met with on that Subject which will at least lead towards an Answer if not satisfie your first Inquiry Know then that the English footing in Ireland did not Commence upon a publick but private undertaking For Mac-Murogh King of Leinster having been driven from his Kingdom gave his only Daughter in Marriage to Richard Strongbow Earl of Chepstow and Pembroke and with her his Kingdom after his Death on condition he should assist and restore him The Earl pursuant thereunto incouraged his Relations Fitz-Stephens and Fitz-Gerald to joyn in that undertaking who with near 400 brave Men put off from Milford and Landed near Wexford in Ireland in May Anno. 1170. They were soon followed by Legross with 130 more and in August following by Strongbow himself with 1200. Many of these Parties were Persons of good Quality great Valour and attended with wonderful success For notwithstanding the smart opposition made by the Natives Strongbow in a short time restored Mac-Murogh and inlarged his Dominions to such a Degree as rendred him suspected by Henry II. who by Prohibiting all Commerce with Ireland c. constrained the Earl to yield him all his Acquisitions in that Kingdom The King granted back to Strongbow the Principality of Leinster reserving all the Port-Towns and certain Tracts of Land about them to the Crown King Hen. himself some write with 4500 others that were amongst 'em say but with 500 Knights Landed in October 1172. near Waterford his Presence and Fame with the Terror and Success of Strongbow's Arms so intimidated the Natives in Leinster Munster and Conaught that Five of their Kings on Notice of his Arrival did him Homage and became his Tributaries The greatest part of his Charge was spent in Royal Entertainments and his time for the five Months he stayed there in endeavours so to settle matters as wholly in future to cut off from France the usual assistance afforded by the Irish when Attacqued by the Arms of England He had experimented the benefit the Crown received without Charge by Strongbow's private undertaking Therefore he wisely resolved by like Methods to make that part he had gained bear the charge of Conquering the whole To that end he distributed large Scopes of Land to the great Men that attended him As to Hugh Lacy the Kingdom of Meath finding 100 Knights for his Service for ever c. About four Years after the Irish yielded him or the King imposed a Tax of Twelve Pence on every House or Yoak of Oxen there which amounted to no small Summ in those days After the Death of Strongbow the King at Oxford made his Son John King of Ireland and as our own Writers tell us he divided the Lands of that Kingdom to his Subjects as well of England as Ireland to be held of him and his Son John he gave Miles Cogan and Robert Fitz-Stephens the Kingdom of Cork to whose Relief soon after Arrived there Richard Cogan with a Troop of Horse and a Company of Foot Anno. 1184. Philip de Breos as fore-runner of the young King went into Ireland with a small Party of Horse and Foot the next Year the young King followed with no Army yet Honourably attended and with some Treasure This young Counceller like Rechoboam's handled the Irish Princes that Congratulated his Arrival so roughly that they were provoked to Rebel Whereupon Eight Months after his Arrival he left that Kingdom in a much worse condition than he found it King Henry's Wars in France the unnatural Rebellion of his Sons and his other troubles permitted him not to relieve it yet to pursue his former Method he committed the Government of that Kingdom to the Renowned John de Courty and gave him a Grant of the whole Province of Vlster then unsubdued the Irish Princes thereof having not hitherto owned any subjection to England The Valiant Courcy with 3 or 400 of his friends and followers with the Forces then in Ireland not only reduced the Rebels in the other three Provinces to their former subjection but also brought Vlster under the English Yoak Richard I. was so taken up with his expedition to the Holy Land the perfidy of the French King and his unhappy detention by the Emperor That he concerned not himself with the Affairs of Ireland that I find further then that he Married Isabel the Sole Heiress of Strongbow to William Maxfield Earl-Marshal of England who was also in right of his Wife made Earl of Pembroke and P. of Leinster This Earl left Issue of that Marriage five Sons who succeeded each other to their Fathers Honours and Estate yet Died Issueless and five Daughters whose Fortunes in Ireland and Wales recommended them to the greatest Pears of England As Joyce the Eldest to Earl Warren who had with her the County of Wexford of whom came the Earls of March c. Matilda the second had the County of Catherlow and Married Hugh Bigod Earl of Norfolk Isabel the third Daughter had the County of Kilkenny and Married the Earl of Gloucester and Hereford Sybilla the fourth had the County of Kildare and Married William Ferrars Earl of Ferrars and Darby Eva the fifth Daughter had the Mannour of Dunmas now called the Queens County and Married the Lord Bruise of Gower whereby the Revenue of those five Counties became transmittable annually into England These Ladies Cambden tells us enriched their Husbands with Children Honour and Possessions King John having received 1000 Marks from Volois Lord Justice of Ireland to discharge him without account for the Revenue he had received of that Kingdom Soon after committed the Government thereof to Walter and Hugh Lacy who abused his Authority not only to the Oppression of the Irish but to the subversion of many of the best English Families also to that degree that our Writers say their Exactions Oppressions and Tyranny Murders might be added was intolerable yet King John instead of easing those Pressures if we believe Grafton and Fabian imposed Taxes on the People of Ireland towards his Wars with France much greater than they were able to bear So that by overstretching he crackt the strings of the Irish Harp whereon for sometime after was only heard the discordant sound of Revolt Rapin and War in every Corner To quell which the 25th of May 1210. The King himself landed near Waterford with an Army their number no where given us The Irish Kings and great Lords immediately appeased him by Submissions Homage and Tributes He granted the English Subjects in Ireland the benefit of Magna Charta and the Laws of England He setled twelve Counties appointed Courts Judges Circuits and Corporations as in England he granted vast Scopes of Land to his great English Lords in Knight Service for small Rents For 2500 Marks he restored Walter Lacy and for 4000 Marks Hugh Lacy and returned into England in August the same year In the year 1213 being threatned with an Invasion from France he received from Ireland 500 men at Arms well appointed and a great
number of other Horse who came to his assistance at Barkham Down Henry III. during his 56 years Reign was so fully employed by the French in the Bowels of England the Welsh and Scotch on his Borders and his great Lords at home That he neither assisted nor minded Ireland further than to draw powerful Assistances of men thence which he received against France Anno 1230 and 1254 and against Wales in 1245 in 1256 c. as he had done of Victuals in the beginning of his Reign having received thence 1000 Bacons two Ships load of Corn and one of Oats The Clergy of Ireland granted him a Subsidy and he received Aid thence towards paying a Debt to the Dauphin of France He made his eldest Son Edward Lord of Ireland The 17th of his Reign the King of Conaught exhibited a Complaint That although he had ever since King John subdued him duly paid his annual Tribute of 5000 Marks yet he was disturbed by John de Burgo Edward the First being in War with Scotland and the Irish generally in Rebellion the Scots invaded Ireland and committed all manner of Barbarities but were not only expelled but followed by the English of Ireland who severely revenged the Injury they had received and therein did acceptable Service to the Crown of England In Anno 1293. The King drew Succours from Ireland against the French as he did against the Scotch when Balliol the Chair and Marble were taken and the two latter brought thence Two years after another considerable Army from Ireland met the King near Edinburgh and tendred him considerable Service as did a third Army from thence at the Battle of Falkirk Soon after which Tho. Bissel with a party from Ireland invaded Scotland and possessed himself of the Isle of Arrain which the King gave to him and his Heirs as an acknowledgment of his good Service This King received the whole Tenth of all Ecclesiastical Revenues in Ireland for seven years and one Fifteenth of the Temporality towards the holy War Also Aid towards the Marriage of his Sister and several times pressed them for other Aids The Scots soon after they had given Edward II. that great defeat at Bonoksborne encouraged by that Kings Male-administration took the opportunity to revenge the Mischiefs they had received from Ireland in the former Reign Edward Bruce twice invaded Ireland and notwithstanding the opposition he met with over-ran and sacked a great part of it destroyed Men Women and Children Towns Churches and all that came in his way and excited the Irish to almost a general Rebellion while the Scots King made a like havock in all the North parts of England This Edward Bruce was Crowned King of Ireland but though his Rage was great his Reign was short it being but one year The Cruelties committed by the Scots were so many as caused even the Irish to abhor and abandon them who therefore joyned with the English who at last defeated Bruces's Army cut off his Head and as an acceptable Present sent it to King Edward In this War the Scots lost 30000 and the Irish-English 15000 fighting men besides others The whole Land was almost wasted impoverished and depopulated yet the King was so far from relieving or succouring it That he required and received thâ—nce the â—th Penny from all the Temporality towards defending England against the Scots In his 16th year he was attended at Curlee by the Earl of Louth with 6000 foot and 300 men at Arms and 1000 Hoblers all well appointed and by the Earl of Ulster with 300 men at Arms and in the 17th year of his Reign he was supplyed thence with 5000 Quarters of Corn sent him to Aquitain I do not find that there was any standing Army in pay in Ireland When Edward III. first ascended the Throne nor for several years after the whole charge of the Civil List then amounted but to 308 l. 2 s. for a year and it was because the chief Governor was a great Favorite that he had 500 l. per Annum for his Entertainment out of which he was to maintain twenty or thirty Horsemen In the 6th year of this Kings Reign the Lord Darcy with a potent Army from Ireland invaded Scotland So that as our Writers express it what by the King on the one side and by the Irish on the other Scotland was subdued and Baliole placed on the Throne And two years after the same Lord Darcy over-run part of Scotland and the Isles which he might have possessed had they been worth keeping Notwithstanding which this King the 15th year of his Reign recalled all the Royal Franchises and Liberties and resumed all the Lands and Signories that had been granted by him or his Father which put the English born there into almost as bad a Condition as the Natives and tended to unite them as fellow sufferers and laid the Foundation of innumerable Mischiefs Yet an Army went thence to help the King then in France and did him good Service and were with him at the Battle of Cressey as did another party from Ireland go to him to the Siege of Calais Anno 1347. In 1353. Sir Tho. Rokerby carried over into Ireland ten men at Arms and twenty Archers In 1361 the King made his third Son Lionel Duke of Clarence Lord Lieutenant he married Elizabeth de Burgo whose Fortune was 30000 Marks per Annum In her right he was Earl of Vlster Lord of Meath and Conaught Here I must dissent from a truly worthy learned and scrutinous Enquirer into the Affairs of that Kingdom who will not allow her Fortune to be above the Moiety of that Summ because that what thereof lyes in Vlster being seized into this Kings hands from the 5th to the 8th of his Reign by an odd account yielded but about 0900 l. But he neither considered the Frauds of Concealors and Collectors nor remembred the late devastations made by Bruce whereby not only all Vlster but a great part of Ireland was laid waste and unpeopled and the English by Dissentions in Arms against one another in those very years so that the instance affects not the Case for those Rents and Profits were of very great value and might have been a thousand times more in setled times notwithstanding there was received no more in those three years This Duke carried over with him 1500 men chiefly to recover his Wifes Inheritance yet he was so far from using them solely to that purpose That he only recovered part of Meath and of the Sea-Ports of Vlster for the Condition of the Kingdom requiring he employed them with good Success in Leinster and Munster therein as in many other Respects he preferred the publick good to his particular Advantage in acknowledging of which and other good Services the Clergy and Laity gave him two years full Profits of their Tythes and Lands William Winsor was sent Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and with him a party of men but their number being as I suppose but small is no
Ireland granted this King 1700 Marks at several times towards the maintenance of his Wars The English in Ireland being wasted with the Supplies they had yielded to England against Scotland Wales and France and the frequent Rebellions there the Parliament there represented the ill Condition thereof in 1442 to Hen. VI. and that by reason thereof the Publick Revenue was 1456 l. per Annum less than the necessary Charge The Cardinal of Winchester the better to engross the King and that he might rule at Pleasure caused Richard Duke of York Earl of Vlster to be sent Lord Lieutenant thither to induce his Acceptance he gained the King to promise the Duke all the certain and casual Revenue of Ireland and 2666 l. 13 s. 4 d. for the first year to be paid out of of England and 2000 l. sterling per Annum for seven years more but this was ill paid However he had several Successes against the Rebels gained the Hearts of the English made good Laws and governed so worthily That out of Gratitude and Inclination to him he was assisted in his Pretentions to the Crown by Kildare and several great Parties out of Ireland as was the King by another Party thence under the Earl of Ormond in the 34th and 38th years A great Party thence was cut off and fell with him at the Battel of Wakefield as many from Ireland did on the other side at Mortimer's Cross these great Losses furnished the Natives with opportunities to enlarge their Borders and streighten the English About Anno 1474. the 14th of Edward IV. The Parliament of Ireland erected the Fraternity of St. George consisting of Thirteen Noblemen who were yearly to chuse of themselves a Captain of the Brotherhood who for his year was to command 120 Archers on Horseback at 6 d. per diem forty Horsemen at 5 d. per diem forty Pages at four Marks per annum to be paid out of a Subsidy of 12 d. per pound laid on all Merchandize Imported or Exported And these were all the standing Forces in pay at this time Six years after Richard Duke of York being Lord Lieutenant the Earl of Kildare his Deputy did undertake to keep that Kingdom in peace with eighty Archers and twenty Spear-men all on Horseback for 600 l. per annum The Infancy of Edward V. gave his unnatural Unkle the opportunity of Murthering him together with his Brother in the Tower whom he succeeded under the Title of Richard III. Anno 1483. but a period was put to his Tyranny Usurpation and Life in 1485. Henry VII held himself under no obligation to do much for Ireland because two walking Spectres thence Lambert and Warbeck disquieted a great part of his Reign yet in 1487. he sent over 500 Men under Sir Richard Edgcomb some write that he carried no Forces with him and about fifty more Anno 1492. The next year after the King by Act of Parliament there resumed all the Crown Lands that had been granted away since the first of Henry VI. In the Ninth year of his Reign he sent over Sir Edward Poyning his Deputy and with him 940 Men. He by his Policy rather than force did more Service to his Prince and good to the English there than any of his Predecessors by gaining that Parliament to Enact That all the Publick Statutes of England made before that time should be in force in Ireland That no Parliament be held there until the Bills be first certified to the King under the great Seal there and those Bills be affirmed by the King and his Council to be expedient for the Land and Power be given under the great Seal of England to call a Parliament and many other beneficial Statutes He gained the King a Tax of 26 s. 8 d. out of every 120 Acres Arable Land in Lieu of Purveyance and a Resumption of all Grants made since the first of Edward III. which in Anno 1409. was followed with a Subsidy of 12 d. per pound on Imported Commodities and a Subsidy from the Clergy and Laity and in Anno 1508 he had 13 s. 4 d. granted him out of every 120 Acres Arable Land In Anno 1515. The Parliament of Ireland granted Henry VIII a Subsidy In Anno 1520. The Earl of Surry was sent Lord Lieutenant with 200 Men some say 900 more but whatever the number was they all returned for England with him the next year The Souldiers pay at this time was 4 d. per diem In 1524. The Earl of Kildare undertook the Government and to defray the whole Charge of the Kingdom with its own Revenue which he and his Deputy held with little interruption for near ten years Anno 1529. Sir William Skeffington carried over 200 Men according to some 500. In 1534. he carried over 750 to suppress the Rebellion of the Fitz-Geralds as did the Lord Grey 200 more the next year who ended it upon which 750 of the Army was disbanded This Rebellion is said to cost the King above 20000 l. The Revenue of the Kingdom by reason of that Rebellion being but 5000 l. per annum To repay which or prevent the like charge in future The King had the first Fruits then the twentieth part of all Ecclesiastical Livings then the first Fruits of all Abbeys Priories and Colledges in that Kingdom given him Kildares Estate of 893 l. per annum and many great Estates of those concerned in that Rebellion were all given to the King as also all Lands belonging to all Abbeys Priories and Colledges there And the Estates of many Absentees Hitherto the Wars in Ireland was mostly between the English and Native Irish on the Score of Civil Interest But from the time of this Kings first Divorce and Kildares Rebellion the degenerate English joined with the Irish and pretended Religion for their subsequent Rebellions which thenceforth became more frequent and more formidable being fomented and abetted sometime by the Emperor sometime by France sometime by Spain mostly by the Pope especially from the time of the Kings assuming the Supremacy Henceforward they have been no longer Loyal than whilst they have been compelled to be so In 1539. Sir William Brereton carried over 250 Men. In 1542 the Parliament gave Henry VIII the Title of King of Ireland all his Predecessors having only had the Title of Lord thereof In Anno 1543. the Irish Revenue besides Customs first-Fruits Tributes and some other particulars amounted but to 8700 l. per annum and the whole charge to but 10500 l. The Chief Governour upon all Warlike Expedition by an antient usage in that Kingdom did Tax each County with a certain Summ of Money to defray the charge thereof So that it is not easie to apprehend that Ireland at this time could be a charge to England The standing Army was but 375 Horse and 150 Foot In 1544. 700 Men were sent from Ireland into France who greatly damnified the French and by pretty Stratagems contributed to the supply of the Army with
Barbarity as the native Irish yet I say the Trade and Improvements thereof are inconsiderable The Causes whereof I apprehend to be these 1. That the Popish Religion is retained by about five sixth parts of the Inhabitants which not only enjoins about 26 Idle or Holy-days more in a year than our Church by expence on which the loss of so much time and of what might be gained therein the ill habits and indisposition to labour contracted by such Idleness and the spungings of their Clergy by which and the displeasure of God on that Religion being that abomination that causeth desolation they are kept Poor Hereby they are liable yearly to send much Money to Rome to purchase Absolutions Pardons c. and they actually do so And are also at the Charge of training up their Youth at St. Omers Doway Valadolid and the Jesuites Colledges in France which is a real drain to their Treasure where they are fitted for all Villany and instructed how to trouble Church and State And by Gods just Judgment for permitting that Religion whilst without compulsion it is so easie to reform them they are made Thorns in our sides These I say make up one cause of the Poverty of that Kingdom and will remain so as long as their Idolatry is connived at 2. The Second Cause of the Poverty of that Kingdom is the paucity of the Inhabitants the whole number being reckoned to be but 1200000 Souls whereof 300000 are Children many by their quality exempt from Labour and the rest are few enough for Tillage and Husbandry there being Ten Acres of Land English measure profitable and five unprofitable in that Kingdom for each Soul in it Hence it is that in the Fishing Season the Merchants of that Kingdom pay 20000 l. per Annum to Scotch Fisher-men that go from Scotland to take the Herrings and other Fish that present themselves to their Netts in the Irish Harbours To which may be added the poor and mean way wherein above three fourths of them live their Food tho' they live the midst of plenty being mostly Milk and Potatoes their Cloathing Course Bandle Cloath and Linnen both of their own making A Pot a Griddle whereon to Bake their Bread a little Snuff Salt and Iron for their Plows being almost all that they trouble the Merchant or Shop-keeper for A little Hut or Cabbin to Lodge in is all that the generality of them seek or have Ambition for 3. A third Cause of their Poverty which is also an evidence of it is the Raw and Unmanufactured condition of the Commodities they Export The Bulk of their Exportations besides Fish is Wool Raw-Hides Flax Linnen-Yarn Cony-Skins Sheep-Skins Pelts Hogsheads and Barrel Staves c. Add hereunto the few Markets that they have for these They are Prohibited carrying their Wool and Yarn to any Market but England The Carribbe Islands were their best Market for Beef Pork and Provisions which tho' we have left them Freedom to carry thither together with Servants and Horses yet 't is under such hard conditions that they are in a manner wholly cut off from that Trade These being so Bulkey and of so little Value that it requires two or three Cargoes of them to Lade one Ship back with Plantation Commodities And we have Prohibited them to carry any of their Manufactures which would have help'd in this Case thither except they enter and pay the Duty for them in England which on some Goods is twice on others the whole value of the first cost 4. The small quantity of Coin that is in that Kingdom and the great disproportion between that and the Payments of the Kingdom To clear this I will give you a rough yet near and probable computation what the Rents publick Payments and Trade there doth require or of what Money is necessary to put that Kingdom barely into a thriving condition 1. There ought to be in it as much Money as one Years Rent of near Eight Millions of Acres profitable Land which are in that Kingdom and the Houses doth amount unto which suppose to be 1100000 l. This is the Land-Lord and Tennants share of the Cash of the Kingdom 2. It is necessary there be also so much Coin as one Years value of the Natural Products of the Kingdom does amount unto at least as the Commodities Exported in that time do come to This is the Merchants and Trades mens share of the Money and in Ireland should be about 500000 l. 3. So much Money as one Years Revenue and Taxes does amount unto which in Ireland is about 300000 l. or at least so much as is the Charge of the Kingdom which including Pensions was 243663 l. 4. So much Cash as the Tythes and Church Livings amount unto which for 27 Bishopricks Deanries c. and about 2200 Parishes I 'll reckon 200000 l. per Annum 5. It 's needful that there be Manufactures in a Kingdom to employ the Indigent and keep them from Rapin and Violence and if so it 's necessary there should be so much Mony for that use as one Years Manufacture doth amount unto for which because they are so few in kind and little in quantity we 'll reckon but 40000 l. These five make up a necessary Capital of two Millions and 83663 l. Now did the Cash of the Kingdom equal these requirements Rents Taxes and Tythes might be well and duely paid the Scale of Trade move nimbly and some Manufactures be carried on But where the Cash of a Kingdom doth not exceed the first third and fourth forementioned uses such Kingdom is incapacitated to advance in Trade Shipping Manufactures or Improvements Such Deficiences of Cash according to the Degree of it occasions cheapness of the Natural product of such Kingdoms ill payment of Rents and Debts and necessarily impose a low value upon Lands both in purchase and Rent The Passant Cash of that Kingdom in its most flourishing condition was never estimated to be 400000 l. but grant it be so much yet that is less than one Fifth of what is necessary to enable the payment of Rents Taxes and Tythes and to carry on the small Trade of that Kingdom Here you may see the Fundamental Cause of the ill payments Cheapness of Lands smallness of Trade and Poverty of that Kingdom tho' not the only one The want of Stock in Trade is the reason why the most of the products of that Kingdom are Exported by our Merchants and not by the Merchants of that Kingdom whereby the profit made on them in Forreign Market accrues to England 5. Another Cause of the Poverty of Ireland is the high interest that Money is at there being by Law 10 per cent besides Procuration and Continuation Money c. which the needy pay also This is a consequent and proof of the former and that which cuts the Nerves and Hamstrings of Industry For as Scarcity of Coin keeps the Natural Products of a Country at a low rate so high Interest
do in any of these Cases transgress they are sure to be ruined by the Commanders of the Ships of England that watch that Trade as many have been They are by England prohibited to Plant Tobacco to employ their Lands at Home that is laid waste All which say they renders Ireland and the Merchants thereof fit Objects of his Majesty and the Parliaments Compassion which they hope will in due time be extended to them the hard Circumstances in which they we being once understood by their Brethren of England It is some Relief to those that imagine themselves under pressures to be permitted to utter their Complaints Thus I have out of their own Mouths given you part of the anxious reasonings of the Merchants of Ireland about the Cloggs laid on the Trade of that Kingdom by England Whereunto I shall add one more which by reason of the weight and importance of it to England I am not willing to omit and it is this That if these Restraints be intended to compel them to take off more Commodities from England or that they should Trade only with England They are ill designed For that according to the State into which England hath brought the Trade of that Kingdom as is before set forth it is impossible for the people of Ireland to enlarge their Trade with England For should they buy more of England than they do and have done for five years past they are by these Prohibitions rendred uncapable to pay for it Bat on the contrary England hath by these Restraints laid an absolute necessity on Ireland to take off less of the Product and Manufacturies of England than they have formerly taken off For when they enjoyed liberty to carry their Manufactures as well as Provisions to the Plantations they usually brought the Product of them into England which they Trucked for English Commodities or therewith paid their Debts here or if they paid Duty and Exported them to Holland c. they returned the proceed of them into England and applyed it to the uses before-mentioned But seeing England hath not only shut but fast lockt this Door also against them they must now though with much regret to the prejudice of England necessarily seek new Trade and supply themselves for future from Places where they can vend their Native Products and Manufactures Whatever there is in their former reasonings I am of Opinion that this last deserves due consideration as being of importance to the Trade of England But here I 'll put an end to the exercise of your patience as to that particular As to the Cloggs laid on their Trade by their own Parliament they have fallen in and been mentioned with those laid on them by England the most considerable being that Clause in the Act of Customs which imposeth one third more Subsidy on all Commodities Imported into Ireland except those Imported from England or the Plantations This they say was added to the Bill in England However it was passed by their own Parliament and is in effect or was intended by those which added it as a Prohibition of their Trade with any part of the World but England Another discouragement which they alledge is the exorbitant Fines in the Act for Excise in Ireland as loss of Franchises Imprisonment and the Barbarous Corporal Punishments to be inflicted thereby c. which are such That Merchant and Slave in Ireland are convertible terms and had indeed been fitter to have been imposed on Slaves at Algier than on Free-born English Men. If the view I have given you of the Trade and Condition of Ireland hath not satisfied you that it is not the Improvement of that Kingdom that hath lessened the Rents of Lands in England I presume the answer to the second part of the Inquiry we are upon will fully do it The second part of the Query is What have been the Causes that have occasioned the Rents of Lands to have abated or fallen one fifth part or considerably since the year 1662 This Query supposeth That Lands generally throughout England did in 1662. or thereabout yield considerably more Rent than now they do I was desirous to inform my self as to the certainty of it lest this unhappiness should have been only particular to your self and some few about you I had the curiosity to inquire in Survey fifteen Miles from London whether like Abatements had hapned there as in your parts of the Countrey and I had many Instances given me where several parcels of Land which in 1662. and 1663. yielded 50 l. per annum are now set upon the Rack-rent at 22 l. per annum and so proportionably for greater and less quantities of Land So that being confirmed in the Truth of the matter of Fact I have therefore the more studiously enquired into the causes thereof To resolve this Query to satisfaction it is necessary that we retrospect the Condition of England unto the time when Lands were at a very low and mean value as to the Rents of them and if we can find what it was that raised them to those high Rents they yielded about 1662. it is probable that that will direct or help us to find the true causes of their Abatement To go no further back than the Reign of Edward III. we shall find That England had no Manufactures few Ships little or no Exportation but a little Leather besides Wool and Wool-fells of which sometimes 30000 at other times 10000 Sacks was Annually Exported for Custom of which that King received 25000 l. per annum England neither had nor affected Trade further than in our own Seas and to the Netherlands or not to any purpose but lived wholly or mostly by Tillage and Pasturage of Cattel So that being destitute of Manufacture and Trade Lands yielded less Rent in England at that time than they did in Ireland thirty four years ago which was soon after that Kingdom had been depopulated by the Rebellion of 1641. when good Land was set at 12 d. per Acre This is evident by the low Rate of Provisions in London in this Reign where a fat Ox was sold for 6 s. 8 d. a fat Sheep 6 d. five Pidgeons 1 d. a Quarter of Wheat 2 s. a fat Goose 2 d. The products of the Fields being so cheap the Rents of Lands must needs be very low Stow tells us that in this Kings Reign a Tax of 5 l. 16 s. 8 d. being laid on each Parish in England That 112 l. was abated to Suffolk and the like Summ to Devonshire because of-the extream Poverty of those Counties But since they have become the Seat of several Manufactures the Case is much mended with them This Wise and Warlike King being as Masculine in his Councels as Valiant in Arms projected at once the enlarging of his Dominions and the enriching of them He observed that his English Wools were Transported to the Netherlands wrought up there and part of them returned in Draperies c. with vast advantage
opportunity to Rebel did purchase Pardons at dear Rates from Rome for their not having actually Rebelled And we have had a pregnant Instance of the Empire these Priests have over the People in the present Rebellion for notwithstanding Their Majesties have by three gracious Declarations invited that People to submit yet I hear not of one Gentleman that hath hitherto submitted and the People generally have chosen rather to quit their Habitations and wander thorow the Kingdom than to sit down quietly under Their Majesties gentle Government with the enjoyment of all their Possessions The Toleration of the Popish Clergy and their pernicious Religion as it would be sinful in Their Majesties so it would be destructive to that Kingdom whatever the favourers of the French or King James's Interest may suggest to the contrary For the Toleration or conniving at Idolatry is a Land-destroying sin Ireland hath found it to be so Our Church in her Articles and Homilies hath declared the Mass to be the grossest Idolatry And God who in Scripture appears so tender of the life of man that he appointed even casual Homicide to be punished with confinement or banishment until the death of the High Priest hath nevertheless positively commanded that Idolaters and even the secret Enticers to it should be put to death without mercy and the places defiled thereby to be destroyed And where Princes do not duly execute his Laws in this case he usually executes Vengeance on them and their Posterity Most of the Kings of Israel and their Posterity were rooted out for this sin and the Ten Tribes for it have remained in Captivity and Obscurity for 2400 years And this sin was one of the chief causes of the Captivity of Judah and the connivance at or toleration of it hath twice in this Age proved destructive to poor Ireland and pernicious to those Kings that granted it When King James the first granted a Toleration of Popery in Ireland famous Bishop Vsher did publickly before the State foretel that for that sin God would within forty years raise up those Papists to cut the Throats of the Protestants there and God fulfilled that Prediction in 1641. and that King never prospered in any design or undertaking after that Toleration And when his Son Charles I. would not be warned but in 1629. renewed that Toleration ten or twelve of the Bishops and Arch-Bishops of that time had the honesty and courage publickly in the Pulpit to protest against the sinfulness of it and also under their hands to declare That the Religion of the Papists is Superstitious and Idolatrous their Faith and Doctrine erroneous and heretical their Church in respect of both Apostatical To give them therefore a Toleration of Religion and to profess their Faith and Doctrine is a grievous sin and is to make our selves accessary not only to their Superstitious Idolatries Heresies and in a word all the Abominations of Popery but also which is a consequent of the former to the perdition of the seduced People which perish in the Deluge of the Catholick Apostacy c. And as it is a great sin so it is a matter of great consequence c. How fatal it proved to him and also to Charles II. and the late King James the World hath seen Nor will it be less so to any of their Successors who shall connive at or tolerate the same For the same sins and degrees of it brings like Judgments in every Age. Not only the Law of God but those of the Land also are against indulging this Religion and Interest of State the safety of the Protestants in Ireland and the quiet of England requires That all the Roman Clergy their Landed men concerned in this Rebellion and that of 1641. together with their Lawyers should be banished and not to return on pain of Death We may wish for Advantage by that Kingdom but we cannot rationally expect it whilst these three Parties or any of them are permitted to remain there for they will be fit Tools in the hands of the French King to foment Rebellions to which their joynt and several Interests the hope of regaining their Estates the Church-Livings and their Practice will prompt and dispose them and nothing less than their Banishment or Extirpation will devest France of the means of distracting us at pleasure now that they are joyned with that Enemy of Mankind As for the rest of the Papists who shall be permitted to abide in that Kingdom it is but reasonable that they be excluded from living in the Cities Walled Towns and Corporations which are the strengths of the Kingdom I am well aware that this latter tho' as considerable as any other means for the security of that Kingdom will meet with much opposition from many of the Protestants of Ireland themselves who like too many in England prefer their particular the Advancement of their Rents in those Towns and Cities to the Publick Safety to which their Private Interest ought ever to give way The Papists are already excluded from Purchasing any of the Houses in any Corporation which were forfeited by the Rebellion in 1641. But this without the other is not sufficient and indeed there is no other way to deal with them If His Majesty imagines that the Possession of their Estates Liberty for their Religion a share in the Civil-Justice will oblige and restrain them from Violence and Rebellion he will I fear in the issue find it otherways for in 1641. they had their titular Arch-Bishops and Bishops their Fryaries and Nunneries their Secular and Regular Clergy they were Justices of the Peace Sheriffs of Counties Members of Parliament Mayors and Bayliffs of Corporations c. They were seized of three fourths of all the Lands there All the Laws against them were suspended as to their Execution they had all their Grievances redressed even to the release of the forfeiture of whole Counties In a few months after which they broke out into that horrid and barbarous Rebellion wherein they Massacred 150000 Protestants in cold Blood without any provocation besides as many more that perished by Famine and Sword in the prosecution of that Rebellion which is demonstration to all the World that these People are not to be retain'd in obedience by Immunities Priviledges and Kindnesses nor restrained from Rebellion and Massacres whilst their Clergy c. are permitted to abide amongst them If against what hath been proposed the favourers of the French and Popish Interest do object That such Severity toward the Irish will disoblige the Catholick Princes of the Confederacy I answer That the chief end of the Confederacy is to retrench the Power of the French King and his Adherents as Enemies to all the rest of Europe That the Papists in these Kingdoms having above all others contributed to that Kings present Greatness all the Irish and many of the English and Scotch Papists being actually in Rebellion and in Conjunction with his Forces Their dependence being on him and