henry Davis Esq or any five of them to enquire into seize and secure all Forfeitures to the Crown by the General Rebellion of the Irish Nation This Commission empowered them to appoint Deputies to summon and swear Witnesses to call the Justices of the Peace and Deputy-Lieutenants to their Assistance to let Leases for a year and in doubtful Cases to consult the Judges learned in the Law and this Power of theirs to continue until a more legal method could be put in practice when the Courts of Judicature were open The Bishop of Meath whether his Lordship was sensible of the Defect of the Commission at first or else did not like the Proceedings of some of the rest he soon forbore his attendance at their Meetings but several of the rest proceeded in their Business and took possession of Goods of all sorts as well in the Hands of Roman-Catholicks and on their Grounds as in the hands of Protestants where they had been left by their Catholick Neighbours upon which account those Gentlemen had the misfortune to be much censured afterwards as well by some in the Countrey where they made Seisures as by the Commissioners of Their Majesty's Revenue who complained of the small Returns made into the Exchequer This occasioned several of the above-named Gentlemen who had been imployed to make a representation of their Case afterwards to the Lords Justices which I have seen and it was to this effect That amongst a great many Discouragements in so troublesome an Imployment their Commission it self was so defective that it seemed a perfect Snare to them contrary to the intent or Interest of His Majesty in that it gave them power to seize upon all Forfeitures but not to dispose of any except of Lands by lease for a year by which means the Goods seized by the Commissioners and their Deputies were often either stole or forced away sometimes by the Army and at other times by the Rapparees after they had been at great charge about them And a great many other things they have to say for themselves by which it appears that those Aspersions cast upon some of them were groundless though others of them or where-ever the fault else laid some I say there were who did Their Majesties Affairs no great Advantage nor themselves much Credit by their management But this being a matter of publick Concern is none of my business to look into His Majesty then marched forwards and from a Wexford secured Place called Castledermot sent Brigadier Eppinger with a Party of One thousand Horse and Dragoons to secure Wexford which before his Arrival was deserted by the Irish Garison The King all along upon his march was acquainted with the Disorders and Confusion of the Irish Army and of their speedy marches to Limerick and other Strong Holds The 19th His Majesty dined at Kilkenny a Walled Town wherein stands a Castle belonging to the Duke of Ormond which had been preserved by Count Lauzun with all the Goods and Furniture And next day His Majesty Clonmel quitted by the â—ish understood that the Enemy had quitted Clonmell whither Count Sconberg marched with a Body of Horse Monday the 21st The Army marched to Carrick where the King received an Account of the state of Waterford and whither Major-General Kirk went Waterford and Duncannon Fort surrendred next morning with a Party to summon the Town wherein were two Regiments of the Irish who submitted upon condition to march out with their Arms As did also the strong Fort of Duncannon in a day or two after which gave His Majesty sufficient shelter for all his Shipping When Waterford was surrendered His Majesty in Person went to view it where
Ties of Nation Blood and indeed of Interest But as the Nature of Man is apter to degenerate than improve so do the English oftner fall in love with the Barbarous Customs of the Irish than on the contrary Hence we read of the Earl of Desmond's complaining that the English were taking away their Estates and Countrey and advises the Irish to join with him in their Defence and yet his own Family had not been then in Ireland above three Generations and not that difference of Religion between them and the Natives as now and it 's observable that several Families removing out of England into Ireland call themselves by the Counties in England from whence they came for two or three Generations and then forgetting those they often turn meer Irish for put a drop of Wine into a pint of Water and it presently so far incorporates as you can by no means discern it so is it often with an English Family that has the Misfortune to be planted amongst the meer Irish for it soon becomes of the same stamp with themselves The consequence of which has been lookt upon to be so pernicious to the English Interest in that Country that not only the English have been forbid Cohabitation with the Irish but there was a time when Thomas Lord Burrough then Lord Deputy of Ireland amongst other Instructions had Charge to enquire what English Vndertakers had contrary to their Covenants suffered Irish Men to Inhabit their Lands Cox Vol. 1. Page 413. But I shall forbear this Subject for some time and since I am run abroad I shall give you some of many Instances in former times wherein the Irish lost considerable numbers with small loss to the English Instances wherein the Irish have been formerly overthrown by the English and that with very little Loss to the Britains To omit therefore the inequality of Numbers at the first Conquest and the little loss commonly on our side in those great Victories then obtained In the Year 1316. William de Burgo and Richard de Brimingham encountred Falany O Connor King of Conaught and killed the King with 8000 of his Men near Athenree with very little loss to themselves and yet the numerous Off-spring of those brave English Commanders are all or most of them at this day reputed Irish and have declared themselves for that Interest August the 9th 1336. The English gave the Irish another defeat in Conaught with the loss of one Man killing Ten Thousand of their Enemies And Anno 1504. the Lord Deputy Kildare fought with Bourk then turned Irish and a great many other Irish Lords in a strong Confederacy at Knocklow on the 19th of August and killed four thousand some say 9000. and not one man killed or hurt on his side In the Year 1566. Col. Randolph Governour of Derry sallyed thence with 300 Foot and 50 Horse upon O Neal who then designed to Besiege the Town In which Sally Four Hundred of the Irish were killed without the loss of one English man except Col. Randolph himself James Fitz-Maurice and others were also Defeated in Queen Elizabeth's time and Four Hundred of them killed without the loss of one English man except a Servant of one Captain Malby's And Sir George Bingham Routed a Party of the Irish The Irish always come off the losers Commanded by the Bourks at a place called Ardaner being three thousand in number of whom only Seven escaped and yet very little loss to Sir George's side August the 8th 1647. Six thousand of the Irish are said to be killed at the Battle of Dungan-Hills fought by Maj. Gen. Jones and not above Twenty English slain And what wonder is it then if the Battle of Aghrim the Greatest and Best that ever the Irish fought should be won with the loss of so few on our side But such is the unhappiness of that People that tho they always have the worst of it yet Campion makes this severe Remark upon them and affirms That notwithstanding their Oaths and their Pledges they are no longer true than they find themselves the Weaker And indeed all things considered it can be reckoned no other than a misfortune to England in having that Island so near adjoyning whose Inhabitants have all along differed from us in Language and in Interest and of late also in Religion too Hence sad experience tells us that the Blood and Treasure of England have been Exhausted upon Ireland when ever any Foreign Prince could think his Affairs secure or advanced by a dispute in having the Irish Natives on his side who have been ready always to joyn with any against England whose Subjects they have over over again acknowledged themselves tho Heaven seems still to blast their attempts and perfidy to that degree that what side soever they have taken as yet against the English has never prospered Which And those also that set them a work puts me in mind of a Story that I have heard relating to the former Wars when several of the Irish Nobility and Gentry assembled at Kilkenny were consulting what means to use for the driving out of Oliver Cromwell then lately Landed with an Army from England after several proposals all which were found difficult My Lord Clanmalera a well meaning Gentleman amongst them but who seldome used to make Speeches he now stood up and after a profound silence and great expectation he gravely advised them by all means to joyn with Cromwell and to espouse his Interest heartily as the only Expedient to Ruine him and then to confirm his Opinion he gave them several instances of their being unfortunate to their Friends and Confederates formerly As to this last Effort of theirs which yet I pray God may be so it was no less unhappy than any of the former since before that Ireland was in the fairest way imaginable of being made for ever an English Countrey for the Natives were generally poor and not able to carry on a War even against the English of their own Kingdom whose Servants or Tenants commonly they were till by an unaccountable Zeal for Popery in King James a dexterous management in My Lord Tyrconnel to make himself Great and so to advance the Interest of his Nation together with a secret design of the French King's for his own sake the Irish were encouraged to that degree that the Child as yet unborn may curse the occasions of so much Blood spilt and Treasure lost as has been expended in their suppression and yet I see little advantage that either themselves or any of their Patrons have got by the Bargain I shall conclude this Digression and the Battle of An account of some Iâ—ish Prophecies Aghrim with an Account of a Prophecy which the Irish had of a Battle to be fought at this place I was told by a Gentleman who lives now in that Neighbourhood that at least a year before the Battle was fought several of the Vlster Creights driving their Cattle that
there be very severe Laws against it and often put in Execution yet Robbing Plundering or Stealing are accounted but small Crimes amongst the Natives if not done to their Lords or Followers for what they could purchase formerly they thought it clear Gain and Castles built to secure it which thievish Spirit is not as yet quite banished that part of the Country nor scarce any other part of the Kingdom And though this sort of People have been always observed to have dexterous Faculties at more kinds of Mischiefs than Stealing yet it 's no new Complaint That by long Vse it is grown to a mischievous Custom in Ireland that Rebels and Malefactors might with the Money they had gotten by Pillage and Plunder when they set Places on fire procure for themselves Protections and escape without Punishment Cox Vol. 1. p. 415. Brigadeer Leveson at his going into Kerry found the whole Country up in Arms against him my Lord Merion's and my Lord Bretta's Horse being there to assist the Rapparees About a Mile above Limerick there lies a small Island in the Shannon called St. Thomas's Island where formerly stood a Chappel dedicated to that Saint but now ruinous though at present there are two or three small Houses in the Island and some little Inclosures Here the Irish had kept several of the Protestants belonging to the City under a Guard for some time past and now they were released by Major Stroud who kept Guard at Anighbegg with a Party of the County of Cork Militia the Irish Captain and some others of their Guard coming off also with them But what can be a greater Testimony of a rapacious Humour than this for some of the Militia stripp'd their Fellow-Protestants of what the Irish had left them as they conducted them from the Island to our Camp which I would not have said but that I had it from the Mouths of those very People that were so served who during their stay in Town with other Protestants of all sorts had shewed the greatest Affection and Compassion imaginable to those of our Army that were Prisoners there but now the Scene was altered and all the shift that themselves could make for some days was to make up little Places to creep into amongst the Fascines that lay on heaps by the General 's Quarters till our Waggons carried them farther off into the Countrey This Night Major General Talmash commanded in the Major General Talmash commands in the Trenches Trenches by whose Diligence and Example the Works were run nearer and much strengthned though the Enemy fired very briskly all Night and did us some Damage The Battery raised by the Troopers was also improved lying between Nassaw's Fort and the other Battery and eight Guns brought down to it but this being judged also too remote from the Town the Guns were never planted But it 's now time to leave the Camp a little and look backwards to see what was done in other parts of the Kingdom during this Month of August And first at What hapned in other Parts of the Kingdom this Month. Dublin there was great care taken to procure as many Horses as could be got for the necessary Occasions of the Army Provisions likewise of all sorts and Ammunition were sent up continually and the Harvest being now almost ready and very few Hands being left to take care of that Corn which the Irish had sown in several places of Connaught the Lords Justices therefore order a Proclamation to be published August the fourth That whereas since the Battel of Aghrim and the Surrender of Galway the Farmers Cottiers and other Inhabitants of Connaught had withdrawn themselves so that there were not Hands sufficient to get in the Harvest It was therefore proclaimed That all Farmers Cottiers and Under-Tenants following the Enemies Camp that should within fifteen days return to their Habitations in Connaught and apply themselves to the bringing in the Harvest they should not only quietly and peaceably enjoy their several Farms as they formerly did c. but should be fully and absolutely protected if not guilty of private Murder And that all Persons that would mow the Grass and reap the Corn upon the Land of such Absentees as would not return themselves should have one half of such Corn and Hay to their own proper Use and be protected in the quiet and peaceable Possession thereof behaving themselves as good Subjects and bringing the other half to some convenient Place upon the Farm for the King's Service But how good soever the Design might be I heard of little Effect this Proclamation had for several of the Irish last Spring had plowed and sown their Lands in Connaught hoping we would never come thither and those that did not plow expected to come over and get enough on our side the Shannon but when they were disappointed in both these they would yet go along with the Crowd in hopes of returning again in a small time And it 's observable that there have not been so many Marriages for many Years before amongst the Irish as was last Winter in Limerick Galway and all Connaught over whether it was out of confidence that they should certainly be Masters of the Kingdom after all or else that they were crowded into a narrower Compass and so had the more Opportunities of Courting I leave others to judg August the fourth Sir Albert Cunningham's Dragoons being left at Galway when the Army moved from thence march'd now to Portumna and Athenree and a hundred Foot detached under Major Smith to Loughrea By Letters from Cashell August 5. the Government had notice that great Heats and Debates arose daily amongst the great Officers in the Irish Army and that some Persons endeavouring to get off for France were forced back again and the Ship taken wherein the Goods belonging to Monsieur Saint Ruth the late General were on board and that several Ladies were forced ashore in Kerry or obliged to return to Limerick and that a Privateer brought into Rye a Prize of six Guns and six Patereroes bound from Limerick to France having several Passengers on board amongst the rest my Lord Abercorne who was killed in the Fight as were several more killed and wounded on both sides What Letters and other Papers they had could not be recovered for they threw them over-board Nigh this time Colonel Mitchelburn with his own Regiment and a Party of the Militla invest Sligo and Terms were proposed but not agreed to as is already said Part of the Virginia Fleet being seventy two Sail of Merchant-Ships came into Kinsale Bay on the twelfth of August under the Convoy of the Experience and the Wolf forty Sail more of them being gone to Bristol August the 13th three Leagues West of Cape Clear a French Man of War met with 14 English Merchant-Men homewards bound from Antego Mevis and Monserat and took two of them the rest escaping into Cork and Baltimore Havens Two of our Men of War
delivering up their Arms a very small return being made through the whole Kingdom they keeping as yet some thousands of all sorts of Arms still concealed which I hope will effectually be taken care of in time The weather was now so violent that the Adventure of London was cast away going to Dublin and several other Ships lost in and about that Bay And the Swallow one of Their Majesties Ships was forced a ground nigh Charles-Fort at Kingsale and there foundred tho' all the Men were saved except two February the 12th John Stone Esq being dead and Captain South imployed elsewhere in the Army a new Commission was granted putting in their Places Colonel Foulks and William Palmer Esquires Commissioners for stating the Accounts of the Army And nigh the same time the Commissary General was sent into England with all the Muster Rolls February 16. the weather breaking up part of my Lord Oxford's Horse driven back by stress of weather Lieutenant General Ginckel's and Major General Ruvigney's Horse with the Princess Anns Foot were all Shipp'd for England The same day Lieutenant General Scravemore went on Board as did Brigadier Leveson in a day or two after Colonel Coy's Horse also are Shipp'd off at Belfast and the Garison of Athlone that had been very uneasie to the Officers and Souldiers all Winter by reason they had no shelter except some small Hutts of their own making was now relieved February the 20th the Commissioners of the Ordnance Arms and Ammunition sent for England had an Order directed to them to send all the Stores of Amunition and other Stores of War that cou'd be spared out of the Magazines for England to be employed elsewhere in Their Majesties Service and accordingly March 1692. a vast quantity of Arms and other Utensils of War were Shipt off February 28 Captain Townsend of the Earl of Meath's Regiment took eight or ten French Men Prisoners who had come a Shoar from a Privateer nigh Castle-Haven and we had an Account from England that His Majesty had Created Lieutenant General Ginckel Baron of Aghrim and Earl of Athlone February 26 An Order was directed to Colonel Foulk to break my Lord George Hambleton's Regiment which was done accordingly in some days after 150 ' of the Men being sent for England and the rest entertained in the Earl of Drogheda's Brigadier Stuart's Sir Henry Ballasis and Colonel Foulk's Regiments March the first a Pass was given out for a Ship to The Hostages go from Cork to France go to France with the Hostages left at Cork and other sick Officers and Souldiers according to the Articles of Limerick And on the third another Order was granted to Colonel Foulk for the raising five Companies of 100 Men in each of the Irish all the subaltern Officers to be of those Reformed in Colonel Wilson's and O Donnel's Battalions and the whole to be commanded by my Lord Iveigh and employed in the Emperor's Service And March the fifth an Order was directed to Mr. Foliot Sherigly chief Deputy Commissary to Disband the Troop of Provoes which was done accordingly March the 17th Lieutenant-General Ruvigny Landed Lieutenant General Ruvigny lands in Ireland from England being made Commander in chief of the Army left in Ireland and Created by his Majesty Lord Viscount Galway and two days after his Lordship and the Lord Viscount Blessington were Sworn of Their Majesties Privy Council as the Bishop of Kildare had been some time before And March the 23 d. the following Proclamation was Published declaring the War of Ireland to be at an end 1692 WILLIAM REX WHEREAS by An Act made in Our Parliament A Proclamation declaring the Wars of Ireland ended at Westminster in the First Year of Our Reign Intituled An Act for the better Security and Relief of Their Majesties Protestant Subjects of Ireland it was among other things Enacted that all and every Person and Persons whatsoever of the Protestant Religion should be absolutely Discharged and Acquitted of and from the Payment of all Quit-Rents Crown-Rents Composition-Rents Hearth-Money Twentieth Parts Payments and other Chief Rents arising or Payable out of any Houses Lands Tenements Hereditaments Rectories Tyths or Church-Livings incurring or becoming due to us at any time after the Five and Twentieth Day of December in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty Eight until the said Kingdom of Ireland shou'd be by us declared to be reduced and the War and Rebellion there ended We have now pursuant to the said Act of Parliament thought fit by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council to Issue this Our Royal Proclamation hereby Declaring that the said Kingdom of Ireland is reduced to Our Obedience and the War and Rebellion there ended And We do hereby Will and Require that all and Singular such Rents and Payments and all other Duties payable to the Crown which shall henceforth grow incur and become due be duely answered and payed to us in such manner and under such Penalties and Forfeitures as if the said Act had not been made Given at Our Court at Kensington the Third Day of March 1691 2. in the Fourth Year of Our Reign God save the King and Queen After which time little of moment happened save March 1692. that the Lords Justices by Directions from Their Majesties appointed a time for those that pretended to the Benefit of the Articles of Limerick or Galway to give in their Names and make good their claims by the 20th of February which time was by Proclamation enlarged to the first of April and afterwards to the 15th Wednesday the sixth of April was appointed the first Day to begin upon those Claims all those concerned being to enter their Names sometime before with the Clerk of the Council which Names were to be posted up at least ten Days before their Cause was to be heard their Claims being to be made out by at least three Credible Witnesses one of which was to be a Protestant Accordingly on the sixth of April the Council met upon this Affair and continued every Monday Wednesday and Friday so to do which was a much easier way and more to the Interest and Advantage of the Irish than any Court of Claims erected only for that purpose cou'd have been CHAP. XI A brief Account of the former and present Circumstances of Ireland The Division of it into Provinces and Counties Bishopricks and Parishes The Soil of Ireland Sir John Davis his Reasons why Ireland was so long in being entirely subjâ—cted to the Crown of England What Tanistry is This a reason why the Irish did not improve their Country Of Fosterings and Cosherings A Brief Estimate of the Expence of the former Wars of Ireland An Essay towards the reckoning the Charge of this last The former evils still remain The Interest of the King and People of England in general to advance the Power and Trade of the English in Ireland The Interest also of the Roman Catholicks