these Infamous Wretches whose Mercies are Cruelty to Tyrconnel's first steps in the Government as Lord Deputy in relation to which I shall now usher in at once the removing of the Judges though some of them were turned out before Tyrconnel came to the Sword As Sir Standish Harston Baronet one of the Barons of the Exchequer Sir Richard Reynolds Baronet one of the Judges of the King's-Bench and Johnson one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas The Consult was in London before Tyrconnel came to the Government whether the Judges should not be turned out before the Earl of Clarendon was removed to represent him odious to the People if he complyed or disobedient to the King if he seemed unwilling in the matter as they believed he would For they observed that he and the Lord Chancellor Porter began to startle at the Commands from England before they received any account of their removal and Porter publickly declared That he came not over to serve a turn nor would act any thing against his Conscience and as a Testimony of this he found at his return to London that he could not without some difficulty obtain the favour of kissing the King's hand but at length gaining admittance he humbly asked the King What he had done that he was so used For it had been a considerable expence to him to remove his Family To which the King replyed That 't was his own fault which was an expression not very unintelligible Porter went several times after to Court and stood in the King's Eye but he never vouchsafed to speak to him or to take the least notice of him But to come to the Judges it was not thought safe to turn them all out nor any more of them till the Government was in a hand that was Catholick For some of the Council I mean the Cabal were afraid of proceeding in their design too fast especially Powis who urged a slow Progress as accounting it most safe and this made him not be confided in as to their secret and blacker Designs though in his Lady they reposed an intire Confidence as being thought the greatest Politician among them and were not a little ambitious that the Earl of Shaftsbury in the Popish Plot had given her that Character This Debate concerning the Judges was long and often some were for making a clear riddance and to have the Reformation begin in the Courts of Judicature They having already the Military part of the Government in their hands might with greater Facility secure the Civil But the moderate Party prevailed and one in a Court to colour the actions of the rest must be left But that which stuck with them was that Sir William Davis Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench must not be moved for two Reasons The First was That he had been of the Duke's Party in the time of the Popish Plot behaving himself so loyal that he had been sent over if Dissolving the Parliament had not preserved him but this was the least part of his Strength The Second therefore and most prevalent Inducement was his Marriage with the Countess of Clancarthy whose Son had Married the Earl of Sunderland's Daughter and Sunderland was to be denied nothing Besides Sir William Davis was a Diseased infirm man given over for some years and to expedite his Journey for another World for he was a thoughtful man his Brother Judge Nugent the first Popish Judge that was put in pass'd Patent for Sir William Davis's place of Lord Chief Justice in reversion a sad Presage in those times where men must die when and how their Adversaries pleased This being resolved the choice was soon made Lord Chief Baron Hen makes way also for Rice and in Rice's room Sir Linch succeeds in the Common-Pleas In the High Court of Chancery was placed Sir Alexander Fitton a man notorious on Record so exempts me from the pains of giving the Reader a Character of him in this place but little regard was to be had to the man so long as he was fitted to that interest which was then promoting it being very remarkable That of what Perswasion soever they were which they employed at this time they chose men of the most branded Reputations and whose Principles were such as could brave Conscience The three Protestant Judges had their several Capacities and Inclinations for their Service the Lord Chief Justice Davis I speak not of for he was decreed to die and did soon after but the three Standards for the Cause were the Lord Chief Justice Keating for the Common-Pleas Lyndon for the King's-Bench and Baron Worth for the Exchequer The Lord Chief Justice Keating had always been a Servant of the Duke of Yorks was a Native of the place as the Irish call them his Family for many Ages there and Naturalized into Irish he was somewhat accounted to be Popishly inclined and therefore that Party thought themselves sure of him but he was a person of more sense than to pursue the Chace with greater expedition than safety He was rich and single and small hopes would not spur him on to an indiscreet forwardness however as to the main they questioned not his Affection to the Cause Lyndon though in his affection no friend to the Irish Government yet lay under the powerful temptation of a numerous Family and his not abounding in Riches made him the more Passive though he behaved himself the best of the three and when it laid in his power shewed himself an English-man Baron W was the Man they most depended upon and he was so well known that year W 't was in vain to pretend indifferency nor did he but was the first man in the Exchequer where there was more business than in all the Courts besides that struck the fatal blow in all Causes where the English were concerned as in the Sequel will appear in the Charters and private Causes of the English that came before him The Courts being thus setled the next thing year 1687 to be performed was calling in the Charters and here Tyrconnel endeavoured to proceed in the same method that the Lords Justices had done before in perswading the City to deliver up their Arms. But one art in State-Policy could not easily be imposed twice in a year and the English had a fresh Impression upon their Memories by what plausible perswasive Rhetorick they had been cajoled out of their Arms and now to have a like Delusion pass upon them in depriving them of their Laws was a colour not natural enough to deceive them a second time However this was the method of the proceeding Tyrconnel during the Lord Clarendon's Government had procured the King's Letter that all Roman Catholicks should be admitted into the freedom of all the Corporations of the Kingdom which Letter was artfully contrived with a great deal of sweetness and of endearing expressions as that it proceeded from his Majesty's great care of the general good of the Kingdom and was graciously designed by
A Full and Impartial Account Of all the SECRET CONSULTS Negotiations Stratagems and Intriegues OF THE Romish Party IN IRELAND From 1660 to this present Year 1689. For the Settlement of Popery in that Kingdom LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard M DC LXXX IX TO THE READER TO Preface to the ensuing Pamphlet will I am sensible be attributed to a vain humour of the Age rather than to more important Considerations But however that may be the Apprehension of some yet the more Judicious will I doubt not be of another Opinion when they perceive a whole Series of the most profound Policies and Designs drawn with that rudeness and disproportion as equally requires their Candour as well as my Apology Indeed to give an exact pourtraicture of this Intriegue which in all its circumstances appears very extraordinary and surprizing would require Apelles his favourable chance or at least a more Artificial Representation than must be expected in the following Discourse All that I can pretend to is an Impartial Account of the Matter of Fact and that being chiefly aimed at will with sober Men be in some sort at least interpreted A Dispensation for the want of exteriour Ornament or however that may prove I deem'd it much more serviceable to the Publick to present the Reader with this rough draught rather than conceal that which with what imperfection soever 't is managed must needs be useful to all Protestants and especially at this Juncture For here the Reader has an Account of the first steps that were made in Ireland for the Introduction of Popery into that Kingdom together with a Description of what obstacles and repulses this Design met with how 't was still carried on notwithstanding its frequent Interruptions and Discouragements and by what private Cabals and after what secret Machinations Here is represented the admirable diligence of an indefatigable Romish Genius for the promotion of the Catholick Cause which in several periods of State and vicissitudes of that Government still kept its design on foot sometimes retreating a few paces backward when they found it necessary and at others not only retrieving that disadvantage but continuing a greater Progress when they met with occasions favourable to their Design which at last they carefully improved to that ripeness wherein it now stands and to which it has attained by an unparallel'd Violation of the Laws and Constitutions of the Realm by the most violent and unjust Proceedings in the Reign of the late King James of which you have an ample and copious Relation in the following Sheets Full and Impartial Account Of all the SECRET CONSULTS Negotiations Stratagems and Intriegues OF THE Romish Party in Ireland from 1660 to this present Year 1689. for the Settlement of Popery in that Kingdom c. WHEN the natural Consequent of our late intestine Differences had in a short time produced so many various Scenes of Government till by a circular Motion we center'd in our first Model and so like Pythagoras his transmigration of Souls were metamorphosed into so many differing Shapes till at last in the Year One thousand six hundred and sixty we became animated with our first Dispositions to Monarchy by the Restoration of King Charles the Second then it was that several Disputes arose which were Debated before the King and Council concerning the Settlement of Ireland the Lord of Santry Lord Chief Justice of Ireland a Man equally eminent for Law as well as Loyalty in an excellent and learned Speech represented to the Board the horrid Rebellion of Ireland together with those Barbarous and Inhumane Massacres which he had been an eye Witness of In Opposition to which Sir Nicholas Plunkett a Man also very skilful in the Law but a Knight of the Pope's making and one that had acted his part in all the Rebellion of Ireland assumed the Defence of the Natives of that Kingdom but as his Cause was too apparently bad to be maintained with any tolerable Success so was his Understanding in the Law inferiour to the Lord Chief Justice Santry's who carried the Debate with great Applause in the Opinion of all that heard it and had his Advice been accordingly pursued 't was thought few of the Irish would have got their Estates and at that time if by mistake the Lord of Ormond and Lord Anglesey had not joined with the Court-Party 't was believed that what the Lord Santry urged as Law must have prevailed in point of Right for in those days the Interest of the Duke of York which afterwards grew to a mighty height as you will perceive by the Sequel was not so powerful as to have prevented it That which he chiefly insisted upon as to matter of Law was That 't was most agreeable to the Law of the Land as well as most equal for the Subject to be Tried by the Common Law where they would meet with a fair and indifferent Tryal by Juries of their Neighbours and in this case could have no wrong done them but that the Court of Claims was like the Usurper's High-Court of Justice Arbitrary and Unlimited This touch'd the Irish to the quick for they being conscious of their Guilt most of 'em Indicted and Outlawed for Treason despaired upon their Trial at the Bar to make any considerable Defence The Government of Ireland was first put into year 1660 the hands of Lords Justices which were Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor the Earl of Mountrath and the Earl of Orrery the first a Lawyer the latter Men that had signally behaved themselves against the Irish during the whole Rebellion Under the Government of these Men a Parliament was called in the City of Dublin and the Convention which sat upon the King's Restoration dissolved The first thing they proceeded upon were the Bills sent them from England for by the Law of Ireland Intituled Poyning's Act the Parliament of Ireland can read no Bill in their House which proceeds not by these Steps First The Chief Governour and Council of Ireland draw up a Bill and send it over to the King and Council in England who either approve or correct it as they think convenient and so in the second place return it back to the Chief Governor and Council and these send it to the House of Commons who have only a Negative Voice and can neither alter nor amend a word of it This by way of Digression which differing so much from the Practice of the Parliament of England induced me not to think it altogether unpleasant or unnecessary to present the Reader with this brief Account of it But to return to the Parliament the variety of interests in that Kingdom gave birth to several Disputes among them for the accommodating whereof it was thought necessary at Court to send over a Lord Lieutenant for about this time a great Controversie arose among all Parties which was founded upon this occasion A new interest was set on foot in
as refus'd to joyn with them to that extravagant height were accounted Persons disaffected to the Government called Fanatick and Oliverian Dogs with the like Expressions of Calumny and Reproach But this was not all the most judicious of them were now so animated in their hopes that 't was impossible for them to bear them any longer with moderation or to contain themselves from the most violent Outrages and from instigating the Rabble to steal from and rob the English which at first was looked upon as the most Expeditious Contrivance whereby to expel them the Kingdom The Duke of Ormond foresaw what was now past remedy and told a Friend of his that nothing could now preserve the English but a precipitateness of the Irish For said he let my Countreymen alone and they will spoil their own business And so indeed they had in any time but this when it might be said according to our Saviour's Prediction That the time was come when they that destroyed the Protestants thought they did God service King James and his former but now more especial Favourites the Irish were now equally furious in their course and seemed to contend the one in his Commands the other in their forward Obedience which should exceed in their joynt design of extirpating Heresie The Duke year 1684 of Ormond was called over but before his departure laboured with an Indefatigable diligence to establish matters on such a foundation so as that it might not be easie for them to create a present change without a manifest violation and infringement of the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom The new Hospital a stately Fabrick near Dublin erected for poor Soldiers would he foresaw be made a Nest for Hornets which to prevent as well as possible he sate several days with the Council and Judges in private in the Castle and there made all the provision that could be for it against the imminent storm One remarkable Passage I must not omit to mention which demonstrates the great spirit of that excellent person At the aforesaid Hospital he appointed a Dinner for all the Officers of the Hospital and the Officers of the Army then in Dublin which being over he took a large Glass of Wine in his hand bid them fill it to the brim then stood up and called to all the Company Look here Gentlemen they say at Court I am now become an Old Doating Fool you see my Hand doth not shake nor does my Heart fail nor doubt but I will make some of them see their Mistake and so drank the Kings Health But upon his Arrival at Court found that King James's Bigotted Opinion would carry him to the most violent actions a dismal apprehension whereof as is believed at length broke his heart for though he was of a great Age yet was he of such health of Body and cheerfulness of mind that in course of nature he might have lived Twenty Years longer as his Mother did 'T was plain that the Irish could fasten no Calumnies upon him when the first thing they reproached him with was Cheating the Army in building the Hospital and that Robinson the Architect had inriched himself by it when indeed not to lessen any thing of his due Character Robinson shewed the parts of an Excellent Artist in the Contrivance and of an Honest Man in the Charge as men of Value and Experience in Building affirm Upon the Duke of Ormond's removal the Government year 1685 was put into the hands of the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard in the Quality of Lords Justices The Irish fell immediately to their old trade of making Plots but with this difference That whereas they had formerly been the Actors themselves they now placed them upon the English which they daily impeached of designs against the King and the Government The Grandees had the confidence to appear in Vindication of such Evidence as was given against the English though it was altogether as unreasonable as untrue and press'd the Lords Justices for Orders of Council to empower Irish Papists and Mongrel Protestants to examine them and to commit if they saw cause without Bail any person impeached This Arbitrary Power the Lords Justices and Council would not agree to yet were so hectored and insulted upon by them that they issued out Orders of Council to examin and commit but always they were directed to Protestants which wearied the Irish of that Stratagem One thing has been omitted which was that before the Duke of Ormond left the Government an Order came for regulating the Council which he left for the Justices to do and most of the English that were active of the Privy Council were turned out but as yet no Irish Papists put in The Irish Lords and Gentry repaired in great numbers to Dublin and as well Gentry as Commonalty of the Natives in all places reproached the Protestants and their Religion with all the Calumnies and Impious Reflections that the rankest Satyrists could invent At Leslip seven Miles from Dublin the Lord Clanriccard Sir Valentine Browne now created a Viscount by the late King James Colonel Moore and some others upon their Knees drank Confusion to all Protestants and their Religion This was taken notice of and the wiser sort of their Party blamed these Men for their forwardness as judging it could not be safe to go on so fast but to stifle the noise of it such as were Eye-witnesses of the Fact and threatened for not Pledging the Health were seized with Warrants and menac'd with having their Throats cut and the like terrifying Arts if they denied not the thing Sir Standish Harston one of the Barons of the Exchequer was threatened to be eased of his Employment if he took not off his Son-in-Law who reported the matter These daily repeated Insolences of the Irish made the Lords Justices weary of their Government and one of them the Lord Granard writ to England to be dismist But in a Consult of the Papists it was resolved to represent him as a Man fit to be kept in for that his interest was very prevalent in the North among the Scots and had for many years in King Charles's Reign been a Pensioner and had Five Hundred Pounds per Annum given him to distribute among the Presbyterian Clergy of which Perswasion his Lady was For the aforesaid Considerations and besides that he was a Popular Man in the Army 't was judged convenient to retain him in the Government For which end King James writ him a Letter with his own hand with great Promises and assurance that nothing should be acted prejudicial to the Protestant Interest which at that time this Lord was accounted to be zealous for however he has now prevaricated Monmouth's Rebellion soon broke out and year 1685 some were apt to believe that Granard was in suspence who to declare for but the Lord Primate was a person of firm and inviolable Loyalty and his unalterable steadiness hindered the other from deserting These two