Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n
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A25704
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An apology for the Protestants of Ireland in a brief narrative of the late revolutions in that kingdom, and an account of the present state thereof.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing A3556; ESTC R16309
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15,035
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42
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than till the Irish become Masters of the whole or else such as are confined within the Walls of London-Derry who by extraordinary Courage whetted by Despair have resisted a powerful Army grown insolent by an un-interrupted Success to the Astonishment of the Besiegers and the shame of those that deserted them And lest any Protestant should continue Master of his own House or evade an open Compliance with the Papists they found a Device to reduce them to the misfortune of this Dilemma either to surrender all they had to the merciless Invaders or be Prosecuted as Rebels for making Resistance which un-Christian course they had before practised through the Province of Munster to which purpose they sent Summonitory Letters to the Proprietors in one Line threatning and in another wheedling and so puzzling them with a fatal irresolution till either by open Assault or by the close Mine of a Protection they became Masters of their Wishes I will give you only one for an Instance sent by Colonel Gordon O Neil Son of that Arch-Rebel Sir Phelim O Neil BY vertue of an Order granted to me by Richard Hamilton Esq Lieutenant General of His Majesty's Forces in the Province of Ulster to grant Protedions to all such as will submit themselves and lay down their Arms and peaceably live in their own Dwellings These are therefore in His Majesties Name to Require all Persons so inclined to come in to me and they shall be Proteued in Body and Goods I do hereby summon the Garison of Dauson's-Bridge and Maghrefelt to lay down their Arms or then to be proceeded against as Rebels to His Majesty and to be Prosecuted accordingly Given under my hand at Duneen this Twenty first of March 1688. Gordon O Neil I had almost forgot to take notice to you how craftily and treacherously the Lord Tyrconnel proceeded during these Transactions For pretending to stand in dread of an Invasion from England though by the Sequel it is more than probable he had better Intelligence from thence he over-awed and constrained some considerable Persons to abuse the Ministers of State with a false Representation others he plainly threatned That if they did not write to their Friends in England to disswade them from sending over any Forces he would expose the Protestants without Mercy or Distinction to the Fury of the Soldiers and the Mercy of the Rabble And as for the ingenious Conceit of the Protections it has proved a meer Cheat and a Trap to insnare credulous People I will give you one for a Precedent I Richard Hamilton Lieutenant General of His Majesty's Forces in Ulster do onely receive into His Majesty's Protection the Body and Goods of James Hunter of Bally menagâ— in the County of Antrim Yeoman and promise and oblige my self That none of the Army shall molest or hurt him or take any thing from him Given under my hand at the Camp March Twenty seventh 1689. Richard Hamilton The poor protected Man being thus noos'd returns to his House and follows his Labour but anon down comes the Rabble like an Inundation of Goths and Vandals sweep all before them and leave nothing behind them but a naked starved Family The wretched Man makes his Address to his Protector and receives only this cold comfort I did promise to protect you from the Army that none of them should offer you any Violence but I have no power to restrain the Rabble Let us now reflect upon what has been said and briefly re-capitulate the pressing Exigencies the imminent Extremities and unavoidable Dangers to which the poor Protestants were subjected and then I will appeal to any Man of Sense that is not a bigotted Papist Whether they had not just and undeniable reasons to seek their Escape from the impending Persecutions and to take Sanctuary in England Scotland and the Isle of Man. When the Sword was taken from the Earl of Clarendon because he favoured the Protestants and put into the Hands of Tyrconnel because he was a furious Patron of the Papists was it not high time for considerate Men to foresee the dismal consequences and to avoid them by a leisurely Recess when the Officers of the Army were turned out and the Souldiers disbanded merely because they were Protestants when the Majority of the Privy-Council the Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs and all other civil Officers were avowed and profest Papists when suttle Jesuits mercenary Priests and beging Friers swarmed through the Land and crept into all Houses and Families and the Idolatrous Mass allow'd to be set up in every Town when the Corporations were superseded and none admitted to Magistracy or Freedom but the scum of the Vulgar and the Spawn of Rebels when the Act of settlement began to be canvassed and Mens Titles to Estates and Properties were prostituted to the prejudicate Verdict of such Jurors packt by such Sheriffs and the partial sentence of such Judges who all concur in accounting it a meritorious Service to weaken and destroy the Hereticks was it not a rash Madness for any who had opportunity and Ability to remove themselves to continue under the licentious and Arbitrary humors of such a Government But when Men began to see how they were reduced to a Necessity of suffering whether any succours arrived to them from England or whether they were delay'd they had no Election to make but to contrive an escape from their cruelty or their Revenge When Men were every where alarm'd with a Design of a general Insurrection and universal Massacre he that was so hardy as to over-look this without a concernment must have an unusual Portion of wit to conduct his Courage for my Part I am so far from wondring that so many affrighted Persons should prefer an incommodious and insecure Passage by Sea to so hazardous and terrible an abiding upon Land that I do admire the insensible stupidity of those who stay'd behind And now the Deputy having added 40000 new-rais'd Men to the standing Army 50000 of the Rabble being furnished with Skenes and half-Pikes animated and secretly sworn by the Priests to extirpate all Protestants making it a national as well as a religious Quarrel as appears by the Motto in their Standard set up in the Castle of Dublin Now or never Now and for ever the Protestants in Munster and Conaght turned out of their Houses despoil'd of their Goods and plundered of their Cattle all Armes and Horses taken from those in Dublin and Lemstor a powerful and inraged Army falling into the Bowels of Ulster ravaging without Check or Controll the naked stript and un-armed people flying before them to seek a shelter in London-Derry which could not contain the hundredth part of those that retreated to it there was nothing to be done to escape a suddain Destruction by the Sword or a lingring Death by Famine but to fly over Sea and preserve Life which was all that was left them As for the more unfortunate Remnant of the Poor Protestants who being either gull'd and intrapp't by Protections and reserved for slaughter or else deny'd a Licence to transport themselves that they may indure the misery and at last receive the wages of Slaves and condemned Persons which assuredly will happen whensoever the Conquest of the Kingdom shall be complete and the Government devolved on the French or perhaps so soon as an Army from England shall land there for its rescue they are surrounded with such poynant Circumstances of sadness and sorrow that my Heart bleeds for them and though I dare not trust to the compassion or Prayers of those hard-hearted Men who find fault with us for coming away Yet I leave it to their Judgment to determine whether their condition be not more desperate and deplorable who have staid behind May the good people of England see and be convinced by the dismal examples of Ireland what would have bin their portion if Popery had prevail'd and a Popish King continued to Reign over us May they never be deceived by that impracticable Paradox That the English Nation and the Protestant Religion can subsist or be in safety under the administration of French-men and the Dominion of a Papist I have now wearied your Patience and eased my own Thoughts It shall be your Fault if I be not always May 27. 1689. SIR Your most humble Servant FINIS Books Printed for Richard Chiswell The Case of the Oaths stated Quarto The Answer of a Protestant Gentleman in Ireland to a late Letter from N. N. upon a Discourse betwixt them concerning the present Posture of That Country and the Part fit for Those concerned There to Act in it Quarto A Dialogue between Two Friends Occasioned by the late Revolution of Affairs and the Oath of Allegiance by W. K. M. A. Quarto An Examination of the Scruples of Those who refuse the Oath of Allegiance 4o. Considerations touching Succession and Allegiance Quarto