which time Seventeen Kings and Two Queens governed successively in England for which Reasons they conclude that it must of necessity have cost the English Nation vast Numbers of Men and great Sums of Money to keep their Ground which they gained there from time to time and at length to bring that whole Kingdom under subjection to the Crown of England And running away with this as an undoubted Maxim and Truth they conclude That it had been much better for England that God had left Ireland out of the Book of the Creation or placed it in some distant Corner of the World But this Conclusion will fail of course when I shew the mistake of the foregoing Opinion which will be the easiest thing imaginable to do if they will allow their own Chronicles and the Writings of their most Authentic English Historians to be the Rule of our Belief concerning the manner and means of Ireland's being Conquered by England For which end I here intended to have inserted a brief Abstract of English History so far as it relates to Ireland from the Reign of King Henry II. to the Conclusion of the late War but I find this in a great measure done to my hand by one Mr. W. H. in his Book entitled Remarks on the Affairs and Trade of England and Ireland printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1691. to which I refer such as think it worth their while to be satisfied more at large And therefore I shall only desire those who think Ireland to have cost England so dear to consult the Histories which are written concerning that Kingdom by their own Authors and they will find that the first Number of Men sent over by Strongbow Earl of Chepstow and Pembroke under the Command of Fitz-Stephens and Fitz-Gerrald was but 400. which were followed soon after by Legross with 130. and in three Months after by Strongbow himself with 1200. more being in August 1170. the whole three Numbers amounting but to 1730. which was the Complement of the Army that by the Assistance of Mac Murragh King of Leinster and his Friends did not only recover that King's Dominions in Leinster but very much enlarge them and in effect made the Kings of England Lords of Ireland and all this was done at the private Expence of Strongbow and his Friends as the remaining Provinces of that Kingdom were most if not all of them subjected to the Crown of England at the Expence of particular Persons who notwithstanding were well rewarded for their Services by the grants of those vast Estates which were given them by the Kings of England and which many of their Successors enjoy to this Day 'T is true that King Henry III. in the Year 1172. landed there in Person with a Party which some say consisted of 4500. but others only of 500 Knights but had no occasion to make use of them for upon his arrival the Natives of the three Provinces of Leinster Munster and Connaught were so terrified that five of their Kings became tributary to him by which means he did not only cut off the Communication which France held with Ireland theretofore from whence they had considerable Succours whenever the English waged War against them but he had himself in four Years after a very considerable Subsidy out of that Kingdom His Successors also had frequently great Aids of Men Money and Provisions from thence which were great Assistances to the English in their several Wars against the French Scotch and Welch all which is owned by the most Authentic English Historians that have written upon this Subject And 't is certain that they make it plainly appear that the People of England from their first entrance into Ireland for 400 Years which reached to the middle of Queen Elizabeth's Reign were considerable gainers by that Kingdom and that there were greater Numbers of Men and more Money and Provisions sent from thence into England France c. in the several Kings Reigns that govern'd during those Years who were generally involved either in Civil Wars in the Heart of England or in Foreign Wars against the French Scotch or Welch than were sent out of England all that time towards the Reduction or Conquest of Ireland For tho' there were frequent Rebellions raised in Ireland before the Reign of Queen Elizabeth yet they were generally quash'd by the English of that Country and such of the Irish as adheâ—ed to them with very little Cost to England till that grand Rebellion which was raised by Tyrone and others who were set on and encouraged by the Pope who by his publick Bull excommunicated Queen Elizabeth and the Kingdom of England and were assisted with Men and Money by the Spaniard For till the Pope's Supremacy was invaded and Religion reformed most of the Irish except the Grandees of them that lost their Estates by Conquest at first or by Rebellion after they had submitted to the Crown of England with their particular Friends and Adherents most of the rest I say were well enough satisfied with the English Government under which they lived much more securely and happily than they did under their own Petty Kings who were daily Killing and Robbing and using all manner of Acts of Hostility towards each other But the Pope being disobliged the Quarrel ceased to be as formerly between English and Irish on account of Civil Interest and was taken up between Protestant and Papist on account of Religion for the English Papists joyned with the Irish as did some Irish Protestants with the English on the other hand and the Papists of both kinds became Enemies to the Crown of England by the instigation of their Priests and Friars as we must expect they will ever remain while those Incendiaries are suffered to continue amongst them And the Truth of the Matter is that the antient Irish being a poor dispirited and cowardly People that is the generality of them they would in all probability run with as much dread from the English as the Spartan Slaves did from their Masters to their several Imployments when they appeared with no Arms but Whips in their Hands were they not assisted and managed by the degenerate English Papists who are the most desperate and troublesome Enemies the Protestants have in that Nation For the Proof of which we need not look further back than the late Rebellion for the Chief among the very first that began about Christmas 1688. to drive away the Protestants Cattel in the Counties of Mayo and Galway in the Province of Connaught where the Rappareeing Trade began were of antient degenerate English Families such as the Jordans Stanfords Joyces Garvys and several others whose Predecessors were antiently transplanted thither from England And as for the Army which was raised there for the late King James it could never have been brought to be any way considerable had none joyned in it but the antient Irish We know that Tyrconnel and Sarsfield
them and if I demonstrate that the English Party are like to be the only sufferers thereby I hope I shall gain my Point and that the Wisdom of England will not think convenient to do any thing that may be ruinous or prejudicial to that Interest First I shall begin with the Irish Papists as they consist of Popish English Families as well as of the ancient Natives of that Kingdom in which sense I desire to be understood all along when I mention the Irish I have already hinted how vexatious and troublesom they have been to England ever since the Reformation of Religion how vigorously they have at several times endeavour'd to cast off the English Yoak and how Bloody their Rebellions and Massacres have been And 't is certain that all such of them as have been dispossessed of their Estates especially since the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign were turn'd out of them by reason of their constant opposition to and uneasiness under the English Government with which 't is apparent they have believ'd their Interest to be wholly inconsistent or it cannot be imagined they would have made so many violent Efforts to extricate themselves from it I need not therefore give my self or those to whose hands these Papers shall come any further trouble by producing Arguments to prove the Dependance and Hopes of the Irish Papists to be very opposite to those of the English of that Country for if their Interests be so this must of course be allow'd And this they have in the late War evidently demonstrated to the World For when the Emperor the King of Spain and most of the other Roman Catholick Princes of Europe were in League with his Majesty of Great-Britain the Pope himself being rather a Friend than an Enemy and such of those Princes as did not assist us against France were all Neuters the Irish only with some small assistance from France maintain'd a brisk and vigorous War against us and did indeed make a stronger opposition to the Arms of England than we might imagine it were possible for them to do if we consider either the Condition in which they are now being unhorsed and disarm'd of all manner of Weapons of War or the Circumstances in which they were in any time since the Restoration of King Charles II. till the last part of his Reign when by the great Encouragements they had by the D. of York's means from the Court of England they began to seem formidable to the Protestants of Ireland So that I think I have made it evident that as they believe the Extirpation of the English out of that Country would be their greatest Interest and Advantage so they have chiefly depended upon the French and by them expected the accomplishment of that great Design Not that I will say that they have naturally a greater Affection for the French than any other Nation but because they have for some Years esteem'd the French King to be the most powerful and the most Ambitious Monarch of Europe of the Romish perswasion and consequently the most likely to attempt the Expulsion of the British out of that Country and as they fondly imagined to restore them to their pretended ancient Estates and Liberties which is the same reason that induced them to be so fond of the Spaniard in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth And notwithstanding that there have been all along the War considerable Numbers of those Irish Papists in the French service many of which remain there this very day and the Ruins of Demolished Towns and Fortresses in Ireland and the vast heaps of the Bones of Slaughtered Men which are to be seen in many parts of that Kingdom are but too Fresh and Sensible Monuments of their Villanies and cannot when we see them but make us Reflect upon their Behaviour towards us and remember how few years have passed since they were by downright Dint of Sword beaten into good Manners I say notwithstanding all these things I have been very well assured that long before the Conclusion of the Peace they have made application to the Emperor K. of Spain and other Roman Catholick Princes that they might Intercede for them to the K. of England as being poor Persecuted Catholicks because they are not left in a Posture of running into another Rebellion and Cutting of Throats at pleasure And to my certain knowledge they had September last their Agents or Plenipotentiaries as some stile them in Flanders and have the confidence to tell us that they were never so happy as under an English Government and that our present King has been gracious to them beyond expectation and so far they are in the right and speak Truth whether they believe it or no but they do also endeavour to make us believe that most of any Note among them having taken the Oath of Fidelity they are now true Friends to King William and the English Interest of Ireland and we know very well that Oaths have been ever such Sacred Tyes as they could not break through but have observ'd them as invfoiably as a certain Friend of theirs who was always Fam'd for being nicely just to his word did perform his repeated Oaths and Promises of Preserving the Church of England and Governing these Kingdoms according to the Laws then Established c. But to lay any stress upon their asseverations to this purpose is so grand a contradiction to Common Sense and Experience that reason can never admit it nor Mankind be so far Imposed upon as that they should expect the performance of any thing of this kind from them 't is altogether as reasonable to imagine that those Creatures which are called Tame Wolves when let loofe will abstain from their Prey and not fall upon the Flocks and Herds nor Foxes upon the Poultry t is as reasonable I say to believe this as that Irish Men in power will preserve and not endeavour to extirpate the Protestant Race out of that Country and for my part I shall scarce ever be convinced but that the Character is very applicable to them which Hippolitus gives his Hunts man of the Spartan Dogs Spartanos Genus est audax avidumque serae Nodo cautus propiore liga which according to my Interpretation is as follows That 't is a Turbulent ungovernable Generation greedy of Blood and never in good order but when tied up or close coupled If these be the People which the Parliament of England propose to keep in low circumstances they are very much in the right for that Generation never becomes Rich or Powerful but they grow Troublesome and Uneasie and are ready to joyn with any Popish Prince that will assist them against the English Nation who can never be too jealous or careful to prevent their being in a condition to repeat those Villanies which they have so often and so lately acted against the Protestants of that Kingdom and consequently of putting England to any further Charge or Trouble in the Reduction of
his Abuse and had no reason to expect either Civility or Good-manners from them Thirdly Another Instance of this kind to which I was eye-witness is as follows In a few days after that Gentleman told me this Passage there were two Clergy-men walking in their Gowns upon the Bridge of Belfast who were also Chaplains in the Army to whom I saw one go who counted himself a topping Gentleman in the North of Ireland and take up the Skirt of one of the Gowns in a gibing manner telling them in a deriding Tone and in broad Scotch tho' 't was not his usual Dialect that the Bischops were put down in Scotland Fourthly I have heard several of the vulgar Scotch of Ireland belonging to the Army say That when the Papists were Conquer'd they hoped the Bishops meaning the Episcopal Party should be the next against whom they should Fight and I was credibly inform'd that it was a frequent Expression among the Commonalty of them These two last Instances I produce to shew that this furious Zeal and Spirit of Persecution is not peculiar to those of Scotland but that their Friends in Ireland have their portion of the same which might be further proved by several particulars were it necessary to the main Design and Matter in hand Fifthly But there is one Instance more to which tho' I was not an eye-witness yet I received the Account from those whose Veracity I do not at all question viz. That some poor Gentlewomen who about the beginning of the Siege of London-Derry were sent by their Husbands who stay'd behind them in that Service to Scotland for security when they were Landed there with heavy Hearts and probably not very much in their Purses yet they found within themselves some small degrees of Satisfaction and Ease arising from the consideration of their being safely Landed in a Protestant Country out of the noise of continual Allarums and the Dangers and Fears occasioned by the Neighbourhood of a powerful Enemy to which for some time before they had been subject And there they had for some time such a Reception as might be reasonably expected in that Country till partly by their own unwary Discourse but chiefly by the Malice and Treachery of some of their Presbyterian Neighbours that went over about the same time they were discovered to be such as made use of that horrid Book called The Common-Prayer and which was worst of all that one of them was the Wife of a Curate which is the Title they have for our Ministers upon which Discovery the poor Gentlewomen were turned out of doors with as much precipitation and violence as if they had escaped from a City where the Plague raged or that some Judgment from Heaven must inevitably fall upon the House that should harbour them and could have neither Meat Drink nor Lodging for their Money notwithstanding that Coin is so well beloved by the Inhabitants of that Country but were forced to walk further where being less known they were more regarded and were very glad that they escaped without Violence And now methinks they that had so lately cried out against Persecution on account of Religion and the barbarity of the Penal Laws as they did in the Reign of King Charles II. and the late King James also till those Managers which led that unfortunate Prince by the Nose began to think it Policy to caress them and bring them to side with his Interest against the Church of England Methinks I say they should not have made such severe applications of a Law of that kind as they did in their own Country and at a juncture of time when the King and People of England were engaged not only in a Foreign War against France but in another bloody War in Ireland and a third in Scotland I will not say that this proceeding against the Episcopal Church of Scotland at that time looked like an Imposition upon the Necessities of England but the World must judge the taking that Advantage to be ungenerous and that it was as much as if they had said that since their Assistance was required against the Common Enemy the extirpation of Episcopacy was the recompence they expected and must have in consideration of their Services And tho' they could not say when they were resolv'd to ruin that Church as the Jews did when they were bent upon the Crucifixion of our Saviour We have a Law among us and by that Law he ought to die yet they enacted among themselves a Law to that purpose which occasioned a great many to side with Dundee and opposed His Majesty's Interest in that Kingdom to the utmost of their Power who longed earnestly for this happy Revolution and expected thereby to be delivered from the then imminent Danger of Slavery and Popery not thinking that they should fall under another no less cruel Bondage And indeed this proceeding might have turned the Hearts of a great many more in that Nation against the Interest of His present Majesty and the People of England had not those poor Men wisely considered that it was the Act of their own bigotted Country-men and therefore instead of taking up Arms against England they fled hither in great Numbers for Succour and Protection which may be justly esteem'd to be one remarkable Link in that Chain of amazing Providences which attended His Sacred Majesty in rescuing these Nations from Tyranny and Misery for since the great Principle of Self-preservation was never more universally acknowledged than at this Day we must not believe the desires of Liberty and Property to be peculiar to our selves alone and had the Episcopal Party in Scotland joyn'd entirely with our Enemies and the Providence of God had not appeared so visibly in the Affairs of Ireland but that Enniskillin and Londonderry had been taken by the Irish and the late King James's Army or a considerable part of it been transported into Scotland it might have altered the face of Affairs been of fatal Consequence to these Nations and an universal prejudice to all the Confederate Princes of Europe And whether the War carried on by Dundee and his Accomplices has been prejudicial or chargeable to the People of England is a point which I shall leave to their own determination But that I may obviate an Objection which I am apprehensive may here be raised I do confess that the Presbyterians as well of Ireland as Scotland were in the late War active and assisting in the suppression of the Enemies of England and do highly approve their Prudence and Foresight in rejecting those Conditions which were in the latter part of the late Reign offered them by the Papists from whom they very well knew they were to expect no manner of performance longer than they served their Turn and do think it was wisely said by an English Dissenting Minister that the Papists would make scaffolding of the Presbytery to pull down the Church of England and that when the Work should be finished that
of England I shall not presume to determine but since the most Learned Casuists of the World have a share in the Legislative Power I shall humbly submit the matter to their Resolution I shall only propose one thing more to the Consideration of the wise Men of England viz. that if they would but agree to make the best of their own Manufactures they would be so far from obstructing the People of Ireland's pursuing theirs that 't is very probable they would in a little time be for giving them Encouragements for going on vigorously with them And the true method of raising the English Manufactures to that pitch of perfection will be found to be extreamly easy and practicable viz. let the great Men of the Nation unanimously resolve that both them selves and their Families will in their Apparel be conten with the Fabricks the Cloaths and Stuffs of their own Country and that they will discountenance others that shall presume the contrary this will undoubtedly influence all such as are in inferiour Stations through these three Kingdoms and his Majesty's Foreign Plantations and ingenious Artists will be hereby incouraged to improve the English Manufactures tho' I am very well assured that there are those in London already that will undertake to furnish the Nobility and Gentry of these Kingdoms with Silks Stuffs Cloaths c. which shall be as rich beautiful and serviceable as any Nation under Heaven need to wish them and at much cheaper Rates than 't is possible to have them from abroad Juvenal deals very freely with the Antient Romans and seems to be passionately concern'd that they being the greatest People upon Earth did ape the Grecians in all particulars in their Habit in their way of Eating Drinking Discourse and Behaviour and did as he tells us do most other things after the Greek Fashion and indeed these Nations have been faulty to that degree in these particulars with respect to the French that I have heard some intelligent Persons affirm that in the two last Reigns when an Embassador suppose from Germany Denmark or Sweden had a desire to make an agreeable Figure in the Court of England he thought it could not be done unless he had his Cloaths from France from whence most of the English Nobility and they that esteem'd themselves to be the fashionable part of the Gentry had theirs nor is Apparel the only thing in which they have been vainly fond of imitating the French for most of those who reckon themselves the only genteel People when they come to an honest English Gentleman's Table and find it furnished with good Beef Mutton Veal c. they cannot away with that nasty Butchers Meat Nor is the Poultry or Fowl thought fit for Stomachs of Quality except they be so Frenchified as to loose their natural Taste and Colour but if they come to another place and meet with a Dish of Scraps which perhaps were detain'd a Day or two before from the Poor and that be toss'd up after the French mode O then 't is excellent savory Victuals little Master and Miss are not thought to call decently for Bread or Small beer at Table unless they can do it in French nor is the Curtezan of the Town sufficiently qualified to wheedle her easy Beau unless she be in some measure Mistress of the French Tongue without which indeed no one can be sufficiently impertinent nor bear a part in the noisy Conversation which is now in fashion All this is certainly a kind of Homage paid to France 't is a tacit acknowledgement of some Excellencies in them of which we are not Masters and the owning ourselves obliged to them for the melioration and true use of our Cloaths Meat Conversation and other Accommodations and Blessings of this Life Tho' it may not be thought easy to reform in all these particulars at one time yet methinks 't is but reasonable it should be attempted in relation to our Cloaths since that would be vastly advantageous to England in keeping those great Sums of Money at home which before the War were sent yearly to France for Silks Stuffs c. 't would also be a means of employing many Thousands of Hands which by means of the great Importation of Foreign Commodities of that kind do want Work and 't is very probable that instead of prohibiting the People of Ireland from sending their Manufactures out of their own Country their Assistance would be required in furnishing the Western Plantations with those coarse Woollen Commodities which they are now by Law debarred of sending to any of them For since our King has been the Glorious Instrument of retrieving the antient Grandeur and Honour of England and giving Peace to Europe the Christian Princes will undoubtedly pay him the Respects which are justly due to his Merits Foreign Nations will be fond of imitating the English Gallantry and think London as competent a City for the Education of their young Nobility and Gentry in Arts and Arms in Behaviour and Manners as Paris has been this last Age esteem'd by us and consequently tho' perhaps France may think it below them to imitate our Fashions or buy our Silks Stuffs or Cloaths c. from us yet we shall at least be their Competitors and other Kingdoms of Europe will follow the Modes and buy the Manufactures of England but if the English Nation will think nothing becoming but what they have from France 't is no wonder the rest of the World should neglect those things which are despised by ourselves This I think is a Consideration much more worthy the Thoughts of the great Men of England than that they should stoop at a Game so mean as the poor inconsiderable Manufactures of Ireland which according to the best Information I can have in this Kingdom do not amount to the two hundredth part of those of England and which besides their being already prohibited from being transported to the Western Plantations are so indifferent that they will not sell in any Foreign Markets where English Commodities can be had and yet they are the main Support of a People who I may safely say are as Faithful and Loyal to the Crown of England while fix'd on a Protestant Head as Men can be and whose Interests I hope the Wisdom of England will not think fit to sacrifice to the Covetousness of particular Persons notwithstanding the Petition of the Citizens of Exon c. by which if they propose to have considerable Quantities of Irish Wool imported to them they have taken the most effectual course to prevent the increase of Sheep and the plenty of Wool in that Kingdom for if a Law should be enacted against the Exportation of Woollen Manufactures from Ireland to any Foreign Parts no Man of common Sense will think it worth his while to deal in Sheep which are the most nice and dangerous and will by that means be the most unprofitable Cattel in which a Man can deal in that Country For
A DISCOURSE Concerning IRELAND AND THE Different INTERESTS thereof In Answer to the Exon and Barnstaple Petitions SHEWING That if a Law were Enacted to prevent the Exportation of Woollen-Manufactures from IRELAND to Foreign Parts what the Consequences thereof would be both to ENGLAND and IRELAND Pro Aris Focis Lâ—NDON Printed for Tho. Nott at the Queen's-Arms 〈…〉 the Pall-Mall and are to 〈…〉 by E. Whitlock 〈◊〉 Stationers-Hall 1697 8. PREFACE HAving seen in the Votes of the Honourable House of Commons the Contents of two Petitions one preferred by the Inhabitants of Exon and the other by those of Barnstaple c. which in the Opinion of all such as I have conversed with who know the Affairs of Ireland have a malign and fatal Aspect upon the English Interest and the Established Church of that Nation and being desired by some well-wishers to both Countries to publish my Thoughts upon this Subject I think my self bound by the Sacred Tyes of Religion as well as the Common Obligations of Nature to gratify their Desires in this Particular and do hope to make appear in the following Tract that the fore mentioned Petitions are not only the most unreasonable but the most unconscionable Requests that could be made to that August Assembly for if they mean as it is universally believ'd they do that the High Court of Parliament to gratify the Petitioners Request should enact a Law to prevent the Exportation of Woollen Manufactures from Ireland to Foreign Parts and consequently to Ruin the English of Ireland I know nothing more extravagant which they could have desired unless it were that a Law should be enacted against the Church of England or the City of London the English of Ireland having been upon all Occasions since they were a People the truest and stanchest Friends the Monarchs and People of England ever had I had I confess some Thoughts relating to this Affair the last Session of Parliament but after the prorogation thereof being persuaded by some I conversed with that the Parliament of England would not proceed further upon that Matter I forbore to make them publick but seeing the fore-mentioned Petitions I am forced to put them together after the best manner I can in that small compass of time I have for doing it so that it cannot well be expected the following Paper should appear so correct and accurate as it might if I had time either to consider further of it or consult my Friends but Truth I hope will not be rejected because She appears in a mean and humble Habit and I do affirm that to the best of my Vnderstanding I shall deliver nothing else in this Discourse There may perhaps some small Mistakes be occasioned through haste or inadvertency but the main Scope of it is Fair and Honest and I shall not in any one particular endeavour to impose upon those to whose Consideration it is submitted It may perhaps be objected that I might have written more politely if I had done it with that brevity which is now usual upon other Occasions but indeed the Subject is of so great Consequence that I think I have not altogether done right to it having to avoid Prolixity omitted several things I might have said and I would desire those who may think it tedious or whose Occasions may not suffer them to read the whole to omit the first part which is Historical and begin at Page 37 where that which is most material begins to be treated of and which will not take up much time in the perusal The great Motive I am told which induced the Western People to prefer Petitions against Ireland is the Notion they have of our being grown Rich and full of Money and Trade since the late War which was undoubtedly occasioned partly indeed because one particular People among us of whom I shall speak at large in the following Pages have engrossed the greater part of what Riches there are in Ireland and make a greater figure than ever they did before and partly by the unwary Discourses of some of our own Country that travel into England who cannot bear the very beginnings of Prosperity and are so vain-glorious that they think they cannot sufficiently extol their own Riches and Magnificence when God knows that poor Ireland in her highest Prosperity never was nor is like to be guilty of so unpardonable a Sin as being Rich to that degree that the English Nation should have cause to envy her or be jealous of her A DISCOURSE Concerning IRELAND c. THE greatest and the wisest Nations under Heaven being subject to human Frailties are apt sometimes to conceive wrong Notions of things and I know no Opinion more groundless and withal more universally received by the People of England than that which they entertain concerning that unhappy Kingdom of Ireland which of all the Territories that they have by their powerful and victorious Arms subdued to the Obedience of this Crown has been as they imagine and would perswade others the most dearly purchased They generally believe that Aceldama to have cost England greater Numbers of Men and vaster Quantities of Treasure computing the Expence of both from the time that the English had first footing there till the Conclusion of the late War than it really did the Greeks to Conquer the World by the Prowess of Alexander the Great or the Romans to do the same under the Conduct of Julius Caesar For we are told by Historians that the Armies commanded by those Generals were recruited by every fresh Victory they obtained and the People that had one Day the misfortune to be subdued by them must the next Day assist in the Destruction of their Neighbours The Spoils of conquered Nations in hand and the Prospect of Empire at length were the great Encouragements those Conquerors had to undergo their Toils and Labours The Riches of the Foreign World were their principal Funds for the payment of their Forces and tho' it would be absurd to imagine that they had not frequently and especially upon all urgent Occasions Succors from their own Countries yet those great things which in their different Ages in the World are attributed to them were principally atchieved at the Expence both of the Blood and Treasures of their vassal and tributary Provinces which daily increased as they went forward with their Conquests But a great many of the English Nation are fully perswaded that the course of their Victories in Ireland was not so swift and easy but that the Methods by which it hath been brought under subjection have been very different and the Work much more difficult and tedious For that being a poor and moneyless Country there were no very great Encouragements for an Army to Conquer it so that it was gained by piece-meal and England was at the whole Expence of subduing it for from the Reign of King Henry II. till the latter end of Queen Elizabeths Days being 432. Years it was not entirely conquered in
who were the Two principal Commanders among them were both of English Families And 't is remarkable that most of those Families that were the chief Instruments in the Conquest of Ireland are this Day or at least were in the late War the most dangerous and perverse Enemies the English met with in that Kingdom and particularly the Burks or de Burgo's the Chief of which Name was so eminently serviceable in the Conquest of the Irish that the Estate which was granted him in consideration of that Service was thought sufficient to recommend an Heiress of that Family Elizabeth de Burgo to Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son to Edward III. King of England the yearly Rent thereof even in those Days being computed at 30000 Marks But in the late War that Family has been so far from being serviceable to England that I knew my self four Lords of the Name who were Colonels of Regiments by which we may imagine what a Number of this Family was in all other Posts in the Irish Army The Principal of those Lords Clanrickard a half-witted hot headed Zealot being to satisfy his foolish Ambition of being thought great made a kind of a Sham-Governour of the Town of Galway would have in one Day by the Advice of some of the malicious Inhabitants of that place sacrificed to his Rage and Folly the Lives of Sir Thomas Southwel and all his Party being between Two and Three Hundred Protestant Gentlemen which he certainly had done had he not been prevented by others who had the Sense to consider that they might very probably be called in a little time to a severe Account for so horrid and barbarous a Murder Another by his Title Galmoy was Colonel of Horse and spared no Protestant with whom he could find any manner of pretence to pick a Quarrel he was the first that I heard of who drew blood in the late War having hanged up Carleton and Dixy at a Sign Post in Belturbot without any manner of Tryal either by Martial or Common Law after which the Rabble cut off their Heads and kicked them through the Street as Foot-balls He also occasioned several other Gentlemen in the Queens County after they had made Terms for their Lives to be hanged and quartered at Maraburrough for which Reasons he has thought fit to Transport himself to France where he still remains The other two Lords of that Family were one of them taken Prisoner and the other kill'd at Aghrim Hugh Lacy was also one of those that in the Reign of Henry II. at his own expence Conquered the Kingdom of Meath which is a considerable part of Ireland And his Successors are most if not all of them bigotted Papists one of them I knew in the Year 1687. to be principal of the Dominican Fryars in the City of Limerick his Father had been a Colonel in the Rebellion of 1641. and was one that bore a great Sway in that Country at that time and tho' I do not know what Imployments the rest of that Family had yet I do not doubt but they were to the utmost of their power active and vigorous in carring on the late War And I may justly give the same Account of the Fitz-Stephens and a great many of the Fitz-Gerralds whose Ancestors Commanded the first Forces that Strongbow sent into Ireland tho' the chief of the latter be a Protestant and the first Earl of Ireland There are also several of the ancientest English Families who continue Papists and have undoubtedly been as deeply engaged in the War as their Neighbours But besides these particular Families there are in one part of that Kingdom a whole Generation of People called the Natives or the Birth of Galway as they style themselves who were reckoned before the late War to have been worth 30000 l. per annum in Lands in the Province of Connaught beside their Trade or Merchandize by which they purchased their Estates They consist of 14 Families which they call Tribes such as Lynch French Blake Kirwan Dean Skerret Bodkin Morris Athy c. the generality of which are so far from owning themselves to be Irish men that they care not for intermarrying nor to have any dealings with the ancient Irish more than the purchasing their Lands or receiving their ready Money for Wines and other Merchandize They were at first a Colony of Fisher-men and when they began to Trade to Sea and grew great and rich by that means were frequently molested and Plundered by the old Irish so that they were constrain'd to make their Application to King Edward VI. from whom they obtained a Charter with great Privileges and Immunities by which they were enabled yearly to choose their own Clergy-men in opposition to the Irish Arch Bishop of Tuam and were in short put thereby in a posture of defending themselves contrà gentem quandam feram barbaram Offlaherty which are the words of their Charter This Town in the Rebellion of 41. was one of the last in that Kingdom that surrendred to the Earl of Munrath upon very advantageous Articles as it did this last War to General Gynckhel In the Year 1688. the Mayor of that Town one Brown by name had a Commission for a Regiment sent him by Tyrconnel which was accordingly raised there and in the Neighbourhood There were also a great many of the Natives of that Town who were Field-Officers Captains and Subalterns in other Regiments in that Kingdom Now there is no doubt to be made but those Papist of English Extraction in conjunction with the Old Irish have been very injurious to the People of England and have put them to a vast Expence both of Men and Money as well in this late War as in that of Tyrone in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and that horrid Rebellion of Forty One in which according to the best Accounts we have above 200000 Protestants of all Sexes and Ages were barbarously murdered in cold Blood but this will not be sufficient to prove that the English have been loosers by Ireland and that it were better for them there were no such Country in the World For let us but consider the State of that Nation in the Reign of King Charles II. and the yearly Benefit which 't is apparent to the World England made of it and we shall find it demonstrable that 't is a mere vulgar Error either to think or say so For it is plain Matter of Fact that in the latter end of that King's Reign and the two or three first Years of the late King James's that they received Forty Thousand Pounds per annum which was or might have been transmitted to them into England out of the Revenues of Ireland and remained clear to them over and above the Charge of the whole Establishment of that Kingdom that is both of the Military and Civil List which amounted to 243663 l. Sterl to this we may add above 10000 l. a Year paid out of that Revenue in Pensions to
several Persons resident in England The Rents also of Lands in Ireland which belong to English Proprietors or at least which were constantly spent in England amounted to 100000 l. yearly and 't is affirmed by them that best understood the Trade of that Nation that the English by their Shipping imployed in carrying Coals for Ireland and in Merchandizing otherwise for the People of Ireland to several Parts of the World gained above 70000 l. clear per annum If we consider likewise the several other Advantages tha England receives by Ireland for Students that come to the Universities and Inns of Courts Travellers thither the Post-Office Interest of Money c. it will by a modest Computation appear that the King and People of England did in those Reigns receive yearly above 200000 l. clear out of Ireland besides the fore-mentioned Charge of the Establishment of that Kingdom and the vast Advantages they gain'd by the Trade thereof from thence they were supplied with many Commodities useful and necessary for the carrying on of their Manufactures here and received vast Sums of Money from thence for their superfluities both of English and Foreign Goods the Computation of which I shall leave to those that are concern'd in that Trade at this Day or were before the War who must consequently best understand it Let us now suppose as we justly may that Ireland considered in the Circumstances in which it was in the Year 1686. did yield to England one Million of Pounds Sterl in four Years and let us compute as near as we can the Treasure which those three grand Rebellions that have been the most chargable to England has amounted to the first of which broke out in the Year 1597. till which time Ireland was never accounted a burden to England and the exact Charge of that War 't is said came to 1191248 l. Sterl In the Rebellion of 1641. England being embroiled in a Civil War at home Scotland also being in Confusion was able to afford Ireland but very little Aids of Money the Army that fought against the Rebels there lived for the most part on their Shifts and in consideration of the Pay due to them had great part of the Lands of that Country set out as Debentures which many of them this Day enjoy But let us suppose that England in that War in Ireland was at the Expence of one Million more And as for the last War in Ireland I am informed that cost England something more than two Millions so that it is plain that Ireland considered in the fore-mentioned Circumstances in the Year 1686. yielded England in twenty Years by a very modest Computation more Money than ever it cost them to Conquer and keep it and has more than once paid for its own purchase and I may justly conclude this part of my Discourse with this Assertion That Ireland next to England its self is the richest Jewel in the Crown and that it hath already been very Advantageous to England and may be much more for the future provided the English there be supported and encouraged and the Natives kept in due subjection The Truth of which the before-mentioned Mr. W. H. has made out at large in his Book which might have saved me this trouble had it not met with the same Fate that this probably may to be despised and neglected because it relates to Ireland which is sufficient to prejudice a great many against it But his having done this to my Hand is not the only Reason of my being so brief in speaking to it but because it is not the main Point which I intend to insist upon For lest I may meet in this sceptical Age with some Persons that it may be as hard to induce to give Credit to this Paradox of Ireland's being useful and profitable to England as it is to persuade others to believe the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity and will as much question and object against the Truth of English History as some do against the Authority of the Holy Scriptures I shall therefore desire to be allowed only this one Postulatum or Principle to proceed upon viz. That since Almighty God when it was at his pleasure and he might have forborn the Creation either of England or Ireland thought fit to create them both in the Neighbourhood of each other and allowing that Ireland has been always a vexatious and chargable Country to England for if the People of England will say and are resolv'd that this is and shall be Truth 't is but Duty and good Manners in us of Ireland to subscribe to it yet that it is not only expedient but almost necessary for the common Security and well being of England at home as well as for the Advantage of their Commerce and Trade abroad that the Possession of Ireland and the Government thereof both in Church and State should be always in English Hands and managed according to the English Laws there Establish'd and the Interest of this Crown therein be constantly and entirely preserved And this is what is and hath been allow'd not only by the wise Men of the present and former Ages but by those who are most prejudiced against Ireland otherwise they would not have thought it worth their while to assert their Title to it with so much Vigor and Conquer it so often as they have done From this Concession which I never heard to have been refused by any of the English Nation I may deduce this very natural and undeniable Consequence That our most Wise and Gracious King and the Grand Council of this Nation the Two Houses of Parliament would be so far from Enacting or Consenting to any thing that may prove apparently prejudicial to the English Interest in that Kingdom which they have so lately and at so dear a Price re-gain'd and re establish'd and which being violated must produce some evil Effects even to this Kingdom that they cannot look favourably upon any that would impose such Advice upon them but believe them either to be at least ignorant of the Constitution of that Country or to act out of a Principle which I don't think convenient to mention It shall therefore be my Province upon this Occasion humbly to represent how Dangerous I apprehend the Consequences of such a Law as is mentioned in my Title Page will in all probability prove to the English Interest and the Establish'd Church of that Nation and only to offer to the Consideration of the Wise Men of England whether they may not in some time severely affect this Kingdom tho' the Prejudice be immediately to Ireland And that I may with the greater perspicuity and plainness accomplish the same 't will be useful to take Notice that that Nation consists principally of three several kinds of People whose Interests and Dependencies are very different from each other I shall say something of them in particular and endeavour to shew how far this Law if enacted will affect each of
them There may be several particular methods proposed for weakning that Interest and incapacitating them of being any further troublesome to England such as Banishing their Priests and Fryars taking care to have their Children or the greater part of them educated in the Principles of the Protestant Religion as the French do to have those of the Protestants in their Country brought up to Popery The prohibiting of Papists by Law to purchase any Lands or Freeholds in that Kingdom and so forth But if the Government of England would think convenient to have Parliaments more frequently call'd in Ireland than they usually have been especially in the Reign of King Charles II. who never called one from the time of the Settlement of that Country to the day of his Death which without dispute gave the Irish Papists great opportunities of growing upon us and being in a Condition of giving England such vigorous Opposition as they did in the late War whether his design in that omission was to give that People those opportunities or no I shall not determine but am confident that if Parliaments were frequently call'd there and the management of Affairs were in some measure left to their discretion there would be such prudent and effectual courses taken for suppressing the Natives of that Country as would for ever prevent their being mischievous or uneasie to England and 't is certain that there is nothing which the considering and cunning Men among them do dread more but have had in all former Reigns the Interest in the English Court to prevent it By this means of frequent Parliaments and allowing the freedom of Trade in some measure to the English of that Country it would in a few Years appear that Ireland is of greater advantage to the English than any thing they ever added to their Dominions of which the Kings of England would be very sensible by the vast Revenues that would accrue to them and this without prejudice to the Trade of England whose Commodities out-sell those of Ireland in all Foreign Markets and considering that the Traders of Ireland lie already under such Restrictions that 't is impossible they should ever injure England either in relation to its Manufactures at home or its Commerce abroad tho' there are some of that unsatiable Temper that they think whatever the poor English of Ireland do gain by their Industry and the blessing of God upon their Endeavours to be just so much lost out of their own Treasures Having said something of the Irish Natives in general I come now to their Commerce and manner of living and how far such a Law if enacted will affect them Tho' it is not to be doubted but that many more of the Ingenious sort of them are fallen into Trade in imitation of the English yet they are no farther concern'd in the Woollen Manufactures than in buying from the Protestant Tradesmen some small quantities of them for their own use and some perhaps to Transport by way of Merchandize into other Countries Nor are the Gentry or the better sort of them much addicted to the keeping of Flocks or raising Sheep for such of them as are possessed of any considerable quantities of Land especially if they be ancient Families think themselves above any business of that kind or at least never mind it but live after a careless and prodigal way pleasing themselves with a great company of Followers Servants and Tenants the last of which are in the nature of Villains to them and so that they have but a sufficient number of Sheep for their own use do not much care nor indeed understand how to propagate them Sometimes where their Women are extrordinary Housewives which is rare among 'em they make Frize and ordinary Linnen for the use of their Families this is all the Manufacture they are concern'd in and indeed is scarce worth mentioning But lest it should be imagined that the Generality of the Irish may be further concern'd in the Manufacture of that Kingdom 't will not be amiss to give an Account of their Commerce and manner of Living and there are two Degrees of them the first is a kind of People that call themselves Gentlemen and Old Proprietors and hope at one time or other to be restored to their ancient Estates and the Number of this kind of Men is very considerable for in the late War when they were by virtue of the Act of Repeal restored to their diminutive Estates there were many of them that could not claim above 12 some not above 10 and other 6 Acres of Land 50 or 60 Acres were large Fortunes among them for it was a Custom among most of the ancient Irish to make an equal dividend of whatever Lands they purchased among all their Sons which is the true reason that there are so many of those People in that Country and which next to their Priests and Fryars are the Persons that of the whole Irish Nation are most dangerous and vexatious to the English for they think themselves injured Persons being as they say unjustly dispossessed of their Estates those small Proprietors being excluded by the Act of Settlement passed in that Kingdom after the Wars of 41. They are generally careful to procure some kind of Learning for their Children whose Accomplishments are chiefly the speaking of Latin Writing tolerably well and Playing on the Harp they think themselves too much Gentlemen to put their Sons to Trades or breed them up to any thing that is Laborious which is what they never betake themselves to but sometimes walk about with their Snush-horns enquiring for News heretofore concerning the French King and his Successes against the Confederates but now I suppose their Enquiries will be concerning the Prince of Wales what kind of Spark he is like to prove and whether they may expect ever by his means to be restored to their Estates at other times they smoak Tobacco by their Fire sides or if the Weather be warm Sleep or Lowze themselves under the Hedges and spend the rest of their time after some lazy and fruitless manner but they are always in a readiness upon the least Commotion to joyn the Enemies of England and by the assistance of their Clergy do compel the poor ignorant Common-People to follow them to all the Mischiefs imaginable giving themselves the Titles of Colonels Captains and what other Officers they think convenient according to the Numbers they can assemble But it will now be convenient to give some short account of those other poor common Irish their Commerce and manner of Living They are a People of so tame and cowardly a Disposition that were they not actuated by their Gentry and Clergy and they were in never so great a Tumult did the English but appear to them with their Cudgels and Scourges only they would undoubtedly betake themselves to their several Labours and Employments which being considered it will appear how far they are concern'd in the Woollen Manufactures
of that Kingdom such of them as live in the plain and fertile parts of the Country are generally Slaves to the English or to their Irish Landlords and live by their daily Labour working for 3 d. and in some places 4 d. a Day and their Dinner their Stock is generally a Cow or two some Goats and perhaps six or eight small Irish Sheep which they clip twice a Year and convert the Wool into coarse Frize to cover their Nakedness the same Cloaths serving them commonly both for wearing by Day and for Bed cloaths by Night when the Lambs of their few Sheep do fall they preserve some small part of them to keep up their Number and those they half starve for lucre of the Milk the rest they sell in the Markets at 6 d. or 8 d. a piece and this is what is known to all those who have had the least abode or acquaintance in those Parts of the Kingdom where the greatest Numbers of the Irish Inhabit The only considerable Manufacture that I have seen or heard of among them are those great quantities of coarse Linnen Yarn which are transported into Bristol Biddiford Liverpoole and other Parts of England Now a Law of this kind would be so far from being a Discouragement to that People of which I am treating viz. the vulgar Irish that it would be a very great Obligation laid upon them For before the late War in that Kingdom the Flocks were grown so numerous in all the plain Parts of the Country that the vulgar Irish were driven for the most part into the mountainous and woody Parts of the Kingdom except such as were necessary for some Services in which the English for want of others were forced to imploy them Insomuch that I have my self very frequently heard them curse the English Sheep with all the bitterness and rancor imaginable and pray to God That he would send a Rot or a Plague among the Sheep that the poor of the Country might have greater scopes of Ground for tillage c. And this was the true Reason that in the beginning of the late War they made such barbarous Havock of that kind of Cattel more than any other killing hundreds of them in the Fields when they had occasion for the Flesh but of a very few which did not a little contribute in two or three Years time to occasion so great a Scarcity in that plentiful Kingdom that if the Irish Army especially when driven over the Shannon had not been plentifully reliev'd from France a great many of the Country must have inevitably perished by Famine So that 't is a grand mistake to think that the Generality of them are Richer now than ever there were undoubtedly a great many particular Persons among them who by being more eminent Rapparees than others and being concern'd in seizing the Protestants Goods have made considerable Fortunes in the late Troubles some of which have Transported themselves and their Effects into France and others under the subterfuge of the Articles of Lymerick Galway c. have sheltered themselves from common Justice and live splendidly and securely upon the Spoils of ruined Protestants But the Irish in general are a kind of People that cannot keep Riches by them for tho' the Gentry of them had ever so great Rents coming into them they do usually spend their half Year's income in less than three Months running partly in Debt for the remainder of the time and partly spunging on their Neighbours and Tenants which latter was look'd upon to be so heavy a Burden to the Commonalty that there has been an Act of Parliament passed against Cosherers or Smell-Feasts in that Kingdom and indeed their extravagance and ill management are the true Reasons why the Wine-Merchants and other Traders among them have either purchased or lent Money on the Estates of most of the antient Irish Families And as for the universal Plunder which the Irish Army the Rapparees c. took from the Protestants before and in the late War they were no sooner Masters of any part of it but it was immediately destroyed when they drove away an Herd of Cattel which was common with them they never ceased slaughtering both Fat and Lean till they had consumed all neglecting their Potato's and other ordinary Food to which they had been accustom'd when they plundered a House they shaked the Feathers out of the Beds into the Streets or High ways and made Sacks of the Ticking to carry away the other Goods they cut the Curtains Hangings Linnen c. into Cloaths both Men and Women neglecting all manner of Work and living upon Spoil and Rapine which was the means by which that Country was reduced to that miserable Condition in which the English Army found it when they reduced it and yet I doubt not but if the Lands of the English of Ireland were to be sold the Irish might soon be furnished with Money from abroad to purchase them Secondly In order to make good my general Assertion That the English of Ireland are like to be the only Sufferers by the passing a Law pursuant to the Exon. Petition I cannot avoid saying something of another sort of People that Inhabit great part of that Kingdom their Interest Commerce and Dependance and these are the Scotch Dissenters or Presbyterians as they call Themselves of that Nation as in conjunction with that Party in Scotland who have lately run down Episcopacy there For I must here declare to the World that I intend no general national Reflection knowing that thô the Kirk of Scotland be now Triumphant yet there are still both there and in Ireland the remains of the Church of Scots which I hope God will in his own good Time repair and beautifie and that there are a great many Men of Learning and VVisdom Honour and Bravery of that Nation concerned in all manner of Stations in these three Kingdoms in the Church the Army and the Commonwealth between whom and our selves I do not think it reasonable nor fair to make any distinction since we profess the same Faith have been all along embarqued in the same common Cause and Thanks be to God have to very good purpose co-operated towards the attainment of the same End which is the security of our Religion and Properties and that both may be Established upon Firm and Lasting Foundations in opposition to all manner of Enemies according to the Antient and known Laws of these His Majesty's Dominions And because 't is usual with that Party to interpret all things which are said upon any occasion whatsoever disobliging to them as Reflections upon the Reformed Churches abroad I do here solemnly profess that I have a very great esteem for those Churches and have not the least intention of saying any thing that may give them the least Offence being very sensible that they are so far from having an ill opinion of the Church of England that they are very well satisfied with her Doctrines
kind of Lumber would be thought fit for nothing but to be thrown into the Fire Nor do I envy them the free Exercise of their Religion and the other Priviledges which they enjoy upon these accounts and do hope they are now fully convinced that the Cruelties which in the two last Reigns were exercised upon them and they charged upon the Church of England I hope I say that they are now abundantly convinced that those bitter Waters proceeded from another Spring since it is apparent to the World that those Princes were acted by Popish Emissaries who were at the bottom of their Councils I am also very much of the Opinion of the before-mentioned Mr. W. H. That all Protestants ought to be united against the Common Enemy and should think it a great Happiness they could by any fair means be brought to so Heavenly a Temper and do desire they will in order thereto seriously consider if as he says they differ only from us on account of a few unnecessary Ceremonies how great a Mischief it is on such slight Grounds to separate from a Protestant Church established by Law in England and Ireland respected beloved and honoured by all the Reformed Churches abroad and against which they can frame no other material Objection But as I have said already 't is not my Business at this time to run into Religious Controversies but to contribute my small Endeavours towards the Security of that Church and the Prosperity of that Body of Men of which I profess my self to be a Member and tho' an inconsiderable one yet such as must partake both in the Indolence and Sufferings of the whole There may perhaps be some in the World who will pretend to admire at me that I should be troubled with the thoughts of Sickness and Misery in Health and Prosperity that I should be disturbed by the Consideration of foul Weather when the Heavens smile and all Nature is gay and pleasant that I should talk of the Subversion and Sufferings of a Church that is but just delivered from her Enemies and the hands of them that hate Her and restored to Peace and Prosperity that is countenanced by the Government and supported by the Laws of that Country they will say that it were enough for me to write after this melancholy manner if we were actually Sufferers and laboured under some heavy Calamity or Oppression Indeed this Objection must be allowed to be very rational had we not too too clear a prospect of an alteration if means be not used in time to prevent it they may envy the present Serenity of our Clime our Health and the soundness of our Constitution of which Blessings tho' we be very sensible and do thank God for them yet we cannot but take notice of those Clouds that we see thicken at a distance which may probably break out upon us in the midst of our Summer in Hail and Thunder And when we perceive those Symptoms about us which are but too sure Prognosticks of an approaching Distemper we think it highly reasonable to make use of all proper means to prevent it We have seen our next Neighbouring Church ruined by Men void of Remorse or Pity and that the very same or their Brethren in Ireland have made considerable advances towards doing the same thing there since the late War gaining daily footing in all the Cities Corporations and Societies in that Kingdom so far that in the most considerable of them they have been Mayors Sheriffs c. and that out of Decency and Respect to the Government they have waited on the Sword to Church on Sunday Morning in their Formalities yet they usually sculked in the Afternoon to a Conventicle which is a common thing in the North and some other Parts of Ireland Men of this dissembling Principle may prove tolerable Magistrates whilst they are bounded by Law aw'd by the Chief Government of the Nation and remain in the Stations which they now are but when they come to be Knights and Burgesses in Parliament as in process of time they are like to be and the Affairs of the Church come to be debated before them then let the sober part of Mankind judge what may be expected from their Consultations We do therefore think it more prudential to take time by the fore-lock and speak before we are ruined than to trust to such a bloody after-Game as has been lately repeated in that unfortunate Kingdom For to believe that if the Scotch Presbyterians of that Country had it in their Power they would not use the Episcopal Church of Ireland as their Brethren of Scotland did that with them would be as unreasonable as to imagine that off-sets will not bear the same Flowers with the main Roots from whence they were divided or that Trees will produce Fruit of a different Species by being transplanted from one Soil into another I shall therefore further consider them as a People of a different Interest and Dependance from the English of Ireland in their Interests 't is plain they are link'd with their Friends in Scotland and consequently their main Dependance must also be upon them whom they imitate both in their Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs and from thence they take all their Measures which concern either Religion or Commerce from thence they are furnished with their Clergy and do hold a strict and constant Correspondence with each other The number of this People is wonderfully increased in Ireland since the Battel of the Boyne in the Year 1690. for by common Computation above Fourscore Thousand Families of them have since that time transplanted themselves from Scotland into that Kingdom and they are possessed not only of almost the whole Province of Vlster but are in great numbers in many Parts of the other Provinces even in the Counties of Cork Kerry and Limerick which are that Part of Ireland that lies most remote from Scotland and in those Counties which were the Frontiers in the Years 1690 and 1691. and were wasted by both Armies there are many more of this People to be seen than of any other Inhabitants As for their Commerce 't is certain that many of them in the most considerable Sea-Ports of that Kingdom are fallen into the Merchandizing Trade thereof and by their Correspondence with Scotland and France have sufficiently enrich'd themselves But because the happy Conclusion of the Peace has put it out of their Power to be any further injurious to the People of England upon the account of assisting their Enemies I shall forbear enlarging upon this Particular and only add that the very last Winter there were such vast Quantities of Corn and Meal carried to the Northern Parts of Ireland and so to Scotland that it had certainly occasioned a Famine in that plentiful Kingdom of Ireland had not the then Lords Justices thereof very timely and prudently by their Proclamation prohibited the farther Exportation of those Commodities Let us now consider this People's Manufacture not only
People of England whose Interests they esteem to be the same with their own and consequently they depend upon them as their constant Friends to whom they are to apply in all Emergencies as the Irish have done of late Years upon the French and the Scotch of Ireland upon their Friends in Scotland A sufficient Demonstration hereof we have had in the beginning of the late Revolution when there was scarce any one of the English of Ireland that fled hither for refuge till the Tyranny at home was over-past but could point to the Rock from whence he was hewn give an account of the Family from whence he or his Ancestors sprang and claim as Mr. Phillips observes in his Book call'd The Interest of England in the Preservation of Ireland a Father Brother or near Kinsman And accordingly we had not only a Charitable but a Generous Provision made for us each of us being enabled to live in some proportion to his Degree and Quality in his own Country till by their Treasure and their Blood mixed with ours they settled us again on our ancient Foundations restor'd us to our Religion Estates and Liberties and gave us our Judges as at the First and our Counsellors as at the beginning Which inestimable Blessings we received with Joy and Satisfaction with all imaginable Gratitude to God and the great Instruments by which he perfected our Liberty to the King and People of England for whom we are ready as one Man to hazard those Lives and Fortunes which it so lately cost them dear to secure to us For tho' I have had the opportunity of being acquainted with or at least knowing by their Character most of the considerable English Protestants of that Kingdom yet I have not heard of twenty Jacobites among them all and these too have learn'd to be so in England and if I mistake not do live here for the most part which they may do with greater ease and freedom than in Ireland where the very Papists dare not own themselves to be otherwise than Friends to King William and his Government For we have so lately experimented the Consequences of a Popish Government having smarted under those Evils which only threatned England or which we thank God were remov'd as soon as they began that we think it as unreasonable that one who resolves to live a Protestant should desire that a Popish Prince might Rule over him as that a Man should imploy a Wolf for his Shepherd or an Eagle to protect and secure a Dove-house But the World sure has had sufficient proofs that it is next to a meer Contradiction that the Protestant Religion should be cherished under the Wings of Popery Indeed should I see that come to pass I should think the Prophecy fulfilled one way which I never heard it applied before That the Lion should lie down with the Lamb and the sucking Child play on the hole of the Asp But we are so well convinced of the Incompatibleness of our Religion and Popery that in the whole House of Commons in Ireland when the Association was to be Signed there was but one Man or two at the most that so much as bogled at it and they too in spight of their squeamishness were obliged to do it under the penalty of being shamefully expell'd that Honourable Assembly And by this Rule we may judge of the whole Body of the English of that Nation And I would to God that all that call themselves Protestants and English Men were so firmly united in their Interests and Affections so sensible of the great and mighty Deliverance which has been wrought for them when they were at the very brink of Destruction and ready to be tumbled into an Abyss of Misery as the English of Ireland are there would be very few or no disaffected Persons in these Nations that should even wish evil to the present Government except the Papists whom notwithstanding the specious pretences they may make to us we must never depend upon as true and hearty Friends Nor can I imagine how it can be expected the English of that Country should be of another Disposition than that of which our sufferings have taught us to be for we cannot but reflect on the condition in which we were in the latter end of the year 1687. and the beginning of 88. when every stanch Protestant in that Nation upon condition we could be sure of such a Deliverer as God sent soon after to these Kingdoms would undoubtedly have cried out One half of my Goods I give to the War as Zaccheus did of his to the Poor when he found the Messiah But this did not serve our turn in Ireland and consequently I presume none will deny our sufferings there to have been much greater than the People of England but for the further proof or illustration hereof let us frame a comparison between the personal or corporal sufferings of those which serv'd in the Army in that Kingdom and abroad elsewhere and the losses which the People of England and the English of Ireland sustain'd in their Estates and Fortunes And First There were a great many of the Army whose Distempers were so easie that they were cured by Phlebotomy and the ordinary Medicines which are used in common cases with these I rank those also whose wounds which they received in the War were so favourable that they were brought to digestion cleansed and heal'd up by gentle means and applications tho' both the one and the other did perhaps lose great part of their Blood and Strength for a time yet they made no great matter of it but thought themselves happy Men that they escaped so And as these Men suffered in their Persons or Bodies so we say comparatively the People of England I mean such as were not Members of the Army did in respect of their Estates and Fortunes their Purses bled frequently and freely and they paid incredible Sums of Money towards the carrying on of the War But yet they liv'd quietly in their own Country and Houses preserved generally their main Stock and followed their lawful Callings and Affairs which if the English of Ireland could have done it had this day been a happy and flourishing Kingdom tho' an Object far below either the Envy or Jealousie of England Secondly Another kind of Sufferers which we have seen in the Army during the War are such as have sat quietly and patiently while their Limbs were amputated and which is more dreadful many of them cauterized or seared with hot Irons and all in hopes of preserving their maim'd and imperfect Carcasses that they might have a Being in the World and be able to go or halt about their Occasions even this being more eligible than utter Dissolution To these Mens Condition we may liken that of some few of the Protestants of Ireland that is in relation to their Worldly Substance viz. The Tradesmen Taylors Shoemakers Hatters c. which continued in Dublin and other Corporations in
only with all becoming Humility propose to the Honourable the House of Commons in England or the Committee appointed by them to enquire into Matters of this nature who I am sure will think it reasonable to make a full Scrutiny into Affairs of that grand Importance before they give their positive Opinion of them to the House I say I shall only humbly offer to them that they will examine some of those English Gentlemen who are uninterested in that Kingdom and have had occasion to travel thither both before and since the late War of which there are several in and about London and when occasion shall offer may be easily found and let them declare their Knowledge and their Sentiments in this matter and I do not doubt but they will be of the same Opinion with me that if any one should endeavour to perswade the Parliament of England to pass such a Law he must be thought to level it against the English of that Kingdom only and that if he be a true Friend to the English Interest of that Nation or to the establish'd Church either here or there he must needs be a very great Stranger to the Affairs and Constitution of that Country 'T is true the Parliament of England must see things at that distance with other Men's Eyes and may be abused and imposed upon by malicious and false Suggestions tho' they were the wisest Assembly upon Earth as indeed they have appear'd to be by their wonderful Conduct during the late grand Revolution and the Wars after it But when they are better inform'd 't is to be hop'd they will think it their Business rather to encourage than ruin the English of that Nation that is if any inhabiting there may be thought English Men for a Man may travel out of England to Africk Asia or America remove his Family with him if he think convenient live as long as he pleases in the English Factories of those Countries and have Sons and Daughters born to him and if he and they happen to return into England they shall not be denied either the Title or Priviledge of English People But let a Man once land upon Irish Ground breath of that Air drink one Dish of St. Patrick's Well and especially if he live there some few Years upon his return hither he must rest satisfied with the odious Character of an Irish-man And yet there are no People under Heaven that have suffered so much for being English as they have done no Amboyna nor any other Plantation that the English have been Masters of in the remotest and most barbarous Parts of the World have ever seen such Cruelties acted in them as have been exercised by the Irish Papists on the Protestants of Ireland which will abundantly appear to any one that will be at the trouble of reading the Histories of that Country particularly Sir John Temple's Account of the grand Rebellion begun in the Year 1641. It must needs therefore be a very great Grief to all considering Persons among them to think that they should be esteemed as Strangers and Foreigners by their Friends in England and because they do but begin to look like what they formerly were and to recover some part of those great Losses which they sustain'd in the late War that they should be look'd upon by England with a jealous Eye and because they are suspected to be rich which God knows and they know themselves to their sorrow is a groundless mistake that an effectual course should be taken at once to crush and ruin them But to shew further how great a trouble this must needs be to all thinking Men among them let us consider the Case of one particular Man with whom I am very intimately acquainted His Grandfather being the first of the Family that remov'd into that Kingdom was barbarously murdered for no other reason but for being an English Protestant several others of his nearest Relations perished then upon the same account and such of them as escaped with their Lives were stript and ruined and in the late War both they and he were great Sufferers he was himself during that War all along in the King's Service his Father was proclaimed Rebel for raising Men and holding out a Garrison against the Irish Army and killing considerable Numbers of them and a considerable Sum of Money offered for his Head one of this Man's Brother-in-Law was hang'd and quarter'd in the beginning of the Year 1689. for raising Men for his present Majesty's Service and another kill'd in Flanders his Brothers and other Relations were in the Armies of Enniskillin and Londonderry and most of them that are capable of bearing Arms have been all along the Wars in Flanders in his Majesty's Service and that this Man must now be look'd upon as an Irish man and an Alien debarr'd of the Priviledges of an English man and those Commodities with which it hath pleased God to bless his Country rendered almost useless to him and his Posterity this Man must certainly think this a piece of great hardship and cruelty and it must occasion in him some very dispiriting and melancholly Considerations Tho' this be literally true yet I do not make it one Man's Case in particular for there are very few of the Protestant English Nobility Gentry or Commonalty of that Kingdom especially if their Families have been of so long a standing as the Year 1641. but can truly say that their Case is much like this and that something of the same kind has happened to them So that if we should suppose that it lay in the Power of England to sink the whole Island of Ireland into the bottom of the Sea which a great many do very positively tho' very rashly and groundlesly affirm would be for the Interest of England we might reasonably expect that they who receiv'd us so kindly and affectionately when we were in real Distress of which I have already said something would either spare the Country for our sake or at least imitate Heaven in the case of Lot and his Family call us out of that hated place before they destroyed it and provide for us a Zoar elsewhere Or since they can only make it poor and miserable we might also expect that they would in some measure consult our Prosperity and Safety have some kind of tenderness for us and at least reserve us for the last morsel But on the contrary tho' we be not the offending Party never could be taxed for any disobedience to England upon which we have our whole Dependance in extremity or trouble and are the principal Men they expect should stand their Ground and secure their Interest in that Country for them yet we are the only People who if this Law be enacted are singled out for Destruction Now to shew farther how great a severity this would be let us change the Scene and suppose that a Law of this nature were intended against the English Inhabitants of any one of our
but such as are of their own making and that consequently they have a right to Trade abroad wherever the English do that there has been lately a Dispute of this kind between the Gentlemen concern'd in the Royal-Fishery and the People of Scotland concerning Freedom and Priviledge I am very well satisfied the former can and will testify But I will allow that this may be a Mistake in me and that the Scotch must in this particular be over ruled by England yet as for their East-India Trade that is undeniable the Consequence of which will be that since there are so great Immunities allowed them in reference to that Trade and Piracy is at an end they will prosecute it with diligence and vigour and will by the Assistance of their Friends and Correspondents in Ireland who will undoubtedly be concern'd with them be enabled to make a considerable progress therein and will furnish Ireland with all manner of East-India Goods at much cheaper Rates than the English Merchants can afford them So that those considerable Sums of Money which come yearly out of Ireland for Silks Muslins Bengals Cotton Rice and all other Commodities which come from the East-Indies where the People of Ireland have no manner of Traffick will be totally lost to England and a great means of enriching Scotland In order to which end they will not want the Wool of Ireland that is if any of the Flock-masters of that Kingdom shall think it worth their while to deal in Sheep as it cannot well be supposed they will if this Law be enacted and that in spight of all the Laws that can or shall be made by England and Ireland to prevent them and all the diligence which shall be used to have those Laws duly executed the Scotch I say notwithstanding all these means will have the Wool of Ireland or great part of it transported into Scotland except we could suppose that there might be Officers day and night on the Watch in all the Creeks and Corners of the Sea Coasts of the North of Ireland for it being but about three Hours sail from thence to Scotland they may in the dead of night load their open Boats in which 't is common with them to go to Market to Ireland with what Goods they and their Correspondents shall think convenient and be at their Port in their own Country before the next morning or at least out of the reach of those concern'd in the Revenue of Ireland and undoubtedly this has been often practised for some Years past to the great prejudice of England and the Benefit of France and we may be sure it will be more industriously continued now than ever especiaily if they can find the way of having it wrought up in their own Country and sending it abroad to Foreign Markets for since there are those People called Owlers even in England and under the Eye of the Government notwithstanding the strict and Penal Laws that are against them and the great Care and Diligence that are used to prevent them we may very well expect the like Dealings between Ireland and Scotland who have much greater Opportunities of carrying on a Commerce of that kind than 't is possible for England to have with France or any other Country But let us suppose that those ruined Manufacturers should Transport themselves and their Families into Holland or other Foreign Countries and they and their Posterity be for ever lost to these Kingdoms the Irish Popish Merchants will have then by reason of the Cheapness of Wool greater Encouragement for carrying on their old Woollen Trade with France than ever for tho' by Act of Parliament in Ireland 't is made Felony without Benefit of Clergy to Transport Wool into any Foreign part of the World except England or even to put any on Ship board clandestinely yet I have seen several that were taken in the Fact tried for their Lives but matters were so ordered by the Interest of the Merchants of those Towns where the Offences were committed that I never knew any of the Offenders suffer Another way they have for Transporting Wool into France to make out the Deficiencies of the former by which many of the Irish Merchants have frequently transported whole Ship-loads to that degree that they are either foully belied or have purchased considerable Estates with the vast summs of Money which they have gained by that illegal Commerce for there is a Clause in the aforesaid Act which requires that all Persons whatsoever who shall Transport Wool from Ireland to England shall before they put it on Ship-board enter it into the Custom-House of the respective Port where it is Shipped and shall bring sufficient Security to the Collector of the said Custom house and enter into Bonds that the Wool so Shipped should be landed and disposed of in some Port of England and that the Merchants should in a certain limited time return Certificates to that purpose from England And the Stratagem which they used to evade this is as follows First they entered the Ship in and sometimes by a wrong Name and in the next place they either brought some Bankrupt Fellows who pretended to be Men of Credit and Reputation in the World to perfect those Bonds which the Law required and who could upon occasion easily abscond and frustrate the Design of the Law in that case or otherwise they brought Persons who by their Habit and Behaviour seem'd and perhaps were substantial Men but gave themselves Names of Persons dead long before or perhaps of such as they never knew to have been in the World And having thus deceived the Officers of the Custom-House they convey'd vast quantities of Wool into France And if at any time the Merchant fear'd or heard that his Ship was discovered to have put this Trick on those concern'd in the Revenue he immediately gave orders she should be sold and another bought in France or Holland That this has been often practised will appear by the VVool-Bonds taken in Ireland for several Years before the late VVar for some thousands of pounds subscribed with Names as fictitious as those of John a Nokes or John-a Styles And I do really think that there is now one worthy Member in the House of Commons of England who can affirm this to be true for he was if I mistake not the first discoverer of those Practices having been concern'd in the Revenues of Ireland for some Years and may perhaps be best able to give directions how to prevent that Trade for the future that is as far as 't is possible it should be hindred For it is but reasonable to conclude that if VVool be reduced to a lower value than it was at in those times as it necessarily must if that Law be enacted that then those Merchants and their Confederates will run all hazards in carrying on the same beneficial Trade for the future and 't will be next to an impossibility to prevent them there being Bays and
only say further that both the Irish and they have so lately that we cannot yet forget it given us evident Demonstrations how they would deal with us if we lay at their Mercy and this they did at the same time with this only difference that the latter did their Work more effectually than the others the Irish did theirs in the time of VVar and Tyranny and were themselves and their pretended Act of Parliament soon kick'd out of doors But the Scotch taking the advantge of a time when England was not at leisure to take notice of their Proceedings ruin'd the Church of Scotland by a Law which is like to prove but too firm and lasting which leads me Thirdly To a third Consequence and one that I think doth necessarily and evidently follow from what has been now said and that is that if the High Court of Parliament should pass such a Law as afore-mentioned and either the Irish or Scotch become Masters of Ireland the Church which is now established there must inevitably be ruined which indeed is the main Consideration that engaged me in this Undertaking I heard the Question proposed since I came to London What the Church had to do with Trade or how a Law concerning the Woollen Manufacture could affect it as if the whole Body of the People were not of the Church nor the Clergy Members of the Commonwealth but their Interests were different and did not stand upon the same Basis with the establish'd English Laws of that Kingdom And I think it might as well have been ask'd What it concern'd the Church of England if the grand Fleet had been burnt by the French in the late War or the Church of Spain if the Galleons had been taken by Monsieur Ponty But because it may not be thought a good way to answer one Question by proposing others I shall in few words give a direct answer to it I have already shewn how far this Statute must affect the Laity of the established Church of Ireland and shall now endeavour to shew how far the Ecclesiasticks or the Church strictly so called must be concern'd in this matter Tho' methinks 't is needless to tell the World that if the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of that or any other Nation be reduced to a low Ebb of Fortune the Clergy must by necessary consequence bear a part in the common Sufferings except that part of the World where the Church hath engrossed all to herself and made the Country poor and miserable and it is not long since we have by fatal Experience found this to be true in Ireland But for greater Evidence sake I shall endeavour to shew the Methods by which that Church was ruined to that Degree that the Clergy who lived in those Parts of the Country where the Irish principally inhabited had for two Years before the War little more than the Name of Livings for they must either have set their Tythes c. to the Irish at what Rates they thought fit to offer or they would pay little or none in kind for the most expeditious means which the Clergy of that Kingdom had or indeed have now for the recovery of their dues is a Statute passed in England in the Twenty Seventh of Henry VIII which mentions Ireland as well as England and ordains that if any Person being cited in a Decimary Cause to the Ecclesiastical Court refused to appear that then two Justices of the Peace whereof one to be of the Quorum shall upon the Receipt of a Certificate under the Seal of that Court signifying his Contumacy issue their Warrant against the Party so offending and if he refuse to enter sufficient Security that he will appear at a prefix'd time and pay what by the said Court shall be adjudged against him that then he shall be committed to safe Custody till he make Satisfaction which Law was commonly put in execution in several Diocesses of that Kingdom and met with no opposition while Protestant Judges sat on the Bench but they were no sooner thrust out and Popish Judges appointed but that Practice was declared illegal and that Statute to be of no force in Ireland and several Justices of the Peace discarded for having issued their Warrants pursuant thereto By another Statute which was made in Ireland in the Three and Thirtieth Year of Henry VIII it is enacted That if the Party summoned for Detention or Substraction of Tythes shall enter his appearance in the Ecclesiastical Court and Sentence shall pass there against him that then two Justices of the Peace qualified as aforesaid shall at the request of the said Court imprison the said Offender without Bail or Main-prize till he fulfil the Sentence so pronounced against him But the intent of this Law was in those days easily deseated for the Irish throughout the Kingdom were advised by their Lawyers to take no notice of any Citations issued out of the Ecclesiastical Courts So that the only Method which then remained of proceeding against Offenders of that kind was to prosecute them to Excommunication and to take Writs de Excommunicat capient out of the High Court of Chancery which by reason of the great Charge of those Writs is not to be done but upon extraordinary occasions and where the matter contested is considerable however to prevent even this Practice as well as to obstruct the common Course of Justice in all Cases where a Protestant was concern'd against a Papist the Lord Chancellor Sir Charles Porter who was a true Friend to the establish'd Church and the English Interest was displaced to make room for a profess'd malicious Papist who utterly refused the Clergy the Benefit of the Law in cases of that kind and left the Laity of what Communion soever to pay their Ministers what they thought convenient so that 't is plain that if either the Irish or Scotch have that one Minister of Justice on their side that shall be no Friend to the establish'd Church but shall discountenance the Proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Courts he may himself singly go a great way towards the ruin of the Protestant Episcopal Clergy of that Nation And indeed it happened very well for them that those Writs were not granted them by that Popish Lord Chancellor for he by the Direction of the Lord Tyrconnel had made Irish High Sheriffs in most of the Counties of Ireland who would execute neither Writ nor Decree on any Papist either for Clergy-man or Lay-man I think likewise that I have laid down sufficient Reasons to make us believe that if the Scotch Presbyterians had the Estates of Ireland and consequently the Magistracy and Power in their Hands they would serve the Episcopal Clergy and such as should adhere to them after the same manner The Question therefore that remains is whether it be not probable that the Irish and they whose Interests seem now to be so opposite to each other might upon occasion of ruining the Episcopal Protestant Church should they