THE HISTORY Of the EXECRABLE Irish Rebellion Trac'd from many preceding ACTS TO THE Grand Eruption The 23. of October 1641. And thence pursued to the Act of Settlement MDCLXII Spartanos genus est audax Avidumque ferae nodo cautus Propiore liga Sen. Hippolytus LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel in St. Paul's Churchyard MDCLXXX TO THE READER Reader I Am not ignorant that he exposes himself as a publick mark to many inconveniencies who appears in Print Yet there hath been so long an expectation of the Proceedings of the whole War of Ireland as by an evil silence some interpretately question whether there was any such thing or no Whereby those Pamphlets the Roman Catholicks of Ireland have dispersed through Europe get Credit and Reputation That his Majesties Protestant Subjects first fell upon and murther'd them which being so openly and frequently asserted even on the very Place where those dire Tragedies were acted and that averr'd also in a time when many are yet living who have seen and felt those miseries in themselves and their Relations I could not but let that drop from me which might flow from others niceness in this Case being the next degree to unfaithfulness Yet I cannot say what I have persued here is not to be cavell'd at no! that were to presume my fate were happier than others but I may aver that nothing is imposed on the Reader but what I have either Records publick Evidences credible Relations or my own knowledge for its Ground searching the best Intelligence I could reach to though in clearing some doubts I have encountred Obstacles I could not rationally have expected which I impute to my own misfortune no ones Design None treated with being so little affected as not frequently to desire the digestion of a History the English Interest in Ireland was not less concern'd in then Humanity it self The horror and cruelty there committed bidding defiance to whatsoever before had been acted in the World Hinc Terras Cruor Inficit omnes fusus rubuit mare So that after all if there be any Deficiency in what I shall relate it may well be pardon'd where there hath been as much Artifice to parget Truths as Countenance could reach to though as to what may be objected in reference to my Relation I have been so cautious that in Disputes I have not let Interest biass me no! where I have found any Humanity though it may be conjectur'd to proceed from self-Interest that it may be return'd in gratitude I have not designedly let it o're-slip me but of this nature there hath been little indeed the whole Scene hath been so barbarous as I have scarce found any into whose wound the Traveller hath pour'd Oyl and yet willingly more then what a just account of the Business requires I would not fester the least Soar However I expect all will not think so 't is natural for the Wasp to be angry yet when it shall be weighed on what little reason the Irish more then the English equally if not beyond them concern'd in all Levies Oppressions and Grievances had to be enraged pretending to be held in with a ruder Bit I doubt not but the more Intelligent will allow them no common Sinners I am not ignorant what examples some say they had to encourage them to their Insurrection though that encouragement how confidently soever affirmed to be their Guide never commenc'd in Blood or march'd on in Murthers and Surprisals of an innocent naked and unarm'd People or at first seiz'd on those much less murther'd them who contrary to their Judgment lived peaceably amongst them However it is not my intention to mitigate the flame they light their Torches by all Rebellions being detestable But certainly the Copy exceeded the Original and what they would solely intitle to their Religion as interdicted by the Age more justly is to be imputed to their Detestation of the English Government and Nation which from the Conquest to this instant hath been the grounds for all Rebellions even when both Nations were drunk with the Wine of Romes Fornication So that though some to mitigate the Result of so horrid a Rebellion place the grounds of it on Religion which as my Lord Bacon observes Erects a Monarchy in the minds of Men by which they would enforce all to that yoke Yet it is evident they never had so free an exercise of their Religion under Pretexts of Civil Contracts and Politick Agreements as when the Troubles began not so much then as the least Violence being offer'd to their Diana nor afterwards till they made it one of their principal Demands so that if at any time since or before they found a check That must be attributed to the rude and boisterous behaviour as a Statist seasonably notes of some of them who disturb'd the happy Calm they all enjoy'd rather then to any willing severity in the State whose bounty and generosity towards them hath by their ill usage of the Indulgence been interpreted a Product of the Kings Affection to their Religion not his charity and compassion towards their Persons That thence some have proceeded to Acts which have alienated the affections of those who desired they should not have been disquieted Till Recusancy began over-boldly to look Government in the Face in as much as thence some have suspected whether Hannibal were not at the Gates Else could any vaunt at home as others write to their Friends abroad that they hope all will be well and doubt not to prevail and win ground upon us in as much as meerly from this encouragement a Romanist well observ'd by the Silver-Mouth Trumpet not long since congratulated in Print That the Face of our Church began to alter and the Language of our Religion to change saith Sancta Clara So as if a Synod were held non intermixtis Puritanis O those are Pestilent fellows our Articles and their Religion would soon be agreed Upon which and other Circumstances the learned and foreseeing Primate Archbishop Usher once in an Assembly of the whole Nation averr'd That the Magistrates yielding to meet the Papists as far as they might in their own way in the first Reformation in England had upon the experience of many years rather hardned them in their Errors then brought them to a liking of our Religion This being their usual saying If our Flesh be not good why do you drink of our Broth The consideration of which made King James of blessed memory take notice* That having after some time spent in setling the Politck Affairs of this Realm of late bestowed no small labour in composing certain differencies we found amongst our Clergy about Rites and Ceremonies heretofore Established in this Church of England and reduc'd the same to such an Order and Form as we doubt not but every Spirit that is led only with Piety and not with Humour shall be therein satisfied It appear'd unto us in the debating of those Matters that a
greater Contagion to our Religion then could arise from those light differencies was imminent by Persons common Enemies to them both namely the great number of Priests both Seminaries and Jesuits abounding in this Realm as well of such as were here before our coming to this Crown as of such as have resorted hither since using their Functions and Professions with greater liberty then heretofore they durst have done partly upon a vain confidence of some Innovation in matter of Religion to be done by us which we never intended nor gave any man cause to expect and partly upon the assurance of our general Pardon granted according to the custom of our Progenitors at our Coronation for offences past in the days of the late Queen which Pardons many of the said Priests have procur'd under our great Seal and holding themselves thereby free from the danger of the Laws do with great Audacity exercise all Offices of their Profession both saying Masses perswading our Subjects from the Religion Established and reconciling them to the Church of Rome and by consequence seducing them from the true perswasion which all Subjects ought to have of their Duty and Obedience to Us Of which though I might urge more I have no itch to enlarge their own Scourge may be their Punishment Saepe in Magistrum scelera redierunt sua Certain it was the Irish hop'd to shake off the English Government by that attempt but how improbable a Series of 500 years Succession sufficiently evinces every defection in the People having rooted the Prince more intire that at length methinks they should be wean'd from further Assays of that nature though where there are a People who look towards Egypt there will not want some to cry out for a Captain to lead them But to descant hereupon is not my design being willing to believe that Janus's Gates may henceforth be shut Allegiance being the aim not the pretence of their present Submission What I here endeavour is to clear by what Steps the late Rebellion arrived at its Height and how it came in so short a time to sweep all before it In handling of which I shall first shew the Condition of the Kingdom some years before the Rebellion Then I shall speak of the preliminary Acts thereunto and therein detect the vanity of those who would fix the Rebellion at first upon a few discontented inconsiderable Persons a Rable Authors of all the Civil War that followed in Ulster onely when the Plot was a long laid Design determin'd by the main Body of the Nation as Rory-Mac-Guire ingenuously told Colonel Audley Mervin That this great undertaking was never the Act of one or 2 giddy fellows We have said he our Party in England we have our Party in Scotland that will keep such as would oppose us busy from sending you any Aid in as much as I could tell you who the Persons were that were designed for the Surprisal of all the Places of Strength And in the Declaration of the Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates of Ireland at Jamestown the 12. of August 1650. It is there acknowledged That the Catholick People of Ireland so not the Rable in the year 1641. were forc'd to take up Arms for the defence of Holy Religion their Lives and Liberties which some very industriously would fain wipe off as being too undeniable an evidence of their inclinations before those vain pretences they fly to as their main Subterfuge drove them into the Net with others Yet we shall herein so clear the folly of what they would have the World believe as their Excuse serves mainly to aggravate their Crime Mens Impudicam facere non casus Solet Afterwards I will fall on the Subject till the Cessation manag'd by subtil Instruments of State Yet not without great Disgusts to some highly improv'd to the event of what afterwards ensued Then we shall proceed to the Conclusion which betwixt the Cessation and that will appear to have many notable changes such as though some Histories may lead you through many varieties this more In clearing of which I should have been glad of more Originals than I could meet with especially such as might have detected the whole Proceedings at Kilkenny where the Design was so closely anvil'd as all things afterwards were found there in defiance of his Majesties Authority There first the Clergy compact a General Congregation which summon'd a General Assembly equivalent in their Veneration to a Parliament and that Established a Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks which received from them Sanction and Laws by which Coin was stamped National and Provincial Court Established Estates setled their Clergy Re-established the Popes Nuncio receiv'd Ambassadors sent thence and others entertain'd from Foraign Princes all under a Soveraign Seal of their own and what else might bespeak them independent on any but their own Power But the Evidence of these and some other Records being the Treasure of fearful men whom a specious Artifice had charm'd easy Keys oâ— Interest could not freely purchase The Records however of that presumptious Assembly are notwithstanding the unfortunateness of the Age yet secur'd in his Library which though before it wanted little to make it venerable will in future Ages be resorted to as a Treasure invaluable securing those Secrets which the malice of so potent an Enemy would have improv'd to the ruine of an Empire Yet as I have already said I ground little if any thing but on Proofs Nay I have so well sifted Kilkenny it self though no Art hath been omitted to shuffle up the Proceeding there as the Original Progress and State of that Conclave is not without faithful and notable Remarks more being under the Vizard than appear'd in the Disguise though the Retirement I have now betook my self to suitable to the effects of so disconsolate a Rebellion deprives me of those Councils and Societies which by a free'r Commerce might have rectified either my Sence or Stile For the most part I have in the Appendix set down Copies of the weightiest Records they carrying so much even of the History in them as they eas'd me in the Story I should have been forward to have enlarg'd more nothing of that nature being otherwise than important But in that his Majesty's Works Sir John Temple of the Irish Rebellion Husbands Collections of Orders Ordinances and Declarations of both Houses of Parliament the Commissioners of Ireland's Remonstrance to the House of Commons in England of the condition of the Clergy and Protestants the Speeches of several Members Diurnals Walshes Loyal Formulary the Answer to the Irish Remonstrance presented at Trim 1642. And other Prints being extant I have rather chose to refer the Reader often thither then engage him in too Voluminous a Tract though where any Relation act or other Material Instrument makes up the Story not without injury to be abreviated we have tied our selves to the Words It was my happiness I must acknowledge to meet with a
Angliae tuerentur Jura Regia in Hiberniam Quique interdixerent nè sibi proprium Regem Eligerent Profecto circa initia Rebellionis immensum quantum obstitit in coeptis molitionibus Rebellium Illustrissimus Parens tuus destinatus ad id à potentissimo Rege Cui nota erat virtus fortissimi viri pacis belli artibus clari Cujus prudentia par erat animi Robori qui hacce virtute res nutantes ad ruinam properantes incompositasque firmavit adversus Consiliarios Magna negotia administrantes majori cum Studio privatae quam publicae Utilitatis quo in Conatu per virtutem vitamque piè innocenter actam muneri magis suo consuluit quam facultatibus parandis Cujus Vestigiis insistens Johannes ejus filius eques auratus frater tuus clarissimus ob res fortiter gestas Droghedam Rossam nec pro meritis pensatas non debuit à te praeteriri Quanquam nulla privata ratione sed solo Elatere veritatis proferendae commovearis ad imputandum publicò Historiam tuam Quae tua est Modestia Idus Novembris 1678. Vale. To this as a Resepect I must ever acknowledge I cannot but annex the following Letter lately receiv'd from the Honourable and Eminent Lord Bishop of Meath a constant Assertor of the English Interest and the Protestants Sufferings minding me from whom I had several Passages in the ensuing History A History which must want much of its due Method and more Eloquence not having his Doctor I Understood by Letters from London and after by Two from your self of your forwardness in the History of the Irish Rebellion Anno 1641. that being I find now in the Press How far you have therein proceeded or what is your way in that I know not that not having been to me by any communicated To that therefore I can say no more than that its passing your hands assures me of what may satisfie What may satisfie I mean not those who shut their eyes against light and even Rebel against it There are who contrary to all evidence confidently averr write and openly proclaim to the World that there was then no such Rebellion of the Irish neither such Massacres of the British and Protestants in Ireland but that they themselves the Irish and Papists of Ireland were then the Sufferers and that by the Protestants they say the first aggressors This bold assertion in the face of the Sun and in that very age when things were acted there having been many also then and some yet living who can speak to the truth in that This I say might gain on Strangers to the Kingdom and hath already on some even at home especially at this time about 40 years after But the contrary appear'd by those Collections which you had from me to which herein as in other particulars I refer And what do they in this but what was before and is by them done ordinarily Have they not with like confidence disclaimed that black and hellish Powder-Plot Nov. 5. 1605. from being Popish do they not give that out for false and as a forg'd Calumny cast on that Party of whom none of theirs they say was therein concern'd whereas it is well known that Hammond Baldwin Gerard and Tesmond Jesuits with their Provincial Garnet were all in that Conspiracy Thomson also a Jesuit boasted after at Rome that his shirt was often wet with digging under the Parliament-House in London besides others in that Conspiracy who were all Papists and many of them Suffering for their so practicing the publick proceedings on those Tryals remaining extant on Record And do They not now even now cry down what our eyes behold of their horrid and bloody Design and hellish Treason against the Royal Person of our Gracious Sovereign King Charles II. and against his Protestant Subjects and for total extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of the Three Kingdoms The truth of which is every day even as by miracle more and more evidenc'd to the Glory of Gods watchful Providence over this his Church and People Among which I find our selves threatned with a yet other like demonstration of zeal for the promoting of the Catholick Religion and Interest in Ireland Dr. Oates Nar. § 50. so they term those Massacres and Blood for rooting out the Protestant Religion and casting off the English Government in Ireland which their other demonstration of Zeal as they term it shews the former actings in that kind to have bin theirs and how such their Actings are by them esteemed a demonstration of Zeal for promoting the Catholick Religion But He that sits in Heaven laughs them to scorn and hath them in derision speaking to them in his wrath and vexing them in his sore displeasure saying yet or notwithstanding all such their Designs have I set up my King preserving our Gracious Soveraign the breath of our Nostrils by the care and vigilance of those our worthy Patriots whom God hath raised up happy instruments in it As to Ireland To evidence the restless Spirits of such there for mischief I shall mind here in brief what in the mentioned Collections had bin given you more at large so to lay all open at one view thereby not to wonder at Rebellions here than which comparing times nothing will appear so ordinary In which passing what occurs of that kind in elder ages and fixing only on such as had Religion for a pretence and was by Rome influenc'd and by its Emissaries fomented Therefore I begin with the Reign of that Queen of famous memory Queen Eliz. of whose Troubles in England from that Party I speak not as not of present consideration but recounting what work they found Her in this her Kingdom of Ireland only I. Anno 1567. There was a Rebellion in the Province of Ulster of Shane O-Neal who for the suppressing of the Title of O-Neal had bin by King Hen. 8. created Earl of Tyrone His Forces were broken by Sir Henry Sidney then Lord Deputy and he himself fleeing for succour to Alexander Mac Donnel then in the Clandeboyes with 600. Highlander-Scots He was by them there slain in revenge of one of theirs by him formerly killed his Head was June 20. 1567. sent to the Deputy by Captain William Piers then eminent for Service and Command at Carrickfergus and thereabout that Arch-rebels head was pitch't on the Castle of Dublin II. Since after Anno 1569. followed in the Province of Munster the Rebellion of James Fitz Mauris Fitz Gerald and John Fitz Gerald brothers to Gerald Earl of Desmond in which the Earl himself after declared Anno 1578. His Parties were considerable in Leimster to whom joyned the Viscount Baltinglas with the Pools Birns and Cavenaughs having also Foraign assistance the design being pretended for Religion the Pope and his giving therefore Aid and Countenance but Desmond being defeated he was after by his own murthered III. About 6. years after Anno 1595. brake out in Ulster also
Ireland in confusion And when he had with less success than formerly issued his Excommunication the 27th of May 1648. against all those who complied with the Cessation with the Lord Inchiquin he was compelled in the end after so much mischief done to the Religion he was obliged to protect in an obscure manner to fly out of the Kingdom and coming to Rome had an ill Reception of the Pope Temerariè te gessisti said he with which and the Fate of Fermo in his absence he soon after died Nor indeed had any of those Apostolick Nuncios in Ireland much better Fate Nicholas Sanders an English-man An. 1579. was sent Nuncio by Gregory the 13th who wander'd in the Mountains of Kerry and was there starv'd under a Tree Owen Mac Egan alias Eugenius O Hegan of Irish Birth Vicarius Apostolicus under Clement the 8th was slain leading a Troop of 100 Horse against the Loyalists An. 1602 3. And because the impudent Injustice and Imprudence of the Nuncio and the lame Subjection of the People to his immoderate Pride and Haughtiness was in truth the real Cause or rather Fountain from whence this torrent of Calamities flowed which hath since over-whelmed that miserable Nation and because that exorbitant Power of his was resolutely opposed by the Catholicks of the most eminent Parts and Interests and in the end though too late expelled by them it will be but Justice to the Memories of those noble Persons briefly to collect the sum of that unhappy Person 's Carriage and Behaviour from the time that he was first design'd to that Imployment And in doing hereof no other Language shall be used than what was part of a Memorial delivered by an honourable and zealous Catholick who was intrusted to complain of the in-sufferable Behaviour of the Nuncio to the Pope himself which runs in these very words speaking of the Nuncio He declar'd before he left Rome That he would not admit either in his Company or Family any Person of the English Nation In his Voyage before he arrived at Paris he writ to his Friends in Rome with great joy the News though it prov'd after false that the Irish Confederates had treacherously surprized the City of Dublin while they were in truce with the Royal Party and treating about an Accommodation and Peace Arriving at Paris where he shut himself up for many months he never vouchsafed I will not say to participate with the Queen of England any thing touching Nunciature or in the least degree to reverence or visit her Majesty save only one time upon the score of Courtesie as if he had been sent to her Enemies not Subjects Being arrived in Ireland he imployed all his Power to dissolve the Treaty of Peace with the King which was then almost brought to perfection and his diligence succeeded of which he valued himself rejoyced and insulted beyond measure In his Letters he writ to Paris which were after shewed to the Queen and he may truely say that in that Kingdom he hath rather managed the Royal Scepter than the Pastoral Staff and that he aim'd more to be held the Minister of the supream Prince of Ireland in Temporalibus than a Nuncio from the Pope in Spiritualibus making himself President of the Council he hath managed the Affairs of the supream Council of State he hath by his own Arbitrement excluded from it those who did not second him though by Nobleness of Birth Allegiance Prudence and Zeal to Religion they were the most honourable of these he caused many to be imprisoned with great scandal and danger of sedition and in short he assumed a distributive Power both in Civil and Military Affairs giving out Orders Commissions and Powers under his own Name subscribed by his own Hand and made Authentick with his Seal for the government of the Armies and of the State and Commissions for Reprizals at Sea He stroke in presently after his Arrival in Ireland with that Party of the Natives who are esteemed irreconcilable not only to the English but to the greatest and best part of the Irish Nobility and of the same People to the most civil and most considerable of that Island And the better to support that Party and Faction he hath procured the Church to be furnished with a Clergy and Bishops of the same temper excluding those Persons who are recommended by the Queen who for Doctrine and Vertue were above all exceptions all which is contrary to what your Holiness was pleas'd to promise The Queen was not yet discouraged but so labour'd to renew the Treaty of Peace already once broke and disorder'd by Monsieur Rinuccini that by means of her Majesty it was not only re-assumed but in the end after great disputes and oppositions on his part the Peace was concluded between the Royal Party and the Confederate Catholicks and warranted not only by the King's Word but also by the retention of Arms Castles and Forts and of the Civil Magistrates with the possession of Churches and of Ecclesiastical Benefices and with the free exercise of the Catholick Religion And all this would have been exhibited by a publick Decree and authentick Laws made by the three Estates assembled in a free Parliament By this Peace and Confederacy they would have rescued themselves from the damages of a ruinous War have purchased security to their Consciences and of their temporal Estates honoured the Royal Party and the Catholicks in England with a certain restitution and liberty of the King whereon depended absolutely the welfare of the Catholicks in all his Kingdoms the Catholick Chair had quitted it self of all Engagements and Expence with Honour and Glory This Treaty of Peace on all sides so desirable Monsieur Rinuccini broke with such violence that he forced the Marquess of Ormond the Vice-Roy of Ireland to precipitate himself contrary to his inclination and affection into the arms of the Parliament of England to the unspeakable damage of the King and of the Catholicks not only of Ireland but also of England He incensed the greatest and best part of the Catholick Nobility and rendred the venerable Name of the holy Apostolick Chair odious to the Hereticks with small satisfaction to the Catholick Princes themselves of Europe as though it sought not the spiritual good of Souls but a temporal Interest by making it self Lord over Ireland And when the Lord Digby and the Lord Byron endeavour'd on the Marquess of Ormond's part to incline him to a new Treaty of Peace he did not only disdain to admit them or to accept the Overture but understanding that the Lord Byron with great danger and fatigue came to Town in the County of Westmeath where he was to speak with him he forced the Earl that was the Lord of it to send him away contrary to all Laws of Courtesie and Humanity in the night-time exposed to extraordinary inconveniencies and dangers amongst those distractions protesting that otherwise he himself would immediately depart the Town By
confess they had not power to confer any new Authority on their Faculty of destroying being more prevalent than that of preserving Their second Reason was They feared they should lose the few Churches remaining under his Government as they had lost under him all the Churches in the Cities of Waterford Kilkenny Wexford Ross Clonmel Cashel Featherd Kilmallock and the rest in which they said they agreed with the Maccabees Maximus vero primus pro sanctitate timor erat Templi By whose ill Government those Cities were lost appears by what hath been said before and how well the few that were then left were kept after they had forced the Marquis to depart the Kingdom is well known to the World The third Reason they thought fit was Because the Lord Lieutenant had declared at Cork that he would maintain during his life the Protestant Religion according to the example of the best Reformed Churches which might be the same with the Covenant for ought they knew They said They could not expect from him the defence of the Catholick Religion which was a strange objection against a Protestant Lieutenant of a Protestant King under whose Government they pretended to be desirous to live And whatsoever had been declared by the Lord Lieutenant at Cork in that particular before the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Published and Printed the 6th of October 1648. and well known to the Bishops who after the same and notwithstanding that Declaration with all demonstrations of cheerfulness gave their consents to that Peace which they now think fit to break because of that Declaration The fourth Reason was cast in the same mould The scandal over the World to make choice of one of a different Religion especially in Rome where his Holiness expected that a Catholick Governour should be placed over them according to his Agreement or Articles as it was reported with the Queen of England which the Marquis knew to be an aspersion and they said They did fear the scourges of the War and the Plague that had faln so heavy upon them were some evidence of Gods anger for putting Gods Cause and the Churches under such an hand whereas that trust might have been managed in a Catholicks hand under the Kings Authority Which Reason indeed had most ingenuity in it and whensoever they digested their malice and their prejudice in those Personal Reproaches and Calumnies which they knew to be most untrue if they had frankly declared and excepted against him for being a Protestant they had more complied with the dictates and integrities of their hearts And yet it might appear a very unskilful and imprudent suggestion to make the humour of the Court of Rome the Rule of obedience to their Sovereign and to discourse of choosing a Person of what Religion they thought fit to be his Vice-gerent as if they not he were to be consulted in it which would administer much cause of jealousie unto a Protestant King and to his Protestant Subjects if it were not well known to them that some of the Catholick Nobility and Gentry of the Nation were Enemies at least seemingly to those resolutions that unhappy part of the Catholick Bishops did broach and propagate which alone have reduced that Nation to the calamities it then and since underwent The fifth Reason that they should find no favour nor countenance but reproach and disgrace from any Catholick Prince Church or Laity while the Marquis Governed when in truth since that time and that their proceedings have been taken notice of the Catholick Princes have looked upon them as incapable of any succour or countenance and have accordingly left them to the rage of their Persecutors Their other Reasons were more Vulgar and too often before recited exceptions to his Person in respect of the ill success of his Conduct and the prejudice the People had to him in regard of the same And the too considerable Corporations remaining which were Limerick and Galway were at so great distance with the Lord Lieutenant that they were resolved to appear as in their intentions and actions they conceiv'd they were faithful to the Crown and obedient to the Kings Authority if placed in another Person To which suggestions nothing need to be added to what hath been said in this Discourse of the demeanor of those particular Places nor can the observation be avoided That it was the natural practice of this Congregation to use all their industry and artifice to infuse jealousie and sedition into the People and distrust and obstinacy into the Corporations and then to urge that jealousie prejudice and indisposition of the People and Corporations to countenance any thing they thought fit to do or oppose They concluded that the event of War being uncertain if the Nation should be reduced to a condition of agreeing with the Enemy the Lord Lieutenant would not be a fit man to agree for the exercise of their Religion for their Churches Altars or any thing concerning the same And therefore they said That the best way that occurred to them in this pressing exigency for the union of the Nation and keeping them from agreeing with the Enemy was That the Marquis of Clanrickard in whom according to the sense of the Congregation at James-town they desired the Kings Authority should be left that he might Govern the Nation with the consent of all Parties and the Kings Authority be taken away from the Lord Lieutenant until an Assembly And to that end that a free and lawful Assembly might be made to sit to judge upon the Peoples preservation and to decree and order what should be best and safest for the defence of the Nation Touching the Kings Authority to be kept over them and the Peace to be asserted and made good or to renew the Association or any thing else they should find best and most expedient and unto that they would willingly submit for they said they never intended to hinder an Assembly or to give Laws to the People all that they endeavour'd was to defend the Altars and Souls entrusted to them And as they were of opinion that the Soldiers would follow the Marquis of Clanrickard and the People obey him so they would contribute their best endeavours to that effect They further gave assurance that if any free and lawful Assembly upon due consideration of their own state and condition should find it the best way for their own safety and preservation to make an Agreement with the Enemy as they intended never by the grace of God to grant away from them by an Affirmative consent to the Churches and Altars if forced from them they were blameless so would they not hinder the People from compounding with the Enemy for the safety of their Lives and Estates when no way of offence was appearing though upon such an Agreement they saw that they alone should probably be losers of Lives States Churches Altars Immunities and Liberties But in such Contracts with the Enemy if any
of their Interest and security Each Party arrived at Oxford near the midst of April the Confederate Agents got thither soonest having less Remora's in their dispatch The Confederates as men who thought themselves possessed of the whole strength and Power of the Kingdom and the Kings condition in England so weak as he would buy their assistance at any rates demanded upon the Matter the total alteration of Government both in Church and State the very form of making and enacting Laws which is the foundation of Government and which had been practis'd ever since the Reign of King H. 7. must be abolished and instead of Liberty or Toleration for the exercise of the Romish Religion they insisted on such Priviledges Immunities and Power as would have amounted at best but to a Toleration of the Protestant Religion and that no longer then they should think fit to consent to it On the other hand the Committee of Parliament as men who too much felt the smart and anguish of their late sufferings undervalued and condemned the Irish as inferior to them in Courage and Conduct and as possessed of much greater Power by the Cessation then they could retain in War very earnestly prest the execution of the Laws in force Reparation for the dammages they had sustain'd disarming the Irish in such manner and to such a degree as it might not be hereafter in their Power to do more mischief and such other Conditions as People who are able to contend are not usually perswaded to submit unto which the Committee at Oxford for Irish Affairs insisted on with powerful Reasons and Arguments In these so different and distant Applications they who were sent as moderate Men from the Council knew not how to behave themselves but enough discovered that they had not the confidence in the Irish as to be willing that they should be so far trusted that the performance of their Duty should depend onely on their Affection and Allegiance But that there should be a greater Restraint upon them then they were inclin'd to submit to otherwise that the Protestant Religion and English Interest would be sooner rooted out by the Peace they proposed then it could be by the War It is very true that the Irish Agents demean'd themselves to his Majesty with great shew of Modesty and Duty they were Men that lack'd neither Art nor Behaviour and confessed that they believ'd that the Demands they were enjoyn'd to insist upon were such as his Majesty could not consent unto and that the present condition of his Affairs was not so well understood by them or by those who sent them before their coming out of Ireland as it now was which if it had been they were confident they should have had such Instructions as would better have complied with their own Desires and his Majesty's Occasions and therefore frankly offer'd to return and use their utmost Endeavours to incline the Confederate Council whose Deputies they were and who then exercised the supream Power over the Confederate Catholicks of that Kingdom to more Moderation and to return their full submission and obedience to his Majesty upon such Conditions as his Goodness would consent unto for their security But how little of this was perform'd you shall find in the sequel of the Story however the King sent his Command the 16th of Feb. 164. to the Marquess of Ormond to continue and renew their Cessation for another year and likewise a Commission under the Great Seal of England to make a full Peace with his Catholick Subjects upon such Conditions he found agreeable to the publick Good and Welfare and might produce such a Peace and Union in that Kingdom as might vindicate his Regal Power and Authority and suppress the Rebels in England and Scotland And so his Majesty dismissed the Catholick Agents with demonstration of much Grace and Confidence with this good Council which he most pathetically poured out to them at their departure That they should not forget the preservation of the Nation and Religion which they professed and were so zealous for in Ireland depended upon the preservation of his just Rights and Authority in England That they saw his Subjects of Scotland contrary to all Obligations had invaded England and joyned with those Rebels against him who without that assistance would have been speedily reduced to their obedience And therefore if his Catholick Subjects of Ireland made haste upon such Conditions as he might then grant without prejudice to himself and which should be amply sufficient for the security of their Fortunes Lives and Exercise of their Religion to assist him whereby he might be enabled by God's Blessing to suppress that Rebellion they might confidently believe he would never forget to whose Merit he owed his Preservation and Restauration and it would then be in his absolute Power to vouchsafe Graces to them to compleat their happiness and which he gave them his Royal Word he would then dispence in such manner as should not leave them disappointed of any of their just and full Expectations But if by insisting on such Particulars as he could not in Conscience consent to and their Consciences obliged them not to ask or on such as though he could himself be content to yield to yet in that Juncture of Time would bring such great damage to him that all the Supplies they could give or send to him could not countervail and might be as beneficially granted to them hereafter when he might better do it they should delay their joyning with him and so look on till the Rebel's Power prevail'd against him in England and Scotland and suppress'd his Party in those Kingdoms it would then be too late for them to give him help and they would quickly find their Strength in Ireland but an imaginary Support for his or their own Interest and that they who with much difficulty had destroyed him would without any considerable Opposition ruine their Interest and root out their Religion with their Nation from all the Dominions which should be subject to their exorbitant Jurisdiction How much of this prov'd a Prophesie their sad Experience knows and the World cannot but take notice of Soon after the Confederate's Agents were dismissed the Protestant's Committee of Parliament who had managed their Scene with much Courage and Integrity drew off with the King's Favour and Promise to do the utmost he could for them In the managing of which Affairs if they had not been very resolute arm'd with much Truth they would certainly have fall'n under many Inconveniencies For besides what they met with at Oxford they had still Correspondence and accordingly acted as they were animated by a Party of the Protestant Committee of the Parliament of Ireland then resident in Dublin who that they might decline the height of what those at Oxford proposed were tempted by an Order of the Council-Board to certifie Whether the 24 Propositions of his Majesty's Protestant Agents of Ireland presented to
remainder of English but by a Peace We find his Majesty being deluded by the first and believing the last to be conducing to the preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects is concluding of a Peace which will again admit those Irish Rebels to be Members of Parliament so that that Court which should afford relief for our Grievances will by their over-swaying Votes be our greatest Grievance Moreover we are too truly informed by divers of their own Party whose names if we should publish would be as great an ingratitude as folly the first in betraying those that obliged us the last in depriving our selves of all future Intelligence by them that they have vowed never to submit to an English or Protestant Government except they have liberty to exercise their Religion in Churches That the Forces of the Kingdom may be Train'd-Bands of their Men and that likewise those of their own Religion may be admitted to Places of Trust in the Common-wealth which they call modest and moderate demands though we hope they cannot seem so to any but themselves and their Clergy who we find do not think them enough being they may not have all their Church-Livings For we have certain intelligence that they have made a strong Faction as well among my Lord of Castlehaven's Soldiers as in all other parts of the Kingdom so that they are five parts of six who will fly out into a new action when they see a convenient time to execute their design which as yet they determine to forbear until they see a Peace concluded supposing that then the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland will intermix Irish and English without distinction to oppose the Scots and that by that means there will be a sufficient number of their Party in our Garrisons to master them which when they find an opportunity for they will certainly seize into their own hands upon notice whereof the Faction abroad will with all expedition apprehend the English in all parts and having accomplished this part of their design they will manifest that they are weary of the King of England's Government and that they will trust none of his Protestant Subjects among them for we are certainly informed that they will invite a Forreign Prince to take them into his protection unto whom they will deliver possession of what he pleases and will become his Subjects And lest that Princes Treasure should be exhausted by Wars in other places the Clergy have with the Pope's assistance raised amongst those of their own Calling and divers of the Gentry in Italy one hundred thousand pounds in money and a quantity of Arms and Ammunition that are now ready to be sent hither and they have employed one Doctor Duyer to go forthwith thither for it as also to get his Holiness to settle a course for the raising of more Money to be employed for the advancement of that which they call the Catholick Cause Therefore out of a true sense of our injuries already suffered and un-redressed with a right apprehension of inevitable ruine not onely to our Lives and Estates but likewise to the English Nation and Protestant Religion we have re-assum'd our Arms according to our Duty to God our King and Countrey with inviolable resolution to die or frustrate this devillish design And since those that die acting for the Gospel are as perfect Martyrs as those that die suffering for it we cannot but with joy embrace any effect that proceeds from so glorious a Cause Neither can this act be esteemed a crime in us since his Majesty upon the Rebels first Insurrection his Treasure being exhausted gave his Royal assent for the passing of an Act of Parliament wherein he granted to all his Subjects that would adventure money towards reducing of the Rebels Lands proportionable to the sum adventured which would fall to the Crown when the Conquest should be finished And the better to secure the Adventurers his Majesty obliged himself to make no Peace with the Rebels but with the advice and approbation of the Parliament of England and by that Act communicated to the Parliament that Power which before was solely in himself So that they not condescending to this Peace our imploying of their Aids and re-assuming of those Arms put into our hands by King and Parliament joyntly cannot be esteemed contradictory to his Majesty in regard that their joynt Act is so absolutely binding that neither of them severally can annull it as is evident in the Laws of the Realm Therefore if this War were onely Offensive yet even slander it self must acknowledge us innocent having so just a Cause so pious an Intention and so lawful an Authority much more it being Defensive and the Law both of God and Nature allowing every one to defend himself from violence and wrong Moreover the King must never expect any obedience from the Irish but what proceeds either from their Interest or Fear Through the first of these neither his Majesty or we can hope for assurance for not granting them all their desires their Interest which is more powerful with them than their Loyalty will make them throw off their subjection and to become absolute not scruple to destroy us Then to expect any security by their fears were frivolous for though we have found their Hearts as ill as their Cause yet they cannot be apprehensive of 2 or 3000 ill armed and unprovided men having all things necessary and so numerous a People at their devotion And lest our Enemies should scandalize us with breach of Faith in violating the pretended Cessation or with Cruelty in expelling the Irish Papists from our Garrisons who hitherto seemed adhering to us Concerning the first we declare That although our necessities did induce us to submit supposing the Cessation would have produced other effects as is before mentioned yet we had no power without Authority from King and Parliament joyntly to treat or yield to it or if it had been in our powers yet by the Rebels daily breaches of it we are disengaged from it Concerning the second we declare That our Garrison cannot be secured whilst so powerful and perfidious Enemies are in our bosomes Powerful being four to one in number more than the English Perfidious in their constant designs to betray us some whereof we will instance to convince their own Consciences and satisfie the World of our just proceedings One Francis Matthews a Franciscan Frier being wonderfully discovered in an Enigmatical Letter and as justly executed before his death confessed that he had agreed to betray the City of Cork to the Lord of Muskery which must necessarily infer that the chiefest and greatest part of that City were engaged in this Conspiracy for otherwise he could not so much as hope the accomplishment And if this had taken effect it had consequently ruin'd all the Protestants in the Province of Munster that being our chief Magazine and greatest Garrison Besides upon this occasion other Friers being examin'd upon Oath confessed that in
declar'd by the Council together with Owen Roe O Neal's offer to drive Inchequin quite out of Munster at his own charge and at the charge he would force out of those parts by his Souldiers But at this time Inchequin was in a deeper Correspondence with the Scots Nation which way Ormond was also to biass his Designs The Nuncio thus disappointed called a new assembly of his Clergy compos'd of Hugh O Rely Primate of Ireland Thomas Fleming Archbishop of Dublin Thomas Welsh Archbishop of Cassel John de Bourk Archbishop of Tuam and ten Bishops who unanimously declared That this Cessation of Arms was much prejudicial to the Catholick Religion and could not be embraced in Conscience and so Excommunicated all that adher'd thereto Hitherto the Council had born it self with some respect toward the Catholick Church remembring the Clemency us'd by the Nuncio in delivering some of them from Prison but upon this last Excommunication they so threatned him that he was forced to go privately from Kilkenny to a Castle where Preston by order of the Council following he fled to Gallway and called there a National Council to pacifie the Troubles of the Kingdom which the aforesaid Council endeavour'd to hinder forbidding the appearance of the Clergy taking hold of divers Ecclesiastical Persons of his houshold imprisoning them So that the Nuncio despairing of re-establishing of the Affairs of the Catholicks and having information That Ormond had resolv'd with all his Forces to advance the Protestant Religion and to destroy all opposers and that the Supream Council of Catholicks had declar'd their departure from the League with their Confederates he departed arriving in France In the interim Owen Roe judging that he could not in conscience joyn his Armies any longer with a Party that called it self Catholick and yet chas'd away the Nuncio declar'd his separation from them until they recal the Nuncio and endeavour to obtain a Catholick Vice-Roy and execute in all other points the Oath they had taken This was taken very ill by the Marquess of Ormond and his Council who charg'd O Neal with a Design under colour thereof to oppose the Affairs of the King which occasion'd him to object to them not the aforesaid Oath but a particular Declaration which he had published where he with all his Officers profess That they intend onely to re-establish the Catholick Religion the Liberties of the Kingdom and the Prerogatives of the King in their former Glory and Splendor The Ormond Party Catholick being in such perplexity by reason of these differences and their sleighting the Nuncio appeal'd to his Holiness but from Rome it is certified That the Pope well understanding their deportment refused to give Audience before he had heard his Nuncio Who in the end rather receiv'd a Check as before is mention'd then an Approbation from his Holiness for what he had done in Ireland And now as to the difference betwixt their Generals and our Proceedings thereupon Colonel Jones finding the Distractions amongst the Rebels to grow very high and that the old English under the Marquess of Clanrickard had taken the Castle of Athlone and other Places from Owen Roe and that Athy was besieged by Colonel Preston and Owen Roe came up to Relieve it and burnt and spoil'd the Countrey thereabouts thought it high time to be stirring out amongst them and thereupon sent out some of his Forces which took in the Garrisons of the Nabber and Ballihoe formerly surprized by the Rebels But yet not having his Provisions come from England durst not himself stir forth till he had sufficiently secured Dublin which in the first place he began more strongly to Fortifie that it might receive no prejudice in his absence About which time Flemming an active Officer among the Rebels took in Cruces Fort and Killaloe two Garrisons in Pudsonbyes Quarters Next Jones secured Sir Maurice Eustace Colonel Gifford Capron Flower Willoughby and several others who continuing their affection to the Marquess he suspected and by Order of the Committee of Derby-House sent them to the Castle of Chester detaining Colonel Byron and Sir Thomas Lucas Prisoners at Tredagh suspecting these would deliver him and the City to the Marquess of Ormond then every day expected Lord Lieutenant out of France The Scots Army under Duke Hamilton about this time entered England to whose Proceedings Major General Monro sent over into Scotland his Son or Nephew George Monro with 2000 Foot and 600 Horse as Sir Robert Stewart his Son with a Troop and Sir Fred. Hamilton his with a Regiment and several others disaffected to the Parliament of England in hope to settle with advantage there By which means Belfast Carrigfergus and Colrain were left very weak and much un-guarded which Colonel Monk finding and understanding how contrary to all compact Monro had dealt with the Parliament of England in sending over the Forces maintain'd by them in Ireland to fight against them in England he began to think of some means to make himself master of those Towns he was at present at Lisnegarvy and prepared a Party to go out to make an inroad into the RebelsQuarters he march'd away in the morning but having sent some Persons of trust to remain near Carigfergus to attend his advance thither he return'd in the night over the mountains and came at break of day to the Gates of Carigfergus which he found open and so enter'd without resistance he seiz'd upon Major General Monro and sent him Prisoner into England where he was by the House of Comons committed to the Tower Colonel Monk having thus seized upon Carigfergus caus'd some Horse to march presently away to Belfast which was surrendred into his hands by the Governor and so was likewise Colrain so as he presently became Master of all those Towns disbanding and sending away most of those Forces into Scotland which oppos'd the Parliament and hindred those broken Troops of Monro's which fled out of England upon Duke Hamiltons defeat at Preston in Lancashire from returning into Ireland and did use all means to settle the Country in such a posture as that the Interest of the Parliament might be secur'd there He planted Garrisons upon the Frontiers of Ulster to hinder the incursions of the Rebels and he gave the Quarters the Scots had to such of the British as he found faithful to the service This was about September 1648. a Service very acceptable in England in manifestation whereof the Parliament sent him 500 l. and made him Governor of Carigfergus by an Order of the 4th of October and sent over Cloaths for some of those Scottish Regiments which came into him and 5000 l. in Money for the two Provinces of Ulster and Connaght to be equally divided Sir Charles Coot there being very active not long after took in the strong Fort of Culmore near Londonderry seizing on at the same time Sir Robert Stewart whom he sent Prisoner to the Parliament upon which the Scots Mutinied but
be grounded we cannot find we have sworn to act according to the Principles you now declare For in some things if we admit of your Representation we shall be necessitated to act against what we have sworn unto in the Covenant For The first Article wherein we are bound to a preservation of the present Discipline in Scotland we are in the same Article obliged to a Reformation of the same in England and Ireland according to the Word of God and the Example of the best Reformed Churches which no doubt the Parliament will in due time establish In the interim we are un-satisfied with any Power that acts in this Case without their Direction For what you speak in relation to the King's Person we have yet no certainty out of England concerning that Matter and it is an action of so transcendent degree that till we receive some positive Resolution concerning it from England we ought not to proceed in giving our Sence of it In the 5th Article of the Covenant we are sworn to endeavour the continuing the Kingdoms in Union in which we desire your selves to be Judges if the publishing of your Representations be a probable way to observe the Oath In the 6th Article we are sworn to defend those joyn'd with us in this Covenant and not to suffer our selves directly or indirectly to combine against them Now till we receive a full Declaration of their falling from those Principles of this Covenant how can we with safety to our own Consciences declare a War against them without breaking the Covenant in this Particular In the next place We find some things in your Representations wherein as we conceive you are not rightly informed First In that you say The Parliament hath broken the Covenant in opposing the Presbyterial Government which can no ways appear since the same Government by their appointment is observ'd throughout England and that the Covenant obligeth them to establish the Government no further than is agreeable to God's Word Secondly You say That you have deeply sworn in the first Article to maintain the Church-Government as it is in the Church of Scotland which they have not sworn the part of the Oath for preservation of the Government relating only to the Kingdom of Scotland and the Reformation of Religion to the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Thirdly 'T is affirmed That the Power now governing in England doth labour to establish by Law an universal toleration of all Religions which yet was never done by them Lastly The sad Consequences which will un-avoidably follow if we pursue the Intention of the Representations are these First By declaring such an open War against the Parliament we should deprive our selves of all Succours and Supplies out of England which have been hitherto a great part of our subsistence Secondly The pursuing of such a War will un-avoidably sow such Divisions amongst us who in these Parts are of such different Principles and Practices that we shall soon become instruments of our own ruine Thirdly It will compel us for our own preservation to joyn with the Rebels or desert this Kingdom And lastly It will without any lawful Call engage us in a War against an Army who have under God been the instruments of redeeming England out of thraldom and was not long since acknowledged to have been so instrumental in setling Scotland in the Peace and Quietness it now enjoyeth and this at the Charge of England as the Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland doth thankfully witness These things therefore being duely weighed we desire you in the fear of God seriously to take this our Answer into your Considerations and to remember on whom the guilt of innocent blood will fall if you inforce a War and to set before your eyes the punishment from Heaven which hath still attended the Endeavours of all who have deserted the Quarrel in this Kingdom to engage against the Parliament of England From visible Judgements we are resolv'd by God's assistance to take so good warning as we will not be guilty of destroying the Cause we have so long labour'd into countenance for your Representations till we be better satisfied in our Consciences though we will not directly or indirectly countenance any Sectaries or Schismaticks who-ever is truely so called contrary to our Solemn League and Covenant but we will to the utmost of our Endeavours continue faithful in the prosecution of the Rebels in this Kingdom and their Abettors wherein we shall not doubt of the Blessing and Protection of the Almighty upon our lawful and just Endeavours And for furtherance hereof we desire in the last place that we should all declare against the Peace last made by the Lord Marquess of Ormond as that which will if not protested against ruine and destroy your Service of this Kingdom against the Rebels Here it 's evident that Sir Charles Coot could by no ways be brought on yet the Peace being settled his Excellency endeavour'd to work over Lieutenant General Jones to his Party to which end his Excellency vouchsafed to write to him many Letters from Thurles the 27. of March 1649. all answer'd without the least compliance on Jones's side He by his Reply the 31. of March 1649. charging the fatal and inhumane Act perpetrated on his Majesty to his Excellency's arrival in Ireland during the Treaty at Carisbrook whereby the sincerity of that Treaty was question'd occasionally writes he producing what thereupon followed so as in conclusion he professed That were there neither King or Parliament he should yet stand firm to his Principles to preserve the English Interest in Ireland that being a Cause alien from what was acted in England Foraign to his Work and Trust which if he should not perform would not easily be expiated by a slender or lean Manifest upon which no more Letters pass'd betwixt them though the Lord Inchequin in June from the Camp at Finglass 1649. renewed the Attempt and was answer'd with the like Resolution and some Reflections on his Lordship About which time Ireland came again to be seriously thought of by the Parliament though hitherto it was in some respects made a Stale for several Designs then on foot Jones was much confided in but it was thought requisite the weight of that Business should lye on other shoulders not his Cromwel therefore about the 28 of March was voted General of Ireland Skippon under the Title of Martial General having refused the Command and these ensuing Votes passed thereupon 1. That such Regiments as should be alloted for the Irish Service should have their Arrears audited stated and Debentors given for their respective Services 2. That visible Security should be given so that any Friend or other being intrusted with a Debentor might receive it at a time prescrib'd by the Parliament 3. That those who go for Ireland should be first satisfied for their Arrears since 1645. 4. That out of the 120000 l. per mensem for England and Ireland
she my Brother the Earl of Antrim hath taken the Castle and City of Dublin having lately moved thither for the same purpose and not to please the Dutchess as was given out and my brother Alexander mac Donnell according to the general Appointment hath taken the Town and Castle of Carrickfergus He the Deponent then asked what they meant to do with those whom they had disarmed and pillaged She said as long as their preservation should be deemed consistent with the publick safety they should injoy their lives when otherwise better their enemy perish than themselves which was but a very cold comfort to a Freshman prisoner as my self was And also said That Sir Phelim O Neil told this Deponent in December last that his stock in money amounted to 80000 sterling wherewith he said he was able to maintain an Army for one year though all shifts else failed And that Captain Alexander Hovenden told him that as soon as his brother Sir Phelim was created Earl of Tyron and great O Neil he wrote Letters and sent them by Friars to the Pope and Kings of Spain and France but would not discover the Contents And further saith That about the first of March last the said Alexander told the Deponent that the Friars of Drogheda by Father Thomas brother to the Lord of Slane had the second time invited Sir Phelim thither and offered to betray the Town unto him by making or discovering the Deponent knoweth not whether a breach in the Wall through which he might march six men a breast The Deponent saw this Friar the same time in Armagh whom Sir Phelim took by the hand and brought to the Deponent saying This is the Friar that said Mass at Finglass upon Sunday morning and in the Afternoon did beat Sir Charles Coote at swords I hope said the Friar to say Mass in christ-Christ-Church Dublin within eight weeks And further Deposed that he this Deponent asked many both of their Commanders and Friars what chiefly moved them to take up Arms They said Why may not we as well and better fight for Religion which is the Substance than the Scots did for Ceremonies which are but Shadows and that my Lord of Strafford's Government was intolerable The Deponent answered That that Government how insupportable soever was indifferent and lay no heavier upon them then on him and the rest of the Brittish Protestants They replied That the Deponent and the rest of the Brittish were no considerable part of the Kingdom and that over and above all this they were certainly informed that the Parliament of England had a plot to bring them all to Church or to cut off all the Papists in the Kings Dominions in England by the English Protestants or as they call them Puritans in Ireland by the Scots And further deposeth That he asked as seeming very careful of their saftety what hope of Aid they had and from whom as also what discreet and able men they had to imploy as Agents to their Friends beyond the Sea They said if they held out this next Winter they were sure and certain in the Spring to receive Aid from the Pope France and Spain and that the Clergy of Spain had already contributed five thousand Arms and Powder for a whole year then in readiness They said their best and only Agents were their Priests and Friars but especially the forenamed Paulo Neil upon whose coming with advice from Spain they presently opened the War and that since the War began in the very dead of Winter he both went with Letters and returned with Instructions from Spain in one Month professing the good Cause had suffered much prejudice if he had been hanged in Dublin And this Deponent further saith That he demanded why sometimes they pretended a Commission from the King at other times from the Queen since all Wisemen knew that the King would not grant a Commission against himself and the Queen could not They being Commanders and Friars said That it was lawful for them to pretend what they could in advancement of their Cause That many of the Garrison Souldiers now their Prisoners whom they determined to imploy in the War and to train others would not serve them in regard of their Oath unless they were made so to believe That in all Wars rumours and lies served many times to as good purpose as Arms and that they would not disclaim any advantage But they said for the Queen in regard as a Catholick she had enemies enough already they would command their Priests publickly at Mass to discharge the people from speaking of her as a Cause or Abetter of the present Troubles And the Deponent also asked Sir Phelim O Neil what his demands were without which his Lordship and the rest would not lay down Arms At first he told this Deponent That they required only Liberty of Conscience But afterwards as his Power so his Demands were multiplied They must have no Lord Deputy great Officers of State Privy Councellors Judges or Justices of Peace but of the Irish Nation no standing Army in the Kingdom all Tythes payable by Papists to be paid to Popish Priests Church Lands to be restóred to their Bishops All Plantations since primo Jacobi to be disannulled none made hereafter no payments of debts due to the Brittish or restitution of any thing taken in the Wars all Fortifications and Strengths to be in the hands of the Irish with power to erect and build more if they thought fit all Strangers meaning Brittish to be restrained from coming over all Acts of Parliament against Popery and Papists together with Poynings Act to be repealed and the Irish Parliament to be made Independent But saith that others told him this Deponent that although all these Demands were granted yet Sir Phelim for his own part was not resolv'd to lay down Arms unless his Majesty would confirm unto him the Earldom of Tyrone with all the ancient Patrimony and Priviledges belonging to the O Neils And further saith that in March 1641. Alexander Hovenden by Sir Phelim's direction sent from the Camp before Drogheda a Prophecy said to be found in the Abbey of Kells importing that Tyrone or Sir Phelim after the Conquest and Settlement of Ireland should fight five set Battels in England in the last whereof he should be killed upon Dunsmore-heath but not before he had driven King Charles with his whole Posterity out of England who should be afterwards profugi in terra aliena in aeternum The Paper it self with the Deponents whole Library to the value of seven or eight hundred pounds was lately burnt by the Scots under the Conduct of the Lord Viscount Montgomery since that Prophecy the Deponent saith he hath often seen Captain Tirlagh mac Brian O Neil a great man in the County of Armagh with many others no mean Commanders drinking Healths upon the knee to Sir Phelim O Neil Lord General of the Catholick Army in Ulster Earl