afforded none at all for a long time though the Fryars in their white Habits went in Solemn Procession and threw Holy Water therein It would be almost endless to give a particular account of all the Detestable Cruelties and Murders acted by these incarnate Devils upon the Innocent English of whom they destroyed near three Hundred Thousand in a few Months being chiefly Animated thereto by their Villainous Priests upon the account of their Religion and therefore they often declared their Despight to the Bible as being directly contrary to their Cursed Principles and Practices In one place they burnt two English Bibles saying It was Hell Fire they burnt They laid another in a puddle of Water and then stamping on it said a Plague on it This Bible hath bred all the quarrel A Rebel perswaded a Man and his Wife to joyn with them in the Massacre who protested that rather than they would forsake their Religion they would dye upon the Sword 's point he would then have had the Woman burn her Bible but she refused saying she would rather dye than do it Whereupon they were both cruelly Murthered they Murthered Mr. Bingham a Famous Minister and cutting off his Head put a Gag in his Mouth and laying the leaf of a Bible before him bid him Preach saying his Mouth was open and wide enough During these horrid Barbarities there were several Indications of Divine Displeasure apparent in divers places the truth of which was sworn to and affirmed by Witnesses of Credit and Reputation As in the Province of Munster near the Silver Works where while the Rebels were Massacring a great number of Protestant Men Women and Children on the Lords Day Afternoon a most Loud and Dreadful Noise and Storm of Thunder Lightning Wind Hailstones and Rain happened though it was fair all the Day before which much affrighted the Murtherers themselves who confess it to be a sign of Gods Anger against them for their Bloody Cruelty At Portnedown Bridge where so many thousand Protestants were drowned the remaining Inhabitants were so Terrified with the noise of Spirits and Visions for Revenge that they durst not continue thereabout and some of the Rebels themselves said to others that the Blood of some of those that were knockt on the Head and afterward drowned in this River remained on the Bridge and could not be washt away There appeared sometimes Men sometimes Women Breast high in the River with Hands lifted up crying out with fearful Schreicks and Voices Revenge Revenge Revenge and it was not long ere Divine Justice overtook them Many thousands of the most Notorious Murtherers who perished by the Sword and Plague that followed it so that it was computed that in a few years scarce any of these Miscreants remained alive but were sent to their own place to give an account of their Tremendous Brutalities The King having made a Truce with the Scots who were entred with an Army into England to demand the Redress of their Grievances and the Forces on both sides being Disbanded he made a Journey into Scotland in the beginning of August 1641. and continued there till the latter end of October when this Horrid Rebellion happened Owen O Covally the first Discoverer of the Plot brought the first Letters to London and received as a Reward 500 l. in Money and an Annuity of 200 l. a year and presently the Parliament provided for the Relief of Ireland and the Lords of the Council and the Lords Justices there had with the Arms that were in Dublin Armed many well-affected Gentlemen and several Active Commanders were sent out of the City to defend the adjoyning Places from the Approach of the Rebels at which time the Parliament sent over Twenty Thousand Pounds for a present supply but could not relieve them with any Forces till December following when Sir Simon Harcourt Arrived with Seasonable Supplies of men and money and Raised the Seige of Drogheda which had been much straitned by Sir Phelim O Neal and the Rebels and the English recovered Dundalk Neury and several other Towns and Castles out of their Hands But though the Rebellion brake out in October 23. Yet the King who was now returned from Scotland did not proclaim them Rebels till Jan. 1. following and then gave strict Command that only 40 Proclamations should be printed and that none of them should be Published without the Kings Express Order which the Parliament among other things afterwards Taxed him with Who Replyed thereto That he was unwilling to make the Irish Desperate and utterly undoe his Protestant Subjects who were then too weak to withstand so Potent a Rebellion and that the Lords Justices of Ireland required only 20 as many of themselves well knew Yet this proceeding unhappily increased the Jealousies that began to arise between the King and his English Parliament because it was publickly discourst that it had not been done at all but that some Worthy Protestant Lords had earnestly advised him to proclaim them speedily that a better course might be taken against them and to wash off that foul Stain from himself by prosecuting severely those wicked Villains who reported every where That they had Authority from the King to Seise upon the Holds of the English Protestants that they were the Queens Souldiers and rise to maintain the Kings Prerogative against the Puritan Parliament of England That they told the poor Protestants it was for no purpose to fly for safety into England for that Kingdom would be as much distrest as theirs and that the King intended to forsake his Parliament in England and make War against them and that then they would come over having done their their Work in Ireland and help the King against his English Parliament The Lords therefore advised him by all means to purge himself of these Accusations than which there could not be greater on Earth Soon after the Earl of Leicester was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the Earl of Strafford being Beheaded some time before at Tower Hill But the Relief of that Bleeding Kingdom was much obstructed by the wide Breaches which daily happened between the King and the Parliament particularly upon his going Jan. 4. Attended with 300 Armed Gentlemen into the H. of Commons and Demanding 5 Members to be delivered him which the Parliament declared to be An High Breach of their Priviledges a great Scandal to the King and his Government a Seditious Act manifestly tending to the Subversion of the Peace and an Injury and Dishonour to the said Members there being no Legal charge or accusation against them and that there could be no Vindication of those Priviledges unless his Majesty would discover the Names of those who advised him to such unlawful Courses After this the Parliament considered of a Bill for Pressing Souldiers to be sent out of Scotland to Ireland as being near but the King excepted against it while it lay in the House of Lords as a Diminution to his Prerogative Whereupon the Parliament in
their Petition to him Asserted That the King by taking notice of a Bill while in Debate in the House of Lords had broken the Fundamental Priviledge of Parliament which he ought not to do concerning any Bill till it be presented to him in due course of Parliament and desired Reparation They then desired that an Army of Scots should be sent thither and that they should have the keeping of the Town and Castle of Carick-fergus but the King said that he doubted this might be to the Damage of England The Scots Commissioners replyed That they were sorry his Majesty being their Native King should repose less Trust in them than their Naighbouring Nation had freely done So that at length this was granted It was thought to be the most Feasible way for Reducing Ireland that proportions of Land there should be shared among English Adventurers proportional to those Sums of Money they should Subscribe that so whosoever in Person or Purse should assist in Conquering the Bloody Rebels might be Recompensed if the Work were done and Propositions were framed in Parliament to that purpose which the King confirmed Though at first he laught at them and was heard to say That they were like to him who Sold the Bears Skin before the Bear was killed At length an Act was passed for impowring the Parliament to carry on that War till Ireland should be declared wholy Subdued and that no Peace nor Cessation of Arms should ever be made with the Rebels without consent of both Houses of Parliament The King then offered to go in Person thither but the Parliament thought it not fit to hazard his Person in such an Expedition The Queen about February went to Holland carrying with her most of the Crown Jewels which she had pledged for Money and Arms for the King her Husband and for which she was afterwards voted a Traytor by the Parliament the King having taken leave of her at Dover went with the Prince and Duke of York to Theobalds and from thence to Newmarket where both Houses Presented him a Declaration sent by two Lords in which they Repeat the old Grievances the War of Scotland the Rebellion in Ireland his entring the House of Commons his causless fear of Residing near London to the perplexing of the Kingdom the hindring the Relief of Ireland and incouraging the ill affected Party in the Kingdom To which the King answered with great Indignation extenuating some things and excusing others accusing them for raising needless Fears and Jealousies After which the King passed farther North to York upon which the Parliament voted That the Kings Absence so far Remote from his Parliament is not only an Obstruction but may be a Destruction to the Affairs of Ireland That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall declare what the Law of the Land is to have this not only questioned and controverted but contradicted and a command that it should not be obeyed is an High Breach of the Priviledge of Parliament That they which advise the K. to absent himself from his Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected as Favourers of the Rebellion in Ireland From York the King sent a Message to the Parliament April 8. 1642. That he would go in Person over to Ireland against those Bloody Rebels and intended to raise a Guard for his Person in Cheshire to carry thither of 2000 Foot and 100 Horse whom he would Arm from his Magazine of Hull But the Parliament having Intimation that the K. designed to Seise that Magazine to Arm himself against them sent Sir John Hotham thither who refused to admit him Entrance upon which the K. Proclaimed him Traytor and complained to the Parliament of the Affront who endeavoured to appease him but justified Hothams Act and declared that the Proclaiming him Traytor without process of Law was against the Liberty of the Subject and Laws of the Land The King daily Summoned the Gentry of the Northern Counties to attend him all York as a Guard for his Person which he declared was in danger from the Parliament who thereupon declared That it appears that the King Seduced by wicked Counsel intends to make a War against the Parliament who in all their Consultations and Actions have proposed no other end to themselves but the Care of his Kingdoms and the performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person That whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament it is a breach of the Trust Reposed in him by his People contrary to his Oath and tending to the Dissolution of the Government That whosoever shall Serve and Assist him in such Wars are Traytors by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom and have been so adjudged by two Acts of Parliament 11 Rich. II. and 1 Henry IV. and that such Persons ought to suffer as Traytors the King Justified himself in his Declarations and Proclamations against the Parliament which daily encountred each other So that all things tended to an absolute Rupture and presaged the Calamities of the Civil War which soon after followed For both sides flying to Arms and the Nation being divided into Parties several bloody Battels were fought and the whole Kingdom was in a Flame In 1643. The Parliament of England invited the Scots to come in to their Assistance with an Army of 21000. Horse and Foot ingaging to pay them an Hundred Thousand pound towards the Charge of Raising them On the other side the King to withdraw the Protestant Army out of Ireland for Aiding him against the Scots concluded a Cessation of Arms for a year with those Rebels and 3000 of the English Army were Imbarqued from thence to joyn with the King This Cessation was much complained of by the Parliament since it was not only for the benefit of the Irish Rebels who gave him 3000 l. for the Favour but also directly contrary to the Act which the King hath lately Signed That no Cessation should be made without the consent of both Houses Thus was Assistance brought to either side and that English Army which for almost a year had fought Valiantly and Victoriously against those Rebels was now brought over to fight against the Parliament of England The War still continued with much Vigor and great Slaughter was made throughout the Kingdom yet in the midst thereof some Glimmerings of Peace began to appear for in 1644. Conditions were proposed both by the King and Parliament and a Treaty began at Uxbridge between Commissioners from both Parties during which the care of the War was not neglected on either side the King endeavouring to bring over some Forces from the Duke of Lorrain and some Irish to his Assistance and by his Letters to the Lord Lieutenant to make a Peace with the Rebels or at least to continue the Cessation for a year and to promise and grant them the free Exercise of the Romish Religion assuring them that if by their Assistance he could but finish his War in
Voted the Restoration of K. Charles II. and upon notice thereof the like was done in Ireland and several of the most Eminent of that Nation were upon the Kings Arrival at White Hall sent by the Convention to wait upon him in the Name of that Kingdom with a tender of their Allegiance and a Present of 4000 l. to the Duke of York and soon after the King was proclaimed and universally acknowledged throughout the Kingdom But it was not long ere the great Inclinations to the Popish Partie in Ireland were made apparent in the Court of England and several Disputes arose about the Settlement of that Kingdom which were Debated before the King and Council where the Lord Chief Justice Santry in an Excellent Speech Represented to the Board the Horrid Rebellion of 1641. with the Barbarous and Inhuman Massacres which he had been eye witness of In Opposition to which Sir Nich. Plunchel one of the Popes Knights endeavoured to defend the Irish but so weakly having a bad Cause to Manage that the Lord Santry clearly carryed the point in the Judgment of the Auditors he desiring that they might be Tryed by the Common Law where they would meet with a fair and indifferent Tryal by Juties of their Neighbours and thereby could have no wrong done them But the King having Dissolved the Convention and called a Parliament in Ireland he prevailed so much upon them that an Act of Settlement was pressed and a Court of Claims thereby erected who were to Determine all Differences between the English and Irish Proprietars of the Lands there and to declare who were Nocent and who Innocent Papists These Commissioners being Nominated by the King he had so great an influence over them that they commonly gave their Opinions according to his Direction which was oftentimes very favourable to the Irish Rebels particularly in the Case of the Earl of Antrim one of the chief of them as by the following Letter to 〈◊〉 of Ormond then Lord Lieutenant and the Privy Council there doth appear CHARLES R. RIght Trusty and well beloved Cousins and Counsellors c. We greet you well How far we have been from interposing on the behalf of any of our Irish Subjects who by their miscarriages in the late Rebellion in that Kingdom of Ireland had made themselves unworthy of our Grace and Protection is notorious to all Men and we were so jealous in that particular that shortly after our return into this our Kingdom when the Marquess of Antrim came hither to present his Duty to us upon the Information we received from those Persons who then attended us by a Deputation from our Kingdom of Ireland or from those who at that time owned our Authority there that the Marquess of Antrim had so misbehaved himself towards us and our late Royal Father of Blessed Memory that he was in no degree worthy of the least Countenance from us and that they had manifest and unquestionable Evidence of such his Guilt Whereupon we refuse to admit the said Marquess so much as into our Presence but on the contrary committed him Prisoner to our Tower of London where after he had continued several Months under a strict restraint upon the continued Information of the said Persons we sent him into Ireland without interposing the least on his behalf but left him to undergo such a Trial and Punishment as by the Justice of that our Kingdom should be found due to his Crime expecting still that some heinous Matter would be objected and proved against him to make him uncapable and to deprive him of that Favour and Protection from us which we know his former Actions and Services had Meritest After many Months attendance there and wâ—presume after such Examinations as were requisite he was at last dismissed without any Censure and without any transmission of Charge against him to us and with a Licence to Transport himself into this Kingdom We concluded that it was then time to give him some instance of our Favour and to remember the many Services he had done and the Sufferings he had undergone for his Affections and Fidelity to our Royal Father and our Self and that it was time to redeem him from those Calamities which yet do lye as heavy upon him fince as before our happy Return And thereupon we recommended him to you our Lieutenant that you should move our Council there for preparing a Bill to be Transmitted to us for the Re-investing him the said Marquess in the possession of his Estate in that our Kingdom as had been done in some other Cases To which Letter you our said Lieutenant returned us answer That you had informed our Council of that our Letter and that you were upon consideration thereof unanimously of Opinion that such a Bill ought not to be transmitted to us the Reason whereof would forthwith be presented to us from our Council After which time we received the inclosed Petition from the said Marquess which we referred to the Considerations and Examinations of the Lords of our Privy Council whose Names are mentioned in that our Reference which is annexed to the said Petition who thereupon met together and after having heard the Marquess of Antrim did not think to make any Report to us till they might see and understand the Reasons which induced you not to transmit the Bill we had proposed which Letter was not then come to our Hands After which time we have received your Letter of the 18th of March together with several Petitions which had been presented to you as well from the Old Soldiers and Adventurers as from the Lady Marchioness of Antrim all which we likewise transmitted to the Lords Referees Upon a second Petition presented to us by Lord Marquess which is here likewise enclosed commanding our said Referees to take the same into their serious consideration and to hear what the Petitioner had to offer in his own Vindication and to report the whole matter to us upon a third Petition herein likewise inclosed we required them to expedite with what speed they could By which deliberate Proceedings of ours you cannot but observe that no Importunity how just soever could prevail with us to bring our self to a Judgment in this Affair without very ample Information Our said Referees after several Meetings and perusal of what had been offered to them by the said Marquess have reported unto us That they have seen several Letters all of them the Hand-writing of our Royal Father to the said Marquess and several Instructions concerning his Treating and Joining with the Irish in order to the King's Service by reducing to their Obedience and by drawing some Forces from them for the Service of Scotland That besides the Letters and Orders under his Majesty's Hand they have received sufficient Evidence and Testimony of several private Messages and Directions sent from our Royal Father and from our Royal Mother with the Privity and with the Directions of the King our Father by which they
are perswaded that whatever Intelligence Correspondence or Actings the said Marquess had with the Confederate Irish Catholicks was directed or allowed by the said Letters Instructions and Directions and that it manifestly appears to them that THE KING OUR FATHER WAS WELL PLEASED WITH WHAT THE MARQUESS DID AFTER HE HAD DONE IT AND APPROVED THE SAME This being the true State of the Marquess his Case and there being nothing proved upon the first Information against him nor any thing contained against him in your Letter of March 18 but that you were informed he had put in his Claim before the Commissioners appointed for executing the Act of Settlement and that if his Innocency be such as is alledged there is no need of Transmitting such a Bill to us as is desired and that if he be Nocent it consists not with the Duty which you owe to us to transmit such a Bill as if it should pass into a Law must needs draw a great prejudice upon so many Adventurers and Soldiers which are as is alledged to be therein concerned We have considered of the Petition of the Adventurers and Souldiers which was transmitted to us by you the Equity of which consists in nothing but that they have been peaceably in Possession for the space of seven or eight Years of those Lands which were formerly the Estate of the Marquess of Antrim and others who were all engaged in the late Irish Rebellion and that they shall suffer very much and be ruined if those Lands should be taken from them And we have likewise considered another Petition from several Citizens of London near sixty in number directed to our self wherein they desire that the Marquess his Estate may be made liable to the payment of his just Debts that so they may not be ruined 〈◊〉 the Favour of the present Possessors who they say are but a few Citizens and Soldiers who have disbursed very small Surns thereon Upon the whole matter no Man can think we are less engaged by our Declaration and by the Act of Settlement to protect those who are Innocent and who have faithfully endeavoured to serve the Crown how unfortunate soever than to expose to Justice those who have been really and maliciously Guilty And therefore we cannot in Justice but upon the Petition of the Marquess of Antrim and after the serious and strict Inquisition into his Actions declare unto you That WE DO FIND HIM INNOCENT FROM ANY MALICE OR REBELLIOUS PURPOSE AGAINST THE CROWN and that what he did by way of Correspondence or Compliance with the Irish Rebels was in order to the Service of our Royal Father and warranted by his Instructions and the Trust reposed in him and that the Benefit thereof accrued to the Service of the Crown and not to the particular Advantage and Benefit of the Marquess And as we cannot in Justice deny him this Testimony so we require you to transmit our Letter to our Commissioners that they may know our Judgment in this Case of the Lord of Antrim and proceed accordingly And so we bid you heartily farewel Given at our Court at White-Hall July 10. in the 15th Year of our Reign 1663. By his Majesty's Command HENRY BENNET To our Right Trusty and Right intirely well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor James D. of Ormond our Lieutenant General and General Governour of our Kingdom of Ireland and to the Lords of our Council of that our Kingdom Entred at the Signet Office July 13 1663 Soon after the following Answer of the D. of Ormond and the Irish Privy Council to the foregoing 〈◊〉 was sent to Sir Henry Bennet Principal Secretary of State On the 20. I the Lord Lieutenant received His Majesty's Letter of July 10. concerning the Marquess of Antrim which I imparted to the Council upon reading whereof at this Board we observing that though in several other matters relating to the proceedings of His Majesty's Commissioners appointed for executing the Act of Settlement his Majesty vouchsafed to direct this Letter to the Commissioners Yet that those Letters concerning the Marquess of Antrim are directed to us the Lieutenant and Council requiring us to Transmit the same to the Commissioners that they may know His Majesties Judgment in the Case of the Lord Antrim as it stands stated in those His Majesties Letters and proceed accordingly We hence gathered that His Majesty did judge it fit that those His Letters for the Marquess of Antrim should be directed to us to the end that if we his Majesties Servants here upon the place should find more in the Marquess of Antrims Case than are in those Letters taken notice of either in relation to his Majesty or his Affairs then in such Case we might Humbly Represent the same to His Majesty And as it was the Use and Custom here in former Times and particularly in the Times of his Majesty's Royal Father of Blessed Memory That if any Directions came from the King which in the Execution thereof might occasion inconveniencies to his Majesties Service the same was stay'd until the matter was by the Chief Governor here Humbly Represented to the King So it is also agreeable to his Majesties Instructions to me the Lord Lieutenant particularly in things relating to his Majesty's Revenue which likewise is the present Case For his Majesties Revenues are like to be hereby much lessened and moreover it is agreeable likewise with his now Majesties gracious pleasure signified thither by the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council by their Letters of Aug. 12. 1661. directed to the late Justices and Council wherein it was declared That his Majesty and the Lords of the most Honourable Privy Council were well assured of a Demur the said Justices and Council had made upon Letters from His Majesty and their Forbearance to proceed thereupon till they should receive His Majesties further pleasure And therefore upon full consideration thereof had at this Board we humbly conceive that it is our Duty to His Majesty to defer for some time the Transmitting the said Letters to the said Commissioners till we shall have Represented to His Majesty that which appears to us here which it seems was not made known to His Majesty or those Lords of the Privy Council to whose consideration his Majesty refer'd the Marquess of Antrims Petitions mentioned in his Majesties Letters We observe that his Majesties said Letters seem to be grounded on these particulars 1. That after many Months Attendance here and as his Majesty is pleased to declare that he presumes that after such examinations as were requisite the Marquess of Antrim was dismissed hence without any Censure and without Transmitting any Charge against him to his Majesty and nothing proved against him on the first Information nor any thing contained against him in our Letters of March 18. 2. The Report made by these Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council to whom his Majesty refer'd the Consideration of the Lord of Antrims Petitions 3. That the Marquesses
with the Nuncio's and Clergies Party though most irreconcileable Enemies to the English Crown and Interest might have been allowed of by his said Majesty upon the Marquesses undertaking to imploy the Credit he should thereby gain amongst them to dispose them at least to forbear that violent opposition to all Overtures tending to the Reduction of the Irish Confederates to their Obedience and to the Assistance of his late Majesty It cannot be rationally supposed as we humbly conceive but that the Reason and End of the Marquess's Compliance would either by his late Majesty for the better Management of the affair or by the Marquess himself for his Security and Exeneration have been made known to me the Lord Lieutenant the Marquess having frequent opportunity to do it The conclusion of this point is that as the Marquess his constant opposition to all the Motions of Peace set on foot by virtue of authority derived from his late Majesty hath been made apparent to us by sufficient proofs So it is clearly manifested by his taking the Oath of Association a Copy whereof is here inclosed and that by the Administration of those who when they had by his Assistances prevailed in the Breach of the Peace and of the publick Faith of the Confederates assumed to themselves in the year 1646. the Government of that Party under the Name of a Supream Council as also by his becoming one of that Council and Signing severe Letters and Instruments whereof some were directed to me the Lieutenant and all this without any Correspondence with me or the least private intimation that his purpose in those his proceedings had any Authority from his Majesty or any respect to his Service And as to the third the two last mentioned particulars do seem to us to manifest that the Marquess's Case as it stands stated in these Letters is not the whole state of the Case seeing those Material things are omitted therein which wâ— have before expressed which indeed we should willingly have forborn if our silence could have consisted with the Duty which we owe to his Majesty and to the Settlement of this Kingdom and to that which we humbly conceive is expected from us by his Majesty For there is now and hath been for above a Month last past under our Consideration here the Draught of a New Act to supply those Defects in the present Act of Settlement which experience hath manifested to become absolutely necessary to be remedyed in order to the General Settlement of this Kingdom and it is most evident that if the said Marquess shall be declared Innocent and that in so extraordinary a way as it would be contrary to the Act of Settlement being the Publick and Fundamental Security of Mens Estates so it would have this further operation that the end of that intended Act for gaining of Reprizals for the Estates of justly Restorable Persons such as his Majesty by his Gracious Declaration was pleased to acknowledge himself obliged to provide for will become in an high Degree disappointed and what general Mischiefs and Inconveniences may hereupon follow to the Settlement of the Kingdom ingeneral is very apparent When we had thus far proceeded in Our Letter a Petition of the Adventurers and Souldiers and their Assigns concerning the Estate formerly belonging to the said Marquess was exhibited at this Board which being read before us we find it to contain such matters concerning the Marquess of Autrim as we humbly conceive are necessary upon this occasion to be made known to his Majesty and therefore do esteem it our Duty to exhibit it to his Majesties Review and Royal consideration all which we Humbly submit to his Majesties excellent Judgment and we desire you to move his Majesty for a Signification of his good pleasure herein to us his Servants as speedily as with convenience may be if his Majesty in his Wisdom shall so judge fit and so we remain from the Council Chamber at Dublin July 31. 1663. Your assured loving Friends Ormond Maurice Eustace Chancellor James Dublin Ossory Shannon Dungannon Hen. Midensis Mich. Cork William Lawfield Rich. Coot Hev Tickburn Rob. Forth James Ware George Wentworth Robert Merideth Theoph. Jones Thomas Clergiss To the Right Honourable Sir Hen. Bennet Knight his Majesties Principal Secretary of State But what effect this Letter had and what the Marquess of Antrims true Case was appears by the following Letter which fully states the same Dublin Aug. 22. 1663. EVer Honoured Sir Last Thursday we came to Tryal with my Lord Marquess of Autrim but according to my Fears which you always surmised to be in vain he was by the King 's Extraordinary and Peremptory Letter of Favour restored to his Estate as an Innocent Papist We proved eight Qualifications in the Act of Settlement against him the last of which made him uncapable of being restored as Innocent We proved 1. That he was to have a Hand in Surprizing the Castle of Dublin in the Year 1641. 2. That he was of the Rebels Party before the 15th of September 1643. Which we made appear by his hourly and frequent Intercourse with Renny O Moore and many others being himself the most notorious of the said Rebels 3. That he entred into the Roman Catholick Confederacy before the Peace in 1643. 4. That he constantly adhered to the Nuncio's Party in opposition to his Majesty's Authority 5. That he sate from time to time in the Supreme Council of Kilkenny 6 That he signed that execrable Oath of Association 7. That he was commissionated and acted as Lieutenant General from the said Assembly at Kilkenny 8. That he declared by several Letters of his own penning himself in conjunction with Owen Ro Oneal and a constant Opposer to the several Peaces made by the Lord Lieutenant with the Irish We were seven hours by the Clock in proving our Evidence against him but at last the King's Letter being opened and read in Court Rainsford one of the Commissioners said to us That the King's Letter on his behalf was Evidence without exception and thereupon declared him to be an Innocent Papist This Cause Sir hath tho' many Reflections have passed upon the 〈…〉 more startled the Judgments of all Men than all the Tryals since the beginning of their sitting and it is very strange and wonderful to all of the Long Robe that the King should give such a Letter having divested himself of that Authority and reposed the Trust in Commissioners for that purpose And likewise it is admired that the Commissioners having taken solemn Oaths to execute nothing but according to and in pursuance of the Act of Settlement should barely upon his Majesty's Letter declare the Marquess Innocent To be short â—â—ere never was so great a Rebel that had so much Favour from so good a King And it is very evident that the Consequence of these things will be very bad and if God of his extraordinary Mercy do not prevent it War and if possible greater Judgments