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
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
him for the encouragement of Trade and the uniting of the Affections of his Subjects and in order to put this in execution the City of Dublin was to lead the way and to be the Precedent to the whole Kingdom And therefore in pursuance to the tenour of the aforesaid Letter the Lord Mayor calls a General Assembly wherein the Kings Letter was read upon which the City made their humble Address to the Lord Lieutenant and Council setting forth that they found the City by Act of Parliament bound up and the if they should act according to the Letter they incurred a Forfeiture of their Charters and therefore humbly prayed the Lord Lieutenant and Council to lay their Condition at his Majesty's Feet who they did humbly conceive was mis-informed in this matter This retarded the freedom of the Papists for some time but another Mayor one Castleton who is still in Dublin succeeding he passed the Irish Freemen and in consequence to this the same was done in the whole Kingdom This was laid with ingenuity enough for promoting the Irish design yet received not its hoped for effect which was by this means to procure freedom for so many of the Irish in every Corporation as by the Majority of their Suffrages might out-vote the English in the Election of Popish Magistrates which upon Tyrconnel's Accession to the Government might facilitate the surrendring the Charters and so render the Kingdom as they stiled it entirely Catholick But this device how speciously soever contrived did not reach the end of its Projectors For notwithstanding the great Endeavours and active Industry of the Irish yet most of the Corporations out-ballanced them in the number of Protestants Tyrconnel perceiving himself frustrated of his expectation by the numerous Party of the English has an immediate recourse to the way before-mentioned of the Lords Justices and to put this in practice sends for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and there acquaints them that he had in charge from his Master the King to tell them as being the chief City of the Kingdom and unto which as such he intended the greatest Marks of his Favour that it was his pleasure to call in all the Charters of the Kingdom not with design to take away any thing from them but to enlarge their Priviledges by which act of bounty and favour he might the more endear them unto him He farther told them that his Majesty expected their ready compliance so as that their chearful surrendry of their Charter might become examplary to the rest of the Kingdom The Lord Mayor returned the answer usual in such cases which was that he would call an Assembly and move it to them and the next day he accordingly did so acquainting them with what the Lord Deputy had given him in charge The Assembly was not long upon their Resolves but the manner of delivering them afforded the greatest matter of debate the result whereof was this That the Lord Mayor Recorder and Aldermen should wait upon his Excellency and acquaint his Lordship that as the City had ever been exemplary in their Loyalty and faithful Obedience to the Kings and Queens of England so they should ever continue in the same and therefore humbly conceived it to be their Duty to lay at his Majesty's feet the great Services they had done the Crown under the Grants and Immunities of One Hundred and Chirty Charters they had then in their Treasury from his Majesties Royal Ancestors and they humbly prayed his Excellency to favour them in a kind representation of their condition to his Majesty which they hoped would prevail with his Majesty for the continuance of their Ancient Government under so many Gracious Grants and Charters Upon the making of this return there was present the King's Attorney and Sollicitor The first being a most Virulent and Inveterate Papist nothing of friendship was expected from him but the latter was not doubted yet contrary to expectation argued stifly against the City The Lord Deputy as extravagantly mad to meet with this return which so absolutely thwarted his design fell into a great fit of violent Passion and in a raging Tempest told them That this was the continuance of their former Rebellion that they had turned out all the Loyal Snbjects in the last War of Ireland and that they would do so now were it in their power And it was because they so lately disputed the King's Commands for admitting Catholick Free-men that caused his Majesty to call in their Charters and in the close of this furious Speech advised the Lord Mayor to call the Assembly again and obey the King or it would be worse for them Wherefore the Lord Mayor humbly besought his Excellency to signifie his pleasure to the Assembly by a Letter under his hand alledging that they would not regard a Verbal Repetition of it which they had been already acquainted with as also urging that it had been the constant practice of the Chief Governour to send their Letter upon occasions of publick business to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons And if his Excellency would please to follow this usual method he would act as in duty bound in obedience to it To which the Sollicitor General replyed that there was no necessity of any such Formality but 't was sufficient if his Excellency signify'd his Commands by word of Mouth in which they ought to acquiesce Upon this the Lord Mayor called another Assembly and great Debates arose how to demean themselves in this nice Criticism of Affairs But as to the surrendry of their Charter 't was what they unanimously resolved against After some Dispute as to the manner of Addressing the Lord Deputy in this case 't was at last resolved and concluded That the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons should make their Application to his Excellency with Reasons why they could not surrender their Charter and to pray his Excellency to allow them time to Petition the King not doubting but His Majesty would be graciously pleased to take into his Princely Consideration as well their Exemplary Loyalty as Eminent Sufferings for His Royal Father of Blessed Memory Upon which they produced a Letter from King Charles the First dated at Oxford which contained great Acknowledgments of their great Loyalty and Faithfulness to him which he gave them high assurances of being eminently rewarded if it pleased the Divine Providence to restore him to his Crown and its just Rights and Prerogatives The aforesaid Representatives of the City also prayed Tyrconnel to represent their condition favourably to His Majesty but he answered them roughly and according to his former Austerity told them That on the contrary he would Write against them and in the interim according to the Directions he brought over with him from England a Quo Warranto issued forth against the City Who called another Common Council and there agreed upon a Petition to the King and sent over with it their Recorder Sir Richard Rieves who behaved year 1687