indeed the Militia were as active to suppress them However the White Serjeant with one Mackabe and Cavenagh were very troublesome nigh Kildare Those were three Fellows all under the same Circumstances who running away from the Irish Army they got small Parties of Rogues together and haunted the Bogg of Allen and other places of the Country thereabouts which were particularly well known to them and by that means gave the Inhabitants no small disturbance They were hunted by the Militia nigh this time and three of the White Serjeant's men Shot at one time and two of Mackabe's at another and soon after three more were killed near Murney And our publick Accounts tell us of a hundred and ten Rapparees killed by Captain Baggott's Militia Dragoons since the beginning of this Month in several Parties But Cavenagh and his Men being afraid to trade any more in the Bogg of Allen they remove towards the Mountains of Wicklow where Lieutenant Cooly met with them and killing fifteen took their Captain upon which the rest dispersed or joyned with Mackabe and the White Sergeant May the 20th Mark Baggot formerly spoke of Mark Baggâ— hanged being condemned and reprieved till now was this Day hanged having said nothing to the purpose but that our best places to pass the Shannon were Melick and Banoher May 24. Major Welden of the Militia and Captain Phillips of Colonel Earls's Regiment kill thirteen Rapparees near Montmelick Captain Vnderhill of my Lord Lisburn's Regiment with sixty Foot and ten Dragoons goes to Ballenderry May the 26th where they met with a Party of nigh three hundred of the Irish Army whom they engaged killing Captain Geoghagan and four more Officers and as the Account was fifty private Men. Next Day the same Captain went out with only twenty four Men and kill'd twelve but being set upon by a good Party of the Irish commanded by Colonel Geoghagan he made his retreat to Dunore Castle having only one Man kill'd and another wounded The same Day some Dutch Horse being come to the Camp now at Mullingar a Party of them went abroad kill'd several Rapparees and brought in thirty Prisoners At this time Lieutenant-General Douglas was marched Lieutenant-General Douglas encamps with a Party at Ardagh out of the North with a Body of Men and encamped at a place called Ardagh in the County of Longford twelve Miles from Mullingar And the Duke of Wirtenberg was gone towards Thurles where the Foreigners that quartered last Winter in Munster were ordered to Rendezvouz and to be ready to joyn the rest of the Army nigh Banoher where our Great Men had some thoughts at that time of passing Our Train of Artillery was also upon their march from Dublin to Mullingar being such an one as never had been seen before in that Kingdom Major-General Ruvigny is now at the Camp at Mullingar Our Great Officers take the Field whither went Major-General Mackay on the 28th who came lately from Scotland Major-General Kirk and Sir John Lanier go for England and land at Neston on the thirtieth And much about the same time the Duke of Leinster's Regiment of Horse formerly my Lord Devonshire's landed in England and march'd towards Coventry Major-General Talmash being sent by His Majesty to assist the other Great Officers this Campaign in Ireland landed at Dublin the latter end of May having with him Sir Martin Beckman chief Ingineer and in a Day or two he went towards the Camp About this time the Gentlemen of the County of East-Meath meeting at Trim agreed to scoure the Red Bog nigh that place where the Rapparees haunted and had done much mischief during the last Winter the issue was that thirty five were kill'd and six more fairly hanged Some were also kill'd by the Militia of the County of Waterford and others near Kilmallock by Parties that advanced so far By Packets from England the General had an Account by Letters from Monsieur de Opdam Lieutenant-General of the Horse in Holland who went to Breda about the exchange of Prisoners taken at the Boyne Cork Kinsale c. with the Dutch taken at the Battle of Fleur that the French refused to release the Irish Officers under such Characters as they gave themselves but left them under very ill Circumstances upbraiding them in terms very disrespectful tho' they released the Irish Soldiers and sent them to Thoulon Marseilles c. for the Sea-service This Month now draws towards an end and all People that had any business towards the Camp are resorting thither in order to which the Lords-Justices set out a Proclamation Commanding all Sutlers and others to carry no Ale or other Liquors to the Camp but what was good and well brewed and to be at least six Days old to prevent Fluxes and other Distempers There was also another Proclamation Commanding all Persons that designed to be Sutlers to come to Dublin for Licenses and to renew those each Journey But this being found inconvenient for the Army it was recalled May the 30th Lieutenant-General Ginckel went The General goes to the Camp from Dublin and lying that Night at Tycroghan next Day his Excellency came to the Camp at Mullingar where he found Foot viz. Major-General Kirk's Lord Meath's Lord Lisburn's Lord Cutts's Colonel Foulks's Colonel Brewer's Lord George Hamilton's and Colonel Earls's Horse Sir John Lanier's Brigadier Villers's Colonel Langston's Rydesel's Roucour's and Monopovillon's with Colonel Leveson's Dragoons who before his coming over was made a Brigadier by His Majesty The Soldiers every Day in one Regiment or another began to appear fine in their new Cloths and before the Army took the Field the Lords-Justices with the Advice of the General appointed several Officers that had been or were actually then in the Army to Command the Militia in different places of the Kingdom not as being Absolute but rather Superintendents of the whole As in the County of Cork Major Stroud was imployed in the Counties of Wickloe and Wexford Major Brooks and Captain Phillips as were also Major Tichburn Lieutenant-Colonel Toby Caulfield and others in several other places CHAP. V. June 1691. The Fortifications at Mullingar contracted into a narrower compass A Stratagem of the Irish to get Horses The Irish march towards Athlone Our Army goes towards Ballymore That place besieged Its Situation described Four Batteries planted The General 's Message sent in writing A Parley beat The Fort surrendred Ballymore better fortified The Army march towards Athlone and joyned by the Duke of Wirtenberg We approach the Town Batteries planted The order of the Attack The English Town taken Batteries against the Irish Town The Enemy ruin our Works A design to pass the Shannon The Enemy burn our close Gallery A Councel of War held A Party ordered to pass the River The Town stormed An Express sent to St. Ruth A part of our Army left in the Country and why Major Culliford surprizes some of the Irish Inniskeen fortified JVne the 1st Very
Ginckel made Commander in Chief of the Army Lords Justices begin their Government The Earl of Marlborough sent with a Fleet into Ireland Cork and Kinsale taken The Irish make Attempts upon our Frontiers Part of our Army move towards the Shannon Rapparees in the Bog of Allen Those People serviceable to the Irish Interest and how My Lord Tyrconnel returns from France Sarsfield made Earl of Lucan The Irish defeated at the Mote of Greenoge Several Adventures with the Rapparees and Parlies of the Irish Army Some of our Regiments take the Field at Mullingar ON the sixth of September our Army marched to Tipperary about fourteen Miles from Limerick where they begun to disperse towards their respective Quarters And we had an Account by some Deserters that my Lord Tyrconnel and all the French Forces were Ship'd off at The French leave Ireland Gallway for France The reason of this was also enquired after by a great many that the French shou'd absolutely quit Ireland at a time when we had raised our Siege which might have given them hopes of re-gaining the next Year what they lost this at least to defend the Province of Connaught against us and so protract the War beyond what they cou'd have hoped for if the Town had been taken and that if the want of Provisions was an Objection it was easier to carry those to the Men than bring the Men to their Provisions But the reason that I have heard given for their departure was That the late King appearing very unexpectedly in France at a time when all People were over-joyed with the News of the Battel of Flerus won at Land and a Victory also gained at Sea to palliate matters therefore as to himself he laid all the blame upon the Irish that they wou'd not fight but many of them laid down their Arms in such order as if they had been Exercising which indeed some of them did Upon which the Fr. K. concluding that all was lost in that Kingdom he sent Orders to Count Lauzun to make the best of a bad Market and so come off for France as well as he could with all his Men. But the Irish taking heart of grace at our Fleets and the Dutch Armies misfortunes they held out beyond expectation And those Orders of the French Kings not coming till after His Majesty had raised the Siege of Limerick Count Lauzun waited about twelve Days for a Countermand but that not appearing he set sail for France tho' he met with contrary Orders at Sea but then it was too late For His Majesty had been a Fortnight at London before they heard at Paris that the Siege of Limerick was raised which shewed that whatever good Intelligence they might have from England or Ireland at other times they wanted it now but whether the Wind was cross or what else was the reason I am uncertain About the fourteenth we heard that Sarsfield with a part of the Irish Army had marched over the Shannon at Banoher-Bridge and besieged the Castle of Birr wherein Birr besieged by the Irish was only a Company of Colonel Tiffin's Foot who stoutly defended the Castle the only temble place but Major-General Kirk marching thither with a part of our Army the Enemy quitted the Siege and marched off At this time Count Solms who commanded in Chief was at Cashel where he received a Letter by a Trumpeter from the Duke of Berwick then at Limerick complaining that they heard of a Design of ours to send all those Prisoners we had taken at several places to be Slaves in the Foreign Plantations and withal threatning ours with the French Gallies But this was only a trick of the Irish Officers themselves to prevent their Soldiers from deserting making them believe there was a Contract to sell them all to Monsieur Perara the Jew for so much Bread which made the name of the Jew very terrible to the Irish But this was a mere Story of their own framing and therefore Count Solms sent the following Answer to the Duke's Letter Henry Count de Solms General of Their Majesties Army in their Kingdom of Ireland HAving never before heard of a Design to send those Numbers Count Solms's Answer to the Duke of Berwick's Letter of your Men we have Prisoners to the Foreign Plantations we detained your Trumpeter here for some Days in hopes we might have been able to trace this Report which you send us word is spread about of such our Intentions but no enquiry we have made giving us the least light therein we have reason to think that neither those Prisoners we have of yours need fear so long a Voyage nor those few of ours in your hands be apprehensive of yielding a small Recruit to the French King's Gallies However we think fit to declare that your Men shall severely feel the effects of any ill usage you shall offer to ours for which they may reckon themselves obliged to their Generals Given at our Head-Quarters at Cashel the 21st Day of September 1690. To the Duke of Berwick or the Officer in Chief commanding the Enemies Forces Soon after this Count Solms went for England and the Lieutenant-General Ginckel made Commander in Chief Baron de Ginckel was made Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of the Army who went to his Head-Quarters at Kilkenny Towards the middle of September Henry Lord Viscount Sidney and Thomas Coningesby Esquire two of the Lords-Justices went to Dublin where they took the usual Oaths of Chief Governors of that Kingdom before the Commissioners of the Great Seal and immediately begun their The Lords-Justices go to Dublin work of putting the Country in as good a condition of Safety as the nature of the times would bear Whilst the King was imployed in the Field with his Army against the Town of Limerick it was first proposed by the Earl of Nottingham to my Lord Marlborough and afterwards approved of in Councel as very Advantageous to Their Majesties Affairs to send a Party from England who joyning with a Detachment from the King's Army might reduce those two important Garrisons of Cork and Kinsale and provisions were made accordingly But not being ready so soon as was designed His Majesty upon His return for England sent the Earl of Marlborough with his own Regiment of Fusiliers Brigadier Trelawny's Princess Ann's Earl of Marlborough sent into Ireland Colonel Hastings's Colonel Hales's Sir David Collier's Colonel Fitz-Patrick's one hundred of the Duke of Bolton's and two hundred of the Earl of Monmouth's with my Lord Torrington's and Lord Pembrook's Marine Regiments CORK CITY After the taking of those two Towns the Irish that lay October 1690. in the County of Kerry made several Incursions and burnt some small Villages in the County of Cork and near the same time another Party burnt Balliboy a Village 8 miles The Irish make some attempts upon our Quarters from Birr wherein there was then six Companies of the Earl of
Drogheda's Regiment who finding themselves very much outnumbred and the Village no ways Tenible they retired all to a Mount nigh the middle of the same Village which they defended till the Irish were obliged to quit the place have killed us about 28 themselves leaving 16 dead upon the Streets besides several more that were killed in Plundering the Houses And several such Accidents hapned up and down the Kingdom most of which are already related in the former part of this History Towards the beginning of December his Majesty for the A Privy-Council appointed in Ireland better ordering the Affairs of that Kingdom appointed a Privy-Council and gave out new Commissions to supply the places of several Judges as yet awanting in the respective Courts of Judicature But though the Irish in and about Limerick and indeed in most other places within their Line were reduced to great necessities both as to Provisions and Cloaths yet this did not prevent them from having a very good opinion of themselves nor blunt the Edge of that Vain-glorious Boasting so peculiar to that sort of People as may appear by a pretended Declaration of the then Brigadeer Dorington's who after several invective Expressions against his Majesty and the English Government and Wheedling Insinuations to all Foreigners and others who he pretends were drawn in at unawares he promises to protect and receive into Pay all Officers or Souldiers that would forsake their Majesties Service and advance them according to their Merit or those that had no mind to serve should be Transported into France having all necessary Accommodation and be provided for in the mean time Dated at Limerick the 13th of December 1690. and Signed W. Dorington But this worthy Declaration had no other effect than to shew the folly and vanity of the Publisher only I cannot but observe what a scurvy Return those Officers and Souldiers of King William's to whom he addresses himself made him for his kind proffer since instead of going to him for his Pass into France they soon after sent his Worship himself Prisoner into England Monday the 15th of December Henry Lord Viscount My Lord Sidney goes for England Sidney being appointed one of the Secretaries of State for England set Sail for that Kingdom And on the 24th Sir Charles Porter another of the Lords-Justices came from thence being Sworn Lord Chancellour of Ireland on the 29th and then received the Purse and Great Seal from the late Commissioners We had now a part of our Army on their March towards Part of our Forces move towards the Shannon Lanesborough Pass Commanded by Major General Kirk and Sir John Lanier Lieutenant General Douglas was also upon his March towards Sligoe as was Major General Tetteau in Munster towards the County of Kerry The first Detachment beat the Irish from their Works on this side the River and staying there some time returned to Quarters as did also Lieutenant General Douglas Major General Tetteau Marched towards Ross taking a Fort called Screnelarld in his way after which the Irish set most of the Country on Fire and retreated He took also another Fort wherein were 80 of the Irish who being attacked by fifty Danes and fifty of the Kinsale Militia our Men carried the place and put most of the Enemy to the Sword Then our Party Marched towards Tralee where Lieutenant General Sheldon bad been with 21 Troops of Dragoons and 7 of Horse but with his Men had deserted the Town and made what haste they could towards Limerick resolving to force their way through Lieutenant General Ginckel's Troops who then was abroad also with a Party if they were not very much stronger or otherways to kill all their Horses and save themselves by crossing the Shannon in Boats But not being informed of this our Men returned without securing a considerable quantity of Provisiâ—â—â— then in Trallee which the Irish got afterwards to supply the Garrison of Limerick The Rapparees by this time were got to the end of the Rapparees in the Bogg of Allen. Bogg of Allen within 12 miles of Dublin and there Robb'd and Plunder'd the Country all about Fortifying an Island in the Bogg to secure their Prey which being so nigh Dublin it made a great noise So that Collonel Foulks with his own Regiment part of Collonel Cutts's and a Detachment of the Dublin Militia as also three small Field-Pieces Marched out towards them The Irish at first seemed to defend the place but as our Men advanced they quitted their Posts leaving us to fill up the Trenches they had made cross the Causeway which done Colonel Foulks Marched over into the Island of Allen where he met with Colonel Piper who had come in at the other side but the Irish betook themselves to the Woods and we only got some small Booty which they had left I have heard that my Lord Baltimore at his coming over from Ireland in King James the First 's time to give his Majesty an account of the State of that Kingdom amongst otherthings told the King That the Irish were a wicked People but had been as wickedly dealt withal I make no Applications of the Expression to our selves tho' most people that have been in that Country know how to do it But as to any publick Action little of moment hapned for some time after we returned to our Winter Quarters tho' the Rapparees being encouraged by our withdrawing were very troublesome all the Country over nor will it be amiss once for all to give you a brief Account how the Irish managed this Affair to make the Rapparees so Considerable as they really were doing much more mischief at this Upon what account the Rapparees were servicable to the Irish time o' th' year than any thing that had the face of an Army could pretend to When the Irish understood therefore how our Men were Posted all along the Line and what advantage might be hoped for at such and such places they not only encouraged all the protected Irish to do us secretly all the mischief they could either by concealed Arms or private Intelligence under the pretence of their being Plundered and abused but they let loose a great part of their Army to manage the best for themselves that time and opportunity would allow them to all these they gave Passes signifying to what Regiment they belonged that in case they were taken they might not be dealt withal as Rapparees but Souldiers These Men knew the Country nay all the secret Corners Woods and Boggs keeping a constant Correspondence with one another and also with the Army who furnished them with all necessaries especially Ammunition When they had any Project on Foot their method was not to appear in a Body for then they would have been discovered and not only so but Carriages and several other things had been wanting which every one knows that's acquainted with this Trade Their way was therefore to make a private appointment to meet at
delivering up their Arms a very small return being made through the whole Kingdom they keeping as yet some thousands of all sorts of Arms still concealed which I hope will effectually be taken care of in time The weather was now so violent that the Adventure of London was cast away going to Dublin and several other Ships lost in and about that Bay And the Swallow one of Their Majesties Ships was forced a ground nigh Charles-Fort at Kingsale and there foundred tho' all the Men were saved except two February the 12th John Stone Esq being dead and Captain South imployed elsewhere in the Army a new Commission was granted putting in their Places Colonel Foulks and William Palmer Esquires Commissioners for stating the Accounts of the Army And nigh the same time the Commissary General was sent into England with all the Muster Rolls February 16. the weather breaking up part of my Lord Oxford's Horse driven back by stress of weather Lieutenant General Ginckel's and Major General Ruvigney's Horse with the Princess Anns Foot were all Shipp'd for England The same day Lieutenant General Scravemore went on Board as did Brigadier Leveson in a day or two after Colonel Coy's Horse also are Shipp'd off at Belfast and the Garison of Athlone that had been very uneasie to the Officers and Souldiers all Winter by reason they had no shelter except some small Hutts of their own making was now relieved February the 20th the Commissioners of the Ordnance Arms and Ammunition sent for England had an Order directed to them to send all the Stores of Amunition and other Stores of War that cou'd be spared out of the Magazines for England to be employed elsewhere in Their Majesties Service and accordingly March 1692. a vast quantity of Arms and other Utensils of War were Shipt off February 28 Captain Townsend of the Earl of Meath's Regiment took eight or ten French Men Prisoners who had come a Shoar from a Privateer nigh Castle-Haven and we had an Account from England that His Majesty had Created Lieutenant General Ginckel Baron of Aghrim and Earl of Athlone February 26 An Order was directed to Colonel Foulk to break my Lord George Hambleton's Regiment which was done accordingly in some days after 150 ' of the Men being sent for England and the rest entertained in the Earl of Drogheda's Brigadier Stuart's Sir Henry Ballasis and Colonel Foulk's Regiments March the first a Pass was given out for a Ship to The Hostages go from Cork to France go to France with the Hostages left at Cork and other sick Officers and Souldiers according to the Articles of Limerick And on the third another Order was granted to Colonel Foulk for the raising five Companies of 100 Men in each of the Irish all the subaltern Officers to be of those Reformed in Colonel Wilson's and O Donnel's Battalions and the whole to be commanded by my Lord Iveigh and employed in the Emperor's Service And March the fifth an Order was directed to Mr. Foliot Sherigly chief Deputy Commissary to Disband the Troop of Provoes which was done accordingly March the 17th Lieutenant-General Ruvigny Landed Lieutenant General Ruvigny lands in Ireland from England being made Commander in chief of the Army left in Ireland and Created by his Majesty Lord Viscount Galway and two days after his Lordship and the Lord Viscount Blessington were Sworn of Their Majesties Privy Council as the Bishop of Kildare had been some time before And March the 23 d. the following Proclamation was Published declaring the War of Ireland to be at an end 1692 WILLIAM REX WHEREAS by An Act made in Our Parliament A Proclamation declaring the Wars of Ireland ended at Westminster in the First Year of Our Reign Intituled An Act for the better Security and Relief of Their Majesties Protestant Subjects of Ireland it was among other things Enacted that all and every Person and Persons whatsoever of the Protestant Religion should be absolutely Discharged and Acquitted of and from the Payment of all Quit-Rents Crown-Rents Composition-Rents Hearth-Money Twentieth Parts Payments and other Chief Rents arising or Payable out of any Houses Lands Tenements Hereditaments Rectories Tyths or Church-Livings incurring or becoming due to us at any time after the Five and Twentieth Day of December in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty Eight until the said Kingdom of Ireland shou'd be by us declared to be reduced and the War and Rebellion there ended We have now pursuant to the said Act of Parliament thought fit by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council to Issue this Our Royal Proclamation hereby Declaring that the said Kingdom of Ireland is reduced to Our Obedience and the War and Rebellion there ended And We do hereby Will and Require that all and Singular such Rents and Payments and all other Duties payable to the Crown which shall henceforth grow incur and become due be duely answered and payed to us in such manner and under such Penalties and Forfeitures as if the said Act had not been made Given at Our Court at Kensington the Third Day of March 1691 2. in the Fourth Year of Our Reign God save the King and Queen After which time little of moment happened save March 1692. that the Lords Justices by Directions from Their Majesties appointed a time for those that pretended to the Benefit of the Articles of Limerick or Galway to give in their Names and make good their claims by the 20th of February which time was by Proclamation enlarged to the first of April and afterwards to the 15th Wednesday the sixth of April was appointed the first Day to begin upon those Claims all those concerned being to enter their Names sometime before with the Clerk of the Council which Names were to be posted up at least ten Days before their Cause was to be heard their Claims being to be made out by at least three Credible Witnesses one of which was to be a Protestant Accordingly on the sixth of April the Council met upon this Affair and continued every Monday Wednesday and Friday so to do which was a much easier way and more to the Interest and Advantage of the Irish than any Court of Claims erected only for that purpose cou'd have been CHAP. XI A brief Account of the former and present Circumstances of Ireland The Division of it into Provinces and Counties Bishopricks and Parishes The Soil of Ireland Sir John Davis his Reasons why Ireland was so long in being entirely subjâ—cted to the Crown of England What Tanistry is This a reason why the Irish did not improve their Country Of Fosterings and Cosherings A Brief Estimate of the Expence of the former Wars of Ireland An Essay towards the reckoning the Charge of this last The former evils still remain The Interest of the King and People of England in general to advance the Power and Trade of the English in Ireland The Interest also of the Roman Catholicks
themselves whether of English or Irish Extraction to advance the Power of England in that Kingdom Two main Objections answered Religion in the first place to be taken care of An Invasion from France upon that Kingdom England or Scotland at this juncture very improbable A Remark upon the last that endeavour'd it I Have now given you all that I know of this last unhappy Irish Wars that is fit at this juncture to be sent to the Press And it 's more possibly than some Men will thank me for or yet the following Remarks that I am going to make upon the Affairs of that Kingdom and its present Circumstances upon which if any please to throw away another half Hour tho' they find nothing worth taking notice of Yet I hope they 'll have no Reason to be angry since Opinion in things indifferent is free to all Men And we have no better way to conjecture what may be hereafter than by comparing our thoughts of it with what now is and formerly has been Ireland next to Great Brittain is the greatest Island The Circumference of Ireland in Europe esteemed by Sir William Petty at Ten Millions Five Hundred Thousand Irish Acres and by others at Ten Millions Eight Hundred and Sixty Eight Thousand Acres which they reckon to be above 17 Millions of English Measure 121 Irish Acres making about 196 English and yet Sir William Petty computes the Irish Acres to make not above 14 Millions of English accounting nigh two Millions of Acres in Mountains Bogs Strands and other unprofitable Land a great part of which however is capable of improvement and makes Ireland in circumference almost equal to England Wales excepted The Latitude of Ireland North is said to be parallel with Dumfrese in Scotland and South to St. Michael's Mount in Cornwal its Longitude West to the utmost point of Ire Conaght in the County of Galway and East to the head of Houth The Kingdom for many Ages past has been divided Itâ— Division into Provinces and Counties into four Provinces three of which before that Division were commonly distinct Monarchies and sometimes the fourth which by degrees as the English Interest prevailed were subdivided into Counties of which there are thirty two at this day in all the Kingdom The Provinces are Leinster Munster Conaght and Vlster Leinster has eleven Counties Dublin Wicklow and Wexford on the Sea-side East-Meath West-Meath and Carlow within Land tho' with a corner reaching to the Sea Kilkenny Kildare Kings-County Queens-County and Longford are Inland Counties also Munster has six Counties two within Land as Tipperary and Limerick but Waterford Cork Kerry and Clare all on the Coast Conaght has Galway Mayo and Sligo towards the Sea with Roscomon and Letrim within Land Vlster has six Counties on the Sea-side Fermanagh Donegal London-Derry Antrim Down and Louth and four within Land as Cavan Monohan Armagh and Tyrone In the Year 1151 according to Cambden Christianus Into Arch-Bishopricks and Bishopricks Bishop of Lismore Legate of all Ireland and Johannes Paperon Cardinal Priest according to Sir James Ware brought four Palls from Eugenius the third and held a Synod or Council at Kells as some say or at Mellefort according to others whereat were present the Bishops Abbots Kings Captains and Elders of Ireland when by General consent four Arch-Bishopricks were Constituted Armagh Dublin Cashel and Tuam under whom there were 34 other Bishopricks viz. ten subordinate to Armagh five to Dublin twelve to Cashel and seven to Tuam But now they are reduced to 21 in all and those divided into 2278 Parishes and those in a political capacity have eight that are called Cities Dublin Kilkenny Waterford Cork Cashel Clogher Limerick and London-Derry besides about ninety Boroughs and Corporations As to the Natural Advantages of Ireland many People The Soil of Ireland can confirm what Sir John Davis a Man of Wit Learning and Prudence has writ several Years ago viz. That having been in all the Provinces of that Kingdom he had observed the good Temperature of the Air the fruitfulness of the Soil the pleasant and commodious Seats for Habitation the safe and large Ports and Havens lying open for Traffick unto all the West parts of the World the long Inlets of many Navigable Rivers and so many great Lakes and fresh Ponds within Land as the like are not to be seen in any part of Europe the rich Fishings and Wild Fowl of all Kinds And lastly the Bodies and Minds of the People Endowed with extraordinary Abilities of Nature And however it has become a Proverb in England The Irish no such Fools as the World Commonly makes them to call a dull unthinking Fellow a Man of an Irish Understanding yet for any thing appears to the contrary they have acted a Prudent part for at least these Five Hundred Years nor is their crafty insinuating wheedling way as yet any thing abated and whosoever will look amongst the Natives of that Countrey at this juncture will probably find some Knaves but as few Folls as in any other Kingdom of the World But since I have mention'd so Judicious an Author Sir John Davis his Reasons why Ireland has been so long in reducing to the Crown of England as Sir John Davis I suppose it will not be unpleasant to hear some of his Reasons why it has been so long a time before Ireland was entirely subject to the Crown of England and why the English were more apt to run into the Irish Barbarous Customs and imitate their way of living than on the Contrary As to the first of these he mentions four main defects of the Armies that at different times were sent out of England to Conquer Ireland 1. They were for the most part too weak for a Conquest 2. When otherwise as in both the Journies of Richard the Second they were too soon broken up and dissolved 3. They were ill paid and 4. They were ill Govern'd a necessary Consequence of the former Which Inconveniences happen'd because the King 's of England for many Ages together were generally otherwise imploy'd either in the Holy-Land or in France or in their Wars with Scotland or else in that unhappy fewd between the two Houses of Lancaster and York So that they cou'd neither attend the Irish War in their own Persons nor spare a Competency either of Men or Money to compleat the Work which was only begun in King Henry the Second's days rather by a few private Adventurers than by any thing that had the face of a Royal Army And besides the standing Forces were seldom or never reinforced out of England that is in the times towards the beginning of the English Government only the King's Treasure there was spent and wholly spent in the King's service so that in the Reigns of four successive Kings Viz. Henry III. Edward I. Edward II. and Edward III. between the Receipts and Allowances this Entry is commonly found in the Pipe-Rolls In Thesauro
contrived towards the King's Island 206 A Breach made in the Wall 210 Guns planted near St. Thomas's Island 213 Collonel Earl sent into England 214 My Lord Lisburn killed 215 A Party pass the River upon a Bridge of Boats 216 The Irish in a great Consternation 217 Debates whether the Siege should be continued or turned into a Blockade 220 Orders in case of an Alarm 222 Our Forces pass the River a second time 223 The Attack at Thoumond Bridge where six hundred of the Enemy were killed 224 A Remarkable Paper found in the Pocket of a Collonel in the Irish Army 225 The Enemy beat a Parley 228 A Cessation agreed to Hostages exchanged 229 230 The Irish Proposals rejected by the Generals ibid. Articles agreed to 231 The General 's Letter to Sir Ralph Delaval giving him an Account of the Cessation 232 A brief Account of what happened in other parts of the Kingdom during this Month 268 c. CHAP. IX THE Lords Justices come to the Camp 238 The Articles signed ibid. The Articles at large both Civil and Military with Their Majesties Confirmation of them 239 c. Our men take possession of the Irish Town 256 A Lieutenant-Collonel imprisoned for denying to go into France 257 A Declaration from the General 258 My Lord Lucan's Arguments to the Irish to persuade them to go into France 260 Their Foot drawn out and put to the trial ibid. The Lords Justices return towards Dublin ibid. Our Army decamps and goes to Quarters 263 Some of the Irish go towards Cork 264 CHAP. X. THE Campaign ended and Irish Prisoners of War released 268 Some Rapparees deliver up their Arms 269 A Proclamation of pardon to the rest ibid. The Ulster Irish return home with their Cattle 270 The French Fleet comes into the Shannon 271 Some Objections against the Articles of Limerick answered 275 The last of the Irish march from Limerick 281 The General goes to Dublin and thence for England 288 Major-General Mackay and Major-General Talmash go for England 284 The Danes ordered to be shipt off ibid. Fortifications of Ballymore and Mullingar demolished 285 Our Transport Ships that carry the Irish return from France 288 The Late King's Letter to the Irish at their Landing 289 Their Reception in France ibid. My Lord Lucan's Release to the General 292 The Irish that stay'd with us very unruly in their Quarters Orders and Instructions for breaking them all except two Battalions 294 295 The Oaths taken according to the New Act of Parliament 296 An Order to turn out all Papists from our Regiments 297 A Proclamation declaring the War of Ireland ended 302 CHAP. XI A Brief Account of the former and present Circumstances of Ireland 304 Its Division into Provinces and Counties Bishopricks and Parishes Cities and Corporations It s Soil c. 305 306 Sir John Davis's Reasons why Ireland has been so long in being intirely subjected to the Crown of England 307 What Tavistry is 309 This a Reason why the Irish did not improve their Country 310 Of Fosterings and Cosherings ibid. Ireland ought to be put into a Condition to bear its own Burden 314 What Methods the Irish first took to make the old English joyn with them 315 A brief Account of the Expences of the former War ibid. An Essay towards the Charge of this 316 A modest conjecture at the Numbers lost on both sides and in the Country during the VVar 317 The Interest of England to advance the power of the English in Ireland 318 Our Ancestors sensible of this 320 The former Evils still remain ibid. The Interest of the Irish-Papists themselves to advance the Power of England 321 Two Objections answered 322 Religion in the first place to be taken care of 323 An Invasion from France at this Juncture upon any of these three Kingdoms not practicable 326 A Remark upon the last that endeavoured it 328 A Continuation of the Impartial History OF THE WARS of IRELAND CHAP. I. A brief Account by way of Introduction of the Cause of the War The state of the Protestants in that Kingdom The Late King 's landing there The Sessions of Parliament in Ireland Protestants Routed at Drummore and other Places Derry Besieged and Relieved The Irish beat at Croom Castle Duke Sconberg lands in August 1690. Carigfergus Surrendred Newry Burnt The Army march'd to Dundalk And Encamp there nigh ten Weeks Sligo taken by the Irish A Party of theirs Repulsed at Newry The Battel of Cavan The Danes land in Ireland 5000 French Foot land at Kinsale Charlemont Surrendred THE Actions of Great Men have generally been esteemed so powerful for the instructing of those that come after that most Civil States have made it their Business to Transcribe and preserve them to posterity for their Example and Imitation Even the Irish themselves when they were far from being one of the most Reformed Nations in the World had their Bards and Ballad-makers who have taken no small pains in their way to render the Chieftains of their own Country as famous as others Nay the Greatest Generals and Emperors have in the midst of their Conquests imployed some of their time to leave the immortal Memory of their own and other Great Mens Actions in writing the omission of which has been a great defect in the middle Age of the World since those are commonly the most Competent Judges of the management of Affairs and ablest to give a true Account But because in this Fighting Age wherein we now live their time is other ways imployed and Great Men have scarce leisure to read much less to write great Books we must be contented to take the best Accounts we can get of their Actions from meaner Hands such as have been Eye-witnesses of them or at least have good grounds for what they tell us And forasmuch as the Disturbances in Ireland have made so great a noise in the Ears of all Europe whilst they lasted and my self as a constant Attendant on their Majesties Army having been an Eye-witness to the most Remarkable Occurrences I shall not scruple to tell the World all I know which as it is for the most part little else but the bare matter of Fact I hope it may not be despised though it come from so mean a Hand and in so homely a Dress I need not trouble the Reader with a long Discourse about the Occasion of the War The general Aversion of the People of England to Popery and their being ill treated by a Prince of that Persuasion made such a sudden Change in that Kingdom as the like never happened before in any Age or Countrey But Ireland was under different Circumstances the Roman-Catholick Party being there by much the stronger at least more numerous of whom my Lord Tyrconnell had during the late King's Reign been modelling an Army that might be ready on all Occasions to maintain the Popish Interest by which the Protestants in that Kingdom were brought upon the very brink of Ruine and then
being done with the Duke's consent who took Mackarty for a man of Honour the Governor was acquitted The beginning of January our Regiments being all very thin and it appearing a little difficult to recruit them in England most people being then out of humour for the loss of their Relations and Acquaintance nor altogether that number of Voluntiers appearing then as formerly therefore several Regiments were broke one into another and the supernumerary Officers continued at half-pay till Provision could be made for them in other Regiments Sir Tho. Gower being dead my Lord Drogheda's Regiment was broke into his and his Lordship made Collonel of it my Lord Roscommon's Regiment was broke also into Collonel Earl's and Collonel Zanchy's formerly my Lord Lovelace's Sir Henry Inglesby's and Collonel Hambleton's of Inniskilling were broke into other Regiments and about the 12th 16th and 20th most of the Officers designed for that Service went from Lisburne towards England for Recruits to the Army January the 18th A Proclamation was published strictly forbidding Cursing Swearing and Prophaneness in Officers or Soldiers under the Penalties enjoined in the Articles of War and his Grace's utmost Displeasure but neither this nor yet the Judgments of God then hanging upon us for those and a great many other sins had that effect that the General and other good men heartily wished for and no doubt of it the Debaucheries in Armies are the high-way to Ruin since those both obey and fight best that are the most sober The 22 d. Brigadier Stuart went with a Party of Five hundred Horse and Foot towards Dundalk destroying several Cabins amongst the Mountains where the Irish used to shelter themselves and his Party brought in a considerable Prey at their return The 25th the General went from Lisburne in order to visit our Frontier Garisons and appointed stores of Bread Cheese Shooes and other Necessaries at several places especially at Armagh the Metropolis of the whole Island On the 11th of February a part of our Army being The Irish Army in motion drawn together to attend the Enemy's Motion who we understood were then in a Body towards Dundalk The General himself went to Drummore and so to Loughbritland in order to give the Enemy Battel if they advanced our Men and Horses having recovered by this time from their late Diseases to a Miracle Sir John Laneir and Brigadier La Mellionere advanced with a Party towards Carlingford but returned with an Account that there were only three Regiments at Dundalk as formerly but the Design of the Irish lay another way For whilst the Duke was abroad on that side Collonel Woolsley had notice that the Enemy were resolved to fall upon Belturbet where he then commanded to which purpose they had already crouded a Garison of theirs called Cavan eight miles from Belturbet at what place they expected a greater Force in a day or two but Collonel Woolsley to be before-hand with their visit marched from Belturbet on the 12th about Four in the Afternoon with Seven hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse and Dragoons hoping to surprize the Enemy next Morning early but he met with so many Difficulties in his march that instead of being at the Place before day as he designed it was fair day-light before he came near it the Enemy had also taken the Alarm and were so far from being surprized that instead of the usual Garison which we only as yet expected there the first thing that our men saw was a Body of the Enemy's drawn up in good order and judged to be about Four thousand It was rather therefore a surprize upon us than them however we fought and routed The Battel of Cavan them killed Brigadier Nugent with several other Officers and about Three hundred Soldiers taking Twelve Officers and Sixty private Men Prisoners burnt the Town and returned with a good Booty having lost Major Trahern Captain Armstrong and Captain Mayo with about Thirty private Men and double the number wounded And to let the Enemy see that we were ready Sir John Lanier goes to Dundalk with a Party for them on all sides Sir John Lanier marched again on the 15th towards Dundalk with a Party of One thousand Horse Foot and Dragoons he came before the Place early next Morning which the Enemy had fortified very regularly And placing some of his men near the Works on the North-east Side towards the Bridge he sent a Party of Collonel Leveson's Dragoons cross the River who took Bedloe's Castle an Ensign and Thirty men surrendring themselves Prisoners In the mean time another Party marched in at the South-west End of the Town and burnt most of what was left without the Works in which Service we lost a Lieutenant and two or three Dragoons our Men returning with a Prey of Fifteen hundred Cows and Horses The beginning of March landed the Duke of Wertenberg The Danes land in Ireland with Six Thousand Danes being proper men very well Cloathed and Armed On the 12th Colonel Callimot with a Party endeavoured to burn the Wooden Bridge at Charlemont which he set fire to and killed about Twenty of the Enemy lost his own Major with about Six men and so returned March the 14th Five thousand French Foot under 5000 French land in Ireland Count Lauzune and the Marquess de Lery landed at Kinsale in order to join the Late King's Army for whom in exchange Major-General Macharty and near the same number of Irish were sent into France our English Fleet then attending the Queen of Spain made this Undertaking more easie to the French April the 6th Collonel Woolsley with a Party of Seven hundred men attacked the Castle of Killyshandra seven miles from Belturbet where the Enemy had a Garison of One hundred and sixty men commanded by one Captain Darcy after some Mines were fixed and a brisk Assault or two made upon their Works in which we lost Eight men the Besieged surrendred and we left a Garison of One hundred men in the Place Nigh which time a great many Recruits as also Collonel Cutt's Collonel Babington's with a Danish Regiment of Horse landed at White-House April the 18th Sir Clousley Shovell went into the Bay Sir Clousley Shovell takes a Frigat out of the Bay of Dublin of Dublin and brought from a Place called the Salmon Pool a Frigat of Sixteen Guns and Four Pattereroes loaden with Hides Tallow some Plate and other Rich Moveables designed for France the Late King and several of his Irish Regiments marching as far as Rings-End where they were all Witnesses of so wicked an Action as they called it done on so good a Day it being Good-Friday May the 2 d Lieutenant-Collonel Mackmehon with Relief put into Charlemont about Four hundred men Ammunition and some small quantities of Provisions got into Charlemont in the Night but our French and other Regiments posted thereabouts watched him so narrowly that though he made two or three Attempts yet he could not
this Declaration as others before it of like nature had not the wished-for effect since the Irish are generally of that Temper as to think you are most afraid of them when best Terms are proferr'd This made the Irish Peasants value themselves mightily upon King William's first Declaration after the Rout at the Boyne who then look'd upon themselves to be the most considerable part of the Irish Nation because they had Terms proferr'd before the Great Ones The sixth a Proclamation was published by the Lords-Justices A Proclamation prohibiting the destroying Improvements and Council prohibiting all Officers and Soldiers to plunder or take away the Goods either of Protestants or Papists nor cut down Improvements as some unreasonably went about nor to take the Horses and Cattle out of the Plough or to exact and levy Money Of all which there had been frequent Complaints and therefore the Soldiers were commanded to pay their Quarters with their Subsistence which was ordered them and the Officers too from the first of January Nigh this time Francis Sheldon and John Green two Commissioners sent over to build Ships in Ireland that were Skilful in the Art of Building Ships were both sent over in equal Commission by Authority of the Navy-Board in England to build Ships for Their Majesties Service at Waterford or Wexford nigh which Places and in the County of Wickloe there is good store of suitable Timber and other Advantages for building Ships at easier Rates than in England but what progress has been made herein I am uncertain February the 8th Colonel Brewer and Major Boad with a Party of 150 Horse and 200 Foot march'd from Mullingar towards Meers-Court to Relieve that and some other Garrisons with Provisions and some Men which having done Colonel Brewer went with a Party towards Ballymore to view the Posture of the Enemy at that place he met with a small Party of them at a Pass a Mile on this side the Fort whom he put to flight and pursued to the Garrison nigh which he kill'd six or eight and burnt the House at the Pass when he returned bringing the Owner away Prisoner February the 10th Sir Richard Reynolds Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench came from England and sate as Judge in that Court being afterwards sworn of the Privy-Council And nigh the same time we had an account that considerable Numbers of Recruits both for Horse and Foot lay ready at Bristol to be ship'd for Ireland The Montague and Dover Frigats bring into Kinsale a Privateer of St. Maloes of 24 Guns and six Pettereroes A Party of our Army quartering at Bally-Hooly in the County of Cork went into the Enemies Country and kill'd 25 Rapparees and soon after Major Kirk kill'd 16 more taking two Officers Prisoners yet for all this the Enemy watched all opportunities of Advantage killing our Men by surprize in a great many places but especially keeping Correspondence with the protected Irish in all corners of the Country they stole away our Horses The Irish steal away our Horses to Recruit their own Army sometimes in the Night and often at Noon-day when our Men least suspected it by which means they recruited their own Horse considerably and did us no small disservice nor is it probable unless they had made use of some such ways they could have brought any Body of Horse into the Field worth taking notice of the succeeding Campaign whereas we were sensible afterwards that their Horse were once not contemptible The 9th two Officers and a Soldier desert from Limerick and come to Cashel And a Day or two afterwards about 100 Protestants are permitted to come away who all agree that the Irish were more dissatisfied since my Lord Tyrconnel's Landing than before since the Money and Cloaths brought them from France were both in themselves very contemptible the one for quantity and the other for quality We had also an Account that Sarsfield was made Sarsfield made Lord Lucan Earl of Lucan and Lieutenant-General of the Army Dorington Major-General and Barker General of the Foot One Langton was Hanged at Kilkenny for endeavouring to seduce a Souldier of Count Nassau's Regiment and some others And at Birr the Rapparees killing one of Colonel Hamilton's Souldiers drew out his Guts and mangled his Body after amost barbarous and unusual manner Several Ships arrive at Waterford with Meal Bisket Corn and other Provisions for their Majesties use and a great many Merchant Ships come to that and other Ports with Victuals and other conveniencies for the Army and Country On the 13th about 400 of the Irish Army Commanded A Party of the Irish burn Edenderry by Lieutenant Colonel Conner came to Edenderry and burnt greatest part of it killing 7 Men and a Woman and had 11 of theirs kill'd by a Militia Troop then in Town who were obliged to defend the strongest Houses and the Irish returning by Phillips-Town burnt Bally Brittan And now the Civil Government begun to look with a Judges appointed to go their several Circuits better countenance than formerly for February the 17th the Judges were appointed for their several Circuits viz. Munster Circuit Lord Chief Justice Reynolds Mr. Justice Cox Leinster Circuit Lord Chief Justice Pyne Mr. Justice Jefferson North-East Circuit of Vlster Lord Chief Baron Healy Mr. Justice Lyndon North-West Circuit Mr. Baron Eclyn Mr. Serjeant Ryves These all went their districts accordingly and found things much out of order in several places by reason of the looseness of the Times and the general inclination of most people to a disorderly way of living February 24th a large French Pinck bound from Bourdeaux to Connaught with Wine Brandy Salt c. was driven by stress of Weather into Arcklow-Haven the Men being made Prisoners the Ship and Cargo were seized for The Duke of Berwick and others of the Irish Army go for France their Majesties use And nigh this time we heard that the Duke of Berwick and some other great Officers of the Irish Army were gone off from Limerick to France being discontented as 't was said at my Lord Tyrconnel's way of Proceeding in the Government The 25th Lieutenant Colonel Lillingston went from Roscreagh with a Party to Monogall where he surprised a Company of Colonel Oxburrough's Regiment and several Rapparees kill'd 35 and took 5 Prisoners with one O Conner who Commanded The 26th in the Morning Lieutenant General Ginckel and Sir John Lanier having drawn a considerable Body both of Horse and Foot together they advanced from Streams-Town towards Athlone The Enemy never wanted Intelligence of our Motions by reason of their Friends always amongst us and therefore as we approached we found a Body of Horse and Foot to the number of about 2300 Commanded by Brigadeer Clifford drawn on at a Pass 4 miles from Streams-Town the place it self was of great advantage its natural situation being improved by Art but as soon as a Party of ours under Captain Pepper of The
loss casting up some Works nigh the Shannon towards the West behind which the Danes encamped and maintained that part of the Work during the Siege We improved also these Forts deserted by the Irish and drew a new Line from the old Church Fort to Mackay's The 27th in the Morning the Prince of Hess with his The Prince of Hess sent to Castle-Connel own Regiment Col. Tiffin's and Col. St. John's five pieces of Cannon and about 700 Horse and Dragoons marched to Castle-Connel which we had not blown up effectually last Year and wherein the Irish had now a Garison of 250 Men. They refused the Prince's Proffers to them at first but after two Days Siege were content to be all made Prisoners of War The same Day Maj. Gen. Scravemore went with another Party and four Guns to Carick-a-Gunnel a Castle upon the River three miles below the Town wherein was a Garison of 150 Men who also submitted to be Prisoners of War as did one or two Castles more the leaving these Detachments in such places being very inaccountable since they had a mind to defend them no better This seems rather want of Instructions what to do than Courage to perform it for to give the Irish their due they can defend stone Walls very handsomly We read that Sir George Carew President of Munster in Queen Elizabeth's Time took the Castle of Dunboy in the West of Ireland by Assault where the Irish made the most resolute Defence of any of the like nature before or since for the Garison being 130 choice Men were all either killed or hanged for holding out and some of them defended the very Vaults during a whole Night though all the rest of the Castle was taken and one Mack Geoghagan being desperately wounded when he saw the English enter the Vault he endeavoured to cast a lighted Candle into a Barrel of Powder to blow himself and them up together but was prevented in his Design and so died The Irish planted two Field-pieces on the opposite side the River by which they obliged two Regiments of our Dragoons that lay close to the Shannon to remove but as soon as we had placed some Guns to flank their small Battery they drew off Orders were given to fit up 600 Bombs and 1000 Hand-Granades and in the Afternoon eighteen of our Ships came up the River within a mile of the Town and fired some Shots into the Irish Our Ships come nigh the Town Horse-Camp as they sailed along they being encamped at that time nigh the River at a place called Craightulagh This put several of the Irish much out of Countenance for till then they were made believe that either we had no Ships in the River or else those we had would quickly be swallowed up by the French Fleet which they hourly expected The 28th an Order was sent to Kinsale for the rest of the Provision-Ships then in that Harbour to sail to the Shannon And the General went on board some of those Ships that came up the Day before giving Command to bring on shoar several Pieces of new Cannon and Mortars which was performed on the 29th And all the Prisoners that had been taken in several Castles being about 400 in number were sent towards Clonmel with a Party of Horse and Dragoons to guard them This Evening our Line of Circumvallation was finished and our other Works by hard labour much improved the Enemy playing hot upon us from the King's Castle and three more Batteries Our Business was now to raise a Battery for ten Guns and seven Mortars which was performed before next Morning and August the 30th our Guns and Mortars were drawn down to it the first began immediately to play on Thoumond-Bridg and the Houses on that side the Town at Night also our Bombs began to fly with pretty good Success 101 being thrown before next Morning The Enemy now desert Killmallock a Town upon the The Enemy desert Killmallock Road between Cork and Limerick whither the Irish flocked in great Numbers in former times to welcome the Earl of Desmond out of England who was sent over upon some Reasons of State by Queen Elizabeth their first Saluations were to throw Wheat and Salt upon him in token of Peace and Plenty But next day when they saw him go to Church they fell to murmur and spit at him and never would own him more And so hateful was not only our Religion but even the Civil Habits and Customs of the English to some of them that in the same Queen's Reign it was with much difficulty that some of the Irish Nobility could be perswaded to put on their Robes when they were to appear in the House of Lords in time of Parliament And I have heard it affirmed by those that knew it that even in this last War and if I am not much mistaken in the Parliament that was held at Dublin by the late King too it was proposed by some to destroy all fine Houses and every thing else that look'd like Improvement and so return to the former barbarous way of living of their Ancestors that it might not be worth the while for England or any other Nation to seek a new Conquest over them but these Men did not consider that England has been at too much Expence and is now too well acquainted with Ireland ever to be without it August 31. One Capt. Morice a Lieutenant and eleven Dragoons belonging to Sir Donald O-Neal's Regiment deserted from beyond the River and tell us that the Enemy were mightily apprehensive of our getting over but that their Horse and Dragoons would endeavour to watch our Motion and do all they could to prevent us Our Batteries play very hard all this Day and at Night four out of each Troop of Horse and Dragoons throughout the Army were ordered to work at a new Battery to the Right of the former and somewhat nearer the Town they wrought very stoutly and finished their Battery before next Morning This was a thing very unusual for Horsemen especially to work in Trenches but there was in a manner a Necessity for it for our Foot were upon Duty by whole Regiments every second Night beside Detachments and Workmen upon sundry Occasions every Day And therefore Adjutant General Withers was commanded to order the Regiments that marched to the Trenches not to mount with Colours that the Enemy might not be sensible how fast our Duty came upon us The same Day a Party of four hundred Horse was Brigadeer Leveson sent into Kerry sent abroad to scour the Country And Brigadeer Leveson with seven hundred Horse and Dragoons went into the County of Kerry to reduce the Irish in those Parts Which some of the Inhabitants in other Places will needs call the most natural Irish in the Kingdom and yet they say every Cow-boy amongst them can speak Latin on purpose to save them from the Gallows when they come afterwards to be tried for Theft For though
nihil for the Affairs of the State and those of the Army spent all and that all was not sufficient In the Reign therefore of King Edward II. Maurice Fitz Thomas Earl of Desmond as his Ancestor was the first of English Race that took part with the Irish against his Native Country Men he being now Commander in Chief of the Army against the Scots then Invading Ireland he only changed the name of the Ancient Irish Custom called Bonaught but began to practice the thing it self under the names of Coigne and Livery and Pay that is he and his Army took Horse Meat and Mans Meat and also Money at their pleasure without any satisfaction so much as of a Bill And this afterwards proved the general fault of all the Chief Commanders in this Kingdom for finding the advantage of this way of proceeding they begun to oppress the Poor English heavily who rather than endure it would give them a part of their Land to have the rest free which Land so given the Lords put Irish Tenants upon and incouraged them in several particulars that so they might pay their Rent And then the Kings of England not being at leisure to attend the War in their own Persons they could do no less in Honour than give a great part of the Land to those that Conquered it But those Scopes of Land given at first to the English Adventurers were generally too large and the Priviledges so great that they begun to set up for themselves no fealty being reserved to the Crown by the Tenants but only to their Lords which first made them Proud and then Contentious Upon which account to strengthen their Parties they Allyed themselves with the Irish and drew them in to dwell amongst them and not having English Tenants enough for their Lands they were obliged to take Irish By living amongst whom and having their Servants and Nurses generally of such they and their Children by degrees became of the same stamp and having no other means to pay or reward the Irish that were of their Faction they suffered them to take Coygne and Livery from the English Freeholders which Oppression was so intolerable as that the better sort were forced to quit their Free-holds and flye into England never returning more though Laws were made in both Kingdoms to remand them and the rest that remained soon became degenerate and meer Irish Then the English Lords finding the Irish Exactions to be more profitable than the English Rents and Services and loving the Irish Tyranny which was tied to no Rules of Law or Honour better than a just and lawful Seigniory did reject and cast off the English Laws and Government and some with the Irish Customs assuming their very Names also which Customs of theirs were all Enemies to the English Interest in this Countrey Whether it was that called Tanistry What Tanistry signifies that is when any of their Chieftains or Heads of Factions died then the Goods of the whole Sept or Family were to be divided a-new nor did the Sons always succeed but such of the Kindred as could purchase the Election by strong hand by which there cou'd be no encouragement either to Build or Plant or indeed to have any thing but from hand to mouth since they knew not who might reap the fruits of their Labour For tho' it 's said the Irish received the Christian Faith above twelve hundred years ago and were lovers of Musick Poetry and all kinds of Learning Possessing also a Countrey abounding with all things necessary for the life of Man yet did they never build Reasons why the Irish did not improve their Countrey formerly Houses of Brick or Stone before the time of King Henry II. some few poor Religious Houses excepted and when afterwards they saw the English build Castles they only did it for their Chiefs and not for themselves nor endeavoured they to imitate the English in any sort of Improvements which being against all common Sense and Reason must needs be imputed to their Customs in making all their Possessions incertain and wou'd have hindred the improvement of their Countrey to the Worlds end if those Customs had not been abolish'd by the Law of England The Irish had also Cosherings Visitations and Progresses Cosherings made by their Chief and his Followers among his Tenants Sessings for his Horses Dogs and Boys Cuttings Tallages and spendings at his pleasure which made him an absolute Tyrant and his Vassals poor Slaves Add to these their Fosterings the Irish of all Fosterings People having the greatest inclination to Nurse other Mens Children because Fostering amongst them is always reputed a stronger alliance than Blood and when once they have Nursed a Child in any Family they think themselves so near Related thereto that they are obliged to perform whilst they live all the faithful Services in their Power and from whence ever after they expect a Supply of what Necessaries they have occasion for and as often as they have a mind to call for them Then they had Gossipred or Compaternity which tho' by the Canon-Law a Spiritual affinity yet no Nation ever made so Religious account of it as the Irish Now these and many other such like Customs made strong Parties and Factions whereby the Great Men were enabled to oppress their Inferiours and to oppose their Equals Besides which their frequent Divorces their Promiscuous Begetting of Children and neglect of Lawful Matrimony were no small Temptations for vitious Minds to degenerate and fall into the like Extreams Those were the Irish Customs which the English Collonies did embrace after they had rejected the Civil and Honourable Laws of England which especially fell out in the later end of King Edward the Second and the beginning of King Edward the Third proving of very Fatal Consequence to the English Interest in that Kingdom the degenerate English being always harder to subdue than the Natives for tho' their Minds and Manners were alter'd yet they had so much English Blood left in their Veins as gave them English Courage and Resolution whereby the Fitz Geralds and Earl of Desmond's Rebellions were worse than those of meer Irish Then Sir John Davis proves out of several Records that in former times most of the Inhabitants were not the King's Tenants but derived their Titles from the Irish and English Noblemen who kept an awe and dependance upon them for tho' the Kings of England were formerly owned as Lords of Ireland yet the Lords of Irish Lords formerly stiled Kings Ireland Ruled as Kings and were so stiled by the Kings of England themselves as appears by the Concord made between Henry 2. and Rotherick O Connor King of Conaght in the Year 1175 Recorded by Hoveden in this Form Hic est finis Concordia inter Dominum Regem Angliae Henricum filium imperatricis Rodoricum Regem Conactae scilicet quod Rex Angliae concessit praedicto Roderico Legeo Homini suo ut sit
Rex sub eo paratus ad servitium suum ut homo suus c. And King Henry the II. making William Fitz Audelm his Lieutenant of Ireland he hath it thus in his Commission Archiepiscopis Episcopis Regibus Baronibus omnibus fidelibus suis in Hibernia salutem King John also granted divers Characters unto the Irish Lords under the Title of Kings and so did Henry the III d. unto a Petty-King of Thoumond Rex Regi Thoumond Salutem c. Those Governed the People by their Brehon Laws they made their own Magistrates and Officers they Pardoned and Punished all Malefactors and made War and Peace one with another without Controulment After which several Attempts were made and Rebellions more or less broke out in every King's Reign And to omit those of Perkin Warbeck and others in the Reign of Henry 7. The Rebellion of Fitz Gerald and the rest of that Faction in King Henry 8th's time in the Year 1535. cost England Forty Thousand Pounds a Summ reputed so great in those days and so much disturbed that blustering Prince that he called the appeasing this Rebellion a New Conquest and put the Question to his Council how Ireland should be managed to bear the Charge of its own preservation and whether by Act of Parliament every Man's Estate should not be made liable to contribute its proportion or wehther by Virtue of this New Conquest the King might not seize on all the Estates of that Kingdom Temporal and Spiritual Cox 242. But tho' this wou'd not do yet he found out another A Statute against Absentees way to make a Statute against Absentees whereby a great part of the County of Carlow was taken from the Duke of Norfolk and other Lands from other great Men and from some Monasteries in England that held Land in Ireland for that by the absence of these and the neglecting their own private Estates whereby the Irish daily gained ground they brought the Publick into danger However this Rebellious Spirit continued in Ireland all Queen Elizabeth's time even to the ninth of King James the First as Sir John Davis observes but if he had lived in our days he wou'd have seen good reasons to say it was always the Genius of the People And one Mr. Lawrence has since that endeavoured to prove that Ireland was never intirely subjected to the Crown of England nor the Lands properly called the King's Lands until the Act of Settlement passed in the 12th Year of King Charles the Second for before this the Chief Inhabitants in all Cities and Towns were Papists as Sheriffs Justices of the Peace c by which means that Party was wonderfully encouraged and strengthened and besides the Irish before the late Rebellion were by far the greatest Proprietors tho' afterwards they enjoyed not much above a fifth part of the whole that is in propriety by which means and the industrious Management of some of the Chief Governours the English Interest was very far advanced in this Country before the death of King Charles the Second for tho' some Clouds arose before yet the Sun shone pretty clear till the Death of that Monarch made it more than Twilight with the English of that Country and then the late dark Night of Confusion approached so suddenly that it gave them no time to set things in Order till they cou'd not in a manner see where they were a going This put a full stop to the Carreer of all their Prosperity for a great many considerable Buildings and other Improvements in and about Dublin and other places in the Kingdom being pretty far advanced at that Juncture they were left off very abruptly the Workman throwing away his Tools and the Husbandman neglecting his Plow at the News as if they had then foreseen their approaching Misery and were amazed to find the Irish arm so fast on all hands by which they were assured that other sorts of Weapons than they had used for the Country's improving were soon like to grow more in fashion and that to the undoing of what themselves had so honestly endeavoured to make up So that the Irish were not then nor indeed are as yet so subdued as that no further Storm may ever be feared to arise from that corner And certainly the not thorowly endeavouring to make Ireland bear the Charge of its own preservation has in all Ages been very much to the disadvantage of Ireland shou'd be put into a Condition to bear its own Burden England But to carry this no higher than the Year 1595 the time of Tyrone's Rebellion which Cambden in his Annals tells us cost 1198717 l. to suppress Or if we compute the Charge of its first Conquest and the suppressing the several Rebellions from that time till this of Tyrone's to cost but double as much as this did as they needs must since before that Ireland never enjoyed seven Years peace at one time Then I say long e're this all those Rebellions had been forgot and the Trade and Product of Ireland more than trebly recompenced England for her former Blood and Treasure But as the Degenerate English grew more and more in love with the Irish and their Customs and so took their part against England The Charges encreased to more prodigious Sums and they generally make use of it as a great Argument for what they did of late that it was the Blood and Treasure of their Ancestors that first gained that Kingdom to the English Interest and therefore tho' they differed in Opinion yet it was very unreasonable that they should be quite excluded from sharing in the Government with those that were of a much later Date But this Objection is of an older standing than either the former War or this last for we are told that so great Heats have arose formerly between the English of Birth and the English of Blood in Ireland that they held different Parliaments and endeavoured by all means Possible to ruine one another But 't is observ'd by very Learned Men in this Kingdom that tho' the English have often fallen out amongst themselves and there were generally found in many places of the Kingdom such of English extraction as would joyn with the Irish against England yet the People of the Pale were always firm and Loyal to the Crown and the greatest strength that England had against the Irish Nation for which they were often plentifully Rewarded 'till in the Year 1641 they all broke loose which they say was occasioned thus Tho since the first Conquest of Ireland there have been continued feuds in that Kingdom between the People of both Nations upon the account of Interest yet when the Reformation was once set on foot the Breach was widned upon that account it being what the Natives of that Country have always endeavoured to destroy and with it the English Interest there but finding this a very difficult Task by reason that the old English of the Pale tho' many of them were of
the same Religion with the Irish yet they cou'd never be perswaded to stand up for a mere Irish Interest till the Irish in the What Methods the Irish first took to make the old English joyn with them Province of Vlster especially found out the two following Expedients first to intermarry with the English of the Pale and to seek all opportunities of making alliance with them and secondly to perswade the English Gentry always to breed up one of their Sons a Priest by whom and their Irish Wives the English were managed to that degree that tho' at the first breaking out of the Rebellion in 1641. they seemed to detest the Irish ways of proceeding yet in a few Months after a great part of them openly joyned with the Irish and this with the constant troubles in England were the Reasons why that Rebellion was the longest in suppressing A Brief Account of the Expences of the former War and also the most expensive of any before it being on foot 12 Years viz. from the 23 d. of October 1641. until the 26th of September 1653. The Charge to England in suppressing of which and the loss that the Protestant Party in Ireland sustained during this War being computed by Sir John Burlace in his History to amount to Twenty two Millions One Hundred and Ninety One Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Eight Pounds Three Shillings and Three Pence And others compute the whole Loss Cost and Charges of the King and Protestant Party to suppress the said Rebellion to amount to 34480000 l. And that the English Adventurers who advanced Money upon the Credit of two Acts of Parliament in the Years 41 and 42 paid 70 Years Purchase for that which was not worth above eight and that the Souldiers paid 115 Years purchase for their Debenters but those People have a mad way of reckoning in the multiplying several of their particulars However as to this last War that we have all seen An Essay towards this I pretend not to so great Skill as to know the Expences of it only thus far is easily computed 1. The Army that Landed with Duke Schonberg and that came some time after into Ireland with those of the Derry and Inniskillin Troops received into Pay under his Grace's Command in the Year 1689. being 9 Regiments and 2 Troops of Horse 4 Regiments of Dragoons and 30 Regiments of Foot the whole pay for which in one Year comes to 869410 l. 7 s. 06 d. 2. His Majesty's Royal Army in that Kingdom in the Year 1690 Consisting of 2 Troops of Guards 23 Regiments of Horse 5 Regiments of Dragoons and 46 Regiments of Foot the Pay of which considering the difference between the Numbers in the Foreign Regiments and our own amounts to 1287630 l. 02 s. 00 d. 3 The Army in that Kingdom in the Year 1691. Commanded by Lieutenant General Ginckel being 20 Regiments of Horse 5 of Dragoons and 42 Regiments of Foot whose Pay for that Year came to 1161830 l. 12 s. 10 d. Then the General Officers Pay the Train Bread Waggons Transport Ships and other Contingencies make at least as much more which is 6637742 l. 05 s. 00 d. And the Irish Army living for the most part upon the product of the Country cou'd not cost much less Besides the farther Destruction of the Protestant Interest in that Kingdom by cutting down Improvements burning of Houses destroying of Sheep and Cattle taking away of Horses with Infinite other Extortions and Robberies as also the loss of People on both sides most of which however disaffected yet they were Subjects to the Crown of England As to the particulars of our and their losses of People A modest Conjecture at the Numbers lost on both sides during the War in both Armies since the Landing of Duke Schonberg in Ireland the best Computation I have been able to make by comparing Accounts and conferring on both sides with those that have made some Observations on that matter the thing runs thus Irish Officers killed 00617 Souldiers killed belonging to the Irish Army 12676 Rapparees killed by the Army and Militia 01928 Rapparees hanged by Legal Process or Court-Marshal 00112 Rapparees killed and hanged by Souldiers and others without any Ceremony 600 Officers killed in the English Army 00140 Soldiers killed in the Field 02037 Murdered privately by the Rapparees that we had no account where they died 00800 English and Foreign Officers died during the three Campaigns 00320 Souldiers dead in the English Army since our Landing in Ireland 7000 Tho' its to be observed that in the two last Campaigns there died very few except Recruits and such as died of their Wounds Nor are we to believe that the Irish did not lose a great many by Sickness also but no doubt the Destruction of the People in the Country wou'd do more than double all these Numbers so that by the Sword Famine and all other accidents there has perished since first the Irish began to play their mad Pranks there have died I say in that Kingdom of one sort and another at least One Hundred Thousand Young and Old besides treble the Number that are Ruined and undone All which being considered it 's certainly most expedient to find out an Eternal Remedy that the like may never happen again And this I humbly suppose must not be any endeavour to root out and destroy the Irish but in the advancing the English Interest both in Church and State in that Kingdom so as to make the Irish themselves in love with it And tho' it has been the Ruining Fate of that Kingdom The Interest of England to advance the Power of the English in Ireland to have some great Men both in Court and Parliament Judge it the Interest of England to keep Ireland poor and low and it may seem strange to hear an English Man by Birth and a meer Stranger to the having any Interest in Ireland to endeavour the contradicting of it But in my humble Opinion whatsoever may be allowed in this as to the promoting the private Advantages of a great many Trading People and even Men of Estates in England which all would suffer by the advancing of these in Ireland yet it 's so far from being the real Interest either of the Kingdom of England to cramp Ireland in its Prosperity that the Wealth and Greatness of Ireland in Trade and Manufactures is to be promoted both by the King and People of England as much as possibly it can And first as to the Kings of England it is the same thing to them whether they have their Customs from Bristol or Dublin from Cork or Newcastle c. or whether their Levies of Men when occasion offers are made in the Counties of Wickloe and Waterford Cumberland or Yorkshire provided the Interest were one and the same in both Kingdoms And as to the People of England in general one shou'd think it 's their business to promote and encourage the Trade and
Prosperity of Ireland that thereby it might not only support it self in time of Peace but defend and maintain it self in War which nothing but promoting its Trade and Wealth will do For what Ireland cannot do in order to its safety England must supply to prevent its own danger since if ever a Foreign Enemy Surprize and Possess Ireland especially the French then England must maintain a greater Standing Force to secure themselves than wou'd have secured Ireland if imploy'd in its defence it being no groundless Saying of some Old-fashion'd Poet. He that wou'd England win Must with Ireland first begin For tho' in former times when little or no Shipping appear'd upon these narrow Seas and France and other Countries knew not what it was to have a Fleet and there was but small Commerce even between England and Ireland themselves yet in this active Age of the World it wou'd go very hard with England if the French shou'd possess Ireland who have all the Harbours from Dunkirk to Brest and if they had Cork Baltimire and Bantry where wou'd our Western Trade be Besides by the possessing the Eastern Coasts of Ireland they wou'd surround three parts in four of England and a great part of Scotland and cou'd Invade either when they pleas'd which wou'd necessitate England to be always at the Charge of a Considerable Standing Army and then farewell both their Wealth and long enjoy'd Liberty And so sensible have our Ancestors been of something or other to be done in this Affair that Sir Henry Sidney that most excellent Governour who had spent great part of his time in that Kingdom holding a Parliament Our Ancestors sensible of this there for a Subsidy in the Eleventh Year of Queen Elizabeth He with the Lords and Commons in the Preamble to the Act of Parliament thus express themselves to the Queen Considering the infinite masses of Treasure able to purchase a Kingdom that your Noble Progenitors have exhausted for the Government Defence and Preservation of Your Majesties Realm of Ireland c. Which Evils still remaining the Remedies are as yet The former Evilâ— still remain to be found out at least to be put in practice for tho' the War be now happily ended yet there are at this day at least three differnt Interests on Foot in that Kingdom the English Irish and Scots the first of which seem to be the least concern'd in their own advancement but the last gain ground daily in the North there being at least Ten Thousand People come thither out of Scotland within these Twelve Months which in time will make their Party Considerable for the People of England live better than the Scots at home and so are not so easily invited to look abroad Whereas the Scots their part of Ireland by this means in a few Years is like to be more than it has been And as to the Irish every one sees their indefatigable Industry in promoting the Interest of their own Party no discouragements being able to blunt but rather serve to sharpen their endeavours for the effecting of what they believe may be some steps towards their future Prosperity making every particular Man's Case a general Grievance and each assisting other as being all concerned in the same general cause whilst the English even in that Country who still feel the smart of their former Calamities will yet rather sett their Lands to an Irish Man or a Scot that shall give them Sixpence in an Acre more and never improve it further than to an English Farmer that if he had Encouragement wou'd in a few Years make good Improvements which will still continue one great reason why Ireland will not easily be made an English Country But I can carry the matter yet higher and affirm that The Interest of the Irish Papists themselves to Advance the Power of England it 's the real Interest of the Roman Catholicks of Ireland themselves whether of Irish or English Extraction to promote that of England as much as they can in their Country if they will but consult the future safety of themselves and their Posterity since without the support of some other Nation they can never hope of themselves to be an Independant Kingdom and if they were we scarcely can find out how they wou'd agree amongst themselves who should Command or who Obey which they never could yet from the beginning do and what did the Irish ever get by accompanying either their Lords or Followers into Rebellion Or what should they have gotten if the late Attempt had absolutely succeded but a more absolute Servitude under the French And therefore it 's better for them to have their old English Friends they have been so long acquainted with than run the hazard of either setting up new Tyrants of their own or having them come to 'em from abroad Besides if the English Interest were strong and powerful in Ireland this wou'd cut off the hopes of all disaffected People for ever thinking to withstand it and wou'd make them reject all Tenders from abroad and Inticements from their Jesuited Priests at home and never wou'd they more run such desperate Risks which still fall upon their own heads at last so that if the English Interest were so fortified that all hopes of removing it were cut off the Irish would not be prevailed upon to make such destructive attempts to themselves and Posterities as they often have done hitherto by the Insinuations of their Priests who have nothing to lose nor Families to provide for but only hazard the Lives and Fortunes of others that have both Since as Sir William Petty observes there are and ever will be in England Men ready for any Exploit and Change either by being discontented with their present Condition or otherways well inclined to the service more than are sufficient to quell any Insurrection which the Irish can make and abide by Which wou'd spare both the Blood and Treasure of England if those of that Nation in Ireland cou'd do it of themselves There are only two Objections that I know of which Two Objections answered seem to be considerable against this Opinion of promoting the Trade and Wealth of Ireland The first that if Ireland should be encouraged so far as to make it altogether an English Country it would drain the wealth and Inhabitants of England to that degree that we should impoverish our selves by putting our Trade into their hands who wou'd be equal if not Superiour to us in a small time since their Country lies as Convenient in all respects for Trade as ours and has several Advantages above it Answer This would rather incourage England to be more industrious in Trade and Manufactures when they saw their younger Sister of Ireland by having the same priviledges of Trade with her self begin to contend with her in this particular and would create a profitable emulation amongst the People of both Kingdoms since I have not that Opinion of Trade that