the said Malefactors to their Obedience have of late issued a Proclamation setting forth the said Disorders requiring all the said Parties to disperse and repair to their several Habitations and Callings assuring every of them of His Majesty's Pardon and Protection And whereas we find the said Offenders instead of complying with our said Proclamation still to persist in their Wickedness by continuing in actual Rebellion breaking of Prisons and discharging of Prisoners secured by due course of Law for Robberies Felonies and other heinous Crunes by seizing upon his Majesties Arms and Ammunition imprisoning several of his Majesties Army disarming and dismounting them killing and murdering several of his Majesties Subjects pillaging and plundering the Country and daily committing several other Acts of Hostility and finding no other way left to suppress the said Revellion We the Lord Deputy have caused a Party of his Majesties Army under the Command of Lt. General Richard Hamilton to march into the Province of Ulster to reduce the Rebels there by force of Arms the Consequence whereof cannot but be very fatal to that Country and the Inhabitants thereof and will inevitably occasion the total ruine and destruction of that part of His Majesties Kingdom The Consideration whereof hath given us great disquiet and trouble of Mind that a Country well planted and inhabited should now by the insolency and traiterous wickedness of its own Inhabitants be brought to ruin or desolation which we are still willing to prevent if any spark of Grace be yet remaining in the Hearts of those Conspirators hereby declaring notwithstanding the many Affronts by them put upon his Majesties Government notwithstanding the several Acts of Hostility by them hitherto committed that if they will now submit and become dutiful Subjects His Majesties Mercy shall be extended to them excepting the Persons hereafter excepted and in order thereunto We the Lord-Deputy and Council do strictly charge and command all such Persons in Arms in Ulster or the Town of Sligo forthwith to lay down Arms and that the principal Persons amongst them now in the North do forthwith repair to Lt. General Richard Hamilton and deliver up to him their Arms and serviceable Horses and to give him Hostages as an assurance of their future Loyalty and Obedience to His Majesty and that all their Adherents do deliver up their Arms and serviceable Horses to such Person or Persons as he the said Lt. General Richard Hamilton shall appoint to receive them And we do also further charge and command all the principal Persons of other Commotions and Insurrections in Sligo to repair forthwith either to us the Lord Deputy or to Colonel M c Daniel at the Boyle and deliver up their Arms and serviceable Horses and to give Hostages as Security for their future peaceable Deportment and their Adherents to lay down their Arms to be delivered up together with their serviceable Horses to the said Col. M c Daniel We the Lord-Deputy hereby giving safe Conduct to such of them as will submit according to this our Proclamation And we do hereby further declare That such of the said Persons as shall give Obedience to these our Commands except the Persons hereafter excepted shall have his Majesties Protection and Pardon for all past Offences relating to the said Commotions and Insurrections but in case they shall be to unhappy as to persist in their wicked Designs and treasonable Practises We the Lord-Deputy do hereby command all his Majesties Forces to fall upon them wherever they meet them and to treat them as Rebels and Traitors to his Majesty Yet to the end the Innocent may not suffer for the Crimes of the Nocent and that the Committals of Human Acts may be prevented we do hereby strictly charge and command His Majesties Army now upon their march to the North and all other his Majesties Forces that they or either of them do not presume to use any violence to Women Children aged or decriped Men Labourers Plow-men Tillers of the Ground or to any other who in these Commotions demean themselves inoffensively without joining with the Rebels or aiding or assisting them in their traiterous Actings and Behaviours But in regard Hugh Earl of Mount-Alexander John Lord Viscount Mazareen Robert Lord Baron of Kingston Clotworthy Sherington Esq Son to the Lord Viscount Mazareene Sir Robert Colvil Sir Arthur Rowden Sir John Magill John Hawkins Robert Sanderson and Francis Hamilton Son to Sir Charles Hamilton have been the principal Actors in the said Rebellion and the Persons who advised and fomented the same and inveagled others to be involved therein We think fit to except them out of this our Proclamation as Persons not deserving his Majesties Mercy or Favour Given at the Council-Chamber of Dublin March 7 1688. A. Fytton C. Granard Limerick Bellew Will. Talbot Tho. Newcomen Rich. Hamilton Fran. Plowden The Deputy who till now had never kept Faith Truce or Promise was strict and punctual to his Word for he sent down his Army at the Time and to the Place appointed meeting with no Resistance the Protestants being unprovided of Arms and Ammunition and not able so suddenly to imbody themselves or stem the Torrent that was ready to overwhelm them but what was made by Sir Arthur Rowdon who at the head of 200 Horse gallantly opposed them till finding it impossible to dispute the Passage of so great an Army by so inconsiderable a Force he made a hasty but honourable Retreat with the loss of a very few Men and being met by some Companies of Foot who were marching on but too late and too slowly to second him they also retreated but in some Disorder which being observed by the Inhabitants of Lisburn they began immediately to fly toward Antrim the People of which place being struck with Amazement at so unexpected an Adventure betook themselves to Flight also and so rolling on from one Town to another the Country was universally seised with a panic Fear and Consternation hurrying their Wives and Children toward the Sea-Coast leaving their Goods in their Houses their Stock in the Fields and taking no Care but to preserve their Lives In this Confusion and Fright the poor Souls fled to London-Derry and would have gone further if the Sea had not stopt them To take upon me to Describe the Horror of this Revolution the most Deplorable State of the People the Misery Poverty and Distress of many thousand good Families and the utter Desolation of a most fruitful and well-peopl'd Country would ingage me in a Task which no Pen can sufficiently express nor no Art render credible or intelligible Let it suffice that I tell you in a word there is not this Day a Protestant in the Kingdom of Ireland that has a Gun to defend him a Horse to carry him a House to shelter him or Stock to sustain him except such as have been deluded or missing of a timely Escape necessitated to accept of Protections which will avail the unfortunate Compliers no longer
both Horse and Foot forthwith to deliver in to the next Magazine all their Arms and by this knack all those of the Church of England for no other were of the Militia were left naked and disarm'd Soon after the Justices of the Peace in the several Counties were required to take up all Arms from such as did not come to Church and to render them into the next Stores and by this Trick all the Dissenters were left utterly defenseless And now Popery began to be triumphant the Lord Deputy and his Privy-Council excepting a very few the Lord Chancellor and all the Judges except three the Attorney General and the Kings Serjeants the Justices of the Peace and Sheriffs in each County except in such Places where no Papists were to be had all violent and eager Promoters of the Romish Religion The Mass publickly Celebrated in every Town the Fryers marching in their Habits undisturbed the Army reform'd to their own Cue no Man Countenanced or made a Candidate for any Preferment but he that truckled to the See of rome the Charters of all Cities Towns and Corporations taken away or condemn'd and ignorant indigent scandalous and mean Persons obtruded upon them Titles to Estates began to be question'd and some unrighteous Judgments given and what else could be expected when Judges Jurors and Sheriffs were all of one Stamp The Protestants were daily abused and persecuted upon Sham Plots which never had an Existence or Foundation but in the Heads of their malicious Accusers and several Gentlemen were Imprison'd Indicted and Try'd for their Lives And Tyrconnel was heard to say to his Countrymen and as is reported by direction from his Lord and Master You have now the Sword in your Hands the King has given you your own Country to be the Refuge of Catholicks keep it now you have it and never suffer the damn'd Hereticks to possess it again In this Posture of Affairs was it not high time for the Protestants to look about them to consult their safety and by a timely Removal to avoid those imminent Dangers that threatned them They began indeed to be under dreadful Apprehensions and such as wisely foresaw the approaching Miseries and were in a Capacity to do it withdrew themselves their Families and Effects into England and Scotland by which means so great an Obstruction was made to the Circulation of Money that there follow'd a general decay of Trade through the Kingdom the Tenants were render'd unable to pay their Rents and the Landlords to subsist Nevertheless in all the Towns and Counties there were Multitudes who couragiously resolved to abide the Brunt and with a patient Resignation to expect a Day of Redemption from the Slavery whereunto they were subjected resolving to follow the Fate of England or hoping for seasonable Relief from them In the mean time the Prince of Orange having a tender regard to the gasping Condition of the Protestant Religion and condescending to assist the Nobility and Gentry of England in the their Rescue from Popery Slavery and Arbitrary Power the Lord Tyrconnel publickly gave out threatning Speeches that if the Prince did send any Forces thither he would raise and arm all the Irish from 16. to 60. and leave all the Protestants to their Mercy This proved a new and amazing Terror to the Protestants they plainly saw that if any Forces came from England to call the Papists to Account or to support them their Lives would be made a Sacrifice to the Fury and Revenge of the Enemy and that if none came to their Assistance they remain'd hourly exposed to Rapine Massacre and Murder this terrible Two-edged Consideration took such Impression on them that abundance of Men Women and Children withdrew themselves and abandon'd the Kingdom But about the beginning of December last a Letter was found without a Subscription directed to the Earl of Mont-Alexander giving him a friendly warning to take heed to himself and positively averring a determinate Design to Massacre all the Protestants through the Kingdom Man Woman and Child and this to be perpetrated precisely on the Ninth of December Copies of this Letter were immediately transmitted to Dublin and dispersed in all the adjacent Counties and it is as incredible to comprehend as it is impossible to express what Operation this had on the Minds of all People who being either Eye-witnesses of the horrid Cruelties committed by the Irish in the last Rebellion without the least relenting Compassion to Age or Sex or having received an indlible Impression of their Barbarous Actions from such as were Sufferers or Spectators of them they could by no Consideration or Arguments be rally'd into any Assurance or be perswaded to adventure their safety under an armed Power or continue among those whose Principles dispose them to the utter Extirpation of such as they account Hereticks Hereupon a vast number of People in great Precipitation removed into England with their Families especially from about Dublin leaving their Goods and Houshold-stuff behind them With some it had a contrary Effect and generally through the Province of Ulster the Inhabitants whereof began upon this Alarm to stand upon their Guard and to keep strong Wards and Watches resolving neither to fly nor be surprised though many things not known in other Parts contributed to their Conviction of the Reality of the intended Massacre as the voluntary Confessions of certain Priests in the County of Donegal who warn'd their Friends secretly to depart because there was a general Massacre design'd that the Priests were against it but had been over-voted by the Fryers The Evidence given to a Justice of the Peace in the County of London-Derry that one of their Titular Deans was buying up Horses and Arms and he declared that within two or three Years past he had laid out 500. l. in buying Arms and that he had bespoke as many Iron Chains to be Reins for Bridles as would serve Sixty Horse one of which Chains five yards long was deliver'd to the said Justice by the Smith that made it The Words spoken by Father Daly Guardian of the Fryery at Armagh who when he heard that the Prince of Orange was to land in England said publickly that they might thank their Devil of a King for this for is he had destroyed all the Protestants when it was in his Power they had not now call'd in the Dutch. But above all the Attempt of the Papists to possess London-Derry at that very nick of time turned the Suspicion into a confident Perswasion of the Truth of what was reported London-Derry was then by the Mercy of God and the Improvidence of the Deputy without any Garrison at all in it the Soldiers being a little before transported upon the Expedition into England and it falling so out that upon the very day when a Copy of the above-mention'd Letter was sent to that City namely the 7th of December the Earl of Antrim with a numerous Party of Highlanders and Irish was on his
March to Possess and Command that Place the Inhabitants looked upon the Advance of so many Papists on the 7th day to be the Prologue to the Tragedy intended to be acted on the 9th day and judging that if they were once admitted all the Ulster and Conaght Irish might draw thither and from thence diffuse themselves through the Province and with great Facility exterminate all the Protestants they by the Advice of a Gentleman in the Neighbourhood shut their Gates and kept them out and by his Conduct defended the Place till a Protestant Garrison was settled in it And now the Deputy began to exert his Art as before he had manifested his Tyrannical and Usurped Authority for considering that London-Derry was out of the Papists hands and that the Protestants in Ulster were very numerous he began to cajole and flatter them for he secretly gave out Commissions for raising of Thirty Regiments and having Circumvented the Lord Mountjoy with specious Pretences of Moderation and Peace and prevail'd with him to go on a Mock Embassy to King James then in France he condescended to certain Articles which carry'd a shew of Mildness and Equity but really were only a Mask to cover his Designs and to amuse the People and they were to this Effect 1st That no more Forces should be raised nor more Arms deliver'd out of the Stores 2dly That the new Levies should be dismiss'd 3dly That no Forces should be sent into Ulster 4thly That no Nobleman or Gentlemans House should be made a Garrison against his Will Which Stipulations the Deputy heartily swore to and assured by many direful Imprecations No sooner was the Lord Mountjoy gone who was made the messenger of his own Fate and carry'd Bellerophon's Letters with him but the Deputy proceeded to form a new Army and gave out Commissions for many Regiments of Horse Dragoons and Foot to he number of 40000. Men without any other Warrant than a bare Letter from his King empty'd all the Stores and Magazines and furnish'd the Soldiers with competent Arms incouraging the Women and Boys and the whole Rabble of People to provide Skenes and Half-Pikes and to live upon the Plunder of the Protestants and having no Pay to give among the new Levies each Captain undertook to give Subsistence to his Men in Beef and Meal for three Months and this they borrow'd from the Protestants daily robbing them at Noon day and carrying away their Sheep and Cattle in Flocks and Droves And when he had raised a formidable Army and very well knew how naked and defenseless the Protestants were having twice before Disarm'd them he began palpably to discover how exact and punctual Observer he intended to be of his Oaths and Promises and by the following Letters from Dublin you may see how he began to handle those that were in his Clutches SIR Dublin is surrounded for Thirty Miles about with Popish Forces newly raised and some of the standing Army all the Avenues to it are stopt and Guarded So that it is not possible to more or travel Five Miles without being stopt and examin'd and for the most part disarm'd dismounted an dpillaged The City is filled with Soldiers Troopers and Dragoons to the number of 30000. These are Quartered upon private Houses as well as publick and more expected dayly Most Protestants within Forty Miles of Dublin are pillaged robbed and disarm'd the Trees and Plantations cut down and themselves exposed to the Mercy of Tories Robbers and Servants who are now inlisted in the Army We believe they are so every where else but cannot have an accompt because all Letters are opened examined and stopt that brings any intelligence by the Government that does not please the Papists only by chance we hear from some places and find they are used like those nearer There is no Trade Business or Money stirring in Dublin but every body exposed to the Mercy and Insolence of Soldiers and when Complaint is made to the Government there is no redress or help all the Forces raised have no Money nor a possibility of being paid and therefore must be left to do as they do all at present to plunder and pillage whom they please when they have done in the Country and destroyed all as they have very near done already they will then fall a plundering the City which we dayly fear and expect By Order of the Lord Deputy the County of Meath and West-Meath are disarmed and their Horses taken from them they are doing the same in the County of Dublin They have marked all the Stables in Dublin and can take all their Horses in an hour and it 's hourly expected that they should disarm every Protestant which they will certainly do when they are a little stronger They are dayly Baking Bisket in the Castle for the March of an Army they have proveded as it is said Field pieces As soon as they have disarm'd Dublin it it like they will March into the North to subdue the Protestants there They in probability intend to surprize them and in order thereunto take up all Horses without regard to whom they belong nay they threaten not to leave so much as a Hackney by which means they may be able to set 10000 Men on Horseback and March as far as Ardmaugh or Newry in two or three days They stop all intercourses with the North both by Sea and Land and hope to come on them unawares It is therefore necessary for the Protestants in the North to be ready at a days warning to receive them to Guard well all the Passes of the Mountains and Fortify them as well as they can to make ready Provision of Meal and Ammunition for the Field and if no Ammunition be come to them to send Ships immediately and Money to bring it otherwise they may be upon them The Popish Army will have the whole Country from Ardmaugh to Dublin to supply them and they can have Ammunition and Provision come to them whent hey please and will not stay for them only so much as may be for present use They are bringing Gentlemen into Plots and Trying them upon Popish Oaths by Popish Judges and Juries so they have served Captain Philips of Mullingar and Mr. Bowen the Collector who are to be Tryed next Week at Mullingar and will probably be found Guilty and Executed This will only be a Leading Example to Try and Condemn other Gentlemen Every body able to remove is going from hence there is no body to Head the Protestants if there should be occasion There are Warrants against most of the considerable Men. People are so intermix'd and so near the Government that they dare not so much as meet much less discourse any thing appertaining to the Common safety If therefore the Protestants have no help from abroad their Ruin is unavoidable Feb. 22. 1688. SIR ALL the Streets in Dublin are beset with 16000 Men all their Houses are searched by Dragoons and all their Horses taken the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen went this day through the City Commanding all Protestants by four of the Clock to bring in their Arms to their Parish Church and if they left so much as a Bionet not brought in if upon search any were found That House should be exposed to the mercy of the Soldiers Dated Feb. the 25th 1688. The Protestants in Ulster taking notice of these Proceedings and truly judging that their destruction was approaching and that they could only expect Ulysses fate to be last be devoured they began to rouse themselves into some preparations to oppose a sudden surprize and with stour Hearts but weak Hands to assemble and stand upon their Guard and in the Eastern Counties of Down and Antrim to form an Association to raise Troops and Companies to secure the Frontiers and to prevent the Incursions of the Enemy But as their Preparations were hasty and now ay competent to their necessity so their Retreat was as precipitate and dissonant from their Resolutions The Deputy having got together a vast Army the Protestants in Dublin and the adjacent Counties being disarm'd and dismounted those in Munster and Conaght plunder'd and pillag'd of all their Goods Horses Sheep and Cattle he sent down a Body of 15000 Men into Ulster under the Command of rich Hamilton whom he constituted Lieutenant General of the Army and out of a design partly to terrifie and partly to delude the desponding Protestants who hitherto had kept up their Spirits in a daily expectation of Relief from England he made use of a Presbyterian Minister who had a great influence upon those of his Persuasion whose number in the North was very considerable and obliged him to write this following Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Massereen a strenuous Asserter of the Protestant Interest and by it the greatest Sufferer in that Province Copies whereof were immediately dispers'd thro the several Counties Loghbricklan March 9. 1688. My Lord ON the 6th instant I was introduced by my Lord Granard into my Lord Deputy's Presence in the Castle of Dublin I have his Pass to come and go through and back from Ulster and tho I have not his Excellencies direct Commission yet I will assure you I am at least permitted by the Lord Deputy to acquaint the Chief and others of those of the Ulster Association with his Discourse to me which was to the effect following to wit First That his Excellency doth not delight in the Blood and Devastation of the said Province but however highly resents their taking and continuing in Arms the affronts done by them to His Majesty's Government thereby and by some indignities done to the late Proclamation of Clemency issued and dated Secondly Notwithstanding whereof is willing to receive the said Province into Protection provided they immediately deliver up to his Army for His Majesty's use their Arms and serviceable Horses and provided they deliver up to his Excellency these three Persons viz. if they remain in the Kingdom and may be had Thirdly And for further manifestation of his Design to prevent Blood is willing to grant safe Conduct even to the said three Persons or any other of their Party to and from his Excellency and to and from Lieutenant-General Hamilton Commander of part of his Army hereafter mentioned if they intend any peaceable and reasonable Treaty But withal will not upon the said Account or any other stop the March of the said part of his Army no not for one hour and if it shall appear in such Treaty that they took up Arms meerly for Self-preservation then he will pardon even the said three Persons also but is hopeless that any such thing can be made appear seeing that many of them have already accepted and received Commissions from the Prince of Orange and display his Colours in the Field as his Excellency is credibly informed Fourthly If these terms be not immediately agreed to he will with a part of his Army fight them which part he intends shall be at Newry on Monday the 11th of this instant which will from thence march to Belfast and from thence to Colerane and Londonderry as his Excellency intends And that the Countrey Irish not of the Army Men Women and Boys now all Armed with Half-Pikes and Bionets in the Counties of Cavan Monagham Tyrone Londonderry c. will upon the approach of the said part of the Army and Resistance thereto made immediately enter upon a Massacre of the British in the said Counties which Force and Violence of the Rabble his Excellency saith he cannot restrain and fears it may be greater than in 1641. These are the Heads of what I can offer to you from his Excellency's own mouth but I intend to be at Hills-borough to night and there to stay for this night where if you think fit I shall fully discourse with you of all the particulars whereof I hope you will give immediate notice to all chiefly concerned in your County and Neighbourhood for gaining of time I have sent this Express that your Lordship may give Advertisement by Express to all such as your Lordship thinks convenient I shall add no further till I have the Honour to see your Lordship Your Lordship 's Obedient Servant Alex. Osborne Received the same Night at Antrim This Letter was received at Antrim the same Night and immediately the following Answer was returned by the Earl of Mount-Alexander Lord Massareen c. We declare the utter abhorrence of the effusion of Blood and that we will use all proper Means to avoid it but cannot consent to lay down our Arms which we were forced to take up for our own Defence nor to part with our Goods by any other than legal Means and that we are ready to appoint Persons to treat on each Heads as are consistent with the safety of our Religion Lives and Liberty Now to convince all Mankind that this specious Message sent by Mr. Osbourn dated March 9. 1688 who came with all speed from Dublin was only a Sham and Delusion plotted by the Deputy to amuse the poor Protestants and cast a Mist before their Eyes that they might not see their approaching Destruction Behold the Proclamation dated at Dublin March 7. 1688. wherein he had decreed the Ruin of Ulster and the exemption of so many Persons from Mercy By the Lord Deputy and Council March 22. 1688 / 9. TYRCONNELL WHereas several Persons in the Province of Ulster and the Town of Sligo in this His Majesties Kingdom have entred into several Associations containing no less Offence than High-Treason and therupon form'd themselves into several Parties Dividing Marshalling themselves into several Regiments Troops and Companies Marching well armed up and down the Country to the great Terror of the Kings Leige People in manifest breach of the Law and of the Peace of this Realm And having resolved within our selves to prevent the Effusion of Blood as long as it was possible by using all peaceable Means to reduce