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-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
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
half of the Kingdom in value lost notwithstanding at the same time the most innocent of the Irish were depriv'd of their Estates and the greatest Rebels got more than their own This was the first step advanc'd for the introduction of Popery into that Kingdom and notwithstanding the small Progress it had then seemingly made it so far encouraged even in this time of its Infancy the most considerable of the Irish as often to intimate to the English That in a short time the Protestants and they must be of one Religion 'T was very remarkable That in the Year year 1668 One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight Talbot Brother to Tyrconnel and Titular Archbishop of Dublin Landing at a place called the Skerish within Twelve Miles of that City and being very Hospitably entertained by one Captain Coddington Lodging all Night at his House the next Morning took him aside and after the most Affectionate Expressions of Kindness asked him what Title he had to that Estate for that he observed he had expended considerably upon its improvement Coddington answered That 't was an old Estate belonging to the Earl of Twomond Talbot replyed That was nothing it did belong to the Church and it would all be taken away therefore advised him to lay out no more upon it but get what he could and then desert it All this was offered upon strong injunctions of the most Inviolable Secrecy The Duke of Ormond was then Lord Lieutenant and nothing advantagious to their Interests could be managed whilst he continued in that Post which was the rise to divers Consultations at Court for his removal It had been too palpable for the Popish Party to have appeared interessed in it wherefore an Intriegue was then formed of renewing the ancient Animosities betwixt him and the Duke of Buckingham This was reduced to Act and the effect was proportionable to the design The next thing to be considered was who should succeed him which was a matter that required a very nice and critical management They pitched upon the Lord Roberts as a person that had been formerly disappointed year 1669 of that Station which begetting a prejudice in him and meeting with a Vindicative Spirit whose temper they knew to be such would prompt him invidiously to inspect into or else to create faults in the Government of the Duke of Ormond which was the end of the Court-Intriegue and of his advancement as knowing that his uneasiness to those of that Kingdom would serve to prepare a fair reception for the L B a Man of whose inclinations to their interest the Popish Party had the most convincing assurances and agreeably to this whole Scheme of policy the Lord Roberts remained Lord Lieutenant about Six Months and then the L. B. was sent over Talbot now Tyrconnel leaves the Court and year 1670 follows his Brother the Titular Archbishop and lives privately but notwithstanding his Retirement is still engaged in all the Secret Counsels with Sir Ellis Leaton the Lord Lieutenant's Secretary And now to accomplish their purpose the first thing to be done was to set up a pretence that the King when in Exile had obliged himself to the French King to restore the Irish to their Religion and their Estates and lest a neglect of this should occasion a Breach with France something must be acted in pursuance to it So it was ordered That notwithstanding the Law to prefer Irish Papists to the Commission of the year 1671 Peace in which they behaved themselves with that partiality and insolence Properties inherent to most if not all of them that they became odious even to the judicious of their own party The next thing was to regulate the Corporations year 1672 which by an Act of the last Parliament there was power for the Lord Lieutenant and Council to do This was managed with such great secrecy that none were made acquainted with it till it was actually drawn and brought ready to the Council-Board The next day there was sent to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of Dublin an Order for them to call a Common-Council and to turn them out and to make a new Government in the City This they well understood would create a disturbance which they were desirous so to improve among the Citizens as to render the Protestants disaffected for which purpose they industriously laboured to irritate and provoke them as the L B had done the Year before when a number of Boys got up in a Tumult to pull down a Bridge which was erecting contrary to the desire of the City where when the Lord Mayor and Constables had suppress'd them the Lord Lieutenant ordered Soldiers as they were carrying them to Prison who discharg'd several Shots amongst them and killed some of them But to return to the Order of Council for modelling the Corporation the Aldermen gave ready obedience though they feared the bottom of the Design This compliance of the Aldermen necessitated them to take new measures for the most considerable of the Aldermen were Men of New Interest and had been noted for keeping out Papists from the City Freedom and whilest these Aldermen were in Power no Popish Design could succeed and therefore to facilitate by another what they could not effect by former Stratagems the next work was to prepossess the Populace with prejudice against the Aldermen representing them as the Authors and Contrivers of this New Model though as it was afterwards proved upon an hearing before the Earl of Essex and Council when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland they never heard word of 'em till they were brought to 'em to the Tole-sale with orders to put 'em in Execution At that time there came over to Dublin a Person year 1672 who assumed several names a practice as agreeable to the Interest and Policy of the Church of Rome and as common as that of variety of Shapes and Professions sometime he went by the name of Payne at others by that of Nevell and was found to be the same person that was afterwards committed to Newgate for some high Misdemeanour relating to Coleman and the Popish Plot. This Nevell as has since been apparent in the instance before named had his part with Coleman and was sent over for Ireland as his proper Province wherein to act the designed Tragedy He remained for some time obscure in Dublin and after that was received into the Castle but never appeared till this as was deem'd seasonable juncture and then in the capacity of Under Secretary to Sir Ellis Leaton His business was to infuse into the Populace of the City of Dublin an Opinion of the Treachery of their Recorder Sir William Davis and to make the pretext the more plausible he had Instructions to add That the Recorder and the Lord Primate then Lord Chancellour counselled the L. B. to enact those Laws for the abolishing of the Ancient Government of the City and farther insinuating that this was done at the desire and instigation and by the contrivance of
as refus'd to joyn with them to that extravagant height were accounted Persons disaffected to the Government called Fanatick and Oliverian Dogs with the like Expressions of Calumny and Reproach But this was not all the most judicious of them were now so animated in their hopes that 't was impossible for them to bear them any longer with moderation or to contain themselves from the most violent Outrages and from instigating the Rabble to steal from and rob the English which at first was looked upon as the most Expeditious Contrivance whereby to expel them the Kingdom The Duke of Ormond foresaw what was now past remedy and told a Friend of his that nothing could now preserve the English but a precipitateness of the Irish For said he let my Countreymen alone and they will spoil their own business And so indeed they had in any time but this when it might be said according to our Saviour's Prediction That the time was come when they that destroyed the Protestants thought they did God service King James and his former but now more especial Favourites the Irish were now equally furious in their course and seemed to contend the one in his Commands the other in their forward Obedience which should exceed in their joynt design of extirpating Heresie The Duke year 1684 of Ormond was called over but before his departure laboured with an Indefatigable diligence to establish matters on such a foundation so as that it might not be easie for them to create a present change without a manifest violation and infringement of the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom The new Hospital a stately Fabrick near Dublin erected for poor Soldiers would he foresaw be made a Nest for Hornets which to prevent as well as possible he sate several days with the Council and Judges in private in the Castle and there made all the provision that could be for it against the imminent storm One remarkable Passage I must not omit to mention which demonstrates the great spirit of that excellent person At the aforesaid Hospital he appointed a Dinner for all the Officers of the Hospital and the Officers of the Army then in Dublin which being over he took a large Glass of Wine in his hand bid them fill it to the brim then stood up and called to all the Company Look here Gentlemen they say at Court I am now become an Old Doating Fool you see my Hand doth not shake nor does my Heart fail nor doubt but I will make some of them see their Mistake and so drank the Kings Health But upon his Arrival at Court found that King James's Bigotted Opinion would carry him to the most violent actions a dismal apprehension whereof as is believed at length broke his heart for though he was of a great Age yet was he of such health of Body and cheerfulness of mind that in course of nature he might have lived Twenty Years longer as his Mother did 'T was plain that the Irish could fasten no Calumnies upon him when the first thing they reproached him with was Cheating the Army in building the Hospital and that Robinson the Architect had inriched himself by it when indeed not to lessen any thing of his due Character Robinson shewed the parts of an Excellent Artist in the Contrivance and of an Honest Man in the Charge as men of Value and Experience in Building affirm Upon the Duke of Ormond's removal the Government year 1685 was put into the hands of the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard in the Quality of Lords Justices The Irish fell immediately to their old trade of making Plots but with this difference That whereas they had formerly been the Actors themselves they now placed them upon the English which they daily impeached of designs against the King and the Government The Grandees had the confidence to appear in Vindication of such Evidence as was given against the English though it was altogether as unreasonable as untrue and press'd the Lords Justices for Orders of Council to empower Irish Papists and Mongrel Protestants to examine them and to commit if they saw cause without Bail any person impeached This Arbitrary Power the Lords Justices and Council would not agree to yet were so hectored and insulted upon by them that they issued out Orders of Council to examin and commit but always they were directed to Protestants which wearied the Irish of that Stratagem One thing has been omitted which was that before the Duke of Ormond left the Government an Order came for regulating the Council which he left for the Justices to do and most of the English that were active of the Privy Council were turned out but as yet no Irish Papists put in The Irish Lords and Gentry repaired in great numbers to Dublin and as well Gentry as Commonalty of the Natives in all places reproached the Protestants and their Religion with all the Calumnies and Impious Reflections that the rankest Satyrists could invent At Leslip seven Miles from Dublin the Lord Clanriccard Sir Valentine Browne now created a Viscount by the late King James Colonel Moore and some others upon their Knees drank Confusion to all Protestants and their Religion This was taken notice of and the wiser sort of their Party blamed these Men for their forwardness as judging it could not be safe to go on so fast but to stifle the noise of it such as were Eye-witnesses of the Fact and threatened for not Pledging the Health were seized with Warrants and menac'd with having their Throats cut and the like terrifying Arts if they denied not the thing Sir Standish Harston one of the Barons of the Exchequer was threatened to be eased of his Employment if he took not off his Son-in-Law who reported the matter These daily repeated Insolences of the Irish made the Lords Justices weary of their Government and one of them the Lord Granard writ to England to be dismist But in a Consult of the Papists it was resolved to represent him as a Man fit to be kept in for that his interest was very prevalent in the North among the Scots and had for many years in King Charles's Reign been a Pensioner and had Five Hundred Pounds per Annum given him to distribute among the Presbyterian Clergy of which Perswasion his Lady was For the aforesaid Considerations and besides that he was a Popular Man in the Army 't was judged convenient to retain him in the Government For which end King James writ him a Letter with his own hand with great Promises and assurance that nothing should be acted prejudicial to the Protestant Interest which at that time this Lord was accounted to be zealous for however he has now prevaricated Monmouth's Rebellion soon broke out and year 1685 some were apt to believe that Granard was in suspence who to declare for but the Lord Primate was a person of firm and inviolable Loyalty and his unalterable steadiness hindered the other from deserting These two
persons by their united Interests one for the Church the other for the Dissenters kept things in a quiet posture in Ireland and were so Cajol'd by King James as made them not only of opinion but perswaded others to be so too that the King would never expose himself to the hazard of preferring Papists in that Kingdom where the English and Scots were so unanimous against 'em And besides that they were so well furnished with Arms as having the Arms of the Militia so lately setled in their hands But the Popish Party grew bold and insolent and every day afforded but too convincing occasions of new fears to the Protestants Monmouth's Discomfiture gave liberty to the Irish more than ever to contrive Plots and to fasten them upon the Protestants which put the whole Kingdom into a Ferment for the Irish pretended that the Protestants assembled together in great numbers in the night and to gain the more credit to these Hellish Inventions the Vulgar Irish were instructed to leave their Houses and to hide every Night in their Bogs upon a pretence of fear that the English would come in the Night and cut their Throats a Practice as notorious in the Church of Rome as unheard of among Protestants and which there could not be the least Ground or Foundation for at this juncture For besides that in most parts of the Kingdom the Irish were infinitely more numerous than the English nay in some an hundred Families for one I suppose I speak much short of the true account which shewed the impossibility of putting any such thing in execution had it been ever intended and must needs be accounted an absurd and ridiculous contrivance to any man of common sense So were the Irish though conscious to themselves of their own Bloody Actions in the former Rebellion well enough assured that the English never imagined much less would attempt any such thing They were convinced as well by their Practices which had been but too favourable and indulgent to the Natives in the former Reign as by the Principles of their Religion that they were not men of Blood nay and would frequently confess that they were never known to be addicted to Cruelty and Murther to Barbarous Massacres and Inhumane Assassinations which they could not excuse some of themselves from And indeed whoever considers the difference betwixt the Reformed and Romish Church in this respect must needs acknowledge a most strange opposition betwixt them To see the Ancient Practices of the Heathen Emperors so drawn to the life nay out-done by the present Romish Faction is to some a Demonstration that the Persecuting Spirit which reigned with so much predominancy in the Infant days of Christianity is now strongly revived in this degenerate Church which is apparently in this and other Principles upon her Retrograde motion to Ancient Gentilism And upon the other hand whoever considers that Spirit of Peace and Meekness of Mercifulness and an Universal Charity which governs with so absolute an Empire in the minds of those who have duly embraced our Profession must needs own That our English carries that true Badge and Characteristick Evidence of Christianity for which the Primitive Church was justly accounted so illustrious But not to dwell any longer upon this Reflection with what malice and injustice soever the English were represented as Night-Walkers and designing to murther the Irish yet were Examinations of these Impeachments taken by Justices of the Peace calculated for the purpose and these were sent to the Lords Justices and Council and although the Accusations were notoriously false and irrational as has been already shewn yet for not being prosecuted with that open partiality and rigour which these envious implacable Spirits were impatient for Complaints were made to the King by the Irish and he to gratifie their malice sent private instructions with a Reprimand to the Lords Justices about this affair Upon which a Proclamation was issued forth forbidding all Night-Meetings c. though the Lords Justices and Council well knew there was no such thing This Artifice of the Irish was but in order to make way for greater mischief by preparing Evidences to bring the most considerable of the English into Plots Their first onset was with one Moor of Clonmel who was Indicted for High-Treason before Sir John Mead in the Palatinate of Tipperary This Moor was a person of a vast Estate which made them bend their whole force against him Now to countenance the design Tyrconnel and Justin Mac Carthy came to Clonmel to the Trial and in the Publick Court assum'd to reproach the Judge and the Jury Mac Carthy calling him Fanatick and he and Talbot aspersing him and the Duke of Ormond for employing such a Rogue with other Calumnies in such Language as was only fit for such Blood-hounds to express Notwithstanding Moore and some others that were impeached were quitted But such an extravagantly partial account was sent over to the Court of that action that the King questioned the Duke of Ormond how he came to employ such a Fanatick to which the Duke replied he did it in duty to his Majesty as believing he could not entrust a better man than one of his Majesties Servants for so he was when Duke of York being then his Attorney General in Ireland Tyrconnel then began to model the Army but year 1685 the introductory part first to be performed was to get in all the Arms from the Protestants and this design was varnished over in as fair Colours as the Ground would bear But however its direct tendency was plainly obvious and visible to every Eye The King and Council writ over to the Lords Justices and Council that there was reason to believe that the Rebellion of Monmouth had been of that spreading Contagion as to infect many and delude more It was not therefore safe for the Kingdom to have the Arms of the Militia dispersed abroad but they would be in a greater readiness for the Militia and their own defence to have them deposited in the several Stores of each County Upon which instructions a Proclamation issued forth and to make it take the better effect the Lord Primate first began with the City of Dublin and sending for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen makes an Elegant Speech to them magnifying their unshaken Loyalty in the worst of times and withal adding that their ready Obedience and prevalent example would be of great service to the King and Kingdom And in the close of his Speech tells them that they expected their compliance in bringing in their Arms which should be always ready for their Service The City were sensible of their condition but knew likewise that 't was to no purpose to dispute as to their obedience so brought in their Arms. The Countrey pursu'd this Precedent and to render the design more effectual the Irish gave out That if any Arms were reserved in the Protestants hands such would be interpreted as persons disaffected to the King and
him for the encouragement of Trade and the uniting of the Affections of his Subjects and in order to put this in execution the City of Dublin was to lead the way and to be the Precedent to the whole Kingdom And therefore in pursuance to the tenour of the aforesaid Letter the Lord Mayor calls a General Assembly wherein the Kings Letter was read upon which the City made their humble Address to the Lord Lieutenant and Council setting forth that they found the City by Act of Parliament bound up and the if they should act according to the Letter they incurred a Forfeiture of their Charters and therefore humbly prayed the Lord Lieutenant and Council to lay their Condition at his Majesty's Feet who they did humbly conceive was mis-informed in this matter This retarded the freedom of the Papists for some time but another Mayor one Castleton who is still in Dublin succeeding he passed the Irish Freemen and in consequence to this the same was done in the whole Kingdom This was laid with ingenuity enough for promoting the Irish design yet received not its hoped for effect which was by this means to procure freedom for so many of the Irish in every Corporation as by the Majority of their Suffrages might out-vote the English in the Election of Popish Magistrates which upon Tyrconnel's Accession to the Government might facilitate the surrendring the Charters and so render the Kingdom as they stiled it entirely Catholick But this device how speciously soever contrived did not reach the end of its Projectors For notwithstanding the great Endeavours and active Industry of the Irish yet most of the Corporations out-ballanced them in the number of Protestants Tyrconnel perceiving himself frustrated of his expectation by the numerous Party of the English has an immediate recourse to the way before-mentioned of the Lords Justices and to put this in practice sends for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and there acquaints them that he had in charge from his Master the King to tell them as being the chief City of the Kingdom and unto which as such he intended the greatest Marks of his Favour that it was his pleasure to call in all the Charters of the Kingdom not with design to take away any thing from them but to enlarge their Priviledges by which act of bounty and favour he might the more endear them unto him He farther told them that his Majesty expected their ready compliance so as that their chearful surrendry of their Charter might become examplary to the rest of the Kingdom The Lord Mayor returned the answer usual in such cases which was that he would call an Assembly and move it to them and the next day he accordingly did so acquainting them with what the Lord Deputy had given him in charge The Assembly was not long upon their Resolves but the manner of delivering them afforded the greatest matter of debate the result whereof was this That the Lord Mayor Recorder and Aldermen should wait upon his Excellency and acquaint his Lordship that as the City had ever been exemplary in their Loyalty and faithful Obedience to the Kings and Queens of England so they should ever continue in the same and therefore humbly conceived it to be their Duty to lay at his Majesty's feet the great Services they had done the Crown under the Grants and Immunities of One Hundred and Chirty Charters they had then in their Treasury from his Majesties Royal Ancestors and they humbly prayed his Excellency to favour them in a kind representation of their condition to his Majesty which they hoped would prevail with his Majesty for the continuance of their Ancient Government under so many Gracious Grants and Charters Upon the making of this return there was present the King's Attorney and Sollicitor The first being a most Virulent and Inveterate Papist nothing of friendship was expected from him but the latter was not doubted yet contrary to expectation argued stifly against the City The Lord Deputy as extravagantly mad to meet with this return which so absolutely thwarted his design fell into a great fit of violent Passion and in a raging Tempest told them That this was the continuance of their former Rebellion that they had turned out all the Loyal Snbjects in the last War of Ireland and that they would do so now were it in their power And it was because they so lately disputed the King's Commands for admitting Catholick Free-men that caused his Majesty to call in their Charters and in the close of this furious Speech advised the Lord Mayor to call the Assembly again and obey the King or it would be worse for them Wherefore the Lord Mayor humbly besought his Excellency to signifie his pleasure to the Assembly by a Letter under his hand alledging that they would not regard a Verbal Repetition of it which they had been already acquainted with as also urging that it had been the constant practice of the Chief Governour to send their Letter upon occasions of publick business to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons And if his Excellency would please to follow this usual method he would act as in duty bound in obedience to it To which the Sollicitor General replyed that there was no necessity of any such Formality but 't was sufficient if his Excellency signify'd his Commands by word of Mouth in which they ought to acquiesce Upon this the Lord Mayor called another Assembly and great Debates arose how to demean themselves in this nice Criticism of Affairs But as to the surrendry of their Charter 't was what they unanimously resolved against After some Dispute as to the manner of Addressing the Lord Deputy in this case 't was at last resolved and concluded That the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons should make their Application to his Excellency with Reasons why they could not surrender their Charter and to pray his Excellency to allow them time to Petition the King not doubting but His Majesty would be graciously pleased to take into his Princely Consideration as well their Exemplary Loyalty as Eminent Sufferings for His Royal Father of Blessed Memory Upon which they produced a Letter from King Charles the First dated at Oxford which contained great Acknowledgments of their great Loyalty and Faithfulness to him which he gave them high assurances of being eminently rewarded if it pleased the Divine Providence to restore him to his Crown and its just Rights and Prerogatives The aforesaid Representatives of the City also prayed Tyrconnel to represent their condition favourably to His Majesty but he answered them roughly and according to his former Austerity told them That on the contrary he would Write against them and in the interim according to the Directions he brought over with him from England a Quo Warranto issued forth against the City Who called another Common Council and there agreed upon a Petition to the King and sent over with it their Recorder Sir Richard Rieves who behaved year 1687
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
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
which neither Souldier Adventurer nor Irish according to the first Declaration from Breda were concerned and yet it related to the first Souldiers that fought against the Irish which were now called Forty-nine Men these being King's-Men were not provided for in the Parliament and Usurper's time and how to make Provision for them now was the matter in Dispute Some Lands indeed there were that had not been set out to Souldiers and Adventurers which were allotted these Men but this Provision was not considerable and therefore the forfeited Corporations and Houses that were in them were hereunto annexed and to render 'em the more valuable a Clause was inserted in the Act That no Irish Papist in what manner soever he justified his innocency should enjoy any House within a Corporation except the Natives of Corke and Featherd This the Irish vehemently exclaimed against as barbarous and inhumane that to serve the conveniency of a particular Set of Men a Man must appear innocent in the Country and enjoy his Estate but be adjudged a Rebel in the City and upon that account be dispossessed of his Houses On the other hand the English complained That the Natives by an Illegal Arbitrary Court were made innocent though they were known to have been concerned in the Rebellion for that in truth 't was beyond all peradventure that not Ten of the Irish Papists were free from Rebellion and Murther The Duke of Ormond had a great Arrear due to him upon this Fund and after mutual Contests on either side the Affair was settled to the Satisfaction of the Protestants But in order to a firmer and more mature Establishment of things it was amongst other Consultations resolved in Council to send over the Lord Roberts for Ireland in Quality of the Lord Lieutenant as a Person whose indifferency as to the various and opposite interests of that Kingdom might bring forth a compleat and impartial settlement but his being an Englishman and not related to and so consequently not interessed in favour of the Irish occasioned the Duke of York whose Affection to the Natives of that Kingdom has appeared by too pregnant and demonstrative Proofs to work with the King his Brother to send over the Duke of Ormond whose Acquaintance with and year 1662 Relation to divers of the Irish Nobility and Gentry did rationally promise a more favourable regard to their Interests though what probability soever this Prospect had in it it finally turned to their disadvantage and that by the even steerage of the Duke of Ormond who though placed at the Helm in favour to the Irish yet so signally espoused the Interest of the English Protestants in all their just and legal demands that upon that very account he lost the favour of the Duke of York This management of things made the Popish Party very sensible of their mistake but to correct it in a very high measure they procured the removal of some of the Commissioners of the Court of Claims and got others put in exactly calculated for their present design The leading Man was one Rainsfoord who drove so furiously that complaints were made to the King. Talbot now Tyrconnel was at this time made principal Agent for the Irish Papists at Court and upon the account of solliciting for them had Sums of Money rais'd him by way of Tax upon all that passed the Court of Claims and in such cases wherein men had no Friends nor good Titles he bought their pretences and by Rainsfoord's means passed the Claim from all which illegal courses 't was visible to the English that they were in a lost condition which brought many of them under such apparent discouragements as to part with their Estates for a year or two's Purchace neither could any man make a measure of his Title so arbitrary were the Commissioners in their Proceedings And as the Irish insinuated themselves into the favour of Rainsfoord and the Commissioners of the Court of Claims or by the powerful sollicitation of their Agent at Court procur'd Recommendatory Letters from thence in the same proportion they pass'd their innocency not according to their demerit For what Complaints soever were made by the Irish of the Cruelty of Oliver's Court in criminating them yet some who prov'd their innocency there were decreed nocent by these Commissioners and where they had no pretence of taking away an Irish-man's Estate that was adjudg'd innocent in the Usurper's time in that case they obtain'd Proviso's in the Act of Settlement to deprive them of their Estates for Rebellion As for instance the Knight of Kerry who though a Papist yet always so faithfully adher'd to the English Interest and had been so great an instrument of divers of the Protestants preservation that for that reason he was by the Vsurper restored to his Estate his case was so notorious that the Parliament though their whole Fortunes depended upon the Act of Settlement refus'd passing the Act except that clause in prejudice to the Knight of Kerry was struck out notwithstanding that they were inform'd at the same time That if the Act was sent back and altered it should be to their disadvantage as indeed it prov'd however it was Corrected as to that Clause So much of this Act did so manifestly incline to favour the Irish as justly created Complaints by the English which seemingly to redress a new Act was prepared Entituled The Act of Explanation the consequence of which was That the Protestants were glad to sit down with the loss of one third and where the Irish had either been so notoriously criminal as that no Palliations could extenuate the blackness of their Rebellion or else were Men of that inconsiderable interest as render'd them incapable of passing their innocency in such cases their Estates were claim'd by other Irish whose interests at Court were more prevalent such were the Earls of Clanearthy Clanriccard Lord Costela Dillon Earl of Carlingfoord and many more who pass'd their Claims for twice more than ever they had before the Rebellion Pursuant to the Act passed for the payment of Quit-rent to the Crown for all Lands that were Seiz'd and Sequestred the English paid Quit-rent in many places where their Lands were scarce worth it but when the Court of Claims was over and the Parliament of Ireland Dissolv'd then the Irish that paid Quit-rent obtain'd Grants by means of the Duke of York who omitted no opportunities of testifying his good will to them not only to be remitted of their Quit-rent but of their Arrears also To this height had the Popish Design advanc'd it self at a Juncture when the English Interest seemed not only to carry the preeminence but even to have reach'd the Meridian of her Triumph at Court and though it was believed upon the King's Restauration there could not have been the twentieth part of Ireland gain'd from the English yet what with the thirds taken at one blow from the English and by Nominees and other Stratagems of State there was almost an
the chief Aldermen This impious suggestion being not only artfully spread among but also too easily credited by the Citizens induced 'em to pitch upon Nevell as their most proper Agent and in order to this advanced Mony which they presented to Sir Ellis Leaton who together with Nevell brought the then Lord Mayor Totty with the Sheriffs to the Lord Lieutenant who publickly declared the Relation above and withal promised to recal his former Order Upon which he called a Council but the unravelling of the business discovered a Popish Intriegue which occasioned their not agreeing with the Lord Lieutenant After this a Consult was held by the Lord year 1672 Mayor and Sheriffs with Colonel Talbot now Lord Tyrconnel and his Brother the then Titular Archbishop of Dublin as also with Sir Nicholas Plunkett an old Irish Lawyer before mentioned who was formerly one of the Pope's Supream Council at Kilkenny in Ireland This Consult was upon a Sunday at Talbot's House Three Miles from Dublin where it was resolved That the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs should call a general Assembly of the City and by the Act of that Assembly turn out the Recorder together with those Aldermen which were opposite to the Romish Party Matters were so far acted in pursuance to this intended Subversion that the Assembly was already in Council but found all the Twenty four Aldermen unanimous so that they could not according to the Laws of that City pass any Order in regard that none could be made without the Assent of the Court of Aldermen who sat in a Room by themselves This was a fatal obstacle to their Design whereupon they sent to the Lord Lieutenant to be Instructed how and in what manner they should proceed and in the interim kept the Assembly shut up all the day At last they received the following Directions That one of the Sheriffs with several of the Commons should come into the Aldermen's Court and bring a Petition in the name of the whole City to turn out Sir William Davis the Recorder and Seven Aldermen who were of the greatest account in that City But notwithstanding the depth of this Policy which was lain with all the artifice and subtilty it could be capable of yet was the whole of it privately discovered by one of the Sheriffs which put the Aldermen into a posture of Preparation for their Defence which was managed with that success that upon its coming to be debated the adverse Party obtain'd only the Suffrages of two indigent Aldermen which gave a considerable check to the Intriegue But then the Lord Mayor called a private Assembly and not one of the Seven Aldermen were present The Commons were called into the Aldermen's Court and there in a tumultous and irregular manner they were turned out and Seven of the Rabble put in their places as also Leatone the Lord Lieutenant's Secretary was made Recorder This Revolution so awakened the Eyes of the Citizens of Dublin that they began to make a more narrow Inspection into the main drift and tendency of it which within a Month after 't was set on foot they plainly perceived was immediately levelled at the Foundation of the Protestant Interest and Religion They now became apprehensive how miserably they had been imposed upon especially when they saw Papists brought into the common-Common-Council and every day the disguise so thrown off that they remained no longer doubtful of a most apparent and palpable Design of introducing Popery About this time Talbot the Titular Archbishop of year 1672 Dublin apply'd himself to the Lord Lieutenant and borrowed some of the Hangings of the Castle Silver Candlesticks Plate and other Utensils to use at an High Mass which Sir Ellis Leaton got to be sent with the Complement of saying That He hoped to have High Mass at Christ's Church at Christmass and which in all probability had been effected if a discovery of a most bloody and inhumane Conspiracy to be acted in this Year had not seasonably prevented it of which take the following Account The Priests by Directions from their Superiours ordered their several Congregations at Mass That at such a time every Roman Catholick should fix over their Doors a Cross made of Straw The People were curious to understand the reason of this Order but the matter was carried with so much secrecy that the Priests themselves 't was believed knew no more than that it was designed to bless the Peoples Houses This in pursuance to the Advice and Instruction of the Priests who like so many Infallible Oracles are upon all occasions how difficult or unreasonable soever most punctually obeyed was generally performed and at the same time vast multitudes of Priests came from beyond the Seas and it appears by the Sequel That some of these were better acquainted with the bottom of this black and damnable Intriegue than generally the poor ignorant Priests of Ireland were to whom 't was not by the Hellish Conclave at Rome thought fit to Communicate a matter of this private and great importance For one of these Foreign Priests finding several Houses which had not Crosses fixed at their Doors he warned the People with great earnestness to put them up and further told them That this omission might be their Ruine though he would not name to them the particular Instance wherein But amidst the People's various conjectures as to the occasion of this so general an Order one of these Foreign Priests more open-hearted than the rest acquaints a Friend of his with this Design which being by him communicated to another and this other acquainting some Friend of his till at last by this Relation of it to several hands the matter was so far divulged that 't was impossible to conceal it any longer from being publickly known This intended Bloody Massacre was formed after the ensuing manner Upon a certain day appointed for the Execution of this dismal Tragedy all the Protestants were to be barbarously Murthered and the Signal appointed to distinguish the Irish from these Hereticks was a Cross of Straw put up before their Doors which wheresoever that was not found all those Houses were to be destroy'd But this being opportunely discovered search was made and Crosses were accordingly found at most of the Irish Doors in the whole Province of Munster which being made up in a very small compass were not before taken notice of Search was made for the Priest who was the first Author of this Discovery but he was not to be found and the Government in Ireland was then so extreamly byassed and discovered so partial an affection to the Irish Interest that no encouragement was given to a farther Inspection into this horrid Plot which upon a narrower search would doubtless have answered the whole of the Relation given of it by the Priest and would have appeared a most Vnchristian and Vnnatural but upon these accounts in the present sense and practice of the Church of Rome a more Catholick Design But such as were active
obtains leave to go for England year 1675 leaving the Lord Primate and the Lord Granard Justices Upon his arrival at Court he perceived the Game ran high for Popery and the best way to prevent it was not by downright opposition he therefore concludes upon a more prevailing method which was to make court to the Duke of York which he managed with so much art and so skilful an Address as indeed he was very capable of doing beyond their Conclave at Rome that notwithstanding it was resolved that he should depart yet was he kept so long in England till orders came from the Holy Fathers for his return to Ireland He had so far wound himself into the Duke's good-opinion of him that he thought him secure for their Party and as the first testimony of his Integrity he had Instructions from him to promote Sheridon and the Farmers which the Earl managed with such great wisdom as at once to please the Duke and yet to be serviceable to the Protestants of Ireland who had now been in a lost irrecoverable condition if his admirable Conduct had not prevented it And now this great Man returns for Ireland to year 1676 steer again in that Government threatened by approaching Tempests the Farmers also going over enter upon their business Sir W. P. became very notorious in declaring not only to employ Papists but that he would have the Priests collect the Hearth-money Some were apt to believe that this was done on purpose to get off but those who were most intimate with him speak quite otherwise and that the hopes of being created a Lord and a Privy Counsellor so transported him beyond all the bounds of moderation as induced him to take this violent course the more to ingratiate himself with the Duke but like the Ass in the Fable beat his Master down in imitation of the Spaniels fawning and though he was a man of great Learning and of a Mathematical Head and bred abroad yet so vehemently desirous of Riches as hurried him often into great Extravagancies The Earl of Essex being Landed in Ireland had a difficult Game to play he had 't is believed made fair Promises of being kind to the Irish and to stand by the Farmers to the first he gave good words and received them well at Court but the Farmers they began to model their Officers and if some speedy and effectual stop was not put to these Proceedings the whole Ports of the Kingdom would soon be in Papists hands which was like to prove a matter of most dangerous consequence To defeat this Intriegue required a more than ordinary presence of mind and a deep foresight which as this wise Earl was endowed with in a very high measure so did he signally shew it upon this occasion There was but one way to effect it and that was by raising scruples as to the value of the Farmers and their Securities but this he must not appear in but instructs some of his Confidents of the Council to act that part sor him and there was one who till this late Catastrophe was thought to be of great Integrity and Honour the Lord Granard he was bold and daring and a Mortal Enemy to Sir J. S. wherefore he moves at the Council-Board that inspection should be made into the Securities of these Farmers The Proposal was well accepted by the rest of the Council For indeed they were Men as Sir W. P. said truly of them viz. Farmers pick'd up in the Streets with this disadvantage that take the-first seven men you meet and they shall exceed these for every thing but cheating The Earl of Essex seemed to oppose the Council in this Vote put it off and acquainted the Farmers and also gave an account of it to the Duke whom he had now so far gain'd upon as to become a Confident But every day usher'd in new Complaints against the Farmers running away with the Money of the Kingdom c. which for some time the Earl seemed to decline but at last in appearance against the Grain agrees with the Council and sends over to the King the Objections against the Farmers which in short were so great that they were not to be trusted Whereupon Commissioners of inspection were set over them one was the Earl of Essex's Confident and these men attended to the motion of the Farmers with so vigilant an eye that nothing could be effected In this manner was this great and dangerous Plot carried on for several years by the Duke and his Minions most miraculously defeated by the unparallell'd Conduct of that Prudent Earl who so far out-vy'd the Romish Politicks as to cajole that party into an approbation of those Proceedings which proved fatally destructive of their design which so disheartened those two accomplices R and Sheridon that they flung up their Parts and returned to Court the last to attend his Master Coleman who happened to come in a fit time to succeed him in his Employment for not long after this the Popish Plot was brought upon the Stage in which Coleman was Prime Minister who being afterwards Executed and Sheridon speaking something in favour of his cause was apprehended and after some time was brought on his knees at the Bar of the House of Commons where he had impudence beyond humane shape to set forth in a flourishing Speech the greatness of his Family viz. that he was in the right Line of the Kings of Vlster anciently called O Sheridon that to his Father belonged a vast Estate which by the misfortune of War meaning the former Rebellion he was wrongfully put out of with abundance of the like impudent falshoods and most notorious untruths Whereas indeed his Father too honest a man for so base and so degenerate a Son was before the late Rebellion in the County of Caven taken in a poor Boy into a Bishop's House for a Turn-spit and the Bishop observing the Boy to be of a Docible Temper and capable of instruction and finding him educated a Papist charitably put him to School where he was taught his Grammar and was found to be so industrious a Proficient in School-learning as encouraged the good Bishop to Ordain him a Deacon in which capacity he continued under the Bishop till he died And when the Rebellion broke out so violently that few English were left in the Countrey yet this poor man remained with such as stayed and read Prayers among them till all were either Murthered or had deserted the place But he being a poor Old Man and having nothing to remove continued where he was the Irish suffering him to reside amongst them but by all their Importunities notwithstanding their great eagerness to make Converts compassing both Sea and Land to proselyte any to their Church could never prevail upon him to go to Mass This Man had three Sons which as well as those turbulent times would admit he educated Protestants and upon Oliver's reduction of Ireland he was so taken with the Character
with various opportunities of destroying those whom they knew to be their implacable Adversaries yet declin'd all Informations against them a practice as peculiar to those of the Protestant Communion as different from the Indirect Principles and barbarous proceedings of that of the Church of Rome as has been but too manifest in those horrid Perjuries and notoriously false Accusations which the Irish have been palpably convinced of in their daily Impeachments of the English in the Reign of the late King James as will appear in the Sequel of this Discourse But notwithstanding that 't is so universal a practice of the Irish to swear such of the English as they bear prejudice to out of their Lives and Estates if possible or at least so vigorously endeavour it as to stick at no Affidavit how inconsistent soever with truth or but a rational probability yet were the English more just than to transcribe so base an Example or to propose that impious Maxim of the Romish Church Of doing Evil that Good may come of it as a Rule of their Imitation which the Apostle St. Paul has so plainly pronounced Damnation unto And indeed if we descend to an impartial enquiry after the opposite Principles of the Two Churches in this case we shall no longer wonder at the great integrity of the English nor at that barbarous Violation in the other Party of a Rite of the greatest Solemnity and most Sacred Institution which all Christians ought to account an Oath to be and which the whole Christian Church expect that lame and corrupt part of it which we call the Romish does upon its being administred under legal and requisite circumstances justly reckon as indissolluble But what if the other Christian Churches which are but a vile Rabble of Hereticks and Schismaticks though if dividing Christendom into five parts they make up more than three can pretend to no dispensing power in this case yet what cannot tâ—e Vicar of Christ do in Cathedrâ who has the Keys of Heaven at his Girdle and can lock and unlock as he pleases according to our Saviour's Commission which he will needs have limited to his Person as his Vicarial Prerogative but unlimited in its Authority whatsoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whatsoever sins ye retain they are retained But to leave this despotiek power of Absolution in the Chair of Infallibility which God be thanked we are neither ambitious of nor do pretend to it will not be unreasonable to consider that whatever complaints were made by the Irish as to their severe usage in the Popish Conspiracy of which they make many tedious harangues 't was plain that if there was any such 't was acted by those of their own Party and such as professed their own Religion who were indeed the fittest Agents for so black an Intriegue there being none of the English any way interessed in it Neither can I omit mentioning the great Integrity and Justice of the Duke of Ormond then Lord Lieutenant in his unbyassed and equal management of this Affair For though prejudice and partiality might have prepossess'd some Men and have served to awaken their resentments against the Irish at such a Juncture as this yet did he carry himself with so single an eye and observed so steady and even a course that 't was difficult to perceive the least deflection in him upon either hand 't is true indeed the Law had its due course but this was owing to the Evidence which those of their own Party and Religion made against their Associates in the Conspiracy and therefore if any irregularity was committed it cannot justly be charged upon the Duke or his Subordinate Ministers by whom the whole was managed with an equal Moderation and indifferency But I pass from these Reflections upon the Carriage of the Duke of Ormond and the Protestants to a Discourse of Affairs relating to the Plot in Ireland upon the discovery whereof Orders came from England to disarm the Papists year 1678 but they received such timely notice of the Design by their Creatures at Court that there was not found two hundred Arms in all Ireland the Irish having a contrivance of concealing their Arms by thrusting them into Boggs filling the Barrels of their Guns with Butter which suffers them not to take any harm and as for the Locks they can easily hide them The Lord Brittas and others made their Escape for France but the Earl of Tyrone was taken and committed to the Gate-house Sheridon was seized in London but nothing could be proved against him Talbot now Tyrconnel was confined a Prisoner in the Castle of Dublin together with his Brother the Titular Archbishop where he dyed The Duke of York went for Flanders which made the Irish even to despair and made one of their Lords to declare with a great Oath That He believed Iesus Christ was a Protestant for that nothing they could do did prosper The Duke of Ormond was extreamly sollicitous to settle the Militia in Ireland and ordered their watching equal with the Army And now notwiâ—hstanding the publick fears of the Popish Conspiracy in England and Ireland yet was the English Interest in Ireland of greater value than ever grounded upon a general Opinion of the English that the Plots of the Irish were now so fully unravell'd that the King would extend no favour to them for the future The Duke of York goes for Scotland and with him the Second Coleman Thomas Sheridon who still profess'd himself a Protestant though his Actions at this time gave a sufficient Demonstration to the contrary For from Scotland he writ over private Encouragements to the Popish Party in Ireland and put them in some hopes But the English were not apprehensive of any danger improving their Estates and the Trade of the Kingdom more than ever and never esteeming themselves more happy than at this juncture as being quietly seated under the Care and Influence of the Duke of Ormond's Government who now endeavours to have a Parliament called in Ireland and succeeded so far as to obtain a Grant in pursuance whereof a Bill drawn by the Lord Lieutenant and Council is sent over to the King but the Duke of York's interest interceding obstructed any farther Progress who came with all expedition from Scotland to put a stop to that design which the Irish were so confident of before it was done that they stuck not to affirm that they were well assured there would be no Parliament whilst King Charles lived and would frequently discourse with that liberty and boldness as if the Duke of York had been actually Seated in the Throne upon a Presumption that he would arrive speedily to it Ireland had now continued for two or three years in great Tranquillity and Quiet when upon a suddain a Stratagem was set on foot lain as deep as Hell and yet seemingly for the advantage of the English which take as follows In the Settlement of Ireland there were overplus and concealed
Lands said to be in the possession of divers of the English but in truth much more in that of the Irish Now to insure the Titles of the English from any future Discoveries as was pretended a Court of Grace was to be erected year 1683 where all that would had the opportunity of putting in their Claims and upon proving their possession and compounding with the Commissioners for payment of such a sum as they thought fit to impose on them they were to pass new Patents It was also given out that it was safe for all new Interests to pass that Court and that it would strengthen their Titles This Policy had its intended effect for many persons came in and considerable Sums of Money were paid But under what plausible pretext soever this Court was set up 't was soon perceived as a snare to the English For its design was to make a narrow inspection into all Mens Titles and thereby to discover what advantage might be derived from it For by the Act of Settlement all the forfeited Lands in Ireland were only invested in the King as a Royal Trustee for the use of the Soldiers and Adventurers and could be no way disposed of but according to the intent of that Act. Now whereas there were several Irish out of their Lands decreed them by the Act for want of Reprisals the King's Patent could not give any Land away but in pursuance to the intent of the Act. By which it appears that this Court was erected to prepare Pretences for the Irish when opportunity should invite and though all this was negotiated through the Duke's Interest yet none of that party appeared in it but the whole of it was transacted by the Dutchess of Portsmouth who had the Money got by Fines out of it Because there will be occasion in the farther discovery of this Treachery to name a principal Actor in the Catastrophe of Ireland I shall now nominate him that was the Abettor and Contriver of this mischief 't was one W. who sometime year W before bought a Judge's place in the Exchequer for Eight Hundred Pounds This Judge was found a fit Tool to make use of and being a Cunning ambo-dexter formed this Intriegue which had proved fatal to the Protestant Interest of Ireland if affairs had succeeded in the same Current they had now put them But I must not forget to add that to make this poison go down the more easie the Pill was gilded over Most of the Judges were made Commissioners and had part of the Fines the Lawyers and Attorneys got Money by the Court so that consequently all that were capable of understanding the Cheat were interessed as Parties in the Intriegue and by this means some of the Lawyers and Attorneys purchased Estates to the ruine of the former Possessors And 't is to be observed that in the several Designs of the Papists Protestants were the Tools whereby they acted by which they appeared to have nothing of Catholick in them And now to force men into this Tonnel another Oppression was impos'd upon the Subject and that was that no man should pass Patent for Fairs Markets Mannors c. without passing his Estate through this Court whereas by the Act of Settlement all persons had liberty for the improvement of the Countrey to pass Patent for them so that they were not within three Miles of one another Here you may perceive a most black design speciously represented as a fit occasion to lay hold on whereby to corroborate the English Interest though in truth nothing could more effectually weaken the Protestants Titles to their Estates and strengthen or improve those of the Irish and this not only managed but at first set up by a Protestant And indeed this gave a more plausible colour to it and made it the more easily gain belief with the English that the true Reasons of its erection were the same with those that were pretended because first advanced by one of their own Party A sad thing indeed that Englishmen and Protestants should by base and unworthy Compliances become such Servile Instruments to the advancement of the Popish Cause A Calamity which as it had made some steps before so did it improve to an infinite Progress when the late King James was in possession of the Throne In which time too many men who were reputed Protestants through a mean and pusillanimous Disposition were not seldom Co-adjutors with the Papists in such violent Proceedings as carried a direct opposition to the Laws and their Religion But to proceed where I left off The Duke of Ormond perceiving by the tendency of these Affairs that the Romish design was agitated with greater earnestness than ever with great difficulty obtains leave to go for England and pursuant to that comes over leaving his Son the Earl of Arran Lord Deputy Upon his Arrival at year 1683 Court he a second time attempts a Parliament but ineffectually upon which disappointment he returns again for Ireland with an heavy heart as he himself declared to a Great Man of that Kingdom He had Instructions to Regiment the Army and some other things that were Preparatives to what followed soon after But now the Fatal Stroke was come the Death of the King a Mystery not to be inquired into though one can hardly omit remarking that the Irish year 1684 Papists could for some time before fix upon the utmost Period of that Reign and the Duke was sent for in haste from Scotland three years before without any apparent reason for it besides that the King's permission was obtained with some difficulty From this time we may Commence the Date of the Irish greatness Fate now smil'd upon 'em and that which they had long expected with so much impatience and importunity which had cost them so much pains and had involved them in such great Perplexities That which had exposed them to so many dangers and been so frequently blasted with cross Accidents and various Disappointments was now fallen into their Lap. Now their long-look'd for day was come and their Game which had been play'd with so much difficulty and loss did now assure them of better success These Apprehensions so transported them with such pleasant Raptures as were eminently visible in all their actions especially in Publick Days of Rejoycing as the day of the King 's Proclaiming that of his Coronation the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and the like in all which they demonstrated the most extravagant Symptoms of a Superlative Joy which they express'd in making of Bonfires Beating of Drums playing upon the Bag-pipes and other Musical Instruments in Drinking and Serenading in the night time forcing the English out of their Beds and breaking open their Doors and drinking Confusion to the Kings Enemies upon their Knees by which 't was plain that they understood the Protestants And all these unlawful Revellings oftentimes continued for two or three Nights and Days without intermission wherein such of the English
Government and that it would be no excuse to say they were their own Arms and not belonging to the Militia This frighted many and operated so powerfully that abundance delivered in their Arms bought with their own money The Protestants being thus disarmed Tyrconnel proceeds to destroying the Army and first begins with the Officers in the same method which was designed immediately before the Death of the King which was to displace all Officers that had been in the Parliament or Oliver's Army as also the Sons of any such This the Duke of Ormond had directions to proceed in when he came last from England but he made no Progress in it under pretence of gaining time to find them out for he foresaw it was to make room for Papists Tyrconnel for so we must call him for the future proceeds in his design and after turning out a great part of the Officers returns for England and carries along with him one Neagle a Cunning Irish Lawyer since Knighted by him Neagle's Business at London was to be engaged in their secret Consults for he was a man of great parts educated among the Jesuits and consequently very inveterate Upon their Arrival at London 't was some time e'er Neagle could gain admittance to kiss the King's hand but was constantly with Father Petre and the rest of that Furious Cabal The Queen was altogether for their Counsels but the King was not so forwardly inclined being every day set upon by all his Popish Lords not to proceed too fast in the revolution of Ireland for that would spoil the general interest of the Catholicks and upon the Lord Bellasis Powis and some others of that Factions understanding that Neagle was come over they were so transported with Rage that they would have him immediately sent out of London But whatever mischiefs he effected in private his Publick Transactions were of no great prejudice to the Protestants However to compleat in Retirement what he durst not attempt at Court and upon the Publick Stage 't was agreed in Council that he should set forth by way of a Letter to a Friend the great Oppression and Injustice of the Act of Settlement which he did under the pretence of a two hours waking in a Night at Coventry but was indeed two Weeks labour in London In this Letter he ran so high in his Invectives against King Charles the Second which nothing but a meer Tyger or Savage as himself would have done that he durst not own it to be his but in Ireland gave out that he would Arrest any Man in an Action of Ten Thousand Pound who should father it upon him But now a Consult was held the design of Tyrconnel's coming over and the Debate variously canvass'd as to a fit Person to send over for Ireland in quality of Lord Lieutenant Tyrconnel was mentioned with some tenderness as being a person very Obnoxious to the English and therefore 't was not thought seasonable till matters were come to a greater Maturity to bring him upon the Stage The Lord Bellasis was proposed but that was too bare-fac'd besides he was infirm at least to carry on their design with success and not altogether to disgust the English 't was resolved that Tyrconnel should return Lieutenant General of the Army and the Earl of Clarendon Lord Lieutenant In the mean time the Irish Papists in all parts of the Kingdom proceeded in their former Stratagems of Impeaching the Protestants for Plots c. but these were generally so ridiculously contrived and made up of such Palpable Contradictions and Incongruities that they served only to demonstrate the Protestants innocency and the Horrid Perjuries and Implacable Inveteracy of the Informers But seeing that these Impeachments were so unskilfully managed which yet were repeated upon every pretended occasion of disgust they had to an English-man as to miss of their Wicked and Diabolical intent then they applyed themselves to other Courses many went out Toryes and robb'd upon the High-way broke up Houses stole Cattle killed them in the Field and cut out the Tongues of Sheep alive with other innumerable Barbarities all acted upon the English which were so frightened and discouraged with these Tragedies that thousands deserted the Kingdom and came for England under as great Fears and Jealousies as if there had been an open Rebellion and Five Hundred together departed the Kingdom to Transport themselves to Virginia Carolina Pensilvania West-Indies and New England This was extream grateful to the Irish who set all their Engines at work so to disheâ—â—â—en and discourage the Protestants as to force them to leave the Kingdom Tyrconnel now drives with greater fury than before not only displacing the Officers of the Army but also turning out the Private Soldiers and to both prefers which of the Irish he thought fit his Will was his Law and his Actions purely Arbitrary none daring to question him for he brought over Blank Commissions Signed by the King for such as he was willing to put in This Part he acted in a most Insulting Barbarous manner causing poor Men that had no Cloaths on their Backs but Red Coats to be stript to their Shirts and so turned off and of all this he himself was an Inhumane Spectator He seiz'd the Horses of some Officers and Troopers giving Notes that amounted not to a fourth proportion of their just Values to others he gave nothing but ill words and vile reproaches In the midst of this Tragical Scene the Earl of Clarendon comes upon the Stage in the Capacity of Lord Lieutenant his Relation to the King added to the violent Proceedings then in Ireland so vigorously drove on by the Popish Party afforded but little hopes of any redress of these Evils to the Drooping Spirits of the Protestants who were by this time entered into a very Desponding and Dejected Condition But these Discouragements of the English were alleviated in a very high measure if not changed into Ecstasies and perfect Raptures of Joy when perceiving the Lord Lieutenant acting as a person of inviolable Integrity to the Protestants and the English Interest they looked upon him as a fit Man to stem the Torrent of the Popish Faction which had been so violent and impetuous and indeed his very first action gave no small proof of it which was to cherish and revive the broken hearts of the Protestants with those great Assurances his Master had given him of protecting the Protestant Interest and Religion which he good man could not disbelieve In pursuance of this he issued out Proclamations for bringing in of Torys and propos'd Rewards to such as should apprehend them He rid a Progress round the chiefest parts of the Kingdom to give life to the English but at the same time the Grandees of the Irish proceeded in their design animating their Vassals with hopes that he should soon be removed the Irish composing Barbarous Songs in praise of Tyrconnel and that his Heroick hand should destroy the English Church with Bloody and
Genius every stroke sounded so melodious in his Ear as made him not consider that this pleasant Musick presaged a dangerous Ship-wrack to himself and his Party as we find it afterwards proved But to go on in my former Discourse After the aforesaid Encouragements given by the King to the English Papists to allay their fears fresh Consults were set on foot relating to the Government of Ireland This by accident the Lord Treasurer received some account of which he immediately acquainted the King with who absolutely denys that there was any intention of changing the Chief Governour but on the contrary assured him of his great satisfaction with the Lord Lieutenant there Within a few days the Lord Treasurer received from his Brother the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the same Intimations which he had informed the King of and upon which he again accosts his Majesty who as positively disowns the whole matter as he had done before and to remove the Jealousies of the Lord Lieutenant writes for his greater satisfaction a Letter to him as was said with his own hand assuring him there was yet no thoughts and he believed never would be in him whilst both liv'd to remove him from the Government of Ireland notwithstanding which the Papists in Ireland confidently affirmed that the day before the King writ the Letter he had given assurance to Father Petres That Tyrconnel should be Lord Lieutenant but 't is certain that no other Creature but the Queen was privy to this no not Tyrconnel himself for he could not keep a Secret. 'T was at the same time also resolved to put year 1686 the Lord Treasurer and Sunderland Principal Secretary to the Test as to what they would do in compliance to the Catholick Cause it not being at all adviseable to cherish Serpents in their Bosoms that might disembogue their venom upon every inviting Revolution The King undertook the management of this Affair and made his first Onset on Sunderland for he was observed to be most docible as appeared already by his submissive bowing and cringing to the Altar What the Tenour of that Discourse was which the King had with him is not yet known but however Sunderland's Obedience was extreamly magnify'd and approved of in the Conclave and Father Petres at a meeting with the Jesuits gave a good account of this Negotiation with Sunderland adding that 't was necessary for him as yet to appear a Protestant for Important Reasons of State. Upon meeting with this success the King descends to an attempt upon the Treasurer whom he endeavours to manage with good words and gentle arts of Perswasion For he was haughty as knowing that his signal Services might reasonably entitle him to considerable Favours from the King And therefore upon this account must be amicably dealt with and gently stroak'd into humour which the King strove to perform with all those Specious Arts and Policies dictated to him by his Holy Council And the more to prevail upon him he urged to him that Sunderland a Wise and Religious Man though he was knowing in his Religion yet refused not to admit of a Conference with those that were Learned and desired him to do the same The effect of this Negotiation became so publick that 't will be unnecessary to mention it here but Sunderland like an easie and tractable Child though fed at first with Milk came at last to digest strong Meat by arriving every day more and more to maturity in the Faith and though still a Protestant yet went every day with the King to Mass publickly kneeling before the Altar and praying with Naaman That God would forgive his Servant in that thing But to come to the Lord Treasurer No work of grace would take effect with this obstinate Impugner of the Faith and which rendered him a greater Infidel was that the King could not prevail so much upon him as to obtain his silence or a desire from him to have time to consider of it but turns an open Heretick upon which one of the Fathers said He must be Anathematized and that the King could never prosper whilst such an Heretick was near him Before it was publick in London the Priests year 1686 of Ireland gave out that the white Staff was broke and at that time by way of prediction told all that soon after came to pass It was now become the publick discourse That the two Brothers must down and then the King in Council pretended though he had before resolved to ask their advice who was fit to be placed in the Government of Ireland Several persons were proposed but none approved of After that the inclination of the Council had been sufficiently sifted by offering of divers the King again brings on Tyrconnel which was withstood by all but S and in opposition to which the Popish Party contended vigorously P notwithstanding that they knew him to be both a C and a F as the King in Passion one day told him he was yet however was considered as a Person whose moderate carriage had entitled him to a reasonable good Character among the Protestants and therefore the fittest to be placed in this station the better to amuse them This was chiefly insisted upon by them and he was strongly argued for upon this account Powis was naturally covetous and the Government of Ireland a Post of great profit wherefore his Friends advis'd him to agree with Sunderland and do as the L. B did with the Dutchess of Cleveland become Tenant for it in order whereunto Powis comes to terms and agrees for Four Thousand Pounds per Annum but whatever the bottom of the design was Sunderland never forsook Tyrconnel at the Council-Board Some conjectured that he acquainted the King of his Bargain with Powis and that the King made Tyrconnel agree to the same For 't is certain Tyrconnel who was of no great Conduct would swear he got not so much by the Government as served to maintain him notwithstanding that it was worth to him Eighteen Thousand Pounds per Annum Sunderland was become so intimate a Favourite that nothing could be got at Court but by his interest and when the King was told he got all the Money of the Court he replyed he deserved it Nay his Interest was at last become so remarkable that the King himself would ask when any grant was given if they had spoke with Sunderland The Irish were still marvelously impatient for year 1686 their Dagon and at last Tyrconnel obtains the Government notwithstanding all opposition The confirmation of this dismal News reaching the Ears of the Protestants in Ireland struck like a Thunderbolt Perhaps no Age or Story can parallel so dreadful a Catastrophe among all Ages and Sexes as if the day of Doom was come every one lamenting the dreadfulness of their horrible condition and almost all that could by any mens deserted the Kingdom if they had but money to discharge their Passage a demonstration of this were those infinite numbers
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
these Infamous Wretches whose Mercies are Cruelty to Tyrconnel's first steps in the Government as Lord Deputy in relation to which I shall now usher in at once the removing of the Judges though some of them were turned out before Tyrconnel came to the Sword As Sir Standish Harston Baronet one of the Barons of the Exchequer Sir Richard Reynolds Baronet one of the Judges of the King's-Bench and Johnson one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas The Consult was in London before Tyrconnel came to the Government whether the Judges should not be turned out before the Earl of Clarendon was removed to represent him odious to the People if he complyed or disobedient to the King if he seemed unwilling in the matter as they believed he would For they observed that he and the Lord Chancellor Porter began to startle at the Commands from England before they received any account of their removal and Porter publickly declared That he came not over to serve a turn nor would act any thing against his Conscience and as a Testimony of this he found at his return to London that he could not without some difficulty obtain the favour of kissing the King's hand but at length gaining admittance he humbly asked the King What he had done that he was so used For it had been a considerable expence to him to remove his Family To which the King replyed That 't was his own fault which was an expression not very unintelligible Porter went several times after to Court and stood in the King's Eye but he never vouchsafed to speak to him or to take the least notice of him But to come to the Judges it was not thought safe to turn them all out nor any more of them till the Government was in a hand that was Catholick For some of the Council I mean the Cabal were afraid of proceeding in their design too fast especially Powis who urged a slow Progress as accounting it most safe and this made him not be confided in as to their secret and blacker Designs though in his Lady they reposed an intire Confidence as being thought the greatest Politician among them and were not a little ambitious that the Earl of Shaftsbury in the Popish Plot had given her that Character This Debate concerning the Judges was long and often some were for making a clear riddance and to have the Reformation begin in the Courts of Judicature They having already the Military part of the Government in their hands might with greater Facility secure the Civil But the moderate Party prevailed and one in a Court to colour the actions of the rest must be left But that which stuck with them was that Sir William Davis Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench must not be moved for two Reasons The First was That he had been of the Duke's Party in the time of the Popish Plot behaving himself so loyal that he had been sent over if Dissolving the Parliament had not preserved him but this was the least part of his Strength The Second therefore and most prevalent Inducement was his Marriage with the Countess of Clancarthy whose Son had Married the Earl of Sunderland's Daughter and Sunderland was to be denied nothing Besides Sir William Davis was a Diseased infirm man given over for some years and to expedite his Journey for another World for he was a thoughtful man his Brother Judge Nugent the first Popish Judge that was put in pass'd Patent for Sir William Davis's place of Lord Chief Justice in reversion a sad Presage in those times where men must die when and how their Adversaries pleased This being resolved the choice was soon made Lord Chief Baron Hen makes way also for Rice and in Rice's room Sir Linch succeeds in the Common-Pleas In the High Court of Chancery was placed Sir Alexander Fitton a man notorious on Record so exempts me from the pains of giving the Reader a Character of him in this place but little regard was to be had to the man so long as he was fitted to that interest which was then promoting it being very remarkable That of what Perswasion soever they were which they employed at this time they chose men of the most branded Reputations and whose Principles were such as could brave Conscience The three Protestant Judges had their several Capacities and Inclinations for their Service the Lord Chief Justice Davis I speak not of for he was decreed to die and did soon after but the three Standards for the Cause were the Lord Chief Justice Keating for the Common-Pleas Lyndon for the King's-Bench and Baron Worth for the Exchequer The Lord Chief Justice Keating had always been a Servant of the Duke of Yorks was a Native of the place as the Irish call them his Family for many Ages there and Naturalized into Irish he was somewhat accounted to be Popishly inclined and therefore that Party thought themselves sure of him but he was a person of more sense than to pursue the Chace with greater expedition than safety He was rich and single and small hopes would not spur him on to an indiscreet forwardness however as to the main they questioned not his Affection to the Cause Lyndon though in his affection no friend to the Irish Government yet lay under the powerful temptation of a numerous Family and his not abounding in Riches made him the more Passive though he behaved himself the best of the three and when it laid in his power shewed himself an English-man Baron W was the Man they most depended upon and he was so well known that year W 't was in vain to pretend indifferency nor did he but was the first man in the Exchequer where there was more business than in all the Courts besides that struck the fatal blow in all Causes where the English were concerned as in the Sequel will appear in the Charters and private Causes of the English that came before him The Courts being thus setled the next thing year 1687 to be performed was calling in the Charters and here Tyrconnel endeavoured to proceed in the same method that the Lords Justices had done before in perswading the City to deliver up their Arms. But one art in State-Policy could not easily be imposed twice in a year and the English had a fresh Impression upon their Memories by what plausible perswasive Rhetorick they had been cajoled out of their Arms and now to have a like Delusion pass upon them in depriving them of their Laws was a colour not natural enough to deceive them a second time However this was the method of the proceeding Tyrconnel during the Lord Clarendon's Government had procured the King's Letter that all Roman Catholicks should be admitted into the freedom of all the Corporations of the Kingdom which Letter was artfully contrived with a great deal of sweetness and of endearing expressions as that it proceeded from his Majesty's great care of the general good of the Kingdom and was graciously designed by
himself briskly and with good Applause in this matter For notwithstanding that he was not only frequently sent to but threatned by Tyrconnel if he proceeded in it yet however he goes for London and there sollicits the Duke of Ormond to introduce him to the King where on his Knee he delivers the Petition with a submissive tender of all the City Charters at His Majesties Feet The King was already so prepossessed with the Partial Account that Tyrconnel had given of this Action with which he was so extreamly prejudiced that upon the first sight of Sir Richard Rieves he asked him if he had the Lord Deputy's leave to come with this Petition And that he had those in Ireland that understood the Law better than himself and so turn'd from him Sir Richard Rieves advised with the Duke of Ormond who told him That there was no hopes of succeeding in the Enterprize so was forced to go back for Dublin with a short but unpleasant return of the ineffectualness of this Negotiation But however the City was resolved to stand the Brunt and to stop the violent Tide if possible which now ran with so rapid a Current and in order thereunto they Fee'd four Counsels Their first Evasion whereby to procrastinate matters was by urging that the Sheriffs were interessed as Parties in the Writ the Charters being granted to Mayor Sheriffs and Commons and so could not properly make Returns to that Writ that came against themselves this was deem'd to be Law but nothing was to be accounted as such by Judges that broke through all Inclosures and stuck not to trample upon the known Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom if opposite to their Popish and Arbitrary designs So this return of the Sheriffs was over-ruled and a Fine imposed upon them if in four days they did not amend their Return which some though they would not have agreed to but 't was among themselves thought fit to do it and accordingly the Attorney General proceeded against them and took some advantage of their Pleadings which the Court gave judgment upon This afforded matter of Triumph and an universal excessive joy to the Irish which dispersed it self with a marvelous Celerity throughout the whole Kingdom but became on the contrary hand as much a Subject of Lamentation to the English Citizens who called themselves the Virgin City as having never been tainted with any action of Disloyalty or Rebellion in all the several Revolutions and Vicissitudes of that unfortunate Kingdom which though never since it was in the possession of the King 's of England continued forty years uninterruptedly without an Insurrection of the Natives yet was this City remarkably Loyal in all Changes and performed many signal acts of Bravery and Courage as their Records do amply testifie and of which not to name many others I cannot omit one very remarkable Instance which was That when the Lord Duke of Ormond received Orders by that Royal Martyr King Charles the First of ever Blessed and Immortal Memory to give up the Sword and Government to the Parliament they being at that time best able to suppress the Irish Rebels The Lord of Ormond in pursuance to this instruction delivered up the Sword and sent to the Mayor one William Smith ordering him to do the like but he to shew his Loyalty went to the Lord of Ormond accompanied with his Brethren the Aldermen and told his Lordship that he kept that Sword for the King that the City was the King's Chamber and he would deliver neither but into the hands of the King's Servants Upon which the Lord of Ormond took occasion to commend his Loyalty and told him He had the King's Commands to do it and for the Mayors greater satisfaction shewed him the King's Letter which when the Mayor read he observed there was order for the Lord of Ormond to give up the Government to the Parliaments Commissioners but not a word that the Mayor should do it which the Mayor taking notice of to the Lord of Ormond told him he would leave the Sword and Keys of the City with his Lordship to use as he pleased he being the King s Lieutenant and so he did and after took his leave This the City justly boasts of as never being engaged in any Rebellion nor ever actually under the Usurper's Government in any other manner than by the King 's Appointment and Command But to return to the Charters consonant to the Sentence against Dublin so was Judgment given against all the Charters of the Kingdom except against such as quietly surrendred as most did it being to no purpose to contend in the lesser and inferiour parts of the Kingdom after their GOLIAH of Dublin was slain I shall not impose upon the Reader 's Patience with giving him an account of what subtle arts of Address and Obsequious Contrivances were made use of to distinct Corporations to prevail with them to surrender This he will suppose that they were not remiss or unactive in if he considers that they dreaded nothing so much as that the Clamours and Outcries of so many Bodies of people which were to be sued and disobliged should reach the Ears of the Court and be made use of by the adverse Party to their disadvantage and therefore we may be sure that they endeavoured to silence them as much as they could For both Tyrconnel and his Voucher â—eagle had assured their Party that most of the Charters would quietly be surrendred by the people and that there was but one Corporation in the North of Ireland which they were afraid of this was Carrickfergus which they managed with a great deal of Policy in the following manner Ellis Secretary to Tyrconnel writes a wheedling Letter to the Mayor of that City insinuating how great an opinion the Lord Deputy had of his Loyalty with abundance of such impertinent stuff and that his Excellency would enlarge their Priviledges They were foolishly taken with this gilded Bait and so surrendred their Charter Upon this success Ellis was applauded as an excellent Instrument to delude the Protestants with and so he was which he improved by the frequent opportunities which were offered to him of drawing in honest men he having been many years in the Secretaries Office and a pretended Protestant though his Brother was a noted Champion for Rome but that was one of the Machinations of the Romish Conclave mightily practised in Ireland to disguise one part of their Family under the Protestant Education though they were as much Papists as the other that appeared to be openly such by a publick Profession A practice which the old English Families are rarely free from in that Kingdom But to come again to Ellis his Letters and Messages flew round the Kingdom and prevailed in many places but more out of a Sentiment That 't was to no purpose to contend than any Belief or Opinion they had either of his or his Masters assurances But however that was 't is certain that Ellis
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
and so accommodate the matter as to stifle any farther noise of it which Sheridon was ready enough to embrace but at the same time both the Lord Deputy and he had mutual Jealousies of and strove who should first intrap one another The Lord Deputy by reason of his aversion to him for siding with Sheridon does now revive the Quarrel that the Irish Clergy had with the Primate especially the Archbishop of Cashell I call the Titular one so in this Discourse Upon an Assembly of the Titular Popish Bishops of Ireland great Debate arose concerning the Priority of their Jurisdictions in reference to which the Primate insolently usurped over them all not distinguishing the Archbishop which he of Cashell resenting as a great Indignity and Affront inflamed the difference to a great height and caused them to break up abruptly and in great discontent with one another Cashell is the more Learned Man the Primate being universally contemned by their own Party as neither respected by them as a Scholar or a Man of Parts which general disesteem made most of the Clergy that were considerable I mean the Dignitaries bandy against him and their Prejudice ran so high that they sent over to Father Peters who promoted their Applications to the King to have a Co-adjutor imposed upon him The King writes about it to the Pope with aggravating Exclamations of the Primate's Miscarriages and Insufficiency to which the Pope replied That he was one of his own Election and so indeed he was being a Fryar in Spain and coming over Chaplain to the Spanish Embassador at the time of the Primate of Ireland's being Executed he prevailed with the Embassador to present him to the Duke of York who writ to the Pope in his behalf upon whose recommendation he got the Mitre This Quarrel of the Irish Clergy had been dormant for some time but the Deputy to execute his Revenge upon the Primate thought it now seasonable to awaken and revive it But this continued not long upon the Stage for he soon received a severe reprimand from Father Peters for this rash Action who was extreamly moved at the proceeding This being the most effectual course whereby to render their Party ridiculous and contemptible to the World that whilst they were so industriously contriving to establish their Religion they should at once break all their former measures by endeavouring to supplant and destroy one another And therefore 't was immediately hushed up in a deep silence and the Primate at least seemingly and to outward appearance reconciled to the Lord Deputy Sheridon again assumes to Petition for leave to go for England assuring his Excellency That 't was only in order to pursue some private business of his own That he had a Law-suit for some Debt due to his Wife which required his attendance c. but all would not prevail to obtain permission wherefore he employs his Wife's interest at London and by that way sollicits the King with so much importunity till at last an Order was got for his going over About the Ninth of December in this Year year 1687 upon a Sunday Morning there happened such an Inundation of Water in the City of Dublin as no man was ever a Spectator of the like It carried away Stone-Bridges destroyed Houses and without intermission continued three days overflowing a great part of the City to the unspeakable damage of many Thousands and that which encreased the Prodigy was That no Rain fell save a few Showers upon the Saturday Night before This besides the considerable detriment to or rather apparent ruine of many English was accounted by many as a miraculous act of the Divine Providence and interpreted as an ominous Presage of that Deluge of Troubles which has since so universally descended upon the poor English in that distressed Kingdom But to come again to Sheridon who now arrives at London but 't was near four and twenty hours before he could speak with Sunderland who after his admittance gave him but a cold reception the reason of which as 't was conjectured was that Sunderland expected that which Sheridon was not yet Master of for he had but just began his Trade when the Lord Deputy and he fell at variance This indifferency or rather coldness in Sunderland did not hinder him from applying to the rest of his Friends but was so unhappy as to find by them that there was no expectation of removing Tyrconnel for he was fortified with the French Interest and was in a manner Deputy to Lewis not James it being said in Paris when News came there of Tyrconnel's being struck out That there was none in England durst move him and so it appeared as we shall find hereafter Sheridon wanted not those which were Favourites and Well-wishers to his design against the Deputy as Castlemain Powis and another not to be named but they durst not trust Sheridon with their Sentiments but sent some of their Confidents to animate him with general Promises without naming any body He found himself now involved in great danger and in three days turned his Story and went to Sunderland to whom he had at first only complained of the Lord Deputy's unkindness but now comes and positively affirms that he brought over no Articles against him nor could say any thing but what was honourable of him only that his Excellency had taken displeasure against him he knew not why c. and that the occasion of his coming over was to follow his own private business Father Peters his Wife's Uncle would not carry him to kiss the King's hand but at last his Friend the Lord Sunderland got him admittance However the King would not hear him speak in so great awe stood he to his Brother or rather Master of France whose Creature Tyrconnel was Sheridon had not continued three days in London when he was followed by the Lord Dongan a Young Man Son to the Earl of Lymerick He brought Letters to Sunderland and others setting forth Sheridon in black Characters which Negotiation so succeeded that Father Peters would admit him no more in his presence And now those Lords which would have privately supported him against Tyrconnel deserted and declaimed against him when they perceived that he publickly magnified his Master by which means he was wholly left to himself and Tyrconnel's Party vigorously pursued him here as a Delinquent and had it immediately inserted in the News-Letter That he was turned out of his Employments in Ireland and so he had notice given him that he was too that of being Secretary and a Popish Bishop preferred to his place Sheridon was now involved in very great streights to go back he considered 't was to no purpose To remain here 't was not possible for him without the assistance of Friends and none would appear for him At length he delivers a Petition with his own hand to the King desiring that he might be heard speak for himself and not be Condemned to utter Destruction as he
word either in favour of or in opposition to the thing but desired it might be read which being done the Lord Bellasis in a storm of Passion inveigh'd bitterly against it saying that If such designs as those were encouraged they of England meaning the Catholicks had best in time to look out for some other Country and not stay to be a mad Sacrifice for Irish Rebels Powis according to the best of his understanding seconded and in short 't was so run down that neither Sunderland nor Peters durst attempt to speak a word in its vindication but only desired that those Gentlemen which brought over those Papers might be heard Bellasis was for committing them or commanding their immediate return but 't was at last thought reasonable to hear them so a day was appointed The noise of this and the success it had met with at Council-Board flew abroad with great Exclamations the Boys in the street running after the Coach where Rice and Nugent at any time were with Pottatoes stuck on sticks and crying Make room for the Irish Embassadors 'T was believed that some of the Popish Party did blow up the People that so the King might be sensible what mischief this would tend to The day came on for these Embassadors to be heard at Council-board where Rice made a Speech full of Policy and Artifice and answered the Objections made by the Lord Bellasis and Powis but when Nugent came to speak he kicked down all that Rice had done and Bellasis presently discovered the defect of his Irish understanding as he call'd it abusing him beyond the respect due to the place where the King was calling him Fool and Knave and Powis did the same They were not long in tearing this fine Project to pieces which when they had done Bellasis bid them make haste to the Fool their Master and bid him next Message he sent to employ Wiser Men and upon a more honest Errand Powis bid them tell him That the king had better use to make of his Catholick Subjects in England than to Sacrifice them for reprize to the Protestants of Ireland in lieu of their Estates there In short every one fell so violently upon them at the Board that the King remained silent and without any resolve or order broke up the Council and neither the Embassadors nor their Project appeared more upon the Stage but kissing the Kings Hand march'd off with great hast and precipitation for they were afraid that even the Roman Catholicks themselves would have affronted ' em This Miscarriage of Tyrconnell's gave fresh opportunity year 1688 to the Castlemanians to raise Objections against him setting forth what mischiess he had already done in that Kingdom that the Revenue was sunk to an incredible abatement and that in one year more there would not be left money enough in the Kingdom to discharge the Army and that this last Project of his would exasperate and frighten away those of the English which were left who being the dealing and industrious people of the Nation would put a final period to all Trade and Commerce in that wasted and depopulated Countrey But all these just and reasonable Allegations which matter of fact and the present ruinous and distracted Estate of that Kingdom did but too fully evince the truth or rather infallibility of though judiciously laid down before the King by sober and considering persons yet were they all to no purpose For though the King kept it private from most of his Council yet certain it is that he had promised the French King the disposal of that Government and Kingdom when things had attained to that growth as to be fit to bear it This jumped near to the time of the King's Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops Commitment to the Tower And as one had ruined England if the visible hand of Supream Providence had not signally and miraculously interpos'd by inspiring the Bishops with couragious and invincible resolutions in a just vindication of the Protestant Cause and Religion so the other had struck the fatal blow to the Laws and Fundamental Constitutions of Ireland if some Hushai's even amongst the Romish Faction had not turned the pernicious Counsels of these Achitophels into folly The expected success of the aforesaid Embassadors Negotiation which by one Party was dreaded by the other hop'd to prove answerable to its design made various impressions upon men in proportion to their different interests The English were apprehensive of no less a change than a total subversion of the Government and an unraveling of all the Laws made for the security of their Estates and Religion which the unhinging the Act of Settlement the sole occasion of this Solemn Embassy would at one blow compleat The Natives were imaginarily in actual possession Their apprehensions whereof were such as discovered all the outward signs and indications of so high a satisfaction as cannot be easily represented Joy and Triumph was in all their Actions and Discourses Fancy and Imagination wrought very powerfully and like Men in Bedlam who dream of nothing but Kingdoms and Empires they seem'd to shew as much Complacency and to be alike transported with the airy hopes of getting as if they had been already invested in their Estates But this Scene of Joy which had been represented with so much splendour and magnificence soon disappear'd and a Melancholy Prospect over-shadowed with a dark Cloud was quickly brought upon the Stage when they perceiv'd all their hopes blasted in the fruitless consequences of this great intrigue Parturiunt montes their high expectations soon descended to a low ebb and they were quickly under as great despondency by this suddain turn of the Spoke in the Wheel as they were before of satisfaction For as they are wont to put no bounds to their Ecstasies and transports in prosperous so neither do they limit their sorrow and despair upon adverse Contingencies An unequalness of mind and resolution very remarkable among the Irish who like the floating Euripus have no consistency in themselves but are carried up and down in their hopes and fears according as every petty accident does either invite or discourage But to return to Sheridon whose Trial Rice and Nugent's absence had retarded and the ill effects of whose Negotiation had so exalted him that he begun to vaunt over his Enemies openly exclaiming upon the Lord Deputy and withal adding That he would soon be removed from the Government and such advantage did he derive from this disgrace Tyrconnell met with in England that he held the Lord Deputy and his Judges at defiance and was now become so imperious that his braging and threatening the Evidence took off several And the truth is after that Rice returned from England they were in such despondency expecting every day a new Lord Lieutenant insomuch that one day Tyrconnell himself said publickly to some Officers at the Castle that though he had great assurance from the King that he should not be
with Child of a Son. This they were so certain of that they would lay you Twenty Guineas to one or any other Wager in proportion to that from the highest to the lowest amongst them This confidence was much wondered at by the English and judged to be very unreasonable if not built upon some private Grounds and Inducements which I leave the Reader to guess at which some amongst them were certainly acquainted with whose Discourses among the rest created in them a belief of some extraordinary design then in agitation Otherwise they would never have been so forward in proposing such extravagant Wagers which when the English enquir'd the reason of they attributed their great assurance to the Prayers of their Infallible Church which were daily offered to God upon this account and would undoubtedly meet with a suitable return But it appeared plain enough that though this was generally ascribed as the true cause of their great confidence yet that they had other Latent Reasons which were not fit to be discovered But to leave this and proceed to other Matters year 1688 The Judges of Assize even Daly that was the justest man amongst them and who in the first Circuit he went did good service in hanging of his Countreymen did now this Summer-Circuit favour all Criminals and having Sheriffs of their own packed such Juries as neither Murther nor Felony if committed upon Protestants was adjudg'd to be a Crime and where Matters were so apparent that they could not possibly but find them the utmost extremity us'd was Burning in the Hand 'T was said that the Lord Deputy had particular Commands from King James in this matter for these Reasons First They Hanged none but Catholicks For 't is scarce known in an Age which bespeaks the great honesty and integrity of the ordinary sort of Protestants that any English-man turns a Tory or is guilty of Theft In the second place 't was thought the best way to destroy the Protestants and 't was observ'd that none were rob'd but Incorrigible English Fanaticks as they called them and those were deemed to be such that were so inflexible to all their blandishing arts of perswasion and alluring enticements as there remained no hopes of their Conversion Whereas in all parts of Ireland there were too too many Laodicean and Temporising Protestants who being related to the old stock of the Kingdom could easily shelter themselves under the covert and protection of the Irish Gentry and Grandees and these luke-warm Indifferents were those which the English were most afraid of The Judges pursued their Instructions to the utmost and now that notorious principle which the Church of Rome is ashamed to own but daily practises That no Faith is to be kept with and give me leave to add nor justice given to Hereticks was signally demonstrated at this juncture For now tho' both Laity and Clergy lay every day more and more under additional grievances yet 't was apparent that there was no hopes of any redress The Laity had not only great arrears of Rent due to them but still more and more old pretences were reviv'd by the Irish of Debts due to them ten or twenty years ago which they now sued for as pretending that they could have no justice in the Protestant Government which was the reason they had retarded prosecuting so long in order to which they wanted not Knights of the Post who for the value of Six-pence in drink would make as many false Affidavits against the English as they pleased The Clergy made their complaint to the Judges the year before as I have hinted to you already as to the obstinacy of the Countrey in the non payment of their small dues and receiv'd no redress but now the evils were grown upon them to an higher pitch The Priests were now become so confident in their hopes of establishing Popery that they could no longer contain from shewing their inveterate malice against the Protestant Clergy against whom they endeavour'd to prepossess their people at Mass over whom they have an unlimitted and Arbitrary power with all imaginable prejudice and contempt The Priests now suggested to them that by the same reason that they detained the lesser from they might also refuse the paying the greater Tyths to the Ministers as Corn Hay c. They told them that they saw by their own experience they had been discouraged in their pursuit after the first and after all their endeavours could get no redress and now that the Catholicks had liberty of their Religion they saw not why they should not deny them the last For the Law would not give these to them more than the former Of right they told them that all the Tythes belonged to them as their proper due and tho' by the oppression and injustice of the Protestant Government they had been kept out of them so long to their apparent prejudice and disadvantage yet now things were in another posture They had now a Catholick King and Catholick Magistrates of their own who would not take their dues from them but rather invest them in them and therefore charged the people under pain of Excommunication and the severest Anathemas not to pay any manner of Tythes to the Protestant Ministers The vulgar Irish were so much over-awed with these arts of terrour from their Priests whose Sentence in any thing they reverence with an equal fear and alike profound veneration as if pronounced by the Pope in the Infallible Chair that none would come to the Protestant Clergy to take Tythes of them unless these dreadful Imprecations which if incurr'd they believ'd themselves to be certainly damn'd were taken off By this means the great Tythes were like to lie upon the Ministers hands a great inconveniency in most parts of Ireland where their Parishes being of a vast circumference and full of Bogs and Mountainous places 't would be difficult if not impossible almost to gather their Tythes in kind at least without having one half of them embezel'd and stole by the Irish This puts the Clergy upon a necessity either of setting out their Tythes in small proportions or else they must lose them and in those Countrys where the Irish are most numerous the vulgar sort were wont to take the Tythe which the Priests now prohibiting under the aforesaid Penalties would as they were sensible be an unspeakable loss and mischief to the Ministers for the reasons already mentioned which was what they studiously aim'd at and were desirous to improve as high as they could These malicious practices of the Priests put the Protestant Clergy to great inconveniencies in the disposal of their Tyths especially in such Countrys where the Irish were most numerous Most were forced to descend to an accommodation with the Priests bestowing a considerable proportion of Tythes upon themselves which was what they drove at to suffer the ordinary Irish to come and buy the rest Some that would not be abus'd at that rate made their Applications
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