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-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-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
of Families which flocked over from Dublin to the Isle of Man and other places Indeed I cannot recal to mind the great Consternation the dismal Apprehensions and Panick Fears which possess'd the hearts of all Protestants at this juâ—cture without reviving like Aeneas his repetition of the Trojan Miseries to the Carthaginian Queen those deep impressions of sorrow those Infandos dolores under which I was then almost sunk and overwhelmed Now every thing discovered a gloomy and Melancholy prospect and seemed to be attended with so many Discouragements that many that had Patentee Employments obtained Licence from the Lord Lieutenant under the Broad-Seal to come away and all that lay in his Excellency's power for the help and assistance of the Protestants he zealously performed It was interpreted by many as a signal Act of Providence propitious to the English that the Winds continued for some time contrary after that this furious Zealot for the Cause as impatient as a Wild Bull in a Net was come to the Sea-side which disappointment did not a little discompose him whose prejudice and ambition equally inspired him with eagerness to supplant his Predecessor whom he had looked upon as his Corrival in the Government This favourable delay was religiously respected by many as a certain warning or admonition from God to his people to fly from those heavy Judgments which had been long imminent but now in an actual readiness to descend upon that Poor Distressed Kingdom But he whose Arrival was dreaded every moment as the most fatal misery that could fall upon the Nation at last after being thus retarded to the unspeakable terrour of the Protestants Landed at Dublin And the Lord Clarendon who had a particular favour conferred upon him to continue for one Week in the Government after Tyrconnel's Landing at his Grace the Lord Archbishop of Dublin's Palace resigned the Sword to Tyrconnel with an admirable Speech to him setting forth his exact observance of the Commands of the King his Master and faithful discharging of that great trust which had been committed to him and concluding with his Impartial Administration of Justice to all Partys in these or the like words addressed to Tyrconnel That as he had kept an equal hand of Justice to the Roman Catholicks so he hoped his Lordship would to the Protestants Never was a Sword washed with so many Tears as this a most doleful presage of its being so in blood It would surpass the Art of Rhetorick to set forth the dreadful Reflections which the poor afflicted Protestants made upon this Ominous Revolution No Oratour could find words to express the fatal Calamities which were now derived from the consequence of this change it presaged the worst of evils and seemed to carry in all its parts the most dismal Characters of an Irreversible Extirpation of the Protestant Interest and Religion Most of the English were possessed with the daily fears of a general Massacre to be suddainly put in Execution and that in a most inhuman manner and this produced the strangest Convulsions in the minds of men that a most exquisite grief could be capable of Others were more temperate in their sorrows and were of opinion that notwithstanding Popery was the Scene which must be acted yet they were in hopes by some more plausible way than that of downright murthering They considered that the last Rebellion had heaped so much Infamy upon the Irish and had justly rendered them such Barbarous and Inhumane Savages to the whole Christian World that to obliterate that deserved reproach they would now take some milder course which though it might have something more of Humanity in it would yet be as effectual to the design the utter Subversion of the Protestant Interest and Religion In fine Quot homines tot sententiae their Sentiments were as various as their Fears But however all concurred in this That Popery was the Game that must not only be Played but win too whatever Arts were used to obtain the upshot The Lord Clarendon before he surrendered the Government was very curious to inform himself of the Constitution and Condition of Ireland and at his going over carried with him Copies of Records Surveys c. of that Kingdom and among other things it is said that he desired the Lord Chief Justice Keating now in Rebellion in Ireland and one of the fatal instruments for the ruine of that Kingdom to give him his opinion in Writing both as to the Legality and Justice of the Act of Settlement as also to answer those Objections which had been made against it by Neagle all which he amply performed and which my Lord Clarendon upon his Arrival at Court shewed to the King who sent the Copy over to Tyrconnel who spared not to reproach Keating for this action which Keating at first disowned but the matter being too plain to admit of an absolute denial at length began to make the best Excuse he could My Lord Clarendon being shipped for England now does the open and full Triumph of the Irish ambitiously shew it self in this advantagious light in all its grandeur and magnificence The dejected condition of the English made their Victory more glorious 'T was now impossible for the Natives to forbear insulting over the English at an insupportable rate as if they had been actually their Slaves bound to the Wheels of their Chariots That sober thought of Sesostris when he had his Coach drawn by four Kings was not a reflection to be entertained by them at this juncture The Day was now their own and Post mortem nulla voluptas they failed not to use it as extravagantly whilst they enjoyed it What Affronts and Indignities were now cast upon the English How barbarously Hector'd and Insulted over by these Huffing Rhodomontadoes How injured and oppressed by publick acts of notorious injustice How abused as to their good Names reviled as to their Religion and reproached as Englishmen and Protestants Called Fanatick Dogs and Damn'd Hereticks is so publickly known as requires not much pains to describe Those of the Protestants who had been the most obliging to the Irish were sure to meet with the most ungrateful returns and if they had been so charitable as to relieve them in their necessities as the English a merciful and too easie natured a People had frequently done they would now in requital seize upon what they had by open force or else set others of their own Creatures to do it If any of the English had lent Money to them or bargained for Goods and Commodities of the Countrey whereby the Irish were become their Debtors their usual payment especially if they were in necessity and afraid that Executions would be obtained against their persons or substance was repairing to the next Irish Justice of the Peace and swearing of High-Treason against their Creditors though oftentimes in kindness to them they had been forborn with a year or two from discharging the Debt But I pass from speaking any more of
acquired a fair Reputation among the Popish Party for his success in these Arts of Delusion and Treachery and they in their Secret Cabals did not a little magnifie and applaud their Politicks which they thought they so amused the English with laughing at the Credulity of the Heretick Dogs for so their Grandees in their private Meetings would frequently call them Having thus obtained their wish as to the surrendry of the Charters the next work was to agree upon a Model for the men This debate was strongly canvassed several ways and that which chiefly puzled them and even put 'em almost to a Non-plus was that the King would have nothing of this transacted at Court for fear of meeting with opposition there This Exigency of not being suffered to receive advice from England exposed them to great Difficulties for they were utter Strangers to the Laws and Government of Corporations as indeed they were to all matters of Government having been conversant in nothing but Secret Plots and Private Contrivances how to unhinge and discompose all Governments and as an aggravation of their misfortune except Rice Daly and Neagle there was not a man of them in the Privy Council that had common sense if you will believe themselves for Rice and Daly would often complain that nothing could pass at the Council-Board that concerned the Publick but their Countrymen must first ask Teig If that would not spoil his Pottatoe-Garden Necessity at last supply'd the place of Invention and a method was agreed upon which reduced Corporations to perfect Slavery and this in all the Circumstances of that affair was their prime and ultimate aim For as to matter of Trade or improving of the Nation these were Speculations of too Metaphysical a nature for men of their size and former way of Education as was demonstrated in the first Proclamation issued forth by Tyrconnel and his Council to break an Act of Parliament in taking off the duty of Iron and admitting it so into the Kingdom whereby they might encourage Merchants to bring in Pieces of Eight from Spain and so hasty they were to have the honour of this admirable contrivance that without asking the King's leave which is always done before any Proclamation relating to the Revenue Pass They put it in execution but as soon as 't was heard of in England a Proclamation came from the King forbidding this wise act made by these great States-men And so ill this presumptuous folly of theirs was interpreted That the Lord Bellasis swore in Council that That Fellow in Ireland was Fool and Mad-man year 1687 enough to ruine ten Kingdoms Father Petres corrected him severely for this foul miscarriage and writ to him That if he acted not with greater Caution the King could not possibly preserve him in that Government These Documents and severe Reprimands of the Ghostly Father were so religiously observed by him that for the future he would proceed in nothing but ball out at the Council-Board and call them Fools and Blockheads if they spake any thing that was contradicted by the English Privy-Council Their great Confident was the Lord Chief Justice Keating who knowing that he had an Ascendant over them as to Parts was so imperious and insulting that sometimes he was taken to task but had wit enough to submit yet often was very uneasie to them But however he in publick and W. in private for he was not of the Privy-Council directed them in the management of the affair of the Charters And when they had got the shape and model of them presented by these Temporizing Painters who drew to the life according to the Popish fancy then they proceeded to an Election of the men to name in their Charters and here they begged pardon of their Advisers and would be their own Directors 'T was their Rule to have in the great Cities who were most English one third Protestants and two thirds Papists but then these that they called Protestants were Quakers or other Enthusiasticks and two or three in a Charter of such Protestants as either their considerable Estates or loose Principles would secure to their Party by that means leaving not a man of true Value or Courage in any Corporation in the Kingdom and although they took in Lords and Gentlemen out of the Countrey into all their Corporations yet could they not compleat them without additional numbers of Scandalous and Contemptible men In one Corporation in the North the first Magistrate of the Town was a Man that had been burnt in the Hand Here you see by what impious Arts and fraudulent Machinations the several Corporations were cheated and trapanned out of their Charters most of them wheedled and grosly imposed upon by a Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing Secretary Ellis who stuck not to make great Promises of enlarging their Priviledges and the like though he knew nothing to be more destructive of the Protestant Interest and Religion of which he owned himself a Professor And as his wearing of a Protestant Mask contributed very much to the success of this intrigue so did the same Vizard put on by Keating and W. not a little facilitate the Model of the new Charters of which they contrived the Plat-form and then 't was easie for the Popish Faction to super-struct upon it the palpableness of whose design was in nothing more fully evident than in putting in of all manner of Fanatical Enthusiasts into their new Charters under the notion of Protestants For 't was evident that some of these were as irreconcileable Enemies to the Protestant Church as they were Friends to and Confederates with the Romish As for instance The Quakers concerning which ridiculous Profession Who is or can be ignorant that 't was derived from the Jesuits Who knows not that these have sharpened their Weapons at the Romish Forge and that their prime Leaders whatever they otherwise pretend to do inwardly own Ignatius Loyola as their Founder These were therefore too much their own Creatures to be neglected by them as not only appears by their former Principles if those monstrous Absurdities they maintain may be reckoned to be such but also by their present Practices as their vindicating the late King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience though it manifestly tended to the introduction of Popery and their zealous espousing of his interest at this day do fully shew But amidst all the new arts of modelling the Corporations neither their Brethren the Quakers nor other of their Adherents could give them such effectual assistance but that often they were put to their shifts and necessitated to elect men of the blackest Characters and most infamous Reputations as appears from their choosing a Magistrate that had been burnt in the Hand Here was admirable justice indeed to be expected where he who had not only held up his hand but been punished in so scandalous a manner at the Bar was now to sit upon the Bench. But as the Popish Party were put to these Difficulties of getting
who replyed No he would send naming some body by him to stand in his place and that would do as well Of this Sheridon being a Bigotted Zealot gives an account to Father Petres whose Niece Sheridon had Married by which means he obtained an interest and freedom with the Jesuit and not with him only but with all the Irish Clergy especially with the Titular Primate of Armagh who being an Vlster man as Sheridon was had no kindness for Tyrconnel who was of the Pale a sort of old English degenerated into Irish but had in no esteem by the Natives of the Province of Vlster The aforesaid Titular Primate then contracted an intimate Familiarity and Acquaintance with his Cousin Sheridon as he called him and they with the before-mentioned Priest formed Articles against Tyrconnel which having compleated and Sheridon disposed of his Affairs prays leave of the Lord Deputy to go for England pretending some private business of his own to dispatch there But Tyrconnel being jealous that he designed some prejudice to himself would not give him permission to go upon which Sheridon writes to a Cousin of his to London to take out a Licence from the King which Father Peters look'd upon as strange and sent him word back That the King would enquire the reason why he had it not from the Lord Deputy This could not be transacted with that secrecy at Court but that Tyrconnel had some intelligence of it which exigency drove him to have recourse to his two Grand Counsellors at a dead lift Rice and Neagle who advised him to take no notice nor shew any outward Symptoms of discontent against Sheridon but rather attend some opportunity whereby to intangle him in a snare which soon offered it being fatile baculum invenire c. no difficult matter to find out Treachery and Perfidiousness enough in an Irish-man whereof to accuse him They observed that the Lord Deputy's Domestick Chaplain was intimately conversant with Sheridon and another Priest that was or called himself Cousin to him To countermine these Intriegues the Lord Deputy appoints a third Priest a Confident of his own to fall into an intimate familiarity with his Brethren who seemed inclined to unite his endeavours with theirs if they had any intentions of impeaching Tyrconnel The Priest managed this Affair with so much skill and dexterity verifying the vulgar saying of Setting a Thief to catch a Thief that he soon wound himself into a strict League of Amity with them and so seemingly interessed in all their Affairs that they no longer questioned his espousing their Party and to delude them the more artificially pretended to find out new matter of accusation against Tyrconnel which he did so effectually that against the Post-day he brought his Charge against the Lord Deputy in writing under his own hand which Sheridon in his sight sealed up with a great many more in a Pacquet and directed it to his Cousin in London This being done the Priest takes leave of Sheridon and gives notice immediately to Rice the chief Baron who doubted not to trapan him upon this favourable occasion Sheridon as usually makes up the Lord Deputy's Pacquets sending all to the Post with instructions for the Pacquet immediately to go to Sea. Rice and Neagle remained in the Lord Deputy's Closet and at twelve of the Clock at Night a Messenger was sent on Board the Pacquet-Boat to fetch off the Male which being opened Sheridon's Pacquet was taken out directed to his Cousin which discovered the whole Intriegue and among the rest the Irish Primate's concern in the design Sheridon's Pacquet was sealed up and put into the Male except one Letter which was taken out directed to a certain person in London full of vehement Exclamations against the Lord Deputy and giving an account of many of his Articles which he designed to impeach him of Rice and Neagle advised the Lord Deputy to write to the Lord Sunderland which he accordingly did setting forth Sheridon's Briberies and other Sinister Practices not taking any notice of Sheridon's contrivance against himself All this was done when Sheridon was asleep and not suspicious of any design against him which the better to disguise Tyrconnel still carried himself to him with the same unconcernedness as formerly At this time happened the death of the Bishop of Clogher in order to which Commissioners were appointed for setting and disposing of the Revenue of that Bishoprick 'T was adjacent to Sheridon's Countrey who had abundance of Cousins especially upon such an occasion as this some of which he endeavoured to prefer in that Employment thereby hoping to have fished out something for himself but the Lord Chief Baron was now though he knew it not become his formidable opposite and there was one of the Commissioners of the Customs Dickison by name that was a person as well of great experience as of integrity and honesty who kept a vigilant eye upon Sheridon for though he had a great hand over and much influenced the rest of the Commissioners yet could he never prevail upon Dickison Now arrives the return of his Pacquet to his Cousin in London but with no good account of his Affairs The reason of which ill success was Sunderland's acquainting Father Peters with the complaints that were made against him by the Lord Deputy and thereupon shewed him his Letter from Tyrconnel That Letter which was taken out of the Pacquet in Dublin was not missed by Sheridon's Cousin in London who only writ back to him That he had delivered his several Letters as directed and no more 'T was now time for the Lord Deputy to break publickly with Sheridon and in order to it sends for him into his Closet there being present with him the Earl of Lymerick the Lord Chief Justice Nugent the Lord Chief Baron Rice Judge Daly and some others The Lord Deputy demanded of Sheridon Whether or no he had written any thing against him to London Sheridon who wanted not Confidence or rather Impudence with which his Countreymen do universally abound to an immense proportion and degree answered That he had not but that he had heard that his Excellency had writ against him which so enraged the Lord Deputy who is a great Furioso and can prescribe no limits to his Passion that he could not contain from calling him Traytour Cheat Rogue c. and pulling out Sheridon's Letter asked him if that was not his hand which for the present put him into great disorder and confusion but after some recollection he assumed to justifie himself and to enter into a Capitulation with the Lord Deputy at which Tyrconnel rose in excess of fury to kick him so he was turned out Tyrconnel and his Party were in long consideration how to proceed in this nice Conjuncture of Affairs They dreaded not Sheridon's interest or Impeachments so much as this opportunity of awakening his Excellency's Enemies at Court After various Debates 't was at last resolved That Daly should take Sheridon to Task
other part was to be under such Qualifications as that the King might dispose of it to such as he found to be obedient Sons This if the King would have pursued a Parliament they could have had when they pleased fitted for their turn all Corporations being already put into Popish hands and all the Sheriffs of the Counties being Papists would be sure not to make returns to their disadvantage This Consult being come to this ripeness 't was year 1688 concluded that Rice should go over as Plenipotentiary in negotiating this Affair which was mannaged with that privacy and reservedness that not one of the Council knew of it till the Warrant was signed for the Yatcht to carry him over But as soon as this became publick the Lord Chief Justice Nugent flew about like lightening to all his Friends to make an interest to go over with Rice which Neagle and Rice privately opposed for as one of them told the Author he was good for nothing but to spoil a business when nothing could prevail he pretended some affairs of his own and so obtained leave to go over and for the honour of the business was joined with Rice to present that which was publickly to be offered but was not in any part of the cret intriegue to render the undertaking more prosperous For the Deliverance of the Irish Nation they Embark'd upon St. Patrick's Day but considering the bad success they met with they might as well have put him out of their Kalendar as by a particular order from Rome they had formerly done St. Luke because upon that Holy-day the English had obtained a great Victory over them in the last Rebellion But to return to the Irish Embassadors for so they were called here in England over they came and after Rice had paid a Visit to the Jesuits of whose Society he was once a Novice and had been educated in their Colledge he made his first Court to the Lord Sunderland Father Peters he found not favourable to his design but the French Faction was his chief dependance to whom he had always a recourse in his private Consults without communicating any thing to his Colleague whom he kept in great ignorance of the private intriegue of Castlemain against the Lord Deputy 'T was Rice's chief business to possess the Conclave with a great opinion of the Lord Deputy's extraordinary Zeal for the promotion of the Catholick Cause and that he had made a much greater Progress in it before that time if the want of a Parliament and the continuance of the Act of Settlement had not retarded that design without which Rice alledged That 't was impossible to make Converts or to Proselyte any to their Party who thought themselves Masters of the Kingdom whilst they had the Laws on their side and made it their boast That the King durst not attempt to meddle with them So that as Affairs stood there seemed a more rational probability that the Roman Catholicks should condescend to the Protestants than they to the Roman Catholicks Thus was Rice very active and industrious in urging and propagating the intriegue which when it was fully comprehended by his Party Father Peters was with much difficulty influenced so far as to join in it though at first he could not be prevailed upon to hear of it For he was absolutely byass'd for Castlemain's interest and being no Politician but a perfect fury and of an Imperious Temper was wont to contemn every thing that was not his humour But this Project being a work of expedition in Ireland and in his own Style to Convert or Confound the Hereticks there he at last embraced it and when once he became interessed nothing must be done but by his direction and advice so 't was concluded upon that the Project should be laid open before Sunderland and that when he was made Master of it he and Father Peters would wait on the King with it And to oblige Sunderland's more chearful and hearty concurrence in this Affaiâ— he was to be made sensible what signal advantages would be derived to his Lordship from so great a Revolution in that Kingdom a matter which required no great art so to instil it into him as to make it intelligible But notwithstanding Father Peters adherence to this Project yet did he continue in his former Inclinations for removing Tyrconnel And 't was believed that happy difference among the several Romish Factions was the prime occasion of diverting this fatal blow design'd for Ireland The business was in the Closet fully discours'd to the King by none but Sunderland and Peters who with the liberty of a digression I must acquaint the Reader was not infallible in keeping Secrets The King was soon fully inclined to the thing but how to pass it at the Council Hic labor hoc opus est there lay the stress of the business for he was very apprehensive that such as were opposite to Tyrconnel's continuance in the Government of Ireland would be more violent against his being there with a Parliament too great for such a Man whom the Council had in contempt Peters thought he could easily remove that obstacle by introducing the Popes recommendation of Castlemain but over that the French King had laid his hand to whom the poor King was become a Vassal Amidst these difficulties 't was hard to form a resolution but however 't was agreed to that the two Judges should be publickly introduc'd to the King with their project for calling a Parliament in Ireland and to lay at his Majesty's feet the deplorable condition of his Catholick Subjects there occasioned by the palpable injustice and oppression of the Act of Settlement which was so notorious that the vety Protestants themselves were ashamed of it and would gladly part with enough to satisfie the Irish in case that they might have a good Act of Parliament to secure the rest All this was put in practice and they brought to Whitehall where the King received their Project in writing and told them he would advise with his Council about it Now 't was the constant method of King James in any thing of weight or importance to consider it first in the Cabal before 't was proposed at Council-Board yet this thing upon which entirely depended the Settlement or ruine of a Kingdom had not that Sanction but was carried immediately to the Council which was matter of admiration to many but supposed to be done for one of these two Reasons either that the King was conscious that those of the Cabinet would not suffer it to proceed any farther but was in hopes so to influence the Judges and other Tools he had at the Council-Board to vote for it Or else that he would shew his indifferency in the matter that so it might not be thought any private intrigue The King brought this project the first Council-day and in few words acquainted the Council with its importance and contents and by whom presented to him no man spoke a
a Demonstration indeed that 't was palpably unjust refused to grant the Injunction however their Tool Worth did it and the cry is That the Blood of that Man lies at his door But the Sheriff exceeded the Tenour of his Warrant for he had nothing to do with the House nor Land it stood upon Swan therefore kept his House and the Sheriff coming to take possession Swan looked out of the Window and desired him to call a Jury of that Neighbourhood and if they found that Land or House in his order from the Exchequer he would give quiet possession but otherwise he would not open his Doors for he was very sure the Sheriff had no order to come there Upon this without any offer of Swan more than keeping his Door shut the Sheriff having his Men ready a number of them together discharged a Volley of Shot at him as he stood in his Window and shot him in several places they broke open his Doors and finding him wallowing in Blood and groaning upon the Floor they took him up and flung him out of Doors Some more Compassionate than the rest carried him into a Cabin where he had so much strength as to ask for Drink In his House there was of several sorts enough but those Inhumane Butchers would not give the Dying Man a drop who died there in the place This Horrible Tragedy I thought fit not to omit the relation of though by way of Digression as being but the introductory part of too many of the like Barbarities repeated since Every day by all ways Expresses came to Tyrconnell which gave him no good account of Affairs which made him give Commissions to any that would accept of them and that he might have the more custom without a penny of Fees to the Secretary For many of them that had Commissions pawned them for their Lodgings at their going out of Town not having a Penny to carry them along but pawning their very Cloaths off their Backs as they Travelled The English and some of the best of themselves laughed at this Poppet-play for no man believed that 't was designed for more than a shew and that Tyrconnel did it to make good his Word of being able to raise an Army of an Hundred Thousand Men at a Months notice Every day brought an additional account of the Prince of Orange's success which put the Grandees into so great a terrour and consternation that those who at first had expressed a great deal of alacrity and forwardness amongst them in raising of Men began now to decline and by degrees more and more to draw back Then the Lord Deputy sent to the Judges and the Lord Chief Justice Nugent to shew his valour undertook to raise a Regiment and so others pretended to do but it came to nothing The Irish were in greater trouble and confusion than before the English braving it in City and Country every day expecting to have an English Lord Lieutenant over it being the unanimous opinion of all the Protestants that the Irish Lords would have contended who should be the first Man to make their submission but no relief coming to the English as was expected some began to draw for England when an unexpected Catastrophe had like to have swallowed all up 'T was the Earl of Mount Alexander's receiving of a Letter giving him an account That upon the Ninth of that Instant December all year 1688 the Protestants of Ireland were to be cut off This Letter he sends with several Copies to Dublin and to all parts of the Kingdom it arrived at Dublin but on Friday and the Sunday following was to be the day of Slaughter This suddain alarum struck such a fear upon the English that upon the Saturday there got away about Three Thousand Souls There happened to be abundance of Ships in the Harbour at that time but were so crammed that many were in danger of being stifled The Run of these people happened to be so suddain and in the middle of the Night that it resembled the flight of the Jews out of Egypt and the Irish were as desirous to have them gone for some of them were in as great a terrour as the other The Guards kept their Post in a Maze and the Draw-bridge of the Castle was drawn up thus they stood upon their Guard till Morning and when Tyrconnel understood what the matter was he first sent the Earl of Roscommon and the Earl of Longford to Ringsend this being Sunday Morning to perswade the People to stay and ordered the Yatcht to sail after them that were gone and to fetch them back but neither of his Orders succeeded And the same day sent to some of the most Considerable Persons and Citizens of Dublin that were Protestants making great Protestations and Oaths of his utter abhorrence of the pretended design of Massacring the English begging them to perswade their Friends not to stir 'T was by all his actions at this juncture sufficiently apparent that he had then no thoughts of standing out notwithstanding that he gave Commissions to every one that would accept of them For he now made great Court to the English desiring several of them to testifie how just and equal he had always been in his Government to the Protestants This was a condescention to the English which carried no proportion with the imperiousness of his former carriage to them and was accordingly interpreted as an effect of inevitable necessity and of that great Consternation of which such eminent Characters were plainly legible in all the Circumstances of his Deportment for he now discovered as much awe and dread of the success of the Prince of Orange's Arms as upon the first News of his Arrival he had done of disdain and contempt Every Action he did had deep Marks of his Fears engraven upon it and all his Discourses expressed his disordered and evil apprehensions of the present tendency of Affairs But as Matters were in this great hurry and confusion at the Castle so is it not easie to set forth the strange Effects and Consequences which attended that suddain alarum in the City of an intended Universal Massacre There you might see Thousands of People deserting their Houses and all their Substance in the World and running to the Ships with scarce any Cloaths upon their Backs Never was seen such a Consternation as at this time Never such a Confusion and Distraction All the Bloody Massacres in the former Rebellion were now reflected upon under the most ghastly and dismal Representations and those Scenes of barbarity and cruelty seem'd to threaten the same or worse usage which produc'd the greatest horrour and amazement grief and despair that humane nature could be capable of This facal News which had so terrify'd the Protestants of Dublin as if the dissolution of all things had been at hand arrived not to several parts of the Kingdom till the very day 't was to be put in execution which being Sunday was brought to the
two Men that rais'd their fortunes in the last Settlement and were making provision for the same Work again and 't is remarkable that 〈…〉 Brother to these here is as 't is said the most active among the Irish at this day and Sir 〈…〉 Houses the only Sacred place from violence in Dublin But of this Intrigue more may be expected and time will shew since the Honourable House of Commons have taken that matter into their prudent Consideration The deplorable Effects and Consequences attending the wrong measures taken for the reduction of that Kingdom are perhaps if duly reflected upon in all their Circumstances more doleful than the Massacre and Rebellion there in Forty One tho' 't is much less considered and it seems a Work becoming the great Council of this Nation to bring the Authors of it to condign punishment But to return to the last debate betwixt Tyrconnel and his Council They were all of them in amaze and in great confusion What to do they knew not all of them were unanimous in their Resolutions to submit except the Lord Chief Justice Nugent and the Lord Chief Baron Rice The Priests put off their Wolves cloathing and in most parts of the Kingdom turn'd Sparks with their Swords by their sides and Perriwigs upon their Heads In this Month the Irish assembled together in great Bodies by the name of Raperees armed with Slâ—eens and Half Pikes and what Robberies they left unacted upon the English in the Relation aforementioned those they now compleated killing their Cattle and robbing and pillaging their Houses Now their new Levies were Mustering every day and their Priests exercising the fresh rais'd Soldiers and Hamilton's Arrival from England put them upon new resolutions which necessitated the English to fortifie themselves and to associate together for their ownpreservation against which Proclamations were issued out in the North and at London-derry and then followed the same in other parts of the Kingdom commanding them home to their respective Dwellings and that such as did not immediately observe the Proclamation should be proceeded against by the Attorney General as Traytors This Proclamation was signed by several Protestants of the Privy-Council which was fatal to the English in regard that it possessed many of them with a belief that there was not so much danger as they were afraid of and others it put in fears of the Law. So that upon the whole matter they were diverted from any thoughts of making their defence and so were dispersed and scattered up and down and by that means became an easie Prey to the Irish Every day brought in new hopes and fears so that some got together again of the English near Kilkenny and the Queens County who were soon dispersed Still the Lord Deputy and Council remained in suspence what to resolve upon when upon a suddain they came to a conclusion whâ—â—h might quiet the Irish Lords that were for submission to the Prince and Government of England The Project was this That two Men should be pitched upon and sent over to the late King James in France only to set forth the impossibility of their holding out against England and then they were sure to obtain permission to make terms and so might surrender But this was a Jesuitical Stratagem contrived by Rice and Neagle and as one of them brag'd since carry'd on without the privity of any but the Lord Deputy and themselves For they were afraid of the Cowardly Temper of the rest whose inclinations were favourable enough to the Cause but wanted Courage and Resolution The Scheme being thus laid 't was moved at Conncil and took with general Applause Rice and the Lord Mountjoy were pitched upon to be sent and in the conclusion of this Affair at Council-Board the Lord Chief Justice Keating believing now that their hopes of King James were over thought to begin with the first to shew his Zeal and Affection to the Protestant Cause and in order to that moved that since they were resolved on this method that his Excellency would put a stop to the raising Men which was agreed to but not in the least observed Mountjoy and Rice proceed in their Negotiation year 1688 and take Shipping at Waterford but before they arrived at Paris the French Engineer Landed at Corke and from thence rid with all expedition for Dublin Then the face of things looked with a far different prospect to what they had done before and those little hopes which had supported the English till this time did now evaporate into nothing which put them upon a necessity of associating together and of getting into Castles and the best places of strength they had for the defence and preservation of their Lives In Connaught the Lord Kingstone behaved himself like the Son of so Noble a Father whose hand the Irish had felt in the former Rebellion In the North Sir Arthur Royden did the like but a fate attended him that he could not divert In Munster the English were thought to be more considerable than in any part of Ireland both for Horse and Foot of the latter more than three thousand and numbers of brave Gentlemen of gallant Courage and resolution and of will enough to back it to have drove the Irish out of that Province and to have march'd through the Kingdom Cork Bandon Kingsale and Youghall being offered to be delivered into their hands which was so openly and indiscreetly managed that it became the publick discourse for a Month together in every Coffee house in Dublin At this time there were not seven hundred old Soldiers in the whole County of Corke which forc'd Justin Mac Carthy to write daily to Tyrconnel that he could not hold out without a speedy supply of Men which yet Tyrconnel could not spare for he was afraid of an insurrection in the North and 't was believ'd in Dublin that if they in Munster had done any thing all parts of Ireland had been secure in the English hands except Lynster for that Tyrconnell could have spared none of his own Forces from himself and the new raised men then knew not the right from the left if same be true The fault lay but in two Men but that being publick time will shew it and my work here is to relate nothing but what there is good authority for Matters were now reduced to that extremity year 1688 that no course remained to preserve the English but that of making their escape for they were disarmed in one day throughout the Kingdom and that order executed with so much rigour that few persons of whatsoever quality were permitted to wear their Swords In the Corporations they shut up the Gates and suffered none to pass in or out without searching them strictly for arms and when they came to search in their Houses under pretence that the English had conceal'd their Arms they sometimes seiz'd upon what Plate or Money they could meet with during this hurly-burly which lasted for several days together