permitted Sir Luke Fitz Gerald Robert Harpool Esquire and others against whom they had more than ordinary proofs of their taking part with the first Conspirators peaceably to return to their habitations as they did James Warren and Friar Paul Oneil both examined at the Council Board and were not without reason suspected of the Rebels Party which Indulgence they soon improved to the defiance of the State which of 60 persons apprehended as justly suspected to be in the Plot caused onely one of Fermanagh to suffer death whom the Lord Mac-guire confessed to be privy to the Plot. Fourthly As to the keeping back of Petitions from the King by which his Lordship will have it That the whole Nation took up Arms for their defence he must be put in mind he taking pleasure to be minded of what is more in others knowledge than his that in the beginning of the Rebellion the Irish had never less reason to complain that their Grievances were not presented For the Commissioners of Parliament of Ireland * by whom the Rebellion was hatch'd who had attended his Majesty with a Collection of all Grievances were returned with such high and unexpected condescensions and those especially relating to the Roman Catholicks that it was but in August 1641. being the last Sessions thought that the next Sessions of Parliament would be principally to return his Majesty their acknowledgment that by taking off all Discriminations and Incapacities he had laid a most sure foundation of Unity and Peace amongst his Subjects Though there is a new Piece come forth entituled A short View of the late Troubles in England which would abuse the World as if the Committee from the Parliament of Ireland after nine months attendance were at his Majesties going for Scotland referred to the Parliament of England and afterwards constrained to return without any redress Besides the Lords Justices and Council did not conceal or debar any thing that ever came to them from the Confederates though warrantably they might have done it some things being so peremptory that it was not for them to admit of being the Presentative of his Majesty and others of that ill consequence to the injured Protestants as without a Comment could not with their trust be presented to his Majesty All or most of which Addresses however accompanied with undutiful and irreverend expressions or overtures were with the first opportunity presented to his Majesties view or knowledge About the 6. of November 1641. the Rebels of the County of Cavan sent their presumptuous Propositions to the Lords Justices and Council which with their Answer they forthwith certified to the L. Lieutenant the E. of Leicester to whom by his Majesties express Command the Dispatches relating to Ireland were to be directed About the tenth of the same Month the Longford Letter to the Lord Dillon of Costiloe full of pretended Grievances and unreasonable Demands as freedom of Religion a Repeal of all Laws made to the contrary and the like was presented to the State in behalf of the Rebels of Longford which having an answerable return his Lordship and the Lord Taaff went into England promoting that which afterwards centered in a Cessation About the midst of December 1641. Sir Thomas Carey and Dr. Cale a Sorbonist offered to the Council Board several Propositions from the Rebels presuming upon the straits that the State was brought to that their insolent Demands would not have been denied which they were but not without representing them to his Majesty The 23. of December 1641. seven Lords of the Pale who had declared by former Letters That they would stand on their Guard after that they had joined with the Northern Rebels in the Siege of Drogheda sent Letters to the Lords Justices to which though without prejudice to his Majesties Honour they could not answer yet they certified them to the Lord Lieutenant And about the 16. of March 1641. there was an Overture made to the Lords Justices by a Letter to the Earl of Castlehaven who by his Memoirs gives us occasion to reflect on these things in the name of the United Lords of the Pale signed by Gormanston Nettervile and Slane for a Cessation of Arms after that by his Majesties Forces transmitted out of England and 10000 compleat fresh men in Ulster besides the Scotch ten Regiments then in the Field the Irish were beaten from Drogheda by Sir Henry Tichborn and that his 〈◊〉 ies Army was full Master of the Field in all parts of the Pale To which the Lords Justices and Council thought not fit to hearken yet certified it to the Lord Lieutenant and did not as some maliciously suggest upon this Cause merely make his Lordship Prisoner Such another Paper from the Lord Mountgarret the 23. of March 1642. came to the Earl of Ormond Lieutenant General of his Majesties Army containing Grievances done in England as well as Ireland to shew to the Lords Justices which lay not in their power to redress which was also sent to the Lord Lieutenant to be shewn to his Majesty And in August the Confederates sent to the Lieutenant General a Petition directed to his Majesty which his Lordship presented to the Lords Justices who forthwith sent it to his Majesties Principal Secretary and thereupon a Commission was sent to the Marquess of Ormond to meet and hear what the Rebels could say or propound for themselves by Virtue of which his Majesties Commissioners received the Rebels Remonstrance at Trym March 17. 1642. A mere Rhapsody of scandalous Criminations upon the Government and a justification of their Rebellion since 1644. fully answered by a Person then at the Helm in a Book entituled The false and scandalous Remonstrance of the Inhumane and bloudy Rebels of Ireland worthy the Earl of Castlehaven's further Information This Remonstrance at length brought forth a Cessation in hope as David Routh titular Bishop of Ossory insinuated that it would at length prove the ruine of Heresie and the firmer establishment of the Catholick Faith and Interest And in truth whatsoever pretension there was for it it proved a snare to the English and no advantage to his Majesty After which their Agents were heard by his Majesty in Oxford who at their departure amongst many excellent admonitions worthy so intelligent a Prince were advised That if they made haste to assist to suppress the English Rebellion they might confidently believe he would never forget to whose Merit he owed his Preservation and Restauration and then it would be in his absolute power to vouchsafe such Graces to them as would not leave them disappointed of their just and full expectations Words sufficiently August By which it is apparent that nothing that ever the Rebels pretended should come to his Majesties Ears was obstructed by the Lords Justices or State Notwithstanding his Lordship is somewhat positive that the Rebels Petitions particularly those of the Pale were never sent to the King Wherein he assumes the Bleeding Iphigenia's Language That the
repairing thither may be more favourably censured than to conclude he resolved to center in that Conspiracy yet since he afterwards espoused that Quarrel when many who having observed the bloudy Effects thereof were ashamed at least prudently deterred to own its Progress all cannot acquit him of that Taint for that as an Honourable Person in his Letter from the Country writes P. 50. That he could not have been engaged in that Conspiracy unless he had been resolved in the Justice of their Cause from the beginning though he is put in mind by the Letter he inserts P. 5. That immediately upon the breaking forth of the Rebellion in the North he being in Munster repaired to the Lords Justices and as his Ancestors offered to serve against the Rebels but was told his Religion was an Obstacle Nor can I say but the State returned him this Answer and how could they well say less when it was apparent that it was a Popish Conspiracy and those of that Profession were generally engaged in that Defection Though he must give me leave to put him in mind that the Lords Justices how ill soever his Party would present them to the World were so far from owning a publick Jealousie of all of his Lordships persuasion that it is well known they put Arms into the hands of divers Noblemen of the Pale of that Religion who as his Lordship made Professions to his Majesties Service and desired the same Nor was this Concession of the Lords Justices disapproved by the Parliament in England they also granted Commissions of Government as likewise of Martial Law to several of the same Persuasion not in the Pale onely but in other parts of the Kingdom inserting a Power to spare or destroy the Rebels according to their discretion hoping those of the Pale might prove good Instruments to oppose the threatning Incursions of the Northern Rebels whilest they a few days after deserted their Houses and openly declared themselves in actual Rebellion as did several of the principal Towns Wexford Waterford Dundalk Trym and others to whom the State had sent Arms and Commissions of Trust. And this not through the least force put on them by the State No they yielded to whatsoever they thought might argue an assurance of them but they of the Pale centered with the other through their Natural Inclination and as we may believe from the Lords Mac-Guire Mac-Mahon Mac-Arts and others Confessions a designed Insurrection through the whole Kingdom of the Popish Persuasion cherished by an inveterate detestation of the English what pretext soever else his Lordship in an Appendix promises We shall find the true Original Causes of the late Rebellion throughly discovered A Piece speedily desired that the Fallacy he presumes to cast before the King might be detected So that something more than ordinary though the Particulars be lost with the time was either known or suspected by the State of his Lordship which at that time were it onely abundance of Caution might well excuse the L. Justices Reply to him P. 6. As their not furnishing him with money who by the suddenness of that Rebellion were reduced to an extreme Exigence Nor by the sequel doth it appear that his Lordship had any need of their Supply had he really intended a remove for England When for so many Months after he could freely and splendidly entertain the Dutchess of Buckingham and the Earl of Antrim at Maidenstown As to their denying him a Pass for England P. 6. which afterwards his Brother's Letter tells him the King being to that end petition'd at York denied referring him to the Parliament who without the King could do nothing So that the Lords Justices advice to make fair Weather at home was not justly to be blamed nor considering the circumstances they were then under was his Resentment thereof so often to have been angerly exprest as a villainous proceeding against him P. 14. An Expression unfit for such and not otherwise than with scorn to be resented on whom his Majesty had impressed his Authority What his Lordship did at home besides spending his Provision on the Noble and Excellent Company he had there the Dutchess of Buckingham and Earl of Antrim who afterwards sate Chairman at Kilkenny and if he had not been supported by his Majesties Mercy had never been able to have supported himself by his own Innocence I never had an itch to enquire but I find in the States Letter to the Lord Lieutenant December 14. 1641. that on the tenth of the same he presented at the Council-Board the Oath of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland which had been tendred to him but as he then said he refused to swear to and it was not then justified to the contrary though his intent of producing it there was suspected to be in favour of them that their proceedings might be the easier palliated though the Oath was so weav'd as Disloyalty and Contradiction spun every thred Yet hitherto the State was loath to cherish any Heats against his Lordship leaving him to return to his house at Maidenstown P. 11. where he continued quiet 5 or 6 Months till having some disturbance by a Rabble driving away part of his stock which was soon recovered he sent his Brother to Dublin and with him all the poor English he had thitherto protected P. 7 part of which near Rathcool the Rebels barbarously killed the others that escaped through Dungan's Rescue being sorely wounded and as it was suspected either through the Treachery of their Convoy or a laid Design as a Boy serving his Lordship sometime after betrayed a Sadler Servant to the Earl of Antrim Upon which or other suggestions as that he had prepared great Entertainment for the L. Mountgarret had he defeated the King's Forces his Lordship was indicted of High Treason the most publick way of accusing and an Act rather of the Grand Jury than the State upon which he came to Dublin P. 9. The State at the Mercy of his Brother however being taxed with clandestine Proceedings for not calling him before the Council e're that he was committed to Sheriff Woodcock 's house P. 10. Whereas this was done that a severer course might not be commenced against him till the matter might have been favourably heard business at that time thronging on the State not admitting a speedy Release Grains and Scruples are not to be stuck at when a State is on its Ruine And that his Lordship might have very well been sensible of for that the Lieutenant General let him live quietly till then whereas in Justice he might have brought him Prisoner to Dublin who could find sufficient force to rescue his own People and Cattle but none to assist the King's Lieut. General when he fought near his house the Battel of Kilrush Yet this Lord being impatient of his Commitment and suspecting for which there was no proof that he should be ordered to the Castle he made an escape the 27. of September 1642.
being as Sir James Ware hath registred it committed for High Treason The Earl of Strafford's Case coming fresh to his thoughts That Innocency was a scurvy Plea in an Angry Time P. 15. whereas the Earl of Strafford's Case was much different from his His Majesty being never convinced of any such Criminousness in him as willingly to expose his life to the stroke of Justice and Malice of his Enemies But the cause which his Lordship solemnly owned his Majesty condemned with the greatest indignation imaginable expressing in his Eicon Basil. That the Sea of Bloud which hath in Ireland been cruelly and barbarously shed is enough to drown any man in eternal both Infamy and Misery whom God shall find the malicious Author or Instigator of its effusion And here it is not to be passed over since he hath mentioned this noble Earl that some of those who were Witnesses against him at his Trial appeared afterwards to be leading men in the Rebellion the Earl of Castlehaven joined in and many more of that Faction whose kindness in admitting his Lordship he says he must never forget being then Members of Parliament in Ireland had there voted him a Traitor before his hearing in Westminster Hall Further the Earl of Castlehaven says That the States Officers and Souldiers not taking care enough to distinguish between Rebels and Subjects killing many promiscuously forced him to take up Arms. Considering besides That the whole Nation had took up Arms for their own Defence particularly the Lords of the Pale who yet at the same time desired the Justices be sure weight enough be laid on them to send their Petition to the King which was refused and as a further discouragement Sir John Read who was prevailed with to carry their Remonstrance to the King with their Grievances not concealing his Message was put to the Rack for his good will In brief his Lordship charges his siding with the Rebels whether inclined thereto in Anger or Revenge P. 21. on these Motives 1. To his not being received by the State 2. To his being clandestinely indicted of High Treason 3. To the States Officers and Souldiers promiscuous killing Rebels and Subjects 4. To the States refusal to send the Rebels Petition to the King 5. To the Racking of Sir John Read entrusted with the Rebels Remonstrance of Grievances to the King Upon consideration of all which He conceived there was no safety but in Arms. P. 17. The two first of these being answered in the third and fourth Paragraphs we reply as to the third touching the promiscuous killing of Rebels and Subjects That the Conspiracy was so general and there had been such unheard of Villanies not in any Age before committed by the Irish e're his Majesties Forces could be imbodied to assert his Power That the Infection seemed to have polluted the whole Kingdom so as an enraged Army justly incensed by many who at first had suffered by the Rebels could hardly distinguish betwixt the Nocent and Innocent As at Santry Decemb. 5. 1641. strongly insisted on by Nettervile the Action there being not commenced till divers of the Pale many in Connaught and all the Irish Inhabitants of Ulster had confederated and committed open rebellious acts and cruelties against his Majesties Protestant Subjects Nor was this which they call Murther of innocent Husbandmen any other than upon Examination found to be Justice on Rebels from whom the active Rebels had daily relief amongst which there were two Protestants The Sword once drawn Legal Pleas are seldom heard though I think his Lordship can hardly produce one Example where the State being seasonably informed did not as far as the time permitted exert their Interest to acquit the Innocent The Discipline too of his Majesties Army was so well known under the Conduct of so honourable a Person no enemy to them further than their Disloyalty justly enforced him and such worthy Officers as few who knew ' them will ever give credit to a report that shall blast them in that particular Besides it must be considered that what cruel acts soever were done beyond the course of ordinary Justice the Objectors must be put in mind that they were primi in culpa and that the bloud in Drogheda and elsewhere shed in Ireland lies at their Doors for had they not raised and continued the Rebellion through his Lordships access and other Officers from abroad to their Party in all probability a Sword to this day had not been drawn at least continued in that Kingdom and the assurance of what Force that united Kingdom would have contributed to his Majesty might have prevented all the effusion of bloud in England Nay so tender was the State of giving the least offence to any that under that pretence might skreen their Villany as some exceptions being taken by divers Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale as if they should be involved in these words That some evil affected Irish Papists had conspired c. The Lords Justices and Council to shew they intended thereby onely such of the old mere Irish in the Province of Ulster as were then Actors in that Treason and others who adhered to them published the 29. of October 1641. their sense thereof which these discontented Gentlemen seemed then to be satisfied with Yet their hearts being bound up with the Rebels it was not long before they suffered or rather caused the Recruit going for Drogheda the 29. of November to be defeated at Gellingston Bridge and within a few days after the Lord Gormanston with many more of the Lords and prime Gentry of the Pale struck up an agreement with the Rebels at the Hill of Crofty meeting afterwards at the Hill of Tarragh where they produced an Answer to the Lords Justices Summons Decemb. 3. to consult with them for the safety of the Kingdom and that before ever the Northern Rebels as they afterwards alledged forced them to a compliance for want of a sufficient supply from the State to resist them pretending they had no security for their safety Which the L. Justices and Counc Dec. 13. gave them assurance of upon the Word of the State safely to repair thither without danger of any trouble or stay whatsoever positively then affirming that the Lords Justices and Council did never hear Sir Charles Coot whom they suggested to have devised a general Massacre upon those of their Religion ever to have counselled so impious or detestable a thing And to the same intent advised the 9. of December Luke Nettervile Esq and others met at Swords immediately to separate However they feigned several fears which the State descended to clear though to no purpose so as the Torrent of the Pale ran still to make up that Deluge Yet that the clearness of the States Intentions might further appear to wean all from any apprehensions of suspicion of them the Lords Justices at that time imbraced the seeming Application of the E. of Westmeath Sir Morgan Cavenagh's feigned Protestations and
Irish to this day were never heard to speak for themselves which by what is before cited is fully disproved Though their Addresses I must again say were bold Capitulations rather than dutiful Submissions or acknowledgments of their Guilts which Father Peter Walsh this Earls Ghostly Father P. 127. takes an especial notice of with a Resentment worthy himself that in the Congregation at Dublin 1666. admitted with an unusual Favour not one moved for a general Petition to be exhibited to his Majesty imploring his gracious Pardon notwithstanding the Rebellion 1641. or the behaviour of the Clergy Regular or Secular at Waterford under the Nuncio 1646. or at Jamestown 1650. even after the Nuncio's Departure or that they fought against both Laws and those who had not onely the Laws but the King 's special Commission and brake both Cessations 1643 1647. both Peaces 1646 1648. treated for a Foreign Protector for the Alienation of the Crown stood for Mac-Mahon's Book That an Irish Native might be chosen for their King Yet that nothing on the States part which might induce the Rebels to a submission might be omitted they published the 30. of October 1641. a Proclamation tendering his Majesties Grace to all seduced Rebels but none tendered themselves And the first of November following they set forth another Proclamation drawn up by Mr. Plunket the Lawyer afterwards one of their Party respecting those of the Pale who lay next to the Northern Rebels that in 10 days they might submit but they joined in the same Rebellion And the 12. of the same the Lords Justices and Council reprinted an Order of the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England whereby they had power to bestow his Majesties gracious Pardon to all such as within a convenient time to be declared by the Governours of that Kingdom should return to their due obedience which effected nothing on the Rebels No more did his Majesties Gracious Proclamation of the first of January 1641. under his Royal Signature and Privy Signet commanding them to lay down Arms. And when the Parliament met the 16. of November 1641. and there was a necessity to prorogue it after two days by reason of the present state and condition wherein the Kingdom stood The Lords Justices and Council were so careful that no Jealousies or Pretence should arise thence as if his Majesty would withdraw any of his Acts of Grace that they by his Majesties directions did make known to the Parliament That his Majesty would not depart from any his former Favours promised to them for setling their Estates to such as should remain faithful and loyal Nay so desirous were the Lords Justices and Council to draw off from that Combination the Lords and Gentry of the Pale that Feb. 8. 1641. when they set Prices on the Rebels heads to which they were authorized they never named the Lords of the Pale and but few of the Gentry amongst the Conspirators though in an insolent and most prodigious manner they had acted with them And when the Lords Justices imployed a Committee of Parliament to them they scornfully rejected them tearing the Order of Parliament and the Letter that accompanied them Using no better the Lord Moore and others appointed to treat with them afterwards Nor at another time some of their own Clergy that if it had been possible they might have won them to Obedience Yet further so desirous was the State to compose all difference betwixt them and the Rebels that after Sir Richard Barnewell and Patrick Barnewell Esq both of the County of Meath had joined with the Northern Rebels the State upon their pretence that if they might have a Commission to Parley with the Rebels they hoped to doe some good for the quiet of the Kingdom granted them Commissions to that end although it after appeared by a very frivolous and scornful return that this was sought by them onely to gain some colour of security for their Rebellious complying with the Rebels dealing thence most deceitfully in all things expected from the Lords Justices and Council Could there be greater evidence than these of his Majesties Governours inclination to Peace and Mercy It is no wonder that the Confederates to effect their Empire should make their way through any calumny they can defame the State withall that palliating their own Treachery they might colourably charge the State Whereas the Irish were so far from being provoked by the State that no less a testimony than the Word of that great just and wise Prince King Charles I. is extant to Posterity That he did extremely detest the odious Rebellion which the Recusants of Ireland had without ground or colour raised against him his Crown and dignity And as for the Lords Justices and most of the Councils being of the Parliaments Persuasion it is an imputation so unjust that the World may be defied to evidence wherein they further agreed than to manage the War as it was left to the Parliament taking their best measures from the King himself And thus much I may add that if exceptions were particularly taken against one of the Lords Justices the Times being ticklish and apt on misconstructions to disgust some the other more than that he was his Collegue was so far from being excepted against maugre whosoever hath the countenance to face his Majesty with the contrary that he was instituted again with Sir Henry Tichborn in the Government Nor to this day did ever any save some Bigot in Popery and Rebellion blast his memory or actions unless being reduced to little for being a perfect Englishman he may be taxed with too much credulity to trust to Acts and Promises when he might have secured his Arrears out of the publick Revenues then at his disposure and yet not have tripled his Estate to what it was before the Rebellion Fifthly As to the Racking of Sir John Read It doth not appear by whose Order it was done nor consequently who was obliged to answer this Objection But it is well known the said Read faltered much in the pretence of his business Nor is it a thing to be wondered at that one suspicious and a Stranger should be strictly examined in a time of general Conspiracy the course being often used for Discovery though not for Evidence But the Lord Castlehaven puts us in mind P. 12. He was his Majesties sworn Servant a Stranger to the Country unengaged and an Eye-witness of the Remonstrants Proceedings That he was his Majesties sworn Servant may be likely by the Impost he had upon Butter procured for him from the King by some chief men of the Society as a Reward for his detestable Service in perverting a Minister and his Family to the Popish Religion in whose house in Long-Acre the Jesuits Plot discovered by Andreas ab Habernfield a Nobleman of Bohemia was contrived against the King and Kingdoms By Nation he was a Scot in Office a Secular Jesuite Lieutenant Colonel to Sir Henry Bruce a Papist
Christian more than a Mind conciled to Truth and Union But how those ends should meet in the Peace he designed was very unlikely considering his Majesties Concessions to the Adventurers the inestimable loss the English Protestants had suffered and the Enquiry there ought to have been for the innocent Bloud poured forth like Water in Ireland the least of which never came under consideration In as much as it is notably observed by the Person of Honour P. 58. That the Irish did the English more hurt and advantaged themselves more by the Cessation and two first Peaces than ever they did or could do by open Force after the first Massacre nothing writes Colonel Jones in his Letter to the Marquess of Ormond March 31. 1649. being to the English Interest in that Kingdom more pernicious and apparently destructive However after near three years deliberation his Majesty was forced to the Peace 1646. in assurance of a vigorous Assistance as before he had been forced to the Cessation And this not as one will have it who to wipe off the Force his Majesty was put to will have the Expression to be meant of those that erected that odious Court for taking away the life of the Excellent King Charles the First and not of the Confederates whereas the Cessation 1643. and Peace 1646. to which his Majesty says his Father was forced was some years before that odious Court was ever thought on or erected Upon the breach of which Peace the Earl of Castlehaven observes P. 80. That Story mentions not any one thing that had so fatal a consequence The Articles of which being notoriously violated it is no matter whether through the Nuncio's standing for Glamorgans Peace treacherously obtained and disallowed of by the King or the Confederates private dissentions both proceeding from animosities to the State But certain it is That all the Rebels Proceedings and their Demands however condescended to were insolent Treason Besides the Lord Lieutenant was infamously used forced out of the Kingdom the Parliament then sitting at Dublin Registring it to Posterity That the Irish were an insolent and upon all advantages a perfidious and bloudy Enemy None accompanying his Excellency to Dublin in his hazardous Retreat thithes when he and the Protestant Army were designed to be cut off by Owen O Neil but the Earl of Castlehaven P. 75. who upon the Rebels blocking up of Dublin advised the Lord Lieutenant P. 78. rather to deliver it to the Parliament than the Rebels for that when the King should have England he would have Ireland with it which otherwise with the Nuncio and his Party might remain separate A right Conclusion and that if it were his advice determined for the best Sure it is the Marquess of Ormond chose to capitulate with Jones and others imployed by the two Houses of Parliament to deliver up Dublin into their hands and other places for that he could no longer hold them rather than to suffer them to be taken by an Army instigated by a Foreigner to the danger of the whole Kingdom and the destruction of those he had so long protected Afterwards I find his Lordship for some time retired in the interim the Lord Inchiquin the Lord Taaff and other considerable Persons united Upon which the Marquess of Ormond at the request of the Confederates to the Queen and Prince was wrought upon to reassume his Lieutenantship with whom the E. of Castlehav returned The Lord Lieutenant entered upon this Imployment when the King was in his greatest trouble solemnly then concluding with all imaginable satisfaction to the Confederates though highly dishonourable to the Crown of England and destructive to the Protestants the Peace of 1648. as before he had done the Peace of 1646. upon the frequent commands he had not to let slip the means of setling that Kingdom fully under his Majesties obedience which none could blame the King to make upon difficult Conditions That he might get such a United Power of his own Subjects as might have been able with Gods blessing to have prevented that infamous and horrid Parricide which ensued Though generous souls would rather have adventured all Interests than to have enhaunced their price on his Majesties necessities But to come to the Peace which the Confederates as his Lordship writes P. 81. confirmed and sealed with the bloud of more than 20000 of their best men who lost their lives to maintain it refusing in the mean while all Offers of Peace and that even to the very last from the Parliament It would take up more time than can be dispensed with at present to answer all that is here alledged I cannot say but as many as his Lordship affirms may be lost of the Irish but that they fell in maintainance of this Peace he must give me leave to doubt In as much as Owen O Neil the Earl of Antrim and all the Northern Rebels refused to submit thereunto Whose assistance to the other Party he cannot forget and on what grounds they became Mercenary to Sir Charles Coot no more than that no Towns that the Confederates had but Kilkenny would receive a Garrison P. 42. And I am confident it is not out of his memory what the Clergy did at Jamestown August 12. 1650. two days after that they had sent the Bishop of Dromore and Doctor Kelly to persuade the Lord Lieutenant to leave the Kingdom claiming thereby a Power Paramount to his Majesties Authority seconding their Excommunication with daily affronts searching for him at Galway as for a Criminal person their Clergy denying to revoke their Excommunication or to give assurance to him or the Commissioners of Trust for not attempting the like for the future The Commissioners too of Trust on whom much was reposed being not all of like integrity The over balance of the Government being clearly in the Irish hands Others whom some cried were Ormonists being upon the matter Cyphers as eminently appeared in the Conference at Kilkenny and yet 20000 lost their lives to maintain the Peace of 1648. This Noble Earls Memoirs furnish us with Actions of a notable and active General such as engaged his Souldiers in Judgment as well as Duty P. 136. so as it may be expected with the Persian General that he knew every Souldier by his name and therefore might the more particularly affirm that 20000 fell in maintainance of the Peace of 1648. Yet who shall consider the Premises and those who afterwards submitted will believe some unites are wanting to complete his Arithmetick It may be he hath forgot that Captain Stafford a Roman Catholick yielded up the Castle of Wexford unto Cromwel and entered himself into his Service by which there ensued a notable effusion of bloud And I see it is out of his mind how a Party of the Confederates contracted with Ireton to give an Inlet for his Army into Limerick by securing a Port for that purpose when at the same time Hugh O Neil their
Governour opposed it And though he hath not forgot how he hindered the General Assembly met at Loghreogh upon the Marquess of Clanrickards entry on the Government to agree with the Parliament yet it cannot but be remembred how unanimously they treated about it so as what was prevented in the General Parties afterwards concluded severally As May 12. 1652. all under the Earl of Westmeath and the Lord Muskery with whom there were several Lords Knights and Persons of Quality comprehended concluded an Agreement with the Parliament though others dissented by reason that they could not have the like Conditions not for any affection to the King's Cause or in maintainance of the Peace 1648. but by reason the bloudiness of their Crimes could never be absolved This being the truth how may it be said That to the end they refused all Offers of Peace to the Parliament Non defuerunt writes an Author of the Conspiracy Catholici proh pudor maxime Paci Ormonio hactenus adversarii qui hisce Cromwellii legibus sese subderent More we might say but the time wasts However we cannot draw off till we have somewhat considered his Lordships Charge P. 81. That since his Majesties happy Restauration the Estates of such as maintained the Peace to the last have been given away by the Acts of Settlement some very few excepted The bleeding Iphigenia a leading man in the Supreme Council first raised this Crie Wonders writes he being done since his Majesties Restauration Rebels are made honest men and honest men Rebels by the King 's Royal Pleasure Excellent language and that it seems which is the sense of the principal Romanists at this day else the late unfortunate Viscount Stafford would not so readily as he is charged by the eloquent and judicious Lord Chancellor have reviled his Majesty for misplacing his Bounty and rewarding none but Traitors and Rebels Which agreeing with what we have mentioned may be reason sufficient to fix his Lordship a while here centering in Opinion Not that I do deny but happily there were some who after their first defection faithfully performed what they promised more out of Interest than Duty and are not satisfied to their expectations Yet it is to be weighed that the Peace was made with the Community not particular Persons with the Collective Body of the Irish not any dissenting Clergy so as the Breach being almost General Individuals could not have the benefit thereof Nor hath the Act of Settlement declared any Estates forfeited for fighting for his Majesty but for being guilty of the horridst Rebellion History ever recorded Neither doth his Majesty give any part of such forfeited Estates as a Reward to any for fighting against him as if thereby from being Rebels they were made honest men But thereby he is graciously pleased to continue and confirm the Estates in the hands of his Protestant Subjects formerly possessed thereof as Adventurers or Souldiers redeeming their Errour of a Temporal Defection by arresting the first Opportunity without consulting the success thereof or capitulating with their Swords in their hands as did the Irish to hazard their lives for his Majesties Restauration so as it seems somewhat harsh to say That the Estates of some few onely were exempted when his Majesty in his gracious Declaration for the Settlement of Ireland November 30. 1660. saith We cannot doubt but that all who have merited from us will confess that we have been so far from being failing to them that we have as well provided for them as after so great troubles and confusions and after such blessed circumstances of our Restauration they could reasonably expect And it is clear by the Act pursuant to that Declaration that the most eminent and considerable Persons even such as soon after those who began the Rebellion in the North who took up Arms summoned by the Intrusion of the Clergy a general Congregation they by a packed Party of bloudy Papists in Rebellion and Confederacy a General Assembly those a Supreme Council concurring with the malice and hatred of the former who necessitated his Majesty to a Cessation fetch'd in the Nuncio abjured both Peaces confederated with the Clergy kept the Lord Lieutenant out of the principal Towns and twice forced him out of the Kingdom who was their Asylum their Advocate compassionately designing excellent things for them though with great hardship and damage to the English These afterwards ascribing all his Actions his Counsels how provident how sincere soever foedae Proditioni writes Vind. Cath. p. 223. whilest he suffered much calumny for his desire of preserving many of them that fell into his hands as some of the Assembly could witness who were by his means preserved and might testifie as much Treating however with Foreigners for Aid and Protection are restored in Bloud and Estate not respecting a Condition in that Act That such as entered into the Roman Catholick Confederacy at any time before the Articles of Peace 1648. should not be restored as innocent Papists And his Lordship dates their kindness in admitting him to their Confederacy An. 1642. And are these with his Lordship onely a few When his Majesty had a Prospect of his Return for England he was so condescending as having notice that Edmund Reily Archbishop of Armagh had attempted to instigate the Male contents against his coming in promising to that end great assistance from a conjunction of the stronger Part of the Roman Catholick Irish that he had Don Stephano de Gameno then Spanish Embassador with the States spoken to that by a Command from Rome the said Reily might be revoked immediately out of Ireland else he should be put to the Stress of signing a Warrant for his Execution Considering which as his Majesties other condescentions it looks ill that so signal a Grace should be so diminutatively expressed as if a few onely were exempted by his clemency But to return to his Memoirs The Earl of Castlehaven having been retired for some difficulties concerning Command P. 96. is now joined again with the Army before Dublin quartering near Rathmines the success of which his Lordship not being in chief Command P. 136. I shall not mention no Army or Party of Army being ever beaten so by an Enemy as to lose their ground to the end of the Fight where he commanded in Chief yet his Excellency had many gallant Persons with him and this Lord was designed a particular Post which he does not tell us how he quitted However the blame is not always to be fixed where it may most justly be placed Nor if the Lord Inchiquin had not gone into Munster with the 1100 Horse as he was ordered to do at a Council of War who is here and elsewhere reflected on as if it had been a particular Project of his own could the Contingencies of that day have been secured all the Gallantry that was afterwards shewed being not sufficient to redeem the misfortune I will not say the miscarriage of that day which in time brought on the Earl of Clanrickard to be Deputy before writes his Lordship P. 116 no more than a Spectator whereas in November 1646. he was made Lieut. General of the Army and the great Confident of the Lord Lieutenant and Confederates Hence the Earl of Castlehaven upon the Lord Lieutenants retreat into France made a Noble Figure in the following War though it is observed not without severity and fierce Prosecution of the English And it cannot but be said P. 112. that according to his Excellencies command he kept a bussle as long as he could and seasonably opposed the Duke of Lorrain's Agent P. 125. hating to buy a supply so dear as to give footing or colour of pretence or title to any foreign Prince on hopes of succour thence Which redounds much to his honour though the Abbot of St. Katherines did land and by the Confederates met at Galway was treated with without the privity of the Deputy who was not far from them Afterwards not being able to bussle further his Lordship the L. Castlehav P. 124. was dispatched into France for Succours which failing he procured the Lord Deputy his Majesties Letter acknowledging his good Service ordering him that he should make the best Conditions for himself and Party that he could Which was the last of the Earl of Castlehaven's Imployments but remains a standing honour to his Lordship and a Justice due to the Marquess of Clanrickard's Merits FINIS His Majesties Message to the Parl. 14. Feb. 1641. Castleh Ep. to the K. The Col. Letter to him See the Kings Reply for Licences for Ireland Husb. Col. p. 72. The Addit Act of Sect. f. 116. Wares MSs. 1642. * So Catiline Mihi indies magis animus accenditur cum considero quae conditio vitae futura sit nisi nosmetipsos vindicemus in Libertatem Salust p. 14. The King's Works Vol. 2. p. 569. The Brief Narrative Decemb. 23. 1674. * Loy form f. 672. * L'Estr Hist. C. 1. f. 182. * So termed in the Impeachment against Fa. Philips Straff Trial f. 752. Walsh s. 115. * P. 67. ⸫ P. 87. †P. 73 c. * See Hist of the Execrable Irish Rebell f. 128 Act of Settlement f. 10. * Walsh's Reply to the Pers. of Q. P. 102. * The Marqs Letter to Col. Jones March 17 1649. The Pers. of Hon. Letter P. 27. The Hist of the Ir. Reb. f 227 233. The Hist. of the Ir. Reb. f. 233. Vind. Cath. p. 208. * See the M. of Ormond's Letter to Loghreog f. 110. †97. ‖ 63 64 83 84 97 98 c.