word either in favour of or in opposition to the thing but desired it might be read which being done the Lord Bellasis in a storm of Passion inveigh'd bitterly against it saying that If such designs as those were encouraged they of England meaning the Catholicks had best in time to look out for some other Country and not stay to be a mad Sacrifice for Irish Rebels Powis according to the best of his understanding seconded and in short 't was so run down that neither Sunderland nor Peters durst attempt to speak a word in its vindication but only desired that those Gentlemen which brought over those Papers might be heard Bellasis was for committing them or commanding their immediate return but 't was at last thought reasonable to hear them so a day was appointed The noise of this and the success it had met with at Council-Board flew abroad with great Exclamations the Boys in the street running after the Coach where Rice and Nugent at any time were with Pottatoes stuck on sticks and crying Make room for the Irish Embassadors 'T was believed that some of the Popish Party did blow up the People that so the King might be sensible what mischief this would tend to The day came on for these Embassadors to be heard at Council-board where Rice made a Speech full of Policy and Artifice and answered the Objections made by the Lord Bellasis and Powis but when Nugent came to speak he kicked down all that Rice had done and Bellasis presently discovered the defect of his Irish understanding as he call'd it abusing him beyond the respect due to the place where the King was calling him Fool and Knave and Powis did the same They were not long in tearing this fine Project to pieces which when they had done Bellasis bid them make haste to the Fool their Master and bid him next Message he sent to employ Wiser Men and upon a more honest Errand Powis bid them tell him That the king had better use to make of his Catholick Subjects in England than to Sacrifice them for reprize to the Protestants of Ireland in lieu of their Estates there In short every one fell so violently upon them at the Board that the King remained silent and without any resolve or order broke up the Council and neither the Embassadors nor their Project appeared more upon the Stage but kissing the Kings Hand march'd off with great hast and precipitation for they were afraid that even the Roman Catholicks themselves would have affronted ' em This Miscarriage of Tyrconnell's gave fresh opportunity year 1688 to the Castlemanians to raise Objections against him setting forth what mischiess he had already done in that Kingdom that the Revenue was sunk to an incredible abatement and that in one year more there would not be left money enough in the Kingdom to discharge the Army and that this last Project of his would exasperate and frighten away those of the English which were left who being the dealing and industrious people of the Nation would put a final period to all Trade and Commerce in that wasted and depopulated Countrey But all these just and reasonable Allegations which matter of fact and the present ruinous and distracted Estate of that Kingdom did but too fully evince the truth or rather infallibility of though judiciously laid down before the King by sober and considering persons yet were they all to no purpose For though the King kept it private from most of his Council yet certain it is that he had promised the French King the disposal of that Government and Kingdom when things had attained to that growth as to be fit to bear it This jumped near to the time of the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops Commitment to the Tower And as one had ruined England if the visible hand of Supream Providence had not signally and miraculously interpos'd by inspiring the Bishops with couragious and invincible resolutions in a just vindication of the Protestant Cause and Religion so the other had struck the fatal blow to the Laws and Fundamental Constitutions of Ireland if some Hushai's even amongst the Romish Faction had not turned the pernicious Counsels of these Achitophels into folly The expected success of the aforesaid Embassadors Negotiation which by one Party was dreaded by the other hop'd to prove answerable to its design made various impressions upon men in proportion to their different interests The English were apprehensive of no less a change than a total subversion of the Government and an unraveling of all the Laws made for the security of their Estates and Religion which the unhinging the Act of Settlement the sole occasion of this Solemn Embassy would at one blow compleat The Natives were imaginarily in actual possession Their apprehensions whereof were such as discovered all the outward signs and indications of so high a satisfaction as cannot be easily represented Joy and Triumph was in all their Actions and Discourses Fancy and Imagination wrought very powerfully and like Men in Bedlam who dream of nothing but Kingdoms and Empires they seem'd to shew as much Complacency and to be alike transported with the airy hopes of getting as if they had been already invested in their Estates But this Scene of Joy which had been represented with so much splendour and magnificence soon disappear'd and a Melancholy Prospect over-shadowed with a dark Cloud was quickly brought upon the Stage when they perceiv'd all their hopes blasted in the fruitless consequences of this great intrigue Parturiunt montes their high expectations soon descended to a low ebb and they were quickly under as great despondency by this suddain turn of the Spoke in the Wheel as they were before of satisfaction For as they are wont to put no bounds to their Ecstasies and transports in prosperous so neither do they limit their sorrow and despair upon adverse Contingencies An unequalness of mind and resolution very remarkable among the Irish who like the floating Euripus have no consistency in themselves but are carried up and down in their hopes and fears according as every petty accident does either invite or discourage But to return to Sheridon whose Trial Rice and Nugent's absence had retarded and the ill effects of whose Negotiation had so exalted him that he begun to vaunt over his Enemies openly exclaiming upon the Lord Deputy and withal adding That he would soon be removed from the Government and such advantage did he derive from this disgrace Tyrconnell met with in England that he held the Lord Deputy and his Judges at defiance and was now become so imperious that his braging and threatening the Evidence took off several And the truth is after that Rice returned from England they were in such despondency expecting every day a new Lord Lieutenant insomuch that one day Tyrconnell himself said publickly to some Officers at the Castle that though he had great assurance from the King that he should not be
obtains leave to go for England year 1675 leaving the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard Justices Upon his arrival at Court he perceived the Game ran high for Popery and the best way to prevent it was not by downright opposition he therefore concludes upon a more prevailing method which was to make court to the Duke of York which he managed with so much art and so skilful an Address as indeed he was very capable of doing beyond their Conclave at Rome that notwithstanding it was resolved that he should depart yet was he kept so long in England till orders came from the Holy Fathers for his return to Ireland He had so far wound himself into the Duke's good-opinion of him that he thought him secure for their Party and as the first testimony of his Integrity he had Instructions from him to promote Sheridon and the Farmers which the Earl managed with such great wisdom as at once to please the Duke and yet to be serviceable to the Protestants of Ireland who had now been in a lost irrecoverable condition if his admirable Conduct had not prevented it And now this great Man returns for Ireland to year 1676 steer again in that Government threatened by approaching Tempests the Farmers also going over enter upon their business Sir W. P. became very notorious in declaring not only to employ Papists but that he would have the Priests collect the Hearth-money Some were apt to believe that this was done on purpose to get off but those who were most intimate with him speak quite otherwise and that the hopes of being created a Lord and a Privy Counsellor so transported him beyond all the bounds of moderation as induced him to take this violent course the more to ingratiate himself with the Duke but like the Ass in the Fable beat his Master down in imitation of the Spaniels fawning and though he was a man of great Learning and of a Mathematical Head and bred abroad yet so vehemently desirous of Riches as hurried him often into great Extravagancies The Earl of Essex being Landed in Ireland had a difficult Game to play he had 't is believed made fair Promises of being kind to the Irish and to stand by the Farmers to the first he gave good words and received them well at Court but the Farmers they began to model their Officers and if some speedy and effectual stop was not put to these Proceedings the whole Ports of the Kingdom would soon be in Papists hands which was like to prove a matter of most dangerous consequence To defeat this Intriegue required a more than ordinary presence of mind and a deep foresight which as this wise Earl was endowed with in a very high measure so did he signally shew it upon this occasion There was but one way to effect it and that was by raising scruples as to the value of the Farmers and their Securities but this he must not appear in but instructs some of his Confidents of the Council to act that part sor him and there was one who till this late Catastrophe was thought to be of great Integrity and Honour the Lord Granard he was bold and daring and a Mortal Enemy to Sir J. S. wherefore he moves at the Council-Board that inspection should be made into the Securities of these Farmers The Proposal was well accepted by the rest of the Council For indeed they were Men as Sir W. P. said truly of them viz. Farmers pick'd up in the Streets with this disadvantage that take the-first seven men you meet and they shall exceed these for every thing but cheating The Earl of Essex seemed to oppose the Council in this Vote put it off and acquainted the Farmers and also gave an account of it to the Duke whom he had now so far gain'd upon as to become a Confident But every day usher'd in new Complaints against the Farmers running away with the Money of the Kingdom c. which for some time the Earl seemed to decline but at last in appearance against the Grain agrees with the Council and sends over to the King the Objections against the Farmers which in short were so great that they were not to be trusted Whereupon Commissioners of inspection were set over them one was the Earl of Essex's Confident and these men attended to the motion of the Farmers with so vigilant an eye that nothing could be effected In this manner was this great and dangerous Plot carried on for several years by the Duke and his Minions most miraculously defeated by the unparallell'd Conduct of that Prudent Earl who so far out-vy'd the Romish Politicks as to cajole that party into an approbation of those Proceedings which proved fatally destructive of their design which so disheartened those two accomplices R and Sheridon that they flung up their Parts and returned to Court the last to attend his Master Coleman who happened to come in a fit time to succeed him in his Employment for not long after this the Popish Plot was brought upon the Stage in which Coleman was Prime Minister who being afterwards Executed and Sheridon speaking something in favour of his cause was apprehended and after some time was brought on his knees at the Bar of the House of Commons where he had impudence beyond humane shape to set forth in a flourishing Speech the greatness of his Family viz. that he was in the right Line of the Kings of Vlster anciently called O Sheridon that to his Father belonged a vast Estate which by the misfortune of War meaning the former Rebellion he was wrongfully put out of with abundance of the like impudent falshoods and most notorious untruths Whereas indeed his Father too honest a man for so base and so degenerate a Son was before the late Rebellion in the County of Caven taken in a poor Boy into a Bishop's House for a Turn-spit and the Bishop observing the Boy to be of a Docible Temper and capable of instruction and finding him educated a Papist charitably put him to School where he was taught his Grammar and was found to be so industrious a Proficient in School-learning as encouraged the good Bishop to Ordain him a Deacon in which capacity he continued under the Bishop till he died And when the Rebellion broke out so violently that few English were left in the Countrey yet this poor man remained with such as stayed and read Prayers among them till all were either Murthered or had deserted the place But he being a poor Old Man and having nothing to remove continued where he was the Irish suffering him to reside amongst them but by all their Importunities notwithstanding their great eagerness to make Converts compassing both Sea and Land to proselyte any to their Church could never prevail upon him to go to Mass This Man had three Sons which as well as those turbulent times would admit he educated Protestants and upon Oliver's reduction of Ireland he was so taken with the Character
Lands said to be in the possession of divers of the English but in truth much more in that of the Irish Now to insure the Titles of the English from any future Discoveries as was pretended a Court of Grace was to be erected year 1683 where all that would had the opportunity of putting in their Claims and upon proving their possession and compounding with the Commissioners for payment of such a sum as they thought fit to impose on them they were to pass new Patents It was also given out that it was safe for all new Interests to pass that Court and that it would strengthen their Titles This Policy had its intended effect for many persons came in and considerable Sums of Money were paid But under what plausible pretext soever this Court was set up 't was soon perceived as a snare to the English For its design was to make a narrow inspection into all Mens Titles and thereby to discover what advantage might be derived from it For by the Act of Settlement all the forfeited Lands in Ireland were only invested in the King as a Royal Trustee for the use of the Soldiers and Adventurers and could be no way disposed of but according to the intent of that Act. Now whereas there were several Irish out of their Lands decreed them by the Act for want of Reprisals the King's Patent could not give any Land away but in pursuance to the intent of the Act. By which it appears that this Court was erected to prepare Pretences for the Irish when opportunity should invite and though all this was negotiated through the Duke's Interest yet none of that party appeared in it but the whole of it was transacted by the Dutchess of Portsmouth who had the Money got by Fines out of it Because there will be occasion in the farther discovery of this Treachery to name a principal Actor in the Catastrophe of Ireland I shall now nominate him that was the Abettor and Contriver of this mischief 't was one W. who sometime year W before bought a Judge's place in the Exchequer for Eight Hundred Pounds This Judge was found a fit Tool to make use of and being a Cunning ambo-dexter formed this Intriegue which had proved fatal to the Protestant Interest of Ireland if affairs had succeeded in the same Current they had now put them But I must not forget to add that to make this poison go down the more easie the Pill was gilded over Most of the Judges were made Commissioners and had part of the Fines the Lawyers and Attorneys got Money by the Court so that consequently all that were capable of understanding the Cheat were interessed as Parties in the Intriegue and by this means some of the Lawyers and Attorneys purchased Estates to the ruine of the former Possessors And 't is to be observed that in the several Designs of the Papists Protestants were the Tools whereby they acted by which they appeared to have nothing of Catholick in them And now to force men into this Tonnel another Oppression was impos'd upon the Subject and that was that no man should pass Patent for Fairs Markets Mannors c. without passing his Estate through this Court whereas by the Act of Settlement all persons had liberty for the improvement of the Countrey to pass Patent for them so that they were not within three Miles of one another Here you may perceive a most black design speciously represented as a fit occasion to lay hold on whereby to corroborate the English Interest though in truth nothing could more effectually weaken the Protestants Titles to their Estates and strengthen or improve those of the Irish and this not only managed but at first set up by a Protestant And indeed this gave a more plausible colour to it and made it the more easily gain belief with the English that the true Reasons of its erection were the same with those that were pretended because first advanced by one of their own Party A sad thing indeed that Englishmen and Protestants should by base and unworthy Compliances become such Servile Instruments to the advancement of the Popish Cause A Calamity which as it had made some steps before so did it improve to an infinite Progress when the late King James was in possession of the Throne In which time too many men who were reputed Protestants through a mean and pusillanimous Disposition were not seldom Co-adjutors with the Papists in such violent Proceedings as carried a direct opposition to the Laws and their Religion But to proceed where I left off The Duke of Ormond perceiving by the tendency of these Affairs that the Romish design was agitated with greater earnestness than ever with great difficulty obtains leave to go for England and pursuant to that comes over leaving his Son the Earl of Arran Lord Deputy Upon his Arrival at year 1683 Court he a second time attempts a Parliament but ineffectually upon which disappointment he returns again for Ireland with an heavy heart as he himself declared to a Great Man of that Kingdom He had Instructions to Regiment the Army and some other things that were Preparatives to what followed soon after But now the Fatal Stroke was come the Death of the King a Mystery not to be inquired into though one can hardly omit remarking that the Irish year 1684 Papists could for some time before fix upon the utmost Period of that Reign and the Duke was sent for in haste from Scotland three years before without any apparent reason for it besides that the King's permission was obtained with some difficulty From this time we may Commence the Date of the Irish greatness Fate now smil'd upon 'em and that which they had long expected with so much impatience and importunity which had cost them so much pains and had involved them in such great Perplexities That which had exposed them to so many dangers and been so frequently blasted with cross Accidents and various Disappointments was now fallen into their Lap. Now their long-look'd for day was come and their Game which had been play'd with so much difficulty and loss did now assure them of better success These Apprehensions so transported them with such pleasant Raptures as were eminently visible in all their actions especially in Publick Days of Rejoycing as the day of the King 's Proclaiming that of his Coronation the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and the like in all which they demonstrated the most extravagant Symptoms of a Superlative Joy which they express'd in making of Bonfires Beating of Drums playing upon the Bag-pipes and other Musical Instruments in Drinking and Serenading in the night time forcing the English out of their Beds and breaking open their Doors and drinking Confusion to the Kings Enemies upon their Knees by which 't was plain that they understood the Protestants And all these unlawful Revellings oftentimes continued for two or three Nights and Days without intermission wherein such of the English
Inhumane Expressions very ungrateful to a Christian Ear. These restless Endeavours of the Papists made the Earl of Clarendon find things very uneasie whereunto one Remarkable Passage not a little contributed which was reported to be thus That upon a Sunday Morning going to Church he perceived an Irish Officer he never saw before Commanding his Guard of Battle-Axes that attended his Person which exceedingly surprized him whereupon he made a stop demanding who he was and who put him there The Irish-man for they are naturally Pusillanimous and fearful was as much frighted as the Lord Lieutenant was disturbed but with some difficulty and in broken Expressions occasioned by fear told his Excellency he was a Captain put in by the Lord Tyrconnel His Excellency demanded of him When he replyed That Morning His Excellency bid 'em call the former Captain and dismiss this of Tyrconnel's The next day the Lord Lieutenant sent for Tyrconnel and questioned him for this Action who replyed He did nothing but by the King's Orders to which the Lord Lieutenant returned answer That whilst His Majesty intrusted him with the Government he would not be disposed by his Lieutenant General Complaints on both hands were made to the King and so ended Tyrconnel having compleated his design in modelling the Army goes for England and there consults with his Party to obtain the Government of Ireland The King Queen and Father Petres were for him but the whole Council of Papists oppos'd it still urging how unacceptable he was to the English others therefore were named in private by that Popish Party But all the while the Protestant side were wholly ignorant of any design to remove the Earl of Clarendon not questioning but that he stood upon a firm Foundation namely the Kings late assurance to the Earl of Rochester Lord Treasurer who was seemingly Prime Minister of State but not thought fit to be confided in as to those dark Secrets of the Catholick Designs About this time there was a general metting at the Savoy before Father Petres of the chief Roman Catholicks of England in order to consult what Methods were fittest to be pursued for the promotion of the Catholick Cause The Papists were universally afraid of the King's Incapacity or else unwillingness of exposing himself to the hazard of securing it in his Reign They were sensible that he advanced considerably in Age besides they were not ignorant of what almost insuperable difficulties they had to contend with before they could bring it to any ripeness Wherefore upon these Considerations carefully weighing and ballancing every Circumstance some were for moving the King to procure an Act of Parliament for the security of their Estates and only liberty for Priests in their own private Houses and to be exempted from all Employments This Father Petres Anathematized as Terrestrial and founded upon too anxious a Sollicitude for the preservation of their Secular Interests but if they would pursue his measures he doubted not to see the Holy Church triumphant in England And indeed his Politicks have taken but in a quite different manner than he expected for God be praised a Church triumphs in England as much superiour to his in Holiness as the means of its preservation have been in justice to his which were intended for its destruction Others of the Papists were for addressing the King to have liberty now that they might do it to sell their Estates and that his Majesty would intercede with the French King to provide for them in his Dominions After several Debates it was at last agreed upon to lay both Proposals before the King and some of the number to attend his Majesty with them which was accordingly done to which the King's return was That he had before their Desires came to him often thought of them and had as he believed provided a sure Sanctuary and Retreat for them in Ireland if all those endeavours should be blasted in England which he had made for their security and of whose success he had not yet reason to despair This Encouragement to the Papists in England was attended with the most Zealous Expressions and Catholick Assurances of his Ardent Love to the Holy Church which he said he had been a Martyr for Thus we see how the Bigottry of this unhappy Prince transported him beyond all bounds and carry'd him to such Extravagancies in Government as the moderate of the English Papists themselves thought to be extream hazardous and insecure and would all of them have been content with a private exercise of their Religion as thinking it abundantly more safe rather than endanger the losing their Estates and Fortunes which they almost look'd upon as inevitable if such violent extream courses were followed But alas these self-preserving and the furious Principles of the Jesuits had no Congruity and the King was too much a Creature of the last to attend to any but their Counsels He said he was resolved to die a Martyr rather than not advance the Catholick Cause He had entered himself into the Order of the Jesuits and was become a Lay-Brother of that Society and so in consequence to his Profession must needs look upon it as meritorious to extirpate and destroy Heresie He was told that this would be a most glorious action and doubtless would be Canonized for it To reduce three Kingdoms to an entire obedience to the Holy See which had Apostatized so long and been the Nursery of so many Damned Hereticks who by their Heterodox Doctrines had created so much disturbance to the peace of the most Holy Catholick Church was doubtless the greatest action on this side Heaven and deserved no less than that for its reward No time nor story could parallel this Heroical Atchievement which would be commemorated to Eternal Ages This would be a Work of Supererogation indeed which would not only convey him to Heaven without touching at Purgatory but also lay up such an infinite over-plus of merits as being deposited in the hands of the Church and frugally applyed would not only preserve thousands of others from these Flames but waft them immediately into Abraham's Bosom These or the like we may suppose to have been the constant suggestions of the Jesuits which as they indeavoured to instill into the Kings mind with Tongues as smooth as Oyl and with the most prevailing Flatteries and Artificial Insinuations so on the other hand did he as greedily imbibe these Poisonous Doctrines as they could infuse them and eagerly swallow'd the Bait when all the while the Hook lay conceal'd and he so far intangled till 't was too late to discover it And now how can we suppose that a Prince thus wholly at the Devotion of the Jesuits swayed altogether by their Councils and upon every occasion consulting them as so many Oracles should resist the voice of these Charmers who Charmed so wisely in his byass'd opinion These Syrens kept a very harmonious Consort which they exactly tuned to the Key and accent of this Votary's fanciful
Genius every stroke sounded so melodious in his Ear as made him not consider that this pleasant Musick presaged a dangerous Ship-wrack to himself and his Party as we find it afterwards proved But to go on in my former Discourse After the aforesaid Encouragements given by the King to the English Papists to allay their fears fresh Consults were set on foot relating to the Government of Ireland This by accident the Lord Treasurer received some account of which he immediately acquainted the King with who absolutely denys that there was any intention of changing the Chief Governour but on the contrary assured him of his great satisfaction with the Lord Lieutenant there Within a few days the Lord Treasurer received from his Brother the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the same Intimations which he had informed the King of and upon which he again accosts his Majesty who as positively disowns the whole matter as he had done before and to remove the Jealousies of the Lord Lieutenant writes for his greater satisfaction a Letter to him as was said with his own hand assuring him there was yet no thoughts and he believed never would be in him whilst both liv'd to remove him from the Government of Ireland notwithstanding which the Papists in Ireland confidently affirmed that the day before the King writ the Letter he had given assurance to Father Petres That Tyrconnel should be Lord Lieutenant but 't is certain that no other Creature but the Queen was privy to this no not Tyrconnel himself for he could not keep a Secret. 'T was at the same time also resolved to put year 1686 the Lord Treasurer and Sunderland Principal Secretary to the Test as to what they would do in compliance to the Catholick Cause it not being at all adviseable to cherish Serpents in their Bosoms that might disembogue their venom upon every inviting Revolution The King undertook the management of this Affair and made his first Onset on Sunderland for he was observed to be most docible as appeared already by his submissive bowing and cringing to the Altar What the Tenour of that Discourse was which the King had with him is not yet known but however Sunderland's Obedience was extreamly magnify'd and approved of in the Conclave and Father Petres at a meeting with the Jesuits gave a good account of this Negotiation with Sunderland adding that 't was necessary for him as yet to appear a Protestant for Important Reasons of State. Upon meeting with this success the King descends to an attempt upon the Treasurer whom he endeavours to manage with good words and gentle arts of Perswasion For he was haughty as knowing that his signal Services might reasonably entitle him to considerable Favours from the King And therefore upon this account must be amicably dealt with and gently stroak'd into humour which the King strove to perform with all those Specious Arts and Policies dictated to him by his Holy Council And the more to prevail upon him he urged to him that Sunderland a Wise and Religious Man though he was knowing in his Religion yet refused not to admit of a Conference with those that were Learned and desired him to do the same The effect of this Negotiation became so publick that 't will be unnecessary to mention it here but Sunderland like an easie and tractable Child though fed at first with Milk came at last to digest strong Meat by arriving every day more and more to maturity in the Faith and though still a Protestant yet went every day with the King to Mass publickly kneeling before the Altar and praying with Naaman That God would forgive his Servant in that thing But to come to the Lord Treasurer No work of grace would take effect with this obstinate Impugner of the Faith and which rendered him a greater Infidel was that the King could not prevail so much upon him as to obtain his silence or a desire from him to have time to consider of it but turns an open Heretick upon which one of the Fathers said He must be Anathematized and that the King could never prosper whilst such an Heretick was near him Before it was publick in London the Priests year 1686 of Ireland gave out that the white Staff was broke and at that time by way of prediction told all that soon after came to pass It was now become the publick discourse That the two Brothers must down and then the King in Council pretended though he had before resolved to ask their advice who was fit to be placed in the Government of Ireland Several persons were proposed but none approved of After that the inclination of the Council had been sufficiently sifted by offering of divers the King again brings on Tyrconnel which was withstood by all but S and in opposition to which the Popish Party contended vigorously P notwithstanding that they knew him to be both a C and a F as the King in Passion one day told him he was yet however was considered as a Person whose moderate carriage had entitled him to a reasonable good Character among the Protestants and therefore the fittest to be placed in this station the better to amuse them This was chiefly insisted upon by them and he was strongly argued for upon this account Powis was naturally covetous and the Government of Ireland a Post of great profit wherefore his Friends advis'd him to agree with Sunderland and do as the L. B did with the Dutchess of Cleveland become Tenant for it in order whereunto Powis comes to terms and agrees for Four Thousand Pounds per Annum but whatever the bottom of the design was Sunderland never forsook Tyrconnel at the Council-Board Some conjectured that he acquainted the King of his Bargain with Powis and that the King made Tyrconnel agree to the same For 't is certain Tyrconnel who was of no great Conduct would swear he got not so much by the Government as served to maintain him notwithstanding that it was worth to him Eighteen Thousand Pounds per Annum Sunderland was become so intimate a Favourite that nothing could be got at Court but by his interest and when the King was told he got all the Money of the Court he replyed he deserved it Nay his Interest was at last become so remarkable that the King himself would ask when any grant was given if they had spoke with Sunderland The Irish were still marvelously impatient for year 1686 their Dagon and at last Tyrconnel obtains the Government notwithstanding all opposition The confirmation of this dismal News reaching the Ears of the Protestants in Ireland struck like a Thunderbolt Perhaps no Age or Story can parallel so dreadful a Catastrophe among all Ages and Sexes as if the day of Doom was come every one lamenting the dreadfulness of their horrible condition and almost all that could by any mens deserted the Kingdom if they had but money to discharge their Passage a demonstration of this were those infinite numbers
any sort of men how notoriously infamous soever to fill up their Charters so were they as much perplexed to find out men that would pay for them For not ten in the whole Kingdom would or could discharge the Fees for them Wherefore to encourage them the Lord Deputy ordered That the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General Neagle should abate half of their Fees But all would not do so that most of the new Charters are yet in the Attorney General 's hands for want of paying the Fees and the several Corporations act without them The infinite numbers of people deserting the Kingdom from all parts of it upon Tyrconnel's coming to the Government made the Towns and Cities almost waste discouraged all manner of Trade and sunk the Revenue to an incredible Ebb and deduction from its former value These weighty Arguments were strongly pressed at Court to Tyrconnel's disadvantage upon which he obtains leave to meet the King at Chester and carries with him his great Minister year 1687 and Counsellor Rice who being chief Baron of the Exchequer was to be believed above any it being King James's Maxim That he would hear no man in any thing that did not properly lie under his Province Rice was fitly enough qualified to sooth up the King with fine Stories and a specious representation of Affairs which he could the more easily do in regard there was none present to contradict him and so this Cloud blew over though many did believe and were in hopes that it would have broke with that violence upon Tyrconnel that he would never have returned again as Lord Deputy There as yet remained some Protestant Officers in the Army which upon this interview were ordered to be disbanded excepting some few who 't is believed had made fair Promises which they had not occasion as yet to put in execution Nor did King James require more than a private assurance of their Faith and Inclinations to his interest it being too early to make a publick Declaration as yet The Judges were abroad upon their Circuit year 1687 whilst Tyrconnel was in England pursuing such instructions as he had prescribed to them before his departure which were severe and prejudicial enough to the English and to their Protestant Clergy notwithstanding his late Proclamation superadded to others before from the King that they should enjoy all their Ecclesiastical Rites and Just Dues as they had formerly done The Clergy having since the beginning of King James's Reign lain under great Grievances as to the non-payment of their dues especially Surplice Fees which in that Kingdom they call Book-money and is very considerable to them by reason of the numerousness of Irish Families in most places took the opportunity at the Assizes in the several Circuits to represent their condition to the Judges as Persons from whom they expected Redress but on the contrary met with very dissatisfactory and unequal returns For though the Judges could not disown the legality of those small Dues called the Book money because founded upon the same Law with the greater Tythes as the Irish of the Country unanimously did notwithstanding that they had paid them in the former Reign yet did they so manifestly discourage the Clergy in their Addresses to them taking all advantages against them that could be offered and as studiously declining every Argument made in their favour as they were ready to embrace and hearken to what could be objected against them though meer Forgeries of the Irish and thereby so animated the Natives against them that they seemed to do them as much injustice though under specious and fair pretences as if they had publickly told the Papists that they ought not to pay them any thing Though at the same time and with the same breath that they were guilty of this execrable partiality they had the confidence to avow the justice of their proceedings towards the Clergy for whom they would have had them believe that they entertained the most equitable and upright intentions This would require a large Discourse if accurately handled but my unskilfulness in a matter out of my Province and peculiar to Ecclesiasticks will I hope be excused though thus slenderly touched upon but thought it better to speak something imperfectly of it than wholly omit an Affair which was so universal in the Reign of the late King James and so publickly transacted in the whole Kingdom The Judges found the Gaols full stocked with Toryes and Irish Robbers but Irish Sheriffs and Irish Juries were so Gracious as to vouchsafe them so general a deliverance that not one in forty was found guilty And in such Cases where Matter of Fact was notoriously plain or any of the Grandees were any way interessed in belief of the Criminals as 't was rare almost to a miracle if none were and the Evidence not to be taken off then 't was usual for the Prisoner at the Bar to be called by wrong Names and so discharged for want of Prosecution To these Arts of evading condign punishment for their Execrable Crimes several Menaces were added to terrifie the Plaintiff from prosecuting as that otherwise their Houses should be burnt their Cattle stole their substance destroyed and perhaps their own Throats cut which as often threatened so not seldom put in execution a sad discouragement to the poor English who lay under the daily hazard of being Robbed and Pillaged by the Irish and if they happened to seize the Malefactors must either discontinue any farther prosecution against them or else be exposed to greater mischief For the Proof and Demonstration whereof not to insist upon too many others take the following Instance which for the eminency of the Person and Barbarity of the several Facts may supply the rest acted by the Earl of C This Earls Eldest Son a great Favourite of the Duke of York's was with him at Sea and there killed and leaving no Heir his younger Brother was brought out of a Convent in France and instated in the Earldom The Duke of Ormond who always endeavoured to Naturalize the Irish Families into English embraced this opportunity there being none living but his Sister and this Earl who was next to a Natural to Marry him to a Daughter of the Earl of Kildare's in Ireland a firm Protestant and capable of an Intrigue beyond her Sex by this Lady he had several Children and one Son who is now Earl He was by the Duke of Ormond sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury and by him carefully bred up a Protestant and Educated at Oxford His Uncle Justin Mac Carthy as it since appears for the promotion of the Catholick Cause without the knowledge of his Mother or the Duke of Ormond Marries him when not Sixteen Years of Age to the Earl of Sunderland's Daughter and immediately sends him for Ireland where he continued a Protestant until the coming of King James to the Crown and then like the rest of his Country-men at that juncture returned to his old Vomit
accounted it to be if he stood not in his Majesty's favour The King gave him no other Answer but that he must return to the Lord Deputy and there justifie himself this he reckoned to be hard upon him but waiting upon the Lord Sunderland for some order to carry back upon which he grounded his Trial 't was thought fit to name the Chief Judges to hear and to report back the Matter to the King as they should find it With this order he returns for Ireland together with a Letter of Recommendation from Sunderland to the Lord Deputy praying his Lordship to take Compassion of the Poor Man who was sufficiently mortify'd by what he had already suffered in the loss of his Secretaries Place and that if his Excellency should pursue him farther to the losing of his Commissioners Place in the Customs he was a Ruined Man for that the King had declared if Matters alledged against him were proved he should never have any Employment in his Dominions and in the Close added That Acts of Clemency were suitable to persons of his Excellency's Quality and Station c. But matters were now come to too high a pitch and the breach was too wide ever to be patched up together again as it had been once already by Judge Daly's mediation betwixt them Sheridon or some in his stead had even in Dublin whilst this was transacting spoke contemptibly of the Lord Deputy in order to applaud Sheridon as a Triumphant Conquerour For so the Populace had cryed him up in Dublin and the Protestant Party in Ireland out of Enmity to Tyrconnel which it seems they thought to be the worse man of the two though in reality Sheridon as an Apostate was the greater Villain Upon Sheridon's Arrival at Dublin he repaired to the Castle with his Papers but was not admitted to the presence of the Lord Deputy He then goes to the Custom-house and there sits among his Brethren The next day the Lord Deputy advises with the Judges what to do with him for his Stomach could not digest his enjoying any Place in the Kingdom whilst he continued Chief Governour The Judges Counselled to appoint a Day of Hearing and in the mean time to suspend him from sitting in the Custom-House Sheridon had this order sent him upon which he came to the Castle and disputed his being suspended as if not in the Lord Deputy's Power This Demeanour was an Aggravation to his former and upon farther consulting with the Judges 't was agreed That since much of the proof of Sheridon's Bribery depended upon the Officers concerned in the Revenue 't would be absolutely necessary to heap as much Ignominy and Disgrace upon him in that Province as was possible which to effect the Commissioners of the Customs were sent for and ordered to write to all the Collectors of the Kingdom not to keep any correspondence with Sheridon in regard that he was suspended from acting in the Revenue A day being appointed for Sheridon to come to an Hearing he moved for more time which was readily granted for at this time another blow from Rome came against Tyrconnel which required his best Ministers to divert which was as follows The Earl of Castlemain had for some time been returned from his Embassy to the Pope but was Invested in no Preferment which he complained of to his Holiness which was seconded by Father Peters upon the receipt of whose Letters his Holiness writes over to his Nuncio to Address to the King in his behalf who was as ready to gratifie him in something as the other to embrace it but at present there was no vacancy But to supply that Father Peters takes opportunity to strike at Jeffreys the Lord Chancellor for tampering in the business of Magdalen-College in order to which he roundly acquaints the King That the most effectual course whereby to accomplish his design by establishing the Catholick Religion was to let his Prime Ministers and the World understand that no service they had or could do should protect them or be deemed of any account if they failed in the least Iota or minutest Circumstance relating to the Catholick Cause This Argument was so pursued with a constant uninterrupted vigour by the Nuncio and Father Peters that 't was brought to the Cabinet and upon the Seventeenth of December at NIght in this Year it was resolved That Jeffreys should be put out and that three of the Lords of the Treasury should be made Lords Commissioners of the Broad Seal and that Castlemain should be Lord Treasurer This Resolve continued not ten days but upon the suddain the Scene changed and Jeffreys fixed more firm than ever The true cause of this was never known but 't was observed that the Queen and Sunderland adhered to him This administred fresh cause of disgust to Castlemain and to the Church Party for now it began to appear that Affairs moved by the French Interest in opposition to that of Rome Such insuperable Difficulties had the Folly of that poor unfortunate King exposed him to His Zeal and Affection led him to adhere to Rome but his dependance was intirely built upon France The Church Cabal embraced the opportunity of the Lord Deputy's and Sheridon's Quarrelling wherein to recommend Castlemain as a fit person for the Government of Ireland representing to the full how injurious those Scandalous Impeachments of the Lord Deputy and Sheridon had been to and how much they had retarded the Progress of the Catholick Cause Farther urging that Tyrconnel had proceeded by too slow a motion and that he had effected nothing but the turning out of a few Soldiers and discourageing and frightening away the Industrious English who might many of them by Indulgence and Encouragement have been prevailed upon to espouse their Religion That Castlemain was a Man of great Parts and of a fine curious Head for the accomplishing of such a Work as the Reducing and Converting of Hereticks This was soon sent to Tyrconnel and by his Pensioner in London Communicated to Paris which the Deputy acquaints his two Grand States-men Rice and Neagle with who to dissipate this approaching Storm sit up Night and Day even to the hazard of Rice's Life who was an Infirm Man. Their whole Consult was as appeared afterwards what Apology to make for their small Proficiency in Proselyting Men to their Religion or at least in indearing them to the espousal of the Romish Cause and Interest and after many Essays the most Authentick was that whilst the English were Masters of their Lands they feared not the Government but as Satan answered in the Case of Job Touch them but in their Estates and they will either run into Treason or Conversion This being resolved upon Rice and Neagle were to draw up the substance of an Act which they did in that nature as gave in a manner the Lands of the whole Kingdom into the power of the King and although the Catholicks were to have but half of their Estates yet the
removed yet now he heard that he should and wish'd that he had given Five Thousand Pounds to have known it a Month sooner which expression was much wondered at Sheridon now comes upon his Tryal having four year 1688 Counsels all Protestants or at least who pretended to be such for two of them have since by their actions given cause of suspicion viz. Whiched and Donohan two intire Friends the first now with King James in Ireland and employed a Judge of Oyer and Terminer to try Protestants for their Rebellion Donohan is here and makes as fair a shew for King William as his Brother Whiched for King James but had the misfortune of being discovered to procure a Pass for his Brothers Son that was here employed by King James and one of his Converts who 't is said has since returned hither from Ireland with Intelligence from King James Two as good Protestants as Brethren but both in Iniquity One acts by a Commission from King James against those of his own Church and Profession and not only so but interprets that to be Rebellion which was grounded upon no other design than an absolute preservation of their Lives from the bloody Massacres of the Irish who having robb'd and pillaged them of their substance at the next step would have broke into their Houses and have cut their Throats from which they were bound by the Law of Nature and consequently by that of Religion to which the last carries no opposition but is derived from it as its prime and original foundation to defend themselves But is it possible for any one that stiles himself a Protestant so shamefully to temporize and prevaricate as against the Laws of Nature and Humanity thus as it were to prey upon his own kind The other promotes King James's interest though not publickly and upon the open stage yet by private and secret machinations though at the same time he seems a zealous adherer to the present Government An Hypocrisie which I pray may be as much beyond a Parallel as t is without excuse But I come to Sheridon The Charge that was brought against him was for selling of Placâ— and receiving extravagant Fees in his Office. To prove which there were Witnesses of all sorts brought from all parts of the Kingdom to which Sheridon and his Counsel made defence only by criminating the Evidence or making them interessed as Parties that swore to get money if they could fix it upon him The chief Evidence produc'd against him was a Priest that he had employed to bring in Grist to his Mill. This Priest he brought Evidence to prove he was a Man of a lewd and infamous Character guilty of several vile actions as of Bastardy c. Much time was consumed in hearing impertinent stuff not worth my filling Paper with or the trouble of the Reader 's perusal but in the end he was dismist of his Employments and so went off the Stage the worst of men had he not left an Ellis behind him a Miscreant of all Shapes that hath since been the Engine of Murthers and Rapins in that Countrey But now comes into Ireland one Captain Bridges year 1688 who rid Post to bring the happy News of the Birth of the supposed Prince of Wales For which he received the Honour of Knighthood by the Name of Sir Matthew Bridges What Tongue can express or man describe the extravagancy of those Joys which possessed the Irish at the arrival of this News Their former apprehensions of the shortness of their triumph by reason of King James's declension in Age and the prospect of a Protestant Successor had extreamly imbittered their greatest Comforts and caus'd an intermixture of hopes and fears But now that they had got a Young Prince that would become a Patron to the Holy Church this soon dissipated all their troubles They now considered that their Religion would be perpetuated to future Ages and that upon this fund they might not only extirpate Heresie but so establish the Holy Catholick Religion as to remain to all Posterity For now in the Scripture Phrase which they usurpingly monopolize and improperly apply to themselves The Gates of Hell was never like to prevail against their Church These were such sweet Reflections as they never before had a perfect relish of and which such narrow Breasts and earthy Souls were not capable to contain or to contemplate upon without making a violent eruption into all the outward demonstrations of an inconceivable satisfaction 'T would require a Volume to describe the particularities of those various Scenes of Joy which they shew'd upon this occasion Let this suffice That no Arts of Extravagancy were omitted whereby to represent their boundless Complacencies This News gave them so victorious an ascendant over the English that they were now become the scorn and contempt of those individual persons who had been their Slaves and Vassals insomuch that the meanest Labourer would now upon the least provocation threaten to hang his Master One pleasant instant to this purpose I cannot omit the Author being an Ear-witness of it A Labourer came to his Master very soberly and told him he owed him a Cow and bid him give it him presently the Gentleman laughed at him for he owed him not a Penney upon which the Fellow growing angry the Gentleman called him Rascal and offered to beat him but the Servant was not only too quick but too strong for the Master whom he was very fairly about to Cudgel but Company interposing diverted him from his intention But the Jest still remains which he spake in Irish but being interpreted runs in English thus You English Churse with an Oath by his Maker and St. Patrick I will Hang thee with these hands as well as ever thou waste Hanged in thy life But the poor Gentleman was afraid that he would have given him such an Hanging as is never used but once The News of the Bishops being committed to the Tower came some few days before that of the Prince of Wales's Birth either of which gave them abundantly more joy than they could possibly bear but being united put them into strange Convulsions Their Passions were now outragious having both these at once upon their hearts and now that they must vent themselves 't was a most difficult thing to restrain their hands from cutting of throats it being natural to them in their drink and reveling Debaucheries for want of Enemies to stab one another and contrary to other Brutes for they deserve no better Name they are most mischievous when best pleased Then is revived an old Quarrel of the Grandfathers commenced an hundred years ago and the revenge must be executed if any of the Clan as they call them be in the Company Before I take leave of our supposed Prince of Wales's Birth I must not omit to acquaint the Reader of the universal confidence of all the Irish in the Kingdom that the Queen as soon as 't was said she had Conceiv'd was