West to London in our March I found this Gentleman at Windsor then a Justice of the Peace and I have heard several say he was a Deputy Lieutenant under the late King at the time when few honest Men in the Kingdom would accept of it And if what he told the Committee of the House of Commons be true that he had but fourscore Pounds a year in England it is then the more likely that he was put in for a Tool to serve some Turn in those Times But however the Gentry of Ireland do think that I have accidentally hindred their getting the 15000 l. this Gentleman did designedly endeavour it for he proposed it in the Committee that this fifteen thousand Pounds might not be given to us but applyed to a better use viz. to the raising of his Regiment and mounting them As for his Insolence it appears in tacitly providing himself of Soldiers before the Kings Pleasure be known 2 dly In making such Demands to have the best forfeited Lands in the Kingdom before they shew whether they shall deserve the Pay of other Men. But above all it appears in getting the Certificate of his Soldiers that are to be that he is a very fit Person to be their Colonel which Certificate has been on foot these Five Months and which is an insolence to his Majesty beyond all imagination to set the Feet above the Head that the Common Soldiers and other his Titular Officers should make their Colonel nay their General as was before shewn As to its being impracticable I have shewn that before under another head And now I will put my self in the Balance with him you must forgive me this little concern that I have shewn for I cannot pass by without resentment the Man that calls me a Knave My Reputation is the only thing left me in this Calamity and that no Man shall take from me especially I will vindicate it from the abuses of a man so scurrilous that he provokes even Clergy-men to beat him But set us by one another a little my Proposal is not to make me any thing much less a Collonel neither if the Treasurers place in it were worth asking for since that is the only Office that my Proposal makes neither is that yet made till a man can be found that will accept of it yet by my own Proposal as I am unable to execute it so I am unqualified for it for my Estate is setled and has been so these Four Generations past I got none of it by perjuring my self or other Men nor by any other indirect course I thank God but it has been in my Family so long as that by honest Industry and good Husbandry we have increas'd it in value not in quantity from nine Pence an Acre to Five and Twenty Shillings an Acre And that makes my Calamity now the greater he had no Plantations there to loose whatever he may pretend whereas I have lost what no Money nothing but time can repair I have never seen nor heard of in Ireland or England Plantations equal to what I have there lost both in Woods of Grafts and young Timber Trees of this your self and many of my Countrey-men can be my Vouchers For out of my great zeal to fill the Country with Orchards I gave Fruit Trees to all that ask'd which made me encrease my Nurserys so extravagantly But to return notwithstanding that my Proposal carries men over as Planters not as Soldiers yet if any man of us have a mind to go into the Army my Proposal will set him out very well After the charge of Sowing his Corn is paid he will have perhaps some scores of Pounds in his Purse to equip himself withall And every man whose share is under Twenty Pounds and who consequently is not obliged to Sow any Corn has no more to do but to receive his Money with which if he pleases he may immediately mount himself for the Army And I am sure those who cannot Fight through Age or Infirmity or that have numerous Families would have reason to approve of my Proposal which would give them a maintenance without Fighting and by it the most infirm or aged Person that is concern'd in the House of Commons List who would be otherwise useless is made as useful to the Publick as the best There are some other little Objections which scarce deserve to be repeated such as the carrying over of Arms which are design'd but for their own defence and which if it had not been mention'd they would then have cry'd out How can we an unarm'd People go over and plant in an Enemies Country But there are some Men among us that have fill'd their Brains with a Notion that the Parliament will maintain them here till they can send them home and that they shall have this 60000 l. of course without going over and will not be perswaded to the contrary and consequently will not hear of stirring the miserable consequences of which Opinion makes my heart ake to think upon If there are any more Objections they are not answered only because I know them not for they would not give me admittance among them when they were drawing their Answer which is another Mark of their fair dealing though possibly this was done with design that they might Reply to me with more advantage For some of us do make that use of the leisure we have by our Exile to answer every new Pamphlet that does not suit with our own Notion but if any of them do design to treat this so they shall keep the Field undisturb'd for me This Vindication was a debt to my Reputation but I shall never think for my part that so much is due to an Opinion But after all I am perswaded that the greatest part of these Gentlemen are deluded by a few of their Leaders Money'd Men and who are in a way of Living here who have told them that my Proposal sends all away and that unless they go they shall have no share in the Fifteen Thousand Pounds that when they come there they shall have but Ten Pounds a Man and that for that Ten Pounds they must Sow Two Acres of Oats and build a House and that on another Mans Land Whereas this is all false and on the contrary every man whose share of the 45000 l. is under Twenty Pounds is not obliged so much as to Sow Corn or any thing else only to carry over Arms for his own defence So that I hope their hard thoughts of this Proposal will vanish and of me for making it especially if they consider First That it would be far from being a Profit to me or a satisfaction to any thing that carrys the Nature of Man to see a People my own Nation Ruin'd and Destroy'd as some to my Knowledge put it into their Heads that that is my Design who are as much Strangers to my past Actions as to my present Inclinations on the contrary it is most manifest that the Good of the People in general must redound to my particular advantage But to satisfie them further they may see before that I have declared my purpose of going along and to undergo to the utmost of my Ability whatever hardships we shall meet with I would desire them to consider secondly that if either the King or the Council had thought this Proposal so ridiculous and foolish as these men have told them it is surely they would never have given themselves the trouble of twice reading it whereas we see on the contrary they thought it worthy their serious Consideration Thirdly That this Proposal is a force upon no man nor does any man any wrong that stays here and therefore that it is too like the Dog in the Manger to hinder other mens going because we cannot or will not go our selves Fourthly That the price of Corn is already risen from two Shillings fix-pence to four Shillings a Bushel and no Armies yet upon the March nor Fleet fitted out I wish that before the time that our Northern Corn could have grown the People of England do not think too much of all the Corn we have here eaten though for our Money when they shall want it themselves It is not long since Ireland has in one Year but in 84 exported of Victuals alone as I have seen in the account thereof to the value of Two Hundred Eighty Three Thousand Pounds Sterling of which not above Twenty Thousand Pounds was in Fish the rest was in Butter and Cheese Beef Mutton Pork and Bacon I speak not here of Tallow Hides Wool c. What an astonishment is it then to think that in so few Years it should be brought to that desolate condition as not to be able to Feed the few Inhabitants it carries The consideration of this does demonstrate to me the Service of Forty Five Thousand Pounds thus laid out to be so great that one can hardly doubt after having had so great proofs of the charitable Disposition of the Citizens of London but that among them there may be some found who will advance and lend the Treasury Money upon this Occasion if it be demanded The gift of which would indeed have been a great Favour to us at First if we had obtain'd it upon this Proposal without any words but to have it offered now will shew a true Paternal Affection in giving us what is good for us against our wills and though we have justly forfeited all hopes yet if those here and at Chester will upon better thoughts confess their fault and fairly lay the Saddle on the right Horse and justly expose those Men that have drawn them into this who as some of them were a burden to us in our best times so now have they in our greatest distress made us forfeit the favour of his Majesty by their Practises and with the worthy Irish Gentry of Leverpool who are no small number joyn in an humble Supplication to his Majesty that he would notwithstanding their Folly even yet dispose of them according to the said Proposal or in any other way that to his Wisdom shall seem fit there is yet room to hope that his Majesty will be graciously inclin'd to let them be partakers of his Favours I am Sir Your most Humble Servant R. B. FINIS *âŽ* Note that in October when this Paper was first given we had Sligo and Jamestown and almost all Conuaught to the Walls of Galway
into practice First It is humbly Proposed that the King would cause it to be made known to be his pleasure that all the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of Ireland who now are in England and whose usual abode has been in Ireland do forthwith return to that part of that Kingdom which is under his Majesties Authority except such whom his Majesty shall particularly order to stay here for his Service and that for their encouragement so to do it is humbly Propos'd 2 dly That his Majesty would be graciously pleas'd to give to all his English Subjects of Ireland whose Estates have been returned into the House of Commons and by them have been rated the Sum of Fifteen Thousand Pounds And that he would be graciously pleased to send into Ireland the Sum of Forty Five Thousand Pounds to be there distributed to such of them as will go over to that part of the Kingdom which is already conquered and there Sew Summer Corn And that the said Forty Five Thousand Pounds be put into the hands of two Substantial Wealthy Gentlemen of that Kingdom Men of clear Estates without any Incumbrance or Settlements of known Integrity and that are not dealers in Money who may be Treasurers of the same they giving sufficient and undoubted security for the payment of the said Forty Five Thousand Pounds in Ireland in such manner as is hereafter laid down and that without any Fees or other Charges to be paid by the Persons who are to receive it And that every Person whose share of the said Forty Five Thousand Pounds shall amount to Twenty Pounds or upwards shall give Bond to the said Treasurers in the King's name to the value of what he receives that for every Ten Pounds that he shall receive he will Sew if he be upon his own Estate Four Acres of Oats Barley or Pease upon his giving of which Bonds he shall receive his share of Money from the Treasurers 3 dly For the encouragement of all such to go over whose Estates are yet unconquered it is proposed that they shall be obliged to Sew but Two Acres of Corn for every Ten Pounds that they shall receive because of the necessity that they will lye under of being at some Expence upon land which is not their own and of paying some small Rent 4 thly That the said Treasurers or one of them shall take care that every Person do Sew as much Corn as by Bond he was obliged to do and that the same be not negligently thrown upon the Ground only to escape the Penalty of the Bond. And therefore that at Harvest-time the said Treasurers or one of them shall ride about to see the same before it be Reap'd and that the Bonds shall be in force against all those who have not their share of Corn to Reap that is if the same have happened through any neglect of theirs although they did before answer the obligation of their Bond by Sewing By this means his Majesties Fatherly care of his People will most evidently appear in contriving that his Subjects there shall have at least Ten Thousand Acres of Corn the next Year whereas without this possibly there will not be a handful in the whole Kingdom and Thousands must dye for want of Bread 5 thly That every Person who will go for Ireland on these Conditions shall out of his first share of Money buy for himself and every Relation and Servant that he carries with him who are able to bear Arms a good Musket or Case of Pistols for the defence of his Family without the producing of which Arms in Ireland and the making Oath that he himself bought the same in England he shall have no Right to receive any of the said Forty Five Thousand Pounds in Ireland Lastly That the Collect-Money may be divided that one third part of it may be kept here for the Relief of Widows and Orphans only and the other Two Thirds sent for Ireland for the encouragement of Tenants and Labourers to go over to Plow and Sew for the Nobility and Gentry or themselves And that these also when they have entred their Names to the Bishops and other Commissioners of the Collect-Money that they will go they shall receive if they go from London Twenty Shillings apiece or if from the Sea-side or near it Ten Shillings apiece to bear their Charges and a good Musket or Case of Pistols at Chester and Bristol which the Commissioners shall provide and pay for out of their Stock and the rest of the Money they shall have divided among them at their arrival in Ireland and that all such of them as will not go over shall find no relief here We already know by Computation that there are about Ten Thousand Persons that will go over and by this means his Majesty will as it were send a Recruit to the Army though it is not at all hereby intended that they shall be put into it which will be as so many fresh Inniskilling Men inspir'd with Rage for their Losses Men who when they get into their Country will not be driven out again So that our Army need not be weakned by putting Garrisons into any Towns but may march on entire and these will keep the Towns and Country behind them Here the Answerers of this Proposal will immediately cry out that this is not the same with that which lay before them I own it differs in some amendments many of which are more of Phrase than of Matter But this might have lain before them and sav'd them a great deal of needless trouble in exercising their Rhetorick upon things which I grant them and which are not in this present Proposal but they positively refus'd it by which you may plainly see that their business was not by strength of Argument to run down the Proposition of Our going to Ireland to Sew Corn But to cavil at that poor Paper that lay before them whose Doom some of them have declared to be to light a Pipe of Tobacco though others of them have condemned it to a worse fate that must be nameless thereby shewing their Loyalty and Respect to his Majesty who after his Perusal of it Ten Days gave it to the Lords of his Privy Council to consider of before whom it lay near Three Weeks and who were pleased two several times to Interrogate me and make their Objections thereon and they afterwards thought it not unworthy the consideration of another Assembly whose quick-sightedness did upon the very first hearing of it read doom it as I have before told you But they hope that this Behaviour of theirs to his Majesty will be forgotten when Judges Attorney and Sollicitor Generals Places come to be disposed of in Ireland or that they have now shew'd their Desert for such Places in so vigorously hindring those that would go over and do the King such signal Service My Second Argument shall be the Approbation of a great many of the Gentry of our own
perishing with want Let but the poor French Refugees have the same Bait and see how few of them will stay behind And I think the Goodness of our King is without Precedent in troubling himself to conquer a Country for a People who will not return and plant in it when it is conquered They are not acquainted how near Enemies live to one another abroad that scruple to go live at Londonderry or Eniskilling because the Irish are at Sligo The Country of the Vaudois is within fifteen Miles of Turin the Duke of Savoys Court which yet is a very flourishing place and a splendid Court And the mighty and impregnable Fort of Hunningen which the French have been so many years a building is within Cannon-shot of the City of Basil the most renouned of all Suisserland But to return to our Objectors 11. Obj. They say I have left my self a hole to creep out at in excepting those whom His Majesty shall particularly order to stay here for his service and that I am underhand getting such an order But they are mistaken for I want not that hole I can go out at the Gate in being excepted among those whose usual abode has not been in Ireland for I was setled here with my Family before the Earl of Tyrconnel went to that Government But I will do neither but if His Majesty shall think fit to send over money for us to subsist withal there I purpose God willing to be among the first that shall go over to sow Corn in doing of which I presume to say I shall do His Majesty more service than I can pretend to do by staying here 12. Obj. But say some of them if an Angel from Heaven had given a Proposal without consulting us first we would not receive it This deserves not much Answer however I shall say this supposing after all that the King and the Council or the House of Commons should think this a very useful Proposal judge you then by all the rest of the Arguments that they have raised against it what had become of this useful Proposal if it had been first presented to them But besides who are these mighty People to be consulted withall Forty or Fifty at most who get together upon every occasion and who are in this very action justly incurring the same censure in pretending to answer for a whole Nation without consulting any one of them at Bristol Chester or Leverpool where their Numbers exceed ours here Forty to one and who do not think their Business in England is to stay for imployments or to be made Privy-Counsellors but are panting after their own Country and many of them have long since declared that they would return if they had but their shares of the 15000 l. nay many of them would go if but their Fraight were paid for when Men are ill they think change of place gives ease of Pain And besides even here in London there are Persons of the best Quality of that Kingdom without consulting of whom this small handful of Men think fit to act as the Representatives of the Nation But moreover others of them have given in Proposals to the King without consulting the rest of us and I think my Pretensions are as good as any mans of them all perhaps better I had the Honour to be known to our present King in Holland to attend on him in his Expedition for England in which there were not Two Persons more of Ireland that I know of except what were in the Kings Pay and I have the honour to have access to him here which singular Favour I have made use of God is my Witness though I could appeal to others more for the good of our poor Country than to my own private advantage This I have inserted only for the information of some few of our Country-Gentlemen who know few of their own Countrymen more than what they meet at an Assizes and who have been pleased to say that I made these Proposals only to make my self known 13. Obj. As for what is objected touching the Brief-Mony we will give them leave to wipe out that whole Clause for that Money as I am inform'd is very near to its end I wish it have been laid out to better purpose and have done as much good as it would have done thus employed 14. Obj. But the most Popular Objection is still behind founded upon a Proposal given in by Sir St. J. Br ck to raise a Regiment of Munster Men to Land in the South and he has only chosen the Forfeited Lands of the Three best Counties in Ireland for their pay And the reasonableness and usefulness of my Proposal being so likely to overthrow his has made him to mis-represent mine to every body and to defame it with the Epithet of Dishonest and Knavish wherefore I must desire your Patience since my Reputation is at stake though I thank God it never was before this time and I think I shall easily clear it now to set forth the Knavery and Insolence as well as the Folly and Impracticableness of this latter Proposal 1 st For the Knavery this Colonel that would be has kept Lusty Young Men that might and probably would have gone over with our Army these Five Months in pay upon the Brief-Money which was design'd for the Relief of the Distressed this can be prov'd from their own Confessions so that the Poor Widows and Children are cheated of this Charity which Lusty Young Men receive 2 dly These Young Men are cheated too for as themsolves say he has promis'd to carry over an Hundred of them as Cadets in double pay and that they shall be preferr'd to all the first vacancies of Commands in the Army so that here he sets up for their General too But 3 dly most of all will the King be deceived and that first in Relying on him to raise a Regiment of Irish Refugees I am sure it is the opinion of most of the considering Men of that Country that it is impossible to raise 300 Men of Ireland who would carry a Musket on their Shoulder upon inquiry it will be found that there did not go a Thousand of them over under all the Irish Officers that went into the Army and I believe those few that remain are not now so fond of going in the same capacity and the reason hereof has been plainly shewn by the great Author of a late excellent Treatise call'd the Characters of the Protestants of Ireland But if this Gentleman may be permitted to make up his Regiment with English Men then there are others here of Ireland who have a better pretence to it that he for the Second disappointment that the King will meet with if he have a Regiment will be that too probably he will do him no service with it I will not say that he will carry in his Regiment to his old Master but this I will say that when his Majesty came up from the