day of the Congregation the Fathers being assembled to hear from their Commissioners Kilfinuragh and Ardagh an account of their last Address on Saturday night to the Lord Lieutenant the Procurator gives them His Grace's positive Commands to dissolve that morning Ardagh on the other side endeavours to make them believe I know not what and misrepresents His Grace's words He is by the Procurator immediately and publickly to his face opposed in his relation 704. That matter being over the Primat seconded by Father Oliver Deesse Vicar-General of Meath and others stands up and in behalf of the House offers the second time to the Procurator Two thousand pounds sterl to bear his Charges for the next three years to come And when the Procurator had on such account refused to receive any money from them the Primat with the rest desires him to receive the said Sum at least for his re-imbursement of what he had already expended in their service the five years past He offers besides all kind of commendatory Letters from the Congregation to the Court of Rome in behalf of the said Procurator All which the Procurator thanking them first refuses and why 705. Three several matters of importance moved then by the Procurator to the Congregation 706. On the First viz. concerning not only Publick Prayers for both the Spiritual and Temporal prosperity of the King but moreover a due observance amongst them and their respective Flocks the Roman-Catholick People of the Publick dayes of Humiliation or Fasts and Prayers which the King or His subordinate chief Governours of Ireland should thenceforth command all His Subjects to observe the Procurator discourses at large 706 707 708 709. On the Second viz. concerning the famed wonder-working Priest Father James Fienachty he discourses far more largely in the Account given by him then of the said Father Fienachty to the Congregation 710. and from thence to 735. On the third viz. concerning two Books written by two Irish Churchmen the one a Jesuit the other a Cappuccin against the Rights of the Crown of England in or to Ireland he discourses 736. and from thence to 742. What the Fathers determined on the first of those three matters 709. What on the second 739. What on the third and last of them 741. The Secretary of the Congregation his Letter to the Procurator from Rosse of the 7th of July viz. a Fortnight after the Congregation had been dissolved 742. The Congregation dissolved ib. Lord Lieutenant's Declaration of the experience he had for twenty years of the Roman-Catholick Irish Prelates made to Ronan Magin Vicar-General of Dromore and to the Procurator the very same morning the Congregation dissolved 743. His Grace commands the Procurator to tell the Bishops of Ardagh and Kilfinuragh He would speak to them before they departed the Town and why 744. Kilfinuragh removes his Lodging flies out of Town and privily out of the whole Kingdom though he might have stayed without any hazard there having been no harm intended to him 744 747 748. The Lord Lieutenant understanding that Kilfinuragh could not be found sent William Sommers to leave an Order at the Lodgings both of the Primat and Ardagh in case he could meet neither at home enjoining them not to part out of Town without His Grace's leave 744. Within a few dayes more He sends the Procurator to tell the Primat of some dangerous Intelligence come against him from beyond Sea Soon after the said Primat is put under a Guard but within a very little time more according to his own election sent safely away through England from Dover to Callice in France 746. Ardagh freed from all Confinement ib. Both he and all the rest of the Members of the Congregation even after 't was ended and however they carried themselves in it were free to depart whithersoever they pleased and live where they would in Ireland onely the Primat excepted and he also excepted onely because of the positive information come against him out of Spain from the English Ambassador there Pag. 747 749. The Procurator's judgment of the said National Congregation leading Members thereof and of their several interests and ends 749 750 751. How presently after that National Congregation had dissolved the Doctrine of Allegiance in those Fifteen several Propositions or Paragraphs which you find in this Book immediately after the end of the Fourth Treatise pag. 80 81 82 83. was debated for a Month by a number of Divines convening daily at Dublin and in the same place where the foresaid National Congregation sate 752 753 754 755. The Names of the Divines that debated so the said Fourteen Propositions 755. Animadversions on and Answers to two passages of a late Letter viz. of the 6th of Octob. 1669. from the Bishop of Ferns at Gaunt to the Procurator at London The former passage this Father Peter Walsh is said to have used fraud and force in the Congregation of the Clergy at Dublin anno 1666 and that he kept an Anti-Congregation of his own Faction I saw a Relation sent over of that I saw also severe Lines of a great Cardinal to that purpose The latter this viz. It was ill taken by all That after Cardinal Franciscus Barberinus 's Letter in His Holinesse's Name to the Clergy he viz. Father Peter Walsh no way lowr'd his Sail but remained obstinate and insolent I likewise saw a great mans Letter I mean a Roman termed him and Caron Apostates 756 757 758 759 760 761. The Death-bed Declaration of the said Reverend Learned and Pious Father Redmund Caron ib. Another likewise but of the Right Reverend Father in God that excellent man Judicious Prelate and Loyal Subject Thomas Desse Lord Bishop of Meath who dyed at Galway in the year 1651. 670. A Paper of Animadversions on the insignificant Remonstrance of the foresaid National Congregation written by the Right Honourable the Earl of Anglesey now Lord Privy Seal and by himself given to the Lord Lieutenant 762. The Lord Lieutenant's commands on that occasion to the Procurator These and some remembrances also of other matters relating to the said Earl of Anglesey i. e. of some kind indulgent words upon a certain occasion spoken by his Lordship of the former and Loyal even Ecclesiastical Remonstrators and of his further intentions relating to them declared to His Grace the Duke of ORMOND then Lord Lieutenant were at least one moyety of the most immediate inducements the Author i. e. the said Procurator had to write this Book 763 764 c. In the Second Treatise Which contains Exceptions against the Remonstrance of the National Congregation c. THE National Irish Congregation varied in their Remonstrance of the year 1666 not only as to single words but as to entire clauses and their sense in the most material parts from the former Protestation subscribed by those others of the Irish Clergy and of the Nobility also and Gentry at London in the year 1661 S. V. And varied so of set purpose
upon his known virtues and great merits Whether the said Father Talbot now that he is in France will in plain express words glory there amongst his Privadoes That himself alone was the principal Author of the forementioned Libel I know not certainly But hereof I am very certain that could those good Fathers so much injured by that lying Libel attributed commonly by all men to him have any indifferent I mean Ecclesiastical Judges of their own Communion before whom they might be allow'd to prosecute him throughly according to the Canons they would produce such and so many strong at least presumptions of matter both of Fact and Right or Law as would compel him no less than his Complices to Canonical Purgation In order to which Purgation I believe he would hardly find even the very smallest number of Compurgatoâ—s which is prescribed by the Canons i. e. by Pope Innocent in cap. Quotiens de Purgat Canon And if not What then would become of his Titular Archbishoprick Deficientem in Purgatione omni officio beneficio Ecclesiastico privare procures sayes Pope Alexander III (a) Cap. Cum P. Manconella de Purgat Cano. Besides let him see what other even incapacities too he must lie under still for the special note of Infamy viz. that he cannot be either Advocate or Procurator (b) 3. q. 7. Infamis or an Accuser or a Witness (c) 3. q. 4. Nulli q. 5. Omnes 4. q. 1. Diffinimus 6. q. 1. Beatus c. sequeâ—t But I suppose that for his good service to the Court of Rome in Libelling against the Remonstrants and me above all and now that out of my Writings he knows the penalties of the Canons he may by way of prevention de plenitudine potestatis Apostolica be easily and perhaps thankfully too not only absolved from all both spiritual Censures and corporal Punishments but dispens'd with in all incapacities and restored in integrum even as to both Tribunals viz. the internal of Conscience as far as they can and external of the Church And yet I see not how after all he can clear his Accounts with God until he truly repent before Him and consequently before men repair the injuries done me and my Friends not only by his foresaid lying Libel but even by several lying Letters and other both malicious and disloyal endeavours of his Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum is a known and infallible Maxim even of the very Canon Law * 14. q. 6. Si ves it self as taken from St. Augustine Ep. 54. ad Macedonium Farewell Reader London Nov. 3. 1673. An Abridgment OF CONTENTS IN THE Four Treatises of this Book In the First Part of the First Treatise PRocuration to Father Peter Walsh Page 5. Irish Remonstrance 7 8 9. Names of the first Ecclesiastick Subscribers thereof at London 9. When where by whom and upon what occasion made 7. Signed by Ninety Seven of the Irish Nobility and Gentry at London 11. Approved by the Bishop of Kilfinuragh 12. by the Bishop of Cork 13. by the Bishop of Ferns how far 14. The Little Book called The More Ample Account by whom and upon what occasion made 11. The other called Loyalty Asserted why written 12. Remonstrance opposed and in what terms by the Apostolick Internancio Hierom de Vecchiis in his several Letters from Brussels whereof one dated 21 July 1662 you have 16. And by Cardinal Francis Barberin by his Letters of the eighth of July 1662 written to the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland ad Praestantes Viros Hiberniae 17. Confederacy amongst the Clergy both Secular and Regular in Ireland against the Remonstrance 19. The Procurator dealt with by fair offers to relinquish or at least decline the promoting of the Remonstrance 19. Father Peter Ailmer stickles against the Remonstrance 20. Of the Lords Aubigny and Montague as likewise of the rest of the English and Irish Chaplains to either Queen and the grand mistake i. e. omission at first in passing them by and the great use made of that omission 20 21. Sixteen several reasons causes or pretences thereof and all and each of them regarding onely temporal ends or worldly interest and this too mistaken 22. from thence to 27. As many several Answers which were given by the Procurator to those Reasons 27. and from thence to 41. Neither uncatholickness nor other unlawfulness in subscribing all the while so much as pretended by any in Ireland not even of those that alledged so many other excuses 42. The More Ample Account Translated at Rome in order to be Censur'd yet not Censured 43. The general Argument insisted on still by the Procurator but never answer'd by them 44. Father Macedo a Portuguez Divine pitched on at Rome to write against the Remonstrance and to answer Father Caron and Father Walsh but nothing published if he hath written Pag. 43. Father Bonaventure Bruodin an unconstant man and a great Intriguer against the Remonstrance even after he had on his knees asked pardon for his unconstancy of the Procurator 42. The Pope viz. Alexander VII refuses to meddle by Censures with the Remonstrance if the Primat 's Letters from Rome be true * But understand you that His Holiness would not by Himself or any Censure immediately from Himself meddle For certainly he did meddle by others or his Interâ—uncio De Vecciâ—â—is and Cardinal Bâ—riâ—â—ia belâ—ed him under their own proper hands 43. Names of those Ecclesiasticks who subscribed to the Remonstrance in Ireland 47. The Procurator attempts to break the Confederacy against the Remonstrance 46. Writes to the Provincial Assemblies of the Franciscans and Dominicans 48. What ensued upon these Letters 48 49. Dominicans debate the Remonstrance in a Provincial Assembly with what success 49. Treat ill the Subscribers of their Order 52. Franciscans refuse to treat of the Remonstrance in their Provincial Assembly 49. Letter of the Prior Provincial of the Dominicans in the name of his Body to the Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant with an enclosed Form of Fidelity 50. His Letter to the Bishop of Dromore 52. Augustinians universally oppose the Remonstrance 54. Letter from the Dean of the Chapter of the Roman-Catholick Clergy of England as from himself and them approving the Remonstrance 55. William Burgat then Vicar-General of Imly but now Titular Archbishop of Cashel refuses to subscribe the Remonstrance and why 57. John Burk Archbishop of Tuam excuses himself at Dublin from Signing the Remonstrance upon what pretences 57 58. Jesuits treated with by the Procurator to subscribe the Remonstrance with what success 59. Queries and Reasons given to him by them against the Remonstrance 60 c. Answers to their said Papers and their first Allegation proved false 64. Their second Allegation concerning the Fourth Lateran Council under Innocent III and Council of Lyons under Innocent IV likewise proved false 65 c. Their third also concerning the Authority of General Councils to be undervalued by the
Holden's Letter from Paris in their defence 524. Fourth and last observation on the Letters of the foresaid de Vecchiis 527. The fate of the Loyal Formulary to be so strangely persecuted with some occasional and brief but sharp reflections on Father Peter Talbot the Titular Archbishop of Dublin 528. Internuncio de Vecchiis Letter to Father Caron 531. The Procurator's first Letter to the said de Vecchiis 533. His second long Letter to him 538. and from thence to 556. The Diffinitory of the Franciscan Order in Ireland meet at Killiby about the Remonstrance of the year 1661. 556. Another Letter from them one from their Provincial and a third from Valentine Brown thence to the Procurator at London 557 558 559. Besides a fourth from the said Diffinitory to the Commissary General in Flanders 559. The said Diffinitories new Remonstrance sent to the Procurator 561. The Procurator thinks not fit to send their Letters forward to Flanders And why Pag. 563. The Lord Lieutenant's Reasons for not admitting the Remonstrance of the Franciscan Diffinitory 564 565 566. The Paradox of the Irish Jesuitical Anti-remonstrants and several notable Canons of Popes to justifie the breach or not performance of any Oath of Fidelity sworn to a Temporal Prince especially one reputed an Heretick by the Court of Rome 567. In the Second Part of the First Treatise THe Reason which moved the Procurator to consent at last to the calling of a National Assembly Pag. 570. Indiction of that National Assembly 573. Scheme of the Roman-Catholick Irish Clergy then 575 c. Why so many of the said Irish Clergy appear'd in the year 1648 against the Nuncio's Censures and so few since the year 1661 declared for the Loyal Formulary Where you have instances enough of the persecutions under which the Loyal Ecclesiasticks lay in all Countries both at home and abroad from 1646 to 1660 for having opposed the Nuncio 579 and from thence to 601. Vse made of the old infirm Archbishop of Tuam And his first Letter against the intended meeting of the National Synod or Congregation 601 602. Petition to the Lord Lieutenant for Licensing the Assembly to convene 602. by mistake of the Printer printed 164. Second Letter of the foresaid Archbishop to the same purpose 606. Bishop of Kilmore's Letter in answer to the Indiction 607. An account of Edmund Reilly Archbishop of Armagh 608 c. His Letter of singular and extraordinary submission from France to His Grace the Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General c. of Ireland 611. His Letter inclosed from Paris to the Procurator for the National Synod 612. An Account of the Bishop of Ferns 613 c. His several Letters from St. Jago in Gallicia one to Doctor Cusack another to the Procurator and a third which was his Letter of submission but not full enough in that to the Lord Lieutenant 616 618 620. by mistake of the Printer printed 628. The Procurator's Letter to him the said Bishop of Ferns 622. The same Bishop of Fern's Letter from St. Sebastian to the Procurator 624. Another also of his from Paris to the Procurator 625. Reflections made on some passages in those Letters of the Bishop of Ferns 626. Some brief Remarks on the carriage of the Bishop of Kilfinuragh in relation as well to the former * The Author corrects himself after viz. pag. 748. numb 8. concerning somewhat said in the present pag. 627. of Kilfinuragh's carriage in the affair of the Declaration and Excommunication issued by the Roman Catholick Irish Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates at Jamestown and Galway in the year 1650 against the Lord Lieutenant the then Marquess now Duke of Ormond publick affairs of Ireland as to the latter of the Remonstrance and National Congregation or convening thereof 627. Somewhat of William Burgat then Vicar-General of Imly now Archbishop of Cashil and his Letter from Rome to Primate Reilly at Paris concerning the resolution taken at Rome to hinder the convening of the National Synod at Dublin and to prevent the Signing however of the Remonstrance 628. One Father Christopher O Ferral an Irish Dominician sent of purpose from Brussels and Ireland with new Letters from Cardinal Francis Barberin and James Rospigliosi then Internuncius of Burgundy and Low-Countries but soon after Cardinal Rospigliosi to hinder the meeting of the foresaid National Synod c. And the said Messenger Ferral apprehended examined and imprisoned 629 630. The Bishop of Ardagh Patrick Plunket being sent for delivers though fear Duplicat of the said original Letters to the Lord Lieutenant 631. Cardinal Barberin's Letter by command of His Holiness the Pope dated at Rome 24th of April 1666 and superscribed Praestantissimis Viris Clero Catholicis Regni Hiberniae Pag. 632. Rospigliosi's Letter dated at Brussels 13 May 1666 and superscribed Reverendissimis Venerabilibus Dominis Episcopis Vicariis Sedium vacantium reliquo Clero Hiberniae 634. Rospigliosi's Letter of the same date to the Bishop of Ardagh ib. Eleven Animadversions on the said Letters of Barberin and Rospigliosi 636 c. A new and very disingenuous contrivance of the Bishop of Ardagh on the 9th of June to hinder the sitting of the National Congregation which was according to the Indiction to meet within two dayes after And what frustrated that contrivance 640. The Reasons why the Procurator took particularly to heart the sudden change he found in Ardagh and Kilfinuragh 639. These two Bishops Ardagh and Kilfinuragh are before the Congregation met introduced at Night privately to the Lord Lieutenant in the Castle and what the Heads of my Lord Lieutenants admonition to them were together with somewhat of Ardagh's confused answer to one point onely c. 640. All opposition both Domestick and Forreign against the convening of the Fathers in a National Synod or Congregation at Dublin being overcome they are at last convened on the 11th of June 1666 the day appointed by the Indiction choose not only a Speaker Chairman or President but a Secretary and then adjourn to the next day 637. On the second day of their Congregation being the 14th of June there was an incidental Controversie about the priviledges of Regulars By the factious management of which as by a new and strong Argument the Procurator who declared for the Secular Clergy plainly saw how resolved both sides were to oppose the main ends pretended to be those of that Synod 642. The House being this second day adjourned again to the next which was the 13th of the Month and the Procurator retired home to his Chamber Primat Reilly comes in to him unexpectedly having just then Landed at Rings-end after passing from France to Flanders thence to and through England incognito and he delivers presently into the Procurators hands three original Letters from Rospigliosi one to himself viz. the said Primat another to Martin Bishop of Ipres third from the said Martin to himself also and besides these Originals a fourth being only a
Caesar we are tyed to clear if from imputation and professing it also a Rule that we will follow in our affections it seems altogether inexcusable if we startle at any engagement within the verge of Regality wherein our Allegiance is payable And therefore in the Circumstances you seemed to stand in to free the Holy Catholique Faith on one side from obloquies and redeem your selves from calumnies and on the other to relieve the Layety under your charge from heavy pressures and further to open a dore to your liberty of Religion we must needs judge you have performed the Office of good Pastours both in framing and subscribing your Allegiance to the Prince to hold forth to the whole whole world your Religion pure and spotless your Allegiance built on a basis immoveable and your selves well resolved Subjects For our parts we would be glad to runn into those occasions even with the hazard of our lives or the loss of our last drop of blood to worke out our freedom from the severity of our penal laws much more would we think it happy to gain it with the renounce of an Opinion which justly brings a jealousie upon us from our Prince and fellow Subjects and in the judgement of the chief Assertours of it of no greater note then to bring along with it the pains of Damnation to those of their party that speak preach or print it as appears by a written paper have published by themselves Wherefore that you may see how we stand affected were this Declaration of yours tendred us by Authority in lieù of what otherwise we lye under we should willingly embrace it considering it as well singles out the loyal Subject from those of the bad Principle as reduces the erroneous into the number of penitents My Lord The Apostolical advice to give none the least offence in our Ministry but to preserve our selves blameless to all sorts of people and the Church of God is the sole pardon I can plead for this entrench upon your patience well knowing your imployments speak you a follower of the Apostles by being a Servant to all persons in all things not seeking your own but the Countryes profit that they may be saved in which common concerne I shall be ever ready to runn your Lordships ways being subject to the laws of the same holy Church and Dread Soveraign whom God long preserve whose most loyal Subject I will ever remain and My Lord Your Lordships most humble servant in Christ Iesu Humphry Ellice Dean of the Chapter London October 18th 1662. XXII Much about this time also William Burgat Vicar General of Imly and Custos as they call him of the Diocess of Limerick came from the Province of Munster to Dublin of purpose to speak to the Procuratour about his own and the common affairs of all the Clergie both of that and the Province of Connaght For this Gentleman hearing in August before that the Procuratour was arrived from London writt him presently a very civil letter expressing much loyalty to the King and affection to the Lord Lieutenant And his letter was seconded with a good character given of him then to the Procuratour by persons of Interest and knowledg in that Province of Munster the Earl of Clancarty and Iohn Walsh Esq By that letter the said Father Burgat let the Procuratour know himself had been deputed some three or four years past in the Protectors tyranny and by the Clergie of that Province as entire Agent for themselves to Rome about their Ecclesiastical affairs and by those of the Province of Connaght also joyned in commission with an other one Doctor Cegan for themselves That money to bear his charges could not be had until about that time of His Majesties most fortunat Restauration That seeing the great and happy change he demurr'd on the matter until the Earl of Clancarty's first comming to Ireland That having communicated unto his Lordship what he intended he was advised by the said Earl not to stirr till he had seen and been advised by Father Walsh the Procuratour And that therefore he vehemently now desired to meet him about Kilkenny or where else he would appoint But the Procuratour having answer'd with desires of his comming to Dublin and meeting there Father Burgat came at last along to Dublin Where notwithstanding the Procuratour spent much time informing him for 6. dayes consequently of the causes and ends of the Remonstrance and that the said Father Burgat averred constantly that he neither found any thing in it could not be justly owned nor heard any in his own Province hitherto speaking otherwise or one word against it yet whether perverted by such obstinate persons of the Dublin Clergie as he conversed with daily then or whether byass'd by his own former intrigues and principles received at first and retayned still after from his Bishop when alive Terlagh O Brien a Prelate of too much violent zeal for the Nuncius's quarrel and further yet by his pretensions at Rome and his entended journey thither he would not sign at all then or there at Dublin pretending for excuse that being he came from the whole Province of Munster to be informed he would have the greater power to perswade them all generally if he returned back without preingagement and the less if otherwise Desiring nevertheless the Procuratour to write by him to the chief Vicar General or Apostolical as they call him Iohn Burk of Cashil to be communicated to the rest concerning that matter of the Remonstrance and their subscription Which the Procuratour did but never had answer from either For it seems Mr. Burgat who by all means declined nay expresly refused to be presented to my Lord Lieutenant though invited often to it by the Procuratour because my Lord so lately had seen his letter and heard that good character of him given by my Lord Clancarty and Mr. Iohn Walsh and was commission'd as above by two Provinces judg'd it better for his own private ends to have nothing to do in that business at least not to appear for it Which was the reason also he did not acquiesce to so many pregnant reasons given him by the Procuratour against his undertaking such a journey to Rome at least as an Agent or publick person representing both or either of those Provinces Albeit he was so farre convinced by such reasons as to promise the Procuratour he would only go as farre as Paris to leave there some youths at School and thence return immediately with purpose to alleadg new and probable difficulties met with and so excuse himself to the Clergie that had employed and given him money which otherwise he must have restored back and yet not so neither or by only restoring their money without going over Seas excused himself with any colour being they so long depended of him But in this promise also he failed For he went along to Rome and there sollicited ever since and lost both his money and time without
compassing as yet any of his designs XXIII Likewise about the same time the R. R. Father in God Iohn Burk the Catholick Archbishop of Tuam very aged infirm and sickly and looked upon as not able to live one year longer came unexpectedly from St. Maloes and in my Lord Lieutenants absence arrived at Dublin privatly accompanied with father Thomas Quin the Jesuit and another of that Society in whose power and under whose directions this aged venerable Prelate wholy was The Procurator having done his first respects of visit to his Lordship desired to know his cause of venturing so confidently without acqainting first and having by some way addressed himself to my Lord Lieutenant and understood of some connivence for his return Minded him of the carriage and proceedings all along of the Clergy and especially of the Bishops of Waterford and Iames-stown That although his Lordship carried himself fairly and loyally in opposing the Nuncio even to his face at Galway and forced open the Church there which the Nuncio would have to observe his Interdict other Censures that he had sided all along with the Cessation supream Council at Kilkenny in that business and further too in concluding the second Peace yet he could not forget how he sullied all his former glory by his after unfortunate sitting and concurring at Iames-stown with other Bishops to those disloyal Declarations made there That he had not since by any publick or private application to His Majesty or Lord Lieutenant or by submission and repentance declared to either washed of the stain of that scandalous horrid transgression nor given any assurance of his more loyal carriage hereafter That yet both were of absolute necessity from a Prelate of highest rank such too as for example and for the satisfaction of God and men should be publick That he should therefore petition for himself and by his example induce the rest of the Irish Clergy to do the like and most humbly beg pardon for the time past and for the future sign that Remonstrance whereof to that end he had in France from London a sufficient account All which and much more to this purpose the Procurator humbly and earnestly minded him of even sometime in the presence of the above Father William Burgat Vicar General of Imly The good Archbishop heard him all out both attentively and patiently enough without sign of displeasure but return'd no other answer then That he was now so broken with age and many diseases of body that his mind also or understanding was no more of any kind of strength or capable to discern what he was to do in that or other things That he was for the matter dead already That he ventured this journey from France by Sea all along for otherwise he could not of purpose only to die and lye down at rest in his grave native soil That he would not have been to bold as to land at Dublin but that he supposed my Lord Lieutenant away thence in the Countrey at that time as it happened and that he might be carried away privatly to his own Province of Connaght without any further noise of his arrival or knowledge thereof given to my Lord Lieutenant And that being his Grace the Lord Lieutenant was now returned to Town he desired the Procurator should most humbly present his most submissive respects and make that true Apology for him of the design of his coming and desire of being connived at for so short a time as he had to drag a miserable life and end it by a death more welcome which he daily expected But the Procurator saw well enough that how infirm soever this good Archbishop was in body yet he had still sufficient apprehension and this excuse proceeded from the Fathers by whom he was led of late in all things perswading themselves his behaving himself so would give both countenance and authority enough amongst Catholicks not to themselves alone but to all others of the Clergy in denying or opposing a subscription which he had so declined That his name or extraction and his known affection sometimes formerly to the King and English Interest we 〈…〉 himself sufficiently of entertaining other scruples in that matter then those of religion and reverence to the See Apostolick And his quality of Archbishop and the only then of that Nation and Religion at home and the only moreover known to have formerly declared against the Nuncio would be a strong confirmation thereof at least might be a very probable excuse for all others of inferior degree until he had declared himself on the point All which and the use thereof notwithstanding the Procurator did well enough perceive and foresee yet he could not help having done his own duty But however advised this good Archbishop to retire as he did immediatly in a litter to Connaght where he remains ever since guided still by the same Fathers as wholly in their power The sequel whereof shall be seen hereafter in its proper place or second Part of this Narrative XXIV The Procurator therefore and by several other arguments seeing now certainly where the first obstruction to a further progress lay which should be removed and seeing that albeit the Fathers of the Society were but a very few in Ireland and most of them in or near Dublin yet their correspondency both at home and abroad especially at Rome was look't upon by most of the Pretendents in or Dependents of that Court and their own confidence withall in themselves was great partly because they had so dexterously behaved themselves in the Nuncio's quarrel that as they were perswaded much could not be objected to them on that account and partly for other causes and for that in particular of their extraction generally as for that also of some powerful Relations of some of them and albeit he saw well enough at the same time what influence the example of the Dublin Clergy in general both Parish-priests and Religious Orders of which Orders there he had only yet won the Franciscans and two of the Dominicans but none at all of the Augustinians Carmelits Cappuccins or Jesuits no more then he had none of the Parish-priests who were four or five and together with the said Regulars made fifty Priests or there abouts in that City albeit I say the Procurator saw well enough what influence the example of the Dublin Clergy in general would have upon the rest abroad in other parts of the Kingdom and that it would be to no great purpose but altogether vain to expect a concurrence from these if those had refused even there where the Lord Lieutenant and Council and Parliament sate and where notwithstanding the Dissenters had as much favour or freedom tolleration or connivence or whatever else you call it as the Subscribers and that on the other side the Dissenters had the advantage of the Subscribers at Rome and with the Generals of Orders beyond Seas of whose special favour
six months were over and the Clergie had been ashamed of their own obstinacy and no less confounded at their own scarce credible inconsiderancy But it pleased God to dispose affaires so that His Grace the Lord Lieutenant albeit otherwise very desirous to see these letters take effect as he was timely acquainted with the drawing and signing of them yet as they were ready to be dispatch'd to the several Counties and most of them too by Noblemen considering the dangerous plot then in hand amongst those disloyal Fanaticks who were to seize the Castle of Dublin and thinking prudently that if any papers whatsoever were carried about at that time by the Catholicks for getting hands or subscriptions those wicked plotters and their party would misinterpret them and pretend thereby a plott or some dangerous conspiracy a preparing amongst the Papists whereby to excuse the better themselves for meeting frequently in armed troups by day or night and considering moreover what influence the Irish Clergie had in the late warrs on the Layety of their communion yea notwithstanding any former Oath and that the same might be again unless the Clergie themselves had subscribed His Grace was pleased for these reasons to countermand for that time and suspend ever since the sending about of those letters expecting it might be done more seasonably when the Clergie had signed first and questionless too expecting the Clergie would sign as soon as their pretence of not dareing to meet by Representatives in a general Congregation were layed aside though it happen'd otherwise as will appear in the second Part of this first Treatise XLVI However the Catholick Gentry or old proprietours of the County of Wexford and few survivours of the Cittizens of that Town expected no such invitation by letters from the Noblemen but without any other then that they had gathered out of The More Ample Account and their own reason having framed for themselves a suitable both Petition to the Lord Lieutenant and preamble to His Majesty subscribed the Remonstrance with about two hundred hands for they wanted only three of that number and sent it His Grace by Mr. William Stafford of Lambstown who took great pains in this business Which Instrument of theirs I would not omit to insert here at length as an eternal monument of their honest loyal hearts however they have been abused in the late warrs by some of their spiritual leaders though perhaps that too more out of ignorance and blind zeal then any malice and whatever or how sad soever their condition above most other Counties be ever since as it was then when they signed so freely of themselves yea notwithstanding the contrary endeavours used by some Clergiemen especially two Fathers of the Society to disswade them Whether those Fathers behaved themselves so undiscreetly out of any disaffection to the King or rather out of mistaken Religion and prepossession by such foolish arguments as they had learned in their own Schools or by reading Bellarmine Suamz or such other by ass'd writers or whether by special command or direction of their Superiours I knew not To His Grace the Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General an General Governour of Ireland The Humble Petition of the Subscribers MOst humbly sheweth that they come with the same alacrity and cheerfulness to present to your Grace the ensueing Remonstrance and Protestation which some of their fellow Subjects of the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom not long since humbly laid at His Majecties Feet Who was graciously pleased to accept thereof And they with the same zeal acknowledging themselves to be bound in the same duty and indispensable tyes of obedience to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors in all temporal matters do humbly beseech your Grace that this their most hearty concurrence to the same faithful Protestation and humble Remonstrance may be made the more acceptable by your Graces conveyance thereof to His Majesty And they shall pray c. To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty The faithful Protestation and humble Remonstrance of the Roman Catholick Gentry of the County of Ireland WHereas a considerable part of the Roman Catholick Nobility and Gentry of Ireland by the name of the Roman Catholick Nobility and Gentry of Ireland presented to your most Excellent Majesty a sincere Protestation and humble Remonstrance intituled the faithful Protestation and humble Remonstrance of the Roman Catholick Nobility and Gentry of Ireland for divers substantial and solid reasons in the said faithful Protestation and humble Remonstrance ingenuously and conscientiously expressed and set forth Now we the said Roman Catholick Gentry of the said County of Wexford whose names are hereunto subscribed being members of the said Roman Catholick Gentry of Ireland being bound in Conscience and duty to own the said faithful Protestation and humble Remonstrance as well as our Countreymen first subscribing thereunto for the motives in the said faithful Protestation and humble Remonstrance expressed and in imitation of our said Countreymen and to avoid all jealousies and misopinions which may be concieved of our selves and of our Religion and feareing least we may be thought to vary from the said first Subscribers in doctrine in Religion or Religious Tenets do sincerely and truly without Equivocation or mental reservation in the sight of God and in the presence of your Majesty Acknowledg and confess your Majesty to be our true and lawful King Supream Lord and rightful Soveraign of this Realm of Ireland and of all other your Majesties Dominions and therefore we acknowledg and confess our selves to be obliged under pain of sin to obey your Majesty in all civil and temporal affairs as much as any other of your Majesties Subjects and as the laws and Rules of Government in this Kingdom do require at our hands and that notwithstanding any power or pretention of the Pope or Sea of Rome or any sentence or Declaration of what kind or quality soever given or to be given by the Pope his Predecessours or Successours or by any authority spiritual or temporal proceeding or derived from him or his Sea against your Majesty or Royal Authority we will still acknowledge and perform to the utmost of our abilities our faithful loyalty and true Allegiance to your Majesty And we openly disclaim and renounce all forraign power be it either Papal or Princely spiritual or temporal or us much as is may seem able or shall pretend to free discharge or absolve us from this Obligation or shall any way give us leave or licence to raise tumults bear Arms or offer any violence to your Majesties Person Royal Authority or to the State or Government being all of us ready not only to discover and make known to your Majesty or to your Ministers all the Treasons made against your Majesty or them which shall come to our hearing but also to loose our lives in the defence of your Majesties Person and Royal Authority and to resist with our best endeavours all conspiracies and attempts against
is plain enough that if any pretend the Fathers of Agatha intended ought else it must consequently be granted this canon of theirs was not formed by them as of any matter in their opinion belonging to Catholick Faith or Laws of God or in their opinion also as much as enacted formerly in other parts by any civil or imperial or general institution or constitution made by the Christian Emperours of Rome or Constantinople but only formed by them that is by these Fathers of Agatha in pursuance and by virtue only of a local custom of Guien introduced by the command or connivence of the politick Magistrates of that little Kingdom or Countrey as regarding only the external politick administration direction or government of Churchmen which external politick government of the Church varies not seldom according to the variety of Times Kingdoms and Provinces And my reasons for saying so or for saying this to be plain enough are I. That at that very time it was otherwise by law and practice of the great Roman world or Empire in all other places generally being we know out of the imperial laws then in force and out of Ecclesiastical History that Clerks being summon'd to the civil Courts did generally in other Provinces both answer and appear without any reluctance or prohibition from Councils For this Council of Agatha was not held within the bounds at that time of the Roman Empire but under Alarick the Gothish King who at that time held Guien by hereditary and as formerly by concession too of Roman Emperours dismembred from the Empire and conferr'd on his Predecessors without any supremacy reserved to the Empire Which was the reason that in the beginning of the acts of this Council we find no mention at all of the Emperour but of the King Cum Dei nomine ex permissu Regis in Agathenscm civitatem sancta Synodus convenisset c. Ibique flexis genibus in terra pro regno ejus pro longaevitate populi Deum deprecaremur c. 2. That the above first part of this 32. canon of Agatha as likewise that whole one and twentieth canon of Tribur if construed to put a stop to Clergymen from following or acting in the forum of the lay Defendant is now at this time and hath been these many ages past abrogated by the common consent or custom of all people and nations Whereas the common law is now and hath been so long that a Clerk at difference with a Lay-man if he will be righted by law must commence his suit in the lay or civil Judicatory As we may see expresly declared to have been still the law cap. si Clericus 5. de Foro competenti where the Pope Alexander the Third hath thus decreed Si Clericus Laicum de rebus suis vel Ecclesiae impetierit Laicus res ipsas non Ecclesiae esse aut Clerici sed suas proprias asseverat debet de rigore juris ad forensem Iudicem trahi Cum Actor forum Rei sequi debeat licet in plerisque partibus aliter de consuetudine habeatur Therefore if these words or first part of the canon of Agatha Clericus nec quenquam praesumat apud secularem Iudicem episcopo non permittente pulsare are neither according to the common law ciuil or canonical of the christian world nor otherwise ever yet have been observed but out of custom only in so me or even many places as at that time of the Council of Agatha it was in Guien how can we esteem otherwise of the following words or second part of the same canon Sed si pulsatus fuerit non respondeat c. being there is no difference made in this canon it self Or who can affirm this second part was more firmly enacted by this Council or more generally observed by the Faithful Or otherwise then out of a civil custom and in pursuance and by virtue only of the supream civil power authority approbation permission or connivence in that Countrey And consequently who can rationally make it an argument of the exemption of Clergymen by the sole pure Episcopal Authority from as much as the subordinat civil Iudges Nay or an argument of their general exemption by the civil authority it self in other parts of the world at that time which was before Iustinians So little doth any part of this canon argue the exemption at any time of Clerks either in other parts of the world or in Guien it self from the supream civil Magistrate by any kind of authority imperial or Episcopal The fourth Council alledged for this exemption is that which they call Concilium primum Matisconense held in the year 576. as Barclay thinks or 581. as Spondanus or certainly 532. as the printed Acts. A Provincial Council it was of one and twenty Bishops Priscus Archbishop of Lyons presiding And as the Acts do shew called it was at the desire of King Guntheramnus who was one of the three brother Kings grand children to Clodoveus that devided France amongst themselves and left Orleance to him for his seat And all the Canons of it were in matter only of Discipline Amongst which the eight is in these words Ut nullus Clericus ad Judicem secularem quemcumque alium fratrem de clericis accusare aut ad causam dicendam trahere quocumqu loco praesumat sed omne negotium Clericorum aut in Episcopi sui aut in praesbyteri aut Archidiaconi praesentia finiatur And the fift and last Council alleadged in this matter by Cardinal Bellarmine l. 1. de cleric c. 28. ut supra is that which in order is the third of the Councils of Toledo and was held in Aera 627. being the year of our Lord Saviour Christ not 589. according to William Barclays computation but 593. according to Baronius and his continuator Spondanus Bishop of Apamia It is the 13. canon of those of Discipline or external reformation of the Clergie and people made in this Council which is pretended by the Cardinal as to his purpose And I confess this Council is of as great authority as an universal of all Spain and not of Spain alone but of the Bishops also of the Province of Narbon in France subject at that time to the Goths must be which therefore in Spain and as to Spain was stiled Concilium Vniversale having also had 70. Bishops that subscribed although not therefore a General Universal or Oecumenical Council simply such or at all such even for Discipline as to other Catholick Churches but in as much as received by them however several of its canons be inserted in Gratian this particularly whereof our present controversy is related 11. q. 1. cap. Inolita praesumptio And I confess too that Gratian hath truly related word by word this 13th canon as it is in the Council it self being this which I give here at length Inolita praesumptio usque adeo illicitis ausibus aditum patefecit ut Clerici Conclericos suos relicto
me go presently tell the Bishop all and that he must be sent for that very Evening but without any design or intention to harm him and therefore should not be frighted if he should see Sir William Flour Lieutenant Collonel of the Regiment of Guards come in a Coach to call for him at his Brothers Sir Nicholas Plunket's house When I had accordingly out of hand visited the Bishop delivered my message and told him the confession of Ferral under his own hand the good Prelat seem'd to be in a strange perplex'd and fearful confusion But desiring my advice and I telling him there was no way like truth and that dealing candidly there would be no further jealousie of or reflection upon him he goes into a corner of his Chamber brings thence all the Letters shews them me and withal prays me not to let others know that he delivered them understand after he had done so indeed to the Lord Lieutenant I was scarce parted when Sir William Flour came in the dusk of the Evening called for the Bishop and desiring his company in the Coach led him without notice taken by any to the Kings Castle and Lord Lieutenant there to whose Excellencies own hands the Bishop delivered immediatly all the said original Letters with their own proper Endorsements and Seals both of the Internuncio and Cardinal Behold Reader how or by what means I came to have in my custody now those very originals whereof you shall see presently the true copies For as soon as my Lord Lieutenant and Council had perused and seriously considered of them His Grace was pleased to commit them to my custody but withal telling me that they were the only first arguments which perswaded the Earl of Anglesey and some other Lords of the Council I was no cheat nor the controversie twixt the Remonstrants and Antiremonstrants a deceipt or trick but a real difference twixt the Loyally and Disloyally principled or affected Irish That Anglesey with many others until themselves had seized and examined Ferral and seen those Letters with the proper Hands and Seals to them delivered so by Ardagh had been of opinion that Peter Walsh pretended a difference where there was none but rather indeed all of both sides agreed to deceive the Protestants and he to be the chief Actor therein And that now even the Earl of Anglesey himself in particular was so convinced of the contrary that he declared he would himself be thenceforth for repealing all the penal Laws in order to those downright honest Remonstrants and all others who should thenceforward freely and heartily joyn with them by subscribing that very Instrument and like them standing to it constantly against all the censures and other Decrees Plots and Procedures of Rome Now to the tenour of these Letters I give it first according to the original in that Language wherein they were written i. e. in Latin next rendred in English Cardinal Francis Barberins Letter from Rome April 24. 1666. to the Clergy and Catholicks of Ireland superscribed thus Praestantissimis Viris Clero Catholicis Regni Hiberniae Praestantissimi Viri QUadrienium jam pene fluxit ex quo Sanctissimus Dominus noster pro sua erga Vos dilectione meis literis vos admonuit saluti velâ—rae imminere periculum a falsis fratribus Cumque maxime averet audire laqueum contritum esse vos liberatos nuntius tristis affertuâ— conventum inter vos esse tertio Idibus Junii Coetum Dublinii cogi ad deliberandum de subscribendo illi protestationi quae fidelitatis titulum praeferens fidei Catholicae astruit adversantia Jussit ergo Sanctitas sua vos per me serio commonefieri ne fidelitatem civilem cum obedientia sedi Apostolicae debita confundatis neve in vestrum induci animum patiamini Regi parere non posse illum qui Romano Pontifici morem gerit cum immo nihil ad Regum Auctoritatem firmandam magis conferat quam in subditis fidele erga Pontificiam Auctoritatem obsequium Et sane quae Lex Monarchico Regimini adeo favet quam Catholica Quae justam Regibus subjectionem praecipit adeo arcte quam illa quae obedire Praepositis suis aperte jubet In hac igitur constantes estote nec vestri animi robur tentet aut labefactet jactatus timor nec fallant decipulae hostis humani generis cui utpote quae sunt multiplices nocendi artes illa non defuit fidelitatis obtestationem blandioribus verbis attemperandi quae tamen apta nullatenus sunt ad perniciem avertendam Illis vero qui verecundiae limites transgressi post tot irritos conatus extremum tandem successum hunc designati Conuentus habuisse fortasse gloriantur Sanctitas sua divinam interminatur ultionem nisi se a pravis cogitationibus avocantes ab hujusmodi tentamentis abstineant Vos interim totius Congregationis vestris negotiis praepositae nomine hortor vestrae ut fortitudinis fidei existimatio vestraque salus vobis potissimum cordi sit gratam ut vicem Romanae Ecclesiae quae in Christo vos genuit rependatis Reliquum est ut pro certo omnes habeatis Vos unice diligi a Sanctissimo Domino Nostro qui ab infelicibus vepretis saltibus ad Domini pascua vos traduci a Deo optimo Maximo incensis officio charitate precibus exposcit Romae Aprilis 24. 1666. Vester Amantissimus in Domino Franciscus Cardinalis Barberinus Rendred into English the Superscription thus To the most Excellent men the Clergy and Catholicks of the Kingdom of Ireland And inner Tenour thus Most excellent Men FOur years now are almost past since our most Holy Lord out of his love to you hath by my Letters admonished you of dangers to your Salvation which are impending from fals Brethren And when he mightily desired to hear news of the snare broken and you delivered behold the sad tidings come of your having agreed amongst your selves that a Congregation shall be held at Dublin on the third of the Ides of June for deliberating on the point of subscribing that Protestation which making shew of the Title of fidelity asserts things contrary to the Catholick Faith Wherefore his Holiness hath commanded that by me you be seriously admonished not to confound civil fidelity with the obedience due to the See Apostolick nor suffer it to enter into your Souls that he cannot be truly obedient to the King who doth this duty to the Roman Pontiff whereas indeed nothing can more conduce to establish the Authority of Kings than in their Subjects a faithful obsequiousness to the Pontiffical Authority And indeed what Law doth so favour the Monarchical Government as the Catholick What doth so strictly command subjection as that which openly enjoyns all to obey their Superiours Be therefore constant in this Law nor let the traps of the enemy of human kind deceive you to which enemy as to whom the manifold Arts of harming are present that
certainly whether any thing we give them works it nor whether some of them had not recovered as well though we had given them nothing at all Now these matters not being known to or at least not reflected on by vulgar understandings and the vulgar sort of people having never so much as once imagined them it happens by course that when a man is cryed up for a Holy Miraculous man if one of a Thousand nay if one of ten thousand poor diseased persons chance but to recover or amend after or at least immediately after his praying over him or her though all the rest be never the better yet that one persons recovery must be ascribed to the holy mans Miraculous gift and it must be withal want of Faith or other sanctifying dispositions in all others that were not cured and no want of power in the holy man was it that hindred their cure All which Father Finachty having by experience found to be true and the advantage to himself of so great a vulgar Errour to be considerable we must not wonder at his desire of rendezvousing still in large Fields and the vastest numbers he can of poor sickly people to environ him though we cannot but extreamly wonder at the confidence of his late offer to the Lord Lieutenant as we hear Thus he the said Sir William Petit. And so leaving me the foresaid book of Necromancy for a day or two to peruse it through at my leasure he and Mr. Southwel parted without so much as once saluting or bidding Good-morrow to or taking at all any further notice of Father Finachty though sitting still at the fire in the same room but in truth regarding them as little or at least seeming not to regard them nor be at all concern'd in them or their talk for he could not but hear every word This upon Sir William Petit was the last experiment I saw of that good Father's gift For as you shall now presently hear when matters came to an issue he would not stand to the grand Tryal however by himself proposed and mightily importun'd all along untill this very day And yet I declare in my Conscience That I would not of my own part not even that day nor even I mean after his aforesaid ineffectual attempt on Sir William entertain any fixed prejudice against him though I could not wholly banish or free my self of some unsetled imaginations But having fairly expected the last issue which I met with partly that very night and partly yea for what remained throughly and wholly next morning I had I must confess no further power to suspend my own inward even fixed and positive judgment Wherein nevertheless whether I had reason of my side may be judg'd by others considering what follows now to end this prolix account After these Gentlemen had departed I sent for the Guardian of the Franciscan Convent James Fitz-Symons to keep company at Dinner with Father Finachty in my own Chamber where I Treated him the most civilly I could till Evening Then I desired him to go with Father Fitz-Symons to Supper at the Franciscan Convent where he was both expected and much respected too Thither said I will I come to you about Supper-time and bring you my Lord Lieutenant's final resolution for His Grace promised me I should have it this very night without any further delay And in truth my Lord Lieutenant was as good as His promise For having at my relation of that mornings work smiled first then pleasantly said That sure Finachty was a mad man to go and practise on a Purblind man at last coming to be serious He told me those two Gentlemen both Physitians viz. Sir William Petit Knight and Dr. Abraham Yarner in whose place Mr. Southwel went had been sent of purpose by Him to give me notice of all things being ready for Father Finachty's publick Tryal of his miraculous gift even as himself desired to the end I might give him notice thereof and that he viz. Finachty should fix on the Chappel or place and give them notice of such place the next day or as soon as he pleased that they might bring their sick men with them and see the issue But when I answer'd That Finachty complained of his having been stayed too long even whole six Weeks and that now Winter being come and he too not perfectly well he was therefore desirous to be gone home to Connaught Nay then sayes my Lord he is certainly an Impostor if having put Vs to all this trouble he will now be gone without doing any thing or abiding that publick Test himself so earnestly desired I had nothing to reply but that His Grace should know further next morning And therefore having taken leave I went directly to the Convent Where finding Father Finachty at Supper with the Community who respected him very much I thought not fit to tell or mind him then of such matters which I feared might lessen his satisfaction in the Company or their Treat given him Yet I judg'd it not inconvenient to speak to him familiarly and by way only of divertisement something of the no less opposed than famed Remonstrance being the Company that entertain'd him then were all Remonstrants i. e. Subscribers of that controverted Formulary and being also that as I had been formerly told by some there was great use made amongst the common People of his vogue to cry down that Formulary and Ecclesiastical Subscribers thereof amongst whom the Franciscans lay under the greatest share of malicious detractions so I suspected this perhaps might prove to be the last opportunity I should have of speaking to him before Company of any such or other matter whatsoever For these Reasons I put him briefly the question Whether in all his either peregrinations or retirements he had heard of the Remonstrance And if so What himself thought thereof His answer was That he had often heard of it but had never seen it and therefore now desired a sight thereof After Supper when he and all the Fathers had withdrawn to another Room it was brought him and he read it leisurely and distinctly every Clause thereof in presence of all the Fathers approving each in particular and when he had done all to the end affirming that he wonder'd any man of understanding should condemn or oppose or deny the subscribing it Whereupon I only then and there told him I was very glad of his approbation thereof and satisfaction he found in it hoping he would thenceforth endeavour to disabuse others in a matter of that consequence But presently after taking leave there when I had him home to my own Lodgings for he had all day before design'd to lodge with me that night and accordingly did go and lodge with me and after some other little divertisement when we were together alone in my own Chamber he taking occasion to speak to me again of the Remonstrance and â—â—â—ther to please me or no I do not know both applauding it
with these Irish Bishops I never found any of them either to speak the truth or to perform their promise to me only the Bishop of Clogher excepted for during the little time he lived after his submission to the Peace and Commission received from me I cannot charge him No could I choose but be mightily troubled when I heard from His Graces own mouth and on that occasion and before another witness too such a character of so many Roman-Catholick Prelates even all the Archbishops and Bishops of the whole Nation being Five or six and twenty or thereabouts For I know there was no man alive had reason or the opportunities and occasions to know them better than he did no man that try'd them more to the quick even in the weightiest matters could be and I knew very much of their failings my self and was no less certain even by the experimental knowledge I my self likewise for so many years ever since 1648. had of His Graces veracity That he spoke his own inward Conscience in that testimony how general and pungent soever and therefore I concluded That surely he must have very much prejudice against a Religion or Church that was chiefly and generally throughout a whole Nation governed by such spiritual Guides And this Conclusion which I derived then presently was it that so much troubled me when I heard him speak that his testimony and withall observed not only his action or gesture viz. how at the same time he laid his hand on his breast but even his religious asseveration in these other words As I am a Christian premitted to the said either testimony or whatever else you please to call it whether Declaration Answer Observation or Complaint Of which action and asseveration I took indeed the more special notice then and now again do take here that I never observed him before or after on any occasion whatsoever to have averr'd or denied any thing in that manner i. e. either with any such laying of his hand on his breast or any such calling his Christianity to witness as neither in truth with any other kind of Oath As for the rest not only my trouble but my wonder for I did also wonder much those Irish Bishops generally could have been such men had been very much less even at that very time had I before seen his long and excellent Letter of all the Transactions 'twixt him and those Bishops but for two years only i. e. from the year 1648. to the 29th of October in 1650. written by Him as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from Kilcolgan the second of December 1650 to the last General Assembly of the Three Roman-Catholick Estates of that Nation which very Letter I do now for the reasons given in my Preface communicate to publick view in Print annexing it by way of Appendix to this present Work or First Tome in the end thereof But to leave this digression of my own thoughts or passions and return to the prosecution of what besides speaking of his remembrance of matters past the Lord Lieutenant gave me of His Commands upon the foresaid occasion of my relating how the Bishop of Ardagh had to the Fathers misreported His Grace's answer what I am now to tell is That His Grace even at that very time commanded me to go presently to the said Bishop of Ardagh and to the Bishop of Kilfinuragh the Chairman too and let them know from Him That He would speak to them both together before they left the Town For he took the said misreporting of His answer so much to heart That He was resolved not only to expostulate with them for that disingenuity but even to rebuke them for it in presence of half a dozen Noblemen and Gentlemen of their own communion to the end he might have Witnesses enough and such men too against whom those Bishops could take no exception and so dismiss them free to stay or go whithersoever they would And this and no other was the design of that Command given me as even himself declared then But Kilfinuragh it seems too conscious to himself all along for the design he drove and carried in the Congregation prevented this Message by shifting presently his Lodgings as soon as the House dissolved For so Father John Burk the Vicar-General Apostolick of Cashil another great Intriguer though in all things else dull enough told me just as I was in my way to find Kilfinuragh out as moreover he told me it was to no purpose for me to seek that Bishop because he was either by that time out of Town or would suddenly be and that in the mean time if he was not already gone he would not have the place of his retirement known Which being related to the Lord Lieutenant His Grace presently sends Mr. William Summers chief Clerk in Secretary Lane's Office to the Bishop of Ardaghs Lodgings at his brother Sir Nicholas Plunket's house and not to him only but to the Primate also where he lodged with an express Command to them both not to stir out of Town till further orders this Messenger being further directed That in case he found them not within he should leave that Command at their Lodging to be notified to them immediately on their return Which being accordingly received by them and their trouble thereat signified to me I went to see them both and quieted their trouble by letting them know what the occasion and end of it was that there was no further hurt intended them or either of them but that of a bare verbal expostulation that after such they should be as free to go where they pleased as before and that in the mean time there was no hardship in their restraint which allowed them the liberty of a great City and Suburbs and pleasant Fields on every side thereof Yet the Primate whether more conscious to himself for any late design than Ardagh I know not was so fearful to transgress That from that day he never once dared to walk abroad into the Fields lest it should be interpreted a breach of his duty or of that Command laid on him Within a few dayes the Lord Lieutenant parting for some weeks to Kilkenny before His departure sends for me and tells me He had somewhat more to say to the Primate than I knew yet And then commands Sir George Lane Knight His Grace's chief Secretary to lead me into His Closet and shew me that part of a certain Letter which concern'd the said Primate Reilly Sir George did so and therein shews and reads to me how the Earl of Sandwich Ambassador for the Crown of England in Spain had inform'd thence That as he passed through Gallicia to Madrid the Roman-Catholick Irish Bishop of Ferns inform'd him of Edmund Reilly the Roman-Catholick Archbishop and Primate of Ardmagh's being gone to Ireland from France and with a real purpose and out of meer design to raise the Irish again into Rebellion or at least to prepare for it by all
their Votes in Parliament until such time as they shall afterwards acquire such Estates respectively and that none be admitted into the House of Commons but such as shall be estated and resident within this Kingdom XII Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That as for and concerning the independency of the Parliament of Ireland of the Parliament of England His Majesty will leave both Houses of Parliament in this Kingdom to make such Declaration therein as shall be agreeable to the Law of the Kingdom of Ireland XIII Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That the Council Table shall contain it self within its proper bounds in handled matters of State and weight fit for that place amongst which the Patents of Plantation and the Offices whereupon those Grants are founded are to be handled as matters of State and to be heard and determined by His Majesties Lord Lieutenant or other chief Governour or Governours for the time being and the Council publickly at the Council-Boord and not otherwise Titles between Party and Party grown after these Patents granted are to be left to the ordinary course of Law And that the Council Table do not hereafter intermeddle with common business that is within the cognizance of the ordinary Courts nor with the altering of possessions of Lands nor make nor use private Orders Hearings or References concerning any such matter nor grant any Injunctions or order for stay of any Suits in any Civil cause and that Parties grieved for or by reason of any proceedings formerly had there may commence their Suits and prosecute the same in any of His Majesties Courts of Justice or Equity for remedy of their pretended Rights without any restraint or interruption from His Majesty or otherwise by the chief Governour or Governours and Council of this Kingdom And that the proceedings in the respective Presidents Courts shall be pursuant and according to His Majesties printed Book of Instructions and that they shall contain themselves within the limits prescribed by that Book when the Kingdom shall be restored to such a degree of quietness as they be not necessarily inforced to exceed the same XIV Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further pleased That as for and concerning one Statute made in this Kingdom in the Eleventh year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth intituled An Act for staying of Wool Flocks Tallow and other necessaries within this Realm And one other Statute made in the said Kingdom in the Twelfth year of the Reign of the said Queen intituled An Act _____ And one other Statute made in the said Kingdom in the Thirteenth year of the Reign of the said late Queen intituled An Explanation of the Act made in a Session of this Parliament for the staying of Wool Flocks Tallow and other Wares and Commodities mentioned in the said Act and certain Articles added to the same Act all concerning Staple or Native Commodities of this Kingdom shall be repealed if it shall be so thought fit in the Parliament excepting for Wool and Wool-fells and that such indifferent persons as shall be agreed on by the said Lord Lieutenant and the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costelloe Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander mac Donnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillen Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewall Baronet Geoffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghane Tirlagh O Neil Miles Reilly and Gerald Fennel Esquires or any seven or more of them shall be authorized by Commission under the great Seal to moderate and ascertain the rates of Merchandize to be exported or imported out of or into this Kingdom as they shall think fit XV. Item It is concluded accorded and agreed by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is graciously pleased That all and every person and persons within this Kingdom pretending to have suffered by offices found of several Countries Territories Lands and Hereditaments in the Province of Vlster and other Provinces of this Kingdom in or since the first year of King James's Reign or by attainders and forfeitures or by pretence or colour thereof since the said first year of King James or by other Acts depending on the said offices attainders and forfeitures may petition His Majesty in Parliament for relief and redress and if after examination it shall appear to His Majesty the said persons or any of them have been injured then His Majesty will prescribe a course to repair the person or persons so suffering according to justice and honour XVI Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That as to the particular cases of Maurice Lord Viscount de Rupe Fermoy Arthur Lord Viscount Jueagh Sir Edmond Fitz-Gerald of Cloungliffe Baronet Charles Mac Charthy Reagh Roger Moore Anthony Moore William Fitz-Gerard Anthony Lynch John Lacy Collo Mac Bryen Mac Mahon Donnel Costingen Edmond Fitz-Gerald of Ballimartyr Lucas Keatinge Theobald Roch Fitz-Myles Thomas Fitz-Gerald of the Vally John Bourke of Loghmaske Edmond Fitz-Gerald of Ballimullo James Fitz-William Gerald of Glysnan and Edward Sutton they may Petition His Majesty in the next Parliament whereupon His Majesty will take such consideration of them as shall be just and fit XVII Item It is likewise concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is graciously pleased That the Citizens Freemen Burgesses and former Inhabitants of the City of Cork and Towns of Youghal and Dongarvan shall be forthwith upon perfection of these Articles restored to their respective Possessions and Estates in the said City and Towns respectively where the same extends not to the indangering of the Garrisons in the said City and Towns in which case so many of the said Citizens and Inhabitants as shall not be admitted to the present possession of their houses within the said City and Towns shall be afforded a valuable annual Rent for the same until settlement in Parliament at which time they shall be restored to those their possessions And it is further agreed and His Majesty is graciously pleased That the said Citizens Freemen Burgesses and Inhabitants of the said City of Cork and Towns of Youghal and Dongarvan respectively shall be enabled in convenient time before the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom to choose and return Burgesses into the same Parliament XVIII Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That an Act of Oblivion be passed in the next Parliament to extend to all His Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom and their Adherents of all Treasons and offences Capital Criminal and Personal and other
Costelloe Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander mac Donnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewall Baronet Geoffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghane Tirlagh O Neil Miles Reilly and Gerald Fennel Esquires or any seven or more of them shall for the present agree upon such persons who are to be authorized bay Commission under the Great Seal to be Commissioners of the Peace Oyer and Terminer Assizes and Gaol-delivery in and throughout the Kingdom to continue during pleasure with such power as Justices of the Peace Oyer and Terminer Assizes and Gaol-delivery in former times of Peace have usually had which is not to extend unto any crime or offence committed before the first of May last past and to be qualified with power to hear and determine all Civil Causes coming before them not exceeding Ten pounds Provided that they shall not meddle with Titles of Lands Provided likewise the authority of such Commissioners shall not extend to question any person or persons for any Shipping Cattel or Goods heretofore taken by either Party from the other or other injuries done contrary to the Articles of Cessation concluded by and with the said Roman-Catholick Party in or since May last but that the same shall be determined by such indifferent persons as the Lord Lieutenant with the advice and consent of the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costelloe Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander mac Donnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewall Baronet Geoffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghane Tirlagh O Neil Miles Reilly and Gerald Fennel Esquires or any seven or more of them shall think fit to the end that speedy and equal justice may be done to all Parties grieved And the said Commissioners are to make their Estreats as accustomed in time of Peace and shall take the ensuing Oath viz. YOV shall Swear That as Justice of the Peace Oyer and Terminer Assizes and Gaol-delivery in the Counties of A. B. C. in all Articles of the Commission to you directed you shall do equal Right to the Poor and to the Rich after your cunning and wit and power and after the Laws and Customs of the Realm and in pursuance of these Articles And you shall not be of Council of any quarrel hanging before you And the Issues Fines and Anerciaments which shall happen to be made and all Forfeitures which shall happen before you you shall cause to be entred without any concealment or imbezling and truly send to the Court of Exchequer or to such other place as His Majesties Lord Lieutenant or other chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom shall appoint until there may be access unto the said Court of Exchequer You shall not let for gift or other cause but well and truly you shall do your office of Justice of the Peace Oyer and Terminer Assizes and Gaol-delivery in that behalf And that you take nothing for your office of Justice of the Peace Oyer and Terminer Assizes and Gaol-delivery to be done but of the King and Fees accustomed And you shall not direct or cause to be directed any Warrant by you to be made to the Parties but you shall direct them to the Sheriffs and Bayliffs of the said Counties respectively or other the Kings Officers or Ministers or other indifferent persons to do execution thereof So help you God c. And that as well in the said Commission as in all other Commissions and Authorities to be issued in pursuance of these present Articles this Clause shall be inserted viz. That all Officers Civil and Martial shall be required to be aiding and assisting and obedient unto the said Commissioners and other persons to be authorized as abovesaid in the execution of their respective powers XXIX Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That His Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects do continue the possession of such of His Majesties Cities Garrisons Towns Forts and Castles which are within their now Quarters until settlement by Parliament and to be commanded ruled and governed in chief upon occasion of necessity as to the Martial and Military affairs by such as His Majesty or His chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom for the time being shall appoint and the said appointment to be by and with the advice and consent of the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costelloe Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander mac Donnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewall Baronet Geoffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghane Tirlagh O Neil Miles Reilly and Gerald Fennel Esquires or any seven or more of them And His Majesties chief Governour or Governours is to issue Commissions accordingly to such persons as shall be so named and appointed as aforesaid for the executing of such Command Rule or Government to continue until all the particulars in these present Articles agreed on to pass in Parliament shall be accordingly passed only in case of death or misbehaviour such other person or persons to be appointed for the said Command Rule and Government to be named and appointed in the place or places of him or them who shall so dye or misbehave themselves as the chief Governour or Governours for the time being by the advice and consent of the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costelloe Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander mac Donnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewall Baronet Geoffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghane Tirlagh O Neil Miles Reilly and Gerald Fennel Esquires or any seven or more of them shall think fit and to be continued until settlement in Parliament as aforesaid XXX Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed by and between the said Parties and His Majesty is further graciously pleased That all Customs and Tenths of Prizes belonging to His Majesty which from the perfection of these Articles shall fall due within this Kingdom shall be paid in to His Majesties Receipt or until recourse may be had thereunto in the ordinary legal way unto such person or persons and in such place and places and under such Comptrollers as the Lord Lieutenant shall appoint to be disposed of in order to the defence and safety of the Kingdom and the defraying of other the necessary publick Charges thereof for the ease of the Subjects in other their Levies Charges and Applotments And that all and every person and persons who are at present entrusted and employed by the said Roman-Catholicks in the Entries Receipts Collections or otherwise concerning the said Customs and Tenths of Prizes do continue their respective employments in the same until full settlement in Parliament accomptable to His Majesties Receipts or
of the Articles of Peace and had purposed to have made it good they should have set down the Article violated by it But they have been so used to have credit given to their words upon trust that whether what they say be true or false they are sure it will do their work and that and not Truth is the thing they aim at We confess to have given Commissions to many Protestant Officers and that they and their men were provided for as others of their respective conditions And VVe affirm That for their Fidelity Gallantry and Ability they deserved their Commissions and Pay full as well as any other of their respective conditions And it is not true That they or the most of them or any of them that VVe gave Commissions to did betray any place or person under their Command or ever deserted Us or the Cause VVe undertook True it is That We finding the desire and design of many of the People set on by the Declarers was to starve or otherwise destroy and break the remain of the Protestant Party that came to Us for these and other reasons hereafter to be expressed We permitted them in June or July last to make their conditions with the Enemy and so sent them away But that any one place was betrayed by any of those Protestants cannot be instanced nor that any more than about Three of them whereof one was a Major and the other two Lieutenants ever went away without Our Licence How many of them dyed valiantly doing their duty or that were cruelly put to death by the Enemy there are many amongst you that know Second Article of the Declaration That the Holts and Ports in Munster as Cork Kingsale and Youghal were put into the hands of faithless men of the Lord of Inchiquin's Party that betrayed those places to the Enemy to the utter undoing of the Kings interest in the whole Kingdom This good service they did His Majesty after soaking up the sweet and substance of the Catholick Subjects of Munster where it is remarkable upon making the Peace his Excellency would no way allow the Loyal Catholicks of Cork Youghal and Kingsale and other Garrisons to return to their own homes or houses ANSWER It is very well known That We put not the Holts or Ports in Munster into the hands of any but left them in the hands We found them as We had good reason to do those persons without capitulation having received Us as His Majesties Lieutenant And if any of them have betrayed those places as We conceive the Governours of Cork Kingsale and Youghal did not but were by others betrayed We are not reasonably chargeable with their Treachery and We believe they soaked as much of the sweet and substance of Munster and were as chargeable to that Province before as after the Peace Nor is it strange if they would not agree to a Peace that must have let in those that had been of a contrary Party to be Masters of the Holts they had before the Peace upon any occasion of their drawing forth till a full settlement of Parliament till when the Confederate Roman-Catholicks were to hold the Towns possessed by them But provision was made Articles of Peace in the 17th article See it before in the Appen of Instrum pag. 53. That such as were not admitted to re-inhabit the Towns for We understand divers were were to have the full benefit of their Houses and Estates in the said Towns or Garrisons So that what is remarkable in that in making the Peace We would not allow the return of those of Cork Youghal and Kingsale to their Houses We see not more than that as without they were debarred from it for a time neither the Army under the command of the Lord Inchiquin nor the then Inhabitants of the Towns would be drawn to submit to the Peace so as the Assembly being convinced thereof and of the great danger it might bring upon the Kingdom to have them oppose the Peace consented to the Article as it is expressed in the Book of the Articles of Peace But that which these Declarers would indeed have marked and collected out of their dark Note is That by this means these Towns were perhaps purposely given up by Us to the Rebels For as they have infected the People they know them so ready to make the worst construction of all events that they need not speak plainly to them Third Article of the Declaration Catholick Commanders instanced by the Commissioners of Trust according to the Pacification and thereupon by his Excellencies Commission receiving their Commands in the Army as Colonel Patrick Purcell Major General of the Army Colonel Piers fitz Gerald alias Mac Thomas Commissary of the Horse were removed without the consent of the said Commissioners and by no demerit of the Gentlemen and the said places that of Major General given to Daniel O Neale Esq a Protestant and that of Commissary of the Horse to Sir William Vaughan Knight and after the said Sir William to Sir Thomas Armstrong Knight both Protestants ANSWER To this VVe have fully answered in Our Answer to the second Article of the pretended Grievances except the particular of Mr. Daniel O Neale who was not named in the said Article For your clearer satisfaction VVe have caused the said Article and Our Answer to be Transcribed as followeth Article viz. The second of those called the Grievances They say That notwithstanding it was by the said Articles * Articles of Peace See the 9th of them before in the Apoendix of Instrum pag. 49. provided That places of Command Honour Profit and Trust in His Majesties Army in this Kingdom should upon perfection of the Articles actually and by particular instances be conferred on the Roman-Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom and that for the future no difference should be made between the said Roman-Catholicks and other His Majesties Subjects in distribution of such places but that it would be indifferently and that the command of Forts Castles Garrisons Towns and other places of importance in this Kingdom should be upon perfection of the Articles by instances conferred on His Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects in this Kingdom and that 15000 Foot and 2500 Horse of the Roman-Catholicks of this Kingdom should be of the standing Army of this Kingdom yet contrary thereunto were persons by instances vested in places of command in the Army upon perfection of the Articles soon after removed and others placed in their stead (a) As in the cases of Major General Purcell and Commissary Peirs fitz Gerald. That Commanders of Forts instanced upon Catholicks upon perfection of the Peace were soon after transferred to Protestants (b) As in the case of Capt. Thomas Roch in the Fort of Duncannon That His Majesties whole Army in this Kingdom did not consist of so much as was promised to the said Catholicks for their security And that of the number whereof His Majesties Army did