they had most part of the Kingdom in their hands and a standing Army of 15700 Horse and Foot of their Confederates God grant their Designs be not the same in this present conjuncture The Legality of the Acts of Settlement are not doubted at least-wise the British are satisfied to rest on them By their Objections they declare They intend their Repeal and yet five Parts of six of the Free-holders and the Major part by much of the Corporations in that Kingdom consist of Persons concerned that the present Settlement should continue as it is so that it is impossible for them unless the Kingdom be in such a condition as it was when they made those Articles to have such a Parliament as will answer their Designs English Roman Catholicks have been of another Temper The Statutes made in H. the Eighths Days whereby Church and Abby-Lands were given to the Crown cannot but be esteemed by every Roman Catholick to be more against the Rules of Justice than those Acts of Settlement they are point blank against the Canons of the Roman Church no general Guilt was cast upon the Proprietors no Innocents escaped The Lands were certainly designed for Pious and Charitable Uses and yet the Parliament in Queen Maries Days had such a regard to the Peace of the Kingdom to Purchasers for valuable Considerations and to Laws formerly Enacted that the Statutes for Dissolution of Religious Houses c. tho' but lately made were confirmed at that Session As Purchasers had no reason to question the Legality of these Acts of Settlement so likewise was there no cause to doubt its Equity when the Forfeiting Persons themselves to those that claimed by the King's Letters or as Nominees or by Proviso's c. in the Acts were contented to take part of their Estates of Lands Forfeited by the Rebellion and disposed of to them by those Acts so waving their former Titles several Forfeiting Persons who had the Land of their Country-men in Connaught given them by the Usurper kept those Lands to their own use and have since passed Letters Pattents for them as Forfeited by the late Rebellion without any Companction whatsoever Lastly His late Majesty was pleased to take very great Summs of Money from the British Patentees for their Confirmation and His Sacred Majesty that now is hath ever since the Year 1662. received the Profits of a considerable part of the Forfeited Lands which who could have imagin'd they would have done had they not thought those Lands might be enjoyed with a safe Conscience It is further considerable That to destroy the Settlement at this Time would Ruine multitudes of Families both in Corporations and the Country that depends upon it some of which consists of Souldiers sent thither since King Charles the Second's Restauration settled there tho' now Disbanded others in great numbers have been brought over by the encouragement of an Act of Parliament made the 14th of Charles the Second and several Orders of Council grounded on that Law Certainly it would be a breach of Faith and common Humanity to undo those who have done nothing to deserve so severe a Punishment It is now time to make some Reflections on the Coventry Letter and Pamphlet Intituled The Sale and Settlement of Ireland And first for the Coventry Letter The design of it seems to be to advise against the Issuing any Proclamation to declare That the King had no Intention to touch the Acts of Settlement but would confirm them Many Politick Arguments are used in it which lye not in my way But if His Majesty had been pleased to have declared His Intention Not to break the Act of Settlement it would have given great satisfaction to most of His British Subjects who tho' they do not mistrust His Justice yet cannot but be much Disquieted by the frequent Threats they receive from those that pretend to their Estates the unreasonable and false grounded Objections of others against those Acts. Neither had such Proclamation been without President for January 24. 1672. a Proclamation Issued by which King Charles the Second to take off a Malitious Suggestion diffused amongst His Subjects in Ireland That he did desire to weaken the Acts of Settlement doth declare That it never entred into His Heart either by His late Commission for Inspection or by any Indulgence granted to His Roman Catholick Subjects to live in Corporations any-wise to Infringe the said Acts. The Gentleman 's chief Arguments are against His Majesty's declaring any Intention to confirm those Acts which he Insinuates would be against Justice and Religion Indeed I believe had His Majesty declared Not to suffer the Acts to be broken most Men would not have desired any Promise of Confirmation for they now think their Estates as fully secured to them as Laws can do it However His Majesty in His several Declarations for Liberty of Conscience in England and Scotland hath promised to maintain His Subjects in the Possession of Church and Abby-Lands and yet it is possible this Gentleman might use some of his Argumenns against those Titles The Gentleman layeth down for a Principle That nothing can support the Catholick Religion in Ireland but to make the Catholicks there considerable in their Fortunes as they are in their Numbers which must be the only Inducement can prevail with a Protestant Successor to allow them a Toleration as to their Religion and a Protection to their Estates and that their having all Imployments cannot prevent this danger This must be acknowledged to be a terrible consideration to the British in Ireland That nothing can make the Roman Catholick Religion considerable but breaking the Settlement and giving the Irish the Lands the British now lawfully enjoy But I have a much better Opinion of that Religion and am confident That many who profess it are not of this Gentleman's Mind We see there are some Men that will not easily be satisfied Favour Imployments nor Free-Liberty in the Exercise of their Religion will not satisfie them They will have All or Nothing Our whole Confidence therefore rests in our King's Justice who we hope will never be perswaded to take away the Estates of those who are Guilty of no Offence against His Laws upon any pretence whatsoever The Gentleman advanceth That new Estated Men would freely part with great Sums and a considerable part of their Lands for a Confirmation That these new Estated Men would be as ready to lay their Lives and Fortunes at His Majesties Feet as any Subjects He hath in that Kingdom is a Truth Tryal would quickly Justifie But their Estates if Laws can secure them they have already as well Worded as they can desire If they should Purchase another Confirmation they are well satisfied a Parliament constituted of the Principles with this Gentleman would speedily Repeal it could they procure His Majesties Consent which I hope they will never do to the prejudice of the Act of Settlement now in Being Here I cannot but remember
with Honour the care our English Ancestors had for such as should come after them for the Securing this Kingdom They had observed that not only the meer Irish but the Antient Colonies had no kindness for the New English but the frequent Acts of Resumption passed in their Parliaments had avoided new Grants made to English-men for considerable Services For this and other Causes that Act was procured with great Wisdom by Sir Edward Poynings then Lord Deputy the 10. Hen. 7. by which it is Enacted That no Bills can be offered to a Parliament in Ireland before they have been approved by the King in England This Law tho after attempted by the Natives continues unrepealed and is our present Security who are confident the King is too Just ever to send a Bill into that Kingdom to take from many Thousands of His British Subjects that which they now enjoy by Law The Gentleman seems to be very hard upon the Memory of the late King when he displayeth his Rhetorick to shew how contrary to Zeal Piety and Justice it would be for His present Majesty to confirm the Acts of Settlement reflecting thereby upon King Charles the Second that Acted contrary to Zeal Piety and Justice when he made those Laws Questionless our present Soveraign will upon all Occasions vindicate the Honour of his Brother and I hope He will think no way so proper in this particular as by Protecting that Settlement which His Brother Establish'd The Gentleman hath it seems an expedient to help all Matters and yet he thinks fit to offer some in short which I fear too are the best of his Intentions altho' of a strange Nature He would have His Majesty Condemn Laws as Defective before any Person hath been heard in their Defence and after his Judges upon all occasions have judged them sufficient He would have the Clause concluding the Claims of those not yet adjudged Innocent Rectified whereby I presume he means Revoked by which the Persons concern'd in the Lands formerly Forfeited must near Fifty Years after the Rebellion be put to prove the Offences of particular Persons several of whose Descendants act at present in considerable Civil and Military Imployments and some of them now endeavouring to take off the Outlawries of their Ancestors These are things so Unreasonable that certainly they will never be hearkened unto where they expect they should At last He doubts not but Matters may be adjusted at the next Sitting of Parliament but what Parliament he means I cannot guess if he means an Irish Parliament freely and fairly Elected he knows That more than four Parts of five of it must consist of Persons that will not break the Settlement If he means such a Parliament as the Irish designed when they made the Articles in 1648. I am satisfied few of the British must expect to continue in the Possession of any thing they now Enjoy unless His Majesty be graciously pleased to Interpose Certainly he does not think of the English-Parliament his Country-men against all Reason and Presidents not admitting That Laws made in England bind that Kingdom But if he would have the English-Parliament Reconcile all Differences between us I fee no reason why the British should not Acquiesce if it have His Majesties Approbation I am come now to the Pamphlet called The Narrative of the Sale and Settlement of Ireland but am resolv'd to take no further notice of it than to reflect on some few Matters of Fact by which the Truth of the whole Paper and what sort of Adversaries we have to deal with may appear The Author makes an enumeration of the several Counties of Ireland and tell us Pag. 4. That in the Year 1653. Ten Counties were allotted to the Adventurers Twelve conferr'd on Cromwell ' s Soldiers Three given to Transplanted Irish and Seven reserved to the Common-wealth The first mistake and that a wilful one too is that he affirms That the Counties were thus disposed whereas it was only the Land Forfeited by the Rebellion in those Counties Church-Lands Protestant Lands Constant Good Affectionate Mens Lands were not disposed and the Interests of those were so considerable That not a fourth Part of the Province of Vlster was Forfeited His next Error which sure proceeds from Ignorance is That Ten Counties were given to Adventurers whereas it is notoriously known they had but the Moiety of the Forfeited Land in Ten Counties of which near the half of that hath been since taken from them Pag. 5. He says Five Hundred Gentlemen that Served the King in Flanders are named in the Declaration Let him reckon again and he will find but Two Hundred Twenty Two this is well stretcht yet the modestest mistake in his Paper Pag. 6. He affirms That taking off the Engagement which he says the Irish were forced to do on pain of Death by Cromwell ' s Army was made a Qualification of Innocency that none that had taken it could be declared Innocent And by this Qualification he leaves his Reader to judge of the rest aggravating the Matter with much Rhetorick Certainly this is a Falshood so apparent so easily discovered that no Man that valued his Credit would alledge it 'T is as Wilful as 't is Malitious Had he reckoned the Qualifications in the Act of Settlement right they are as he says but not any thing of the Engagement or any thing like it amongst them I believed the occasion of this was he had told the World That the Qualifications were so Severe and Rigid that some thought it Morally impossible to find an Innocent and yet when he came to consider them he could pick out but One to Cavil at and that put him upon this Notorious Invention Pag. 7. Few of the Irish Peers were admitted to Sit in the House of Lords under pretence of former Indictments Many of the Irish Peers Sate none were excluded upon pretence of Indictments unless they were also attainted of High-Treason Pag. 7. The Act of Settlement alloweth only Twelve Months time to the Tryal of Innocents The Act passed at a Cessation which begun the 17th of April 1662. The time for the Tryal of Innocents was to be the first of August 1662. By this it appeareth there was not near a Years time for their Tryal so that this mistake in this place seemeth to be to the disadvantage of his Friends But he had a further fetch he resolved not to own the kindness that the then Parliament of Ireland shewed those that pretended to Innocency giving them after the time for their Tryal by this Act was expired a year further by another Act being all they desired Pag. 8. The Commissioners began their first Sitting the first of February This Man hath so perfectly fallen out with Truth that it is impossible ever to reconcile them The Commissioners began the Tryal of Innocents the 30th of January 1662. They heard Twenty Seven considerable Claims before the first of February and might have heard many more had the
A Defence of the Present Settlement in IRELAND BY a LETTER pretended to be written from COVENTRY dated the 26th of October 1686. and several other Papers which have been carefully dispersed by some Persons who seem disaffected that the British are Possess'd of so many Estates formerly belonging to Irish Proprietors and with the Present State of Affairs 'T is apparent That there are Those that endeavour as much as in them lies to break the Settlement of that Kingdom of Ireland from which His late Majesty reaped more Profit than all His Ancestors before Him ever receiv'd from that Island And England has been eas'd of those great Expences of Blood and Treasure that the frequent Rebellions of that Kingdom did formerly occasion And although I do not imagin That any Suggestions how confidently soever â—â—serted will be able to divert our Soveraign from the Rules of Justice or the Interest of His Crown Yet I think it reasonable for the Satisfaction of Those to whom that Share I have in Ireland may come to set down what I know of that Settlement whil'st fresh in Memory that they may hereafter understand upon what Foundation their Title is built and endeavour and that without Scruple by all lawful Means to Enjoy and Defend It. I intend no Reflection upon any Particular Person nor can I without Trouble mention the Sad Accidents which happen'd between the Years 1640. and 1660. in Ireland Were I not forc'd to it I should esteem it indecent to use the term IRISH REBELLION but 't is now made necessary Let the Blame therefore lie on Him that gave the Occasion However I shall not offer any Thing but what I Know or have good Reason to Believe True and no more of That neither than is Pertinent The Question then being Whether it be Reasonable at this Time to break the Settlement of Ireland The Justice of it will first fall under Consideration In the next place Supposing some Objections might have been made to the Settlement at first Whether at this Time they can be justly hearken'd to Lastly I shall make some Observations on the Coventry-Letter and the Pamphlet from which the AUTHOR of that LETTER deriveth many of his Arguments call'd A Narrative of the Sale and Settlement of Ireland To prove the Settlement Just which is Founded upon the Forfeiture of a considerable Part of the Land of that Kingdom it will be necessary to shew That there was a Rebellion in Ireland which began the 23d of October 1641. and that almost general I. First For this I shall offer as the best Proofs that can be produc'd several Acts of Parliament as the Four Acts of Parliament Passed in England 17 0. Car. I. where this Rebellion is declar'd in the Judgment of that Parliament so general that many Millions of Acres would be Forfeited by it The Act of Settlement which is a brief Narrative of the Rebellion therein stiled almost National The Confederates being Represented in a General Assembly Chosen by Themselves and Acting by a Supream Councel Exercising the Power of Life and Death Making Peace and War Levying and Coyning Money Treating with Foreign Princes for their Government and Protection and Acting under a Foreign Authority Which are the Words of the Act not Words of course but of certain Truth as many could well remember that were living when the Act was agreed upon And the Irish Agents then disputed all particulars where they had the least pretence of Denyal yet these things were made good to their Faces and by the late King directed to be inserted as the Foundation of the intended Settlement The Act likewise that passed the 14 of King Charles the Second Cesse 23. For the keeping the 23. of October 1641. To Seize the Castle and City of Dublin and all other Cities in the Realm To cut off all the English in that Kingdom and to deprive King Charles the First of His Crown and Soveraignty Secondly The Irish do acknowledge that there was a Cessation a Peace made 1646 and another in 1648. between Them and King Charles the First or those Authorized by Him Doth not this necessarily Imply a War and what is a War by Subjects mannaged against their lawful King but a Rebellion These Transactions were in the Names of the General Assembly of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland which comprehended the whole Nation And if any of the Irish Confederates declared themselves against this Assembly as not included in it let those that know them Name them for their Eternal honour Thirdly The Rebellion was so General that in seven Counties of the Kingdom by the begining of the Year 1643 there were 3000 Outlawed for High Treason In eleven other Counties there were at least 3000 Outlawed for their Rebellion but the Power of the Rebels was so Great that they could not be Outlawed And as for the whole Province of Gonaught the Counties of Tippeary Limerick and Kerry and the rest of the Kingdom the Defection was so Universal that the King had neither Sheriffs Coroners nor any other Ministers of Justice to proceed against the Delinquents Fourthly The Oaths of Association That the General Assembly and Supream Council oblig'd persons within their Power to take directing them to be Administred by the Clergy in every Parish could not but Involve all that lived within their Quarters which first or last were almost over the whole Kingdom in an equal Guilt unless preserv'd by Miracle And if there be any such the Naming of them would give the World much Satisfaction Certainly from these Particulars considered together we may be satisfied of the Truth of that Expression in the Act of Settlement That the Rebellion spread it self universally over the whole Kingdom I shall say nothing of the Barbarous carriage of the Irish at the breaking out of the Rebellion to persons that had given them no Provocation which appeared by several Examinations taken upon Oath by vertue of the Kings Commission when things were fresh in Memory This only may be desired from those who deny any of the Relations published of those Cruelties to name the Places where any of the British were permitted to Live in Irish Quarters before the Cessation but were Murdered or utterly Ruin'd Many have been Inquisitive but could never hear of any one Family that escaped them unhurt unless they joyned with them except some few that were Protected by the late Earl of Clanriskard The Rebellion being so hainous and general as appears by the above Proofs It clearly appears that the Lands forfeited by the Rebels might justly be disposed to others That English Kings have disposed of Lands forfeited for Treason hath been every where so common but in England especially is a matter so well known that it needs no Evidence The King by the Law hath an absolute Right in such Lands which he may give as he thinks fit but those that were in Possession of those forfeited Lands in Ireland at King Charles the Seconds Restauration
had this besides the Kings meer Favour to offer for themselves That they had been very Early in appearing for His Return That they had without Conditions delivered the Kingdom into His Hands That some of them had adventured their Money others their Lives to obtain the Possession which they so readily without any Capitulation submitted to His Will The Adventurers also by Four Acts of Parliament made in England 17 Car. I. yet in Force had a Just Right to a considerable Satisfaction upon these Laws They had Advanced at least 300000 l. yet have in their Possession but a small part of what was intended them for had the Acts of the English Parliament been pursued and they not obliged to a Retrenchment of a Third Part of their Debt to the Payment of a Years Value to the chargable passing of Courts of Claimes and Letters Patents to none of which they were subject by these Laws their satisfaction had been four times as great as now it is It hath been Objected by some That part of the Money Adventured was mis-imploy'd by those in Arms against the King in England To which may be truly Answered That vast Sums of Money much more than 300000 l. Adventured had been sent out of England towards the stopping of the Rebellion even before the Cessation and that the Adventurers could not call the then Parliament of England to Account how they then disposed of their Moneys the King having left the Mannagement of the War of Ireland to Them by the Act of the 17 Car. I. 'T is further apparent That the earnest endeavours of King Charles the First to suppress the Rebellion was that which gave most Encouragement to persons who adventured their Money from this That after his leaving the Parliament nothing considerable could be Levied upon this Pretence though much more favourable Conditions were offered Others except against the Adventurers satisfaction as not set out pursuant to the English Acts to which may be returned That none Suffered by that but themselves for by these Acts they were to have had Boggs Woods and Barren Mountains cast into the Measurement The Quit-Rent to have been paid to the King was not to have been near so much as now it is They were to have had more Acres by a Third part than now they enjoy every Adventurer upon drawing his Lott should without Claim Letters Patents Payment of a Years Value or any other Charges have been Seized by virtue of an Act of Parliament of his Proportion which if it consisted of 1000 Acres or more it might have been erected by him into a Manner with extraordinary Priviledges They had a Just Right and there was no other way to come by it Certainly there was as much reason to conâ—irm This as any Judicial Proceedings in the Vsurpers Government And the King and Parliament in the Act of Oblivion that Passed in 1660 are of this Opinion for there they declare That that Act shall not enure to restore to any Person except the Marquess of Ormond and the Proteâ—tants of Ireland c. any Estate in Ireland disposed of by both or either House of Parliament or any Convention c. or any Person deriving Authority from them There are others of the British that have had satisfaction by these Laws The Military Officers that had faithfully Served the King in that Kingdom before the 5th of June 1649 the Persons against whose Loyalty there could be no Objection many of them left their Wives and Families in a Miserable Condition that they might go into England to the Assistance of King Charles the First where several of them lost their Lives in His Service and the rest upon all occasions appeared for the Royal Interest and never received any Satisfaction in Lands or Money until King Charles the Second of his own Justice and Bounty gave it them by the Act of Settlement These Men were sifted with the greatest Care and all excluded that had Betray'd any Towns in Munster or done any Service to the Usurper Having now shewn that there was a Rebellion in Ireland by which much Land was Forfeited which was disposed at the Kings Pleasure and that the Persons that were in Possession of the Forfeited Lands at the Restauration of King Charles the Second had fair pretences to have grants of the Kings Tythe In the next place I should Prove that the Acts of Settlement by which part of these Forfeited Lands were passed to Adventurers Souldiers and others of the English Nation are for so much as concerns these new Interests agreeable to the rules of Justice But first It will be necessary to Answer an Objection they Stated Suppose Say the Advocates for the Forfeiting Irish there were such a Rebellion as is Pretended Yet thes Confederate Catholicks in the Year 1643 made a Cessation with King Charles the First which in 1646 was turned into a Peace and that followed by another Peace in 1648 Concluded the 17 of January by the Duke of Ormond by which Article the 18th the King Promiseth that an Act of Oblivion should Pass in the next Irish Parliament to extend to all Persons Before In or since the 14th of October 1641. By this Article they say the King being obliged to Pardon them the Rebellion could not justly dispose of their Lands as Forefeited To this take this following Answer 'T is Apparent that the Articles of the Cessation were not kept by they Confederates they never Paying the 30800 l. nor sending the Succors they were to give his Majesty according to Agreement The Peace in 1646 was so far from being comply'd with that these Confederate Catholicks soon call'd a General Assembly that disowned it Imprisoning their own Commissioners that made it and sent an Army under Owen Roe o Neile and Preston to Attempt Dublin for clearing of which Particular I shall refer to the Memoires of James Earl of Castle haven Sect. 6th and this further cannot but be taken Notice of That that noble Earl acknowledges himself the only Person of the Confederates that never left the Duke of Ormond in those Adventures and gave him his Advice for giving up Dublin c. to the English Parliament Induced by this Consideration that if the Nuncio and his Party should have Ireland it might remain seperate from England for ever That many of the Confederate Roman Catholicks broke the Articles of Peace made in 1648 will appear by a Declaration of the Confederate Irish Army dated from James Town the 12th of August 1650 Printed in the Year 1674 in a Book Intituled The History of the Loyal Formulary c. written by Mr. Peter Walsh by which they absolutely disown the Kings Authority and Excommunicate all that adhere to it which wrought so with those of their Religion that many of them cannot be pretended to have continued stanch But the Objectors will still say There have been some Persons and some Corporations that never broke those Articles and with what Justice can they be denyed
the benefit of them To Solve this 't is fit to consider that the most moderate of the Confederates would not agree to a Cessation or Peace with King Charles the I. in his necessity whereby he might be at Liberty to make use of his British Army then in that Kingdom in his other Dominions without Cessations of such a nature as Loyal Subjects would never have required For Instance By the 11th Article they pretended to exclude such Noblemen of the British Extraction as had Titles in that Kingdom from Voting in Parliament unless qualified as they directed Article the 27. gives the Irish Agents Authority to Levy confiderable Sums of Money upon the Subjects in an Extraordinary way By the 28. Article the Irish Agents are to joyn with the Chief Governour in Naming of the Justices of the Peace and the Judges By the 12. Article it was to be left to both Houses of Parliament in Ireland to declare what they thought agreeable to the Law of Ireland concerning the Independency of the Law of Ireland upon the Parliament of England nor would they rely upon the Kings Word but by the 9th Article stipulate for continuance of an Army of 17500 Roman Catholicks And by Article 29. That all Cities Towns Forts and Castles in their Quarters which then extended almost over the whole Kingdom should continue in their Possession until the Artides were past into Acts of Parliament This implies an Obligation upon them so to keep this Possession as to be ready to deliver it up when the King performed His Part. But this none of them were able to do having given up the Cities and almost the whole Kingdom to the Vsurper making Conditions for Themselves but not taking the least notice of the King or his Authority The Act of Oblivion the Confederates pretend promis'd them by these Articles was to pass in the next Free Parliament Now how could a Parliament be Free that was obliged before hand to pass an Act so contrary to the Inclinations of most of the British concern'd in that Kingdome or How could the King by the Second Article promise to call a Free Parliament and at the same time by other Articles determined what the Parliament must necessarily do The next Free Parliament that Sate in Ireland after the making those Articles was that which was call'd Anno 13. Car. 2. In this Parliament an Act of Oblivion for the Confederate Catholicks amongst others was offered by Directions from the King but the House of Commons rejected it It is worth Observation how far the Breach of Articles by part of the Confederate Catholicks may Involve the rest and discharge the King of His Promise against them All. If a Besieged City Article and Security upon Conditions be promised the whole Garrison yet if part of the Garrison breaks the Conditions all forfeits their Security Besides King Charles I. before these Articles were entred into had obliged Himself not to Pardon those guilty of the Rebellion but by consent of the English Parliament King Charles the II. by His Declaration from Breda the 4th of April 1660 promises the Adventurers and Soldiers a Confirmation of their Estates according to their Possessions And the Parliament of England hath excepted the Irish Rebellion in the Act of Oblivion To conclude my Answer to this Objection King Charles the II. was the only Judge upon Earth how far He was obliged by these Articles He hath taken notice of them in His Declaration for the Settlement of Ireland and after He had heard all Parties doth Declare That those that pretend they adhear'd to those Articles should not be restered to their former Estates as Innocents In which Determination all good Subjects should Acquiesce I shall now proceed to Answer the Objections made against the Justice of the Acts of Settlement but will first shew how they pass'd in that Kingdom Neither of the Acts were drawn up in the Parliament of Ireland nor could they by the Constitution of that Country they were drawn as advised in England by the direction of the King in Council Nothing past without the knowledge of the Agents for the Irish who were looked upon as Men of the greatest Ability for Parts and Interest of that Nation and had a Gratuity of Three-pence per Acre allowed them out of the Roman Catholicks Estates those were permitted to Dispute every thing they could Object to in the Acts and not Over-rul'd but by the King in Council upon apparent reasons When the Acts came into Ireland they could not admit of the one Word of Alteration and so they passed the Parliament out of which no Man was excluded for being a Roman Catholick nor no Elector of Parliament-Men was refused upon that account Object I. The first Objection then against the Act of Settlement is That the Qualifications appointed by them for the Tryal of Innocents were unreasonable Answ The Qualifications were these That no Person was to be restored as Innocent that before the Cessation made 15. Sept. 1643. was of the Rebels Party Nor any who being of full Age and sound Memory enjoyed their Estates in the Rebels Quarters Nor such as entred into the Roman Catholick Confederacy before the Peace concluded in 1648. Nor such as adhered to the Nuncio 's Party Nor such who derived their Estates from Persons who Dyed guilty of the aforementioned Crimes Nor such as Pleaded the Articles of Peace for their Estates Nor such as being in the Kings Quarters had correspondence with his Enemies Nor such as before any of the Peaces made in 1646 or 1648 Sate in any of the R. C ' s. Assemblies or Councils or acted by Commission or Power derived from them Nor such as Impower'd Agents to Treat with Foreign Princes to bring Forces into Ireland or acted in such Negotiations Nor such as were Tories before the Marquess of Claurickard 's leaving the Government These Qualifications were in the Kings Instructions sent over to the first Commissioners for puting His Declaration of the 30. of November 1660. in Execution which Instructions together with the Declaration were after passed as part of the Act of Settlement No Man yet hath been so confident as to deny but that a Person guilty of any of the Offences mentioned in these Qualifications might justly be esteemed a Rebel unless in one particular and that is in the Enjoyment of an Estate in the Rebels Quarters But to this is Answered That by the express words of the Act those are excepted out of this Qualification that could not with safety live amongst the English and it may justly be presumed that none would choose to inhabit with the Confederates that were not of their Party Besides the Commissioners for Trying the Innocents were so favourable that there cannot be any Named that were Nocent barely upon this Qualification The Confidence of such is Wonderful who pretend they have lost their Estates meerly for their Religion The Vsurpers indeed when they first dispossest them did esteem the
is further to be offered At the King's Return in 1660. a considerable part of the Kingdom of Ireland was to be Settled Matters of such Weight cannot admit of long Delays all Persons agreed That Innocents were first to be restored there must be a fixt Time for their Restitution all other Interests being obliged to attend it All that knew those Times and how universally the Rebellion had spread it self knew there could but few pretend to Innocency Those that were really so or hoped the contrary could not be proved were earnest to be in their Estates and therefore at the desire of their Agents the first Period for the Restitution of Innocents by the King's Declaration dated the 30th of Nov. 1660. was the second of May 1661. This gave them but five Months Time And the first Commissioners proceeded the next day after the day of the Declaration which is three Months less than afterwards made use of The next Period was to the first of August 1662. and that was at the desire of their Agents by the Act of Settlement which passed at a Session which began the 17. of April 1662. Here they had but Three Months given them and nothing was done in relation to them in it Thus by an Act of Parliament and their own Neglect they would have been finally debarr'd had not the Parliament of Ireland of which they now so much complain not being discouraged by the prejudice it brought to many of its Membres freely passed an Act giving Innocents a Year further to be heard Four Months of which Time were trifled away by them and the other Eight Imployed in the manner before-mentioned A Third Objection to the Act of Settlement is That they had not perused King Charles the Second's Declaration of the 30th of Nov. 1660. upon which they were grounded several of the Irish Nation being provided for by that Declaration which now are never likely to receive the satisfaction intended them by it Answer A Complaint the Declaration is not comply'd with implies their now Acquiescence in that way which formerly they Opposed with great Heat but if the Declaration be not Perused the English are in no Default they themselves are great Loosers many of the Adventurers and Soldiers want much of the satisfaction which by the Declaration they ought to have had Many of their Estates which should have come clear to their Possession are subject to great Incumbrances and several of them are daily threatned to have all they had set out for their Adventures and Arrears taken from them by Dormant Titles lately set up by Irish Proprietors declared Innocent by this without any hopes of Reprize By the Declaration Souldiers and Adventurers were not to be removed from the Estates of any but Innocents without a previous Reprize of equal Value Worth and Purchase and if in case their Removal from the Estates of Innocents they were to be further Reprized in the same manner Removed they were indeed by the Commissioners upon the First Act from the Estates of Innocents and others but no care was taken by them on that Act for their satisfaction By the Second Act the British notwithstanding what they had lost to Innocents to the end that all the Irish Interests that the King seemed to have a Favour for by the Declaration might reap the benefit by Him intended them were contented besides several great Payments to part with a Third Part of their Estates by which means many of the Irish have and many more of them might have had satisfaction had not the King thought fit to direct the Inserting of so many Proviso's in the Act of Settlement for Persons of the Irish Nation that could not prove their Innocency and others that at that Time of his Restauration had not the least claim to Irish-Lands His granting likewise of vast quantities of Forfeited Lands by Letters Patents not grounded on the Act of Settlement have been the occasion that several of the Interests provided for by the Declaration are become desperate Having as I hope cleared the Justice of the Settlement by the Answers to the Objections made by the Irish against it and what else I have before offered I shall proceed to consider Whether it can at this Time be justly broken supposing that at first somewhat might reasonably have been alledged against it Three Years after the Commission for declaring Innocents were over and after the Irish Parliament was Dissolved about the Year 1667. most of the Forfeited Lands in Ireland were settled by Letters Patents in the Possession of such of the Irish as by Commissioners appointed to put in Execution another Act of Parliament for explaining the Act of Settlement were adjudged to have right to the same Since this Adjudication of Right and passing of Letters Patents being near Twenty Years there have been general alterations of Titles and Possessions for good and valuable considerations so that should the Settlement now be broken multitudes of Purchasers and Mortgagers for great Summs of Money Settlements upon Marriage where considerable Portions have been received Leases for Lives and Years where Fines have been paid and advantageous Improvements have been made will be divided and that without any Default in them that have dealt with the Patentees If it be Objected That Men Buy at their Hazzard and Purchasers are to look to their Titles of what they deal for This is not of Weight in this Matter for no Man could suspect the Legality of these Estates if he considered that they were confirmed by Acts of Parliament and had been always when brought into Dispute adjudged good by the Judges in the several Courts of England and Ireland Most part of the British Titles in that Kingdom have depended upon Acts of Parliament of the like nature The Plantations in the Counties of Wicklow Kilkenny Wexford c. upon an Act made 15. Jo. 16. The whole King and Queens Counties are settled by an Act made 3. and 4. Ph. and the c. 2. A Statute made the 11. of Eliz. c. 1. and Sess 3. is the Foundation of all those Plantations in the Province of Vlster These Acts barr the Irish Proprietors for former Rebellions without any Tryal of Innocents some few particular Persons being only taken notice of in them It was many Hundred Years before the Natives could obtain to be allowed the benefit of the English Laws Now they enjoy this Advantage by the favour of our Kings they will never Acquiesce in them They waited for an opportunity to destroy all former Settlement as well as they do the present and by the Articles of Peace they stipulated for Liberty notwithstanding the forementioned Laws to destroy the former Plantations in Kilkenny Wicklow c. Munster and Vlster they could not but allow they could not but allow the Laws they were grounded on whilst in force sufficient but they resolved to Repeal them in what they stiled a Free-Parliament which according to their Articles of Peace was to be called when