A NARRATIVE OF THE Popish PLOT IN IRELAND FOR THE Murdering the PROTESTANTS There AND THE Introducing of POPERY and the Assistance they depended upon from ENGLAND Discovered by me James Carrol in the Year 1672. WITH An Account of my Sufferings for discovering the same LONDON Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Ally in Pater-noster-Row 1681. MARCH 25. 1681. ORDERED By Vote of the House of Commons That the Examination of Fitz-Harris and others taken by Sir George Treby be Printed Which accordingly this Informants Examination was taken before the said Sir George Treby as in the Title Page appears To the Right Honourable Arthur Earl of Essex Viscount Malden and Baron Capel of â—â—dham sometime since Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and lately one of His Majesties Privy-Council May it please you Lordship THAT zeal and unwearied diligence which your Honour has on all occasions demonstrated to preserve the Protestant Religion and prevent the still advancing Plots of bloody Papists has most justly rendred all English Protestants your Debtors and fill'd them with veneration for your name and person Were all Noble-men endued with a like prudence and integrity the popish plot had long since lost its Head and England been secured as with a Brazen Wall against all the malicious effects of Rome The Trojans of old had not been destroyed had they not trusted to Sinon's flatteries and admitted the fatal Horse cramb'd with treacherous Greeks within their Walls Nor can England and Ireland become enslaved to the Pope or any other Forrein power unless some of our own intrusted subordinately with the Administration of affairs clandestinely joyn with our open enemies But where Thieves keep the keys well may the house be rifled and if Wolves though in Sheeps-cloathing be once made Shepherds 't is not difficult to imagine what will become of the flock Nor can that Nation but be esteem'd in a condition deplorable and on the very precipice to wilful ruin where 't is a matter of greater hazard to discover Treasons than to contrive them The following Narrative will partly shew the figure which potent Papists have made for some years past in the Kingdom of Ireland and what influence they have had like malevolent Planets to blast and crush all that durst go about to detect their disloyal Hellish designs It will here appear that there hath been for many years a Treasonable Conspiracy carrying on in that Kingdom and that the Popish Irish were in an expecting readiness to give the blow and act over their Butcheries of 41 but with greater barbarity Only one thing there was that hindred viz. the Dutch a powerful Protestant State very powerful till some late Jesuitical designs weakned them must first be ruined So that it seems the project was general to root out and destroy all the Protestants throughout Europe for this declaration to me was made in the year 1672 a time when England and France were so hopefully united and vigorously engaged in a War with Holland and the same juncture when the never tobe forgotten Camp at Blackheath was on foot What Intervening accidents might make the Conspirators defer their rising in Arms or whether my making this discovery might not cause them to be more wary though through some peoples kind connivance it rendred them never the more disabled to have gone on I determine not 't is enough that as I knew it my duty to divulge it so although meerly for the same I have now past through a Nine-years Purgatory and am thereby reduced to poverty debt and great extremity yet were it still to do I would discharge my conscience though a Thousand Popish Lords were concern'd to be angry and I were sure not only to lose my Livelyhood but my Life likewise on that account At your Lordships feet I humbly lay these papers and presume to shelter them into the world under the patronage of your truly Honourable Name as well because your Lordship is so excellently qualified to judg of the truth of them by your great insight into the complexion of affairs and persons in Ireland which had the honour of having your Lordship for some too short time her Lord Lieutenant as in regard of my particular obligation that the same might remain as a publick testimony of my gratitude Your Lordships Most Humble and Fatithful Servant James Carroll ERRATA Pag. 3. l. 45. r. seven p. 5. l. 36. r. Hen. The Information of Mr. James Carroll Junior of the City of Dublin in the Kingdom of Ireland Spanish Leather-dresser and also a Freeman of the City of London an English Protestant born at New Castle upon Tyne the first Discoverer of the Horrible and Bloody Irish Plot against the Protestants of that Kingdom upon the 12th day of April Anno 1672. Taken upon Oath before the Right Worshipful Sir George Treby Knight Recorder of this Honourable City of London by His Majesties Order in Council THIS Informant saith That he together with James Carroll the elder this Informants Father having occasion to travel in the said Kingdom of Ireland to buy Wool Skins and other Commoditie relating to the Trade or Calling of this Informant did on the said 12th day of April Anno Dom. 1672. arrive at Portumna in the County of Gallway a Town belonging to William Burke Earl of Clanrickard and took up their Lodgings at the house of one Thomas Allen an Inn-keeper then living at the Sign of the Black-Spred Eagle in the said Town of Portumna which said Allen then was a Tenant or Steward unto the said Earl of Clanrickard and this Informant saith that the said Thomas Allen then and there falling into discourse with this Informant and his said Father supposing them to be Irish this Informant's said Father speaking the Irish Tongue did enquire of them what News there was abroad whereunto they answered that they had been travelling up and down the Country but heard no strange News whereupon he said to this Informant and his said Father in English as followeth If said he we have news that the Dutch are beaten whom we are in great hopes utterly to destroy for that 's the lâ—ght we must put out we have so good assurance not only from France but England too for there 's one we are sure will stick by us then my Lord Clanrickard will presently sound a Trumpet and I will go along with him and three or four score more of this Town well horsed and armed and every man five pounds in his Pocket and I hope I shall kill an hundred of the Protestants Anabaptists Independents and such like Phanatick Rogues before I am killed for I expect a Quarter-Masters place in the Troop that is here to be raised and I will have some of them upon the point of my Sword before the last of June and as for those that are here in this Country we will soon cut them off they shall have no help to come from the other side of the Brook meaning England for we have taken care
to prevent that by having an Embargo put on Shipping that none can come from thence to help them so that we shall be twelve to one and leave them neither root nor branch nor spare them as in their former Rising Whereto this Informant and his said Father answered and said This is strange news indeed whereupon the said Allen askt this Informant's said Father thus Why did not you hear what was spoken at Mass yesterday being Easter-Munday And the said Thomas Allen still continued to declare to the effect aforesaid furthermore cursing the English in a most horrid manner declaring their wicked and bloody designs against them And this Informant saith that upon his return from Portumna to Dublin aforesaid through his duty and allegiance to his Majesty and natural affection to his Country-men the Protestants of that Kingdom resolving to reveal and make known such the Treasonable and dangerous words of the said Thomas Allen did immediately repair to one Dr. Topham a Master in Chancery before whom the Informant did upon his corporal Oath declare and make the same known and saith that presently after this Informant was sent for and did accordingly appear before the Lord Berkley his Majesties then Lord Lieftenant and the Council at Dublin and by them examined touching the Premises which this Informant again confirmed upon three several Examinations before the said Lord Lieftenant and Council and after that this Informant was sent for before Sir Robert Booth Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas at Dublin and by him ingaged to prosecute the said Thomas Allen for the said Treasonable and dangerous words And this Informant saith that soon after this Examination aforesaid a certain English man who as this Informant was informed had been an old Souldier or Officer and lived in or about the County of Wicklow in Ireland whose name this Informant hath forgot came also before the said Lord Lieftenant and Council and there upon his corporal Oath declared that there were some certain Irish-men about the time of the said Thomas Allen's Speeches offered him a Commission to raise men and also to impower him to give Commissions for that purpose to whom he should think fit and advised him to get all the assistance he could and told him he should be supplied with money to carry on the business and they should be in a readiness within twelve days then next following for that they expected about that time to rise and be up in Arms against the Protestants in Ireland and saith that about three Weeks or a Month after all the said English-mans Stock Cattle Goods and Substance were taken from him whereby he was ruined and quite undone And although the said English-man Petitioned the Lord Lieftenant and Council for relief in such his distressed condition yet could he not obtain any relief as the said English-man declared and told this Informant who since that time could never see him or hear any thing of him And this Informant saith that being as aforefaid engaged by the said Lord Chief Justice Booth to prosecute the said Thomas Allen a Pursevant was accordingly sent for the said Thomas Allen but he could not be found and immediately after this Informant saw the said Allen and the Earl of Clanrickard together in the said Earls Coach come into Dublin where the said Earl appeared with the said Allen as his assistant and the said Allen together with this Informant presently appeared before the said Lord Lieftenant and Council and by them was examined concerning the said Treasonable words and Speeches so by the said Allen spoken as aforesaid all which the said Allen denied and also denied that this Informant or his said Father was or were at the house of him the said Thomas Allen or in Portumna at the time aforesaid whereupon this Informant being again examined in the said Thomas Allen's presence did again confirm the truth of the Premises and then also proved that this Informant and his said Father were the 12th of April in the house of the said Thomas Allen in the Town of Portumna And this Informant the better remembers it to be on the day and year aforesaid for that he had a Bond which was then and there sealed and delivered to this Informants use where Simon Allen a Brother to the said Thomas Allen had set his name as a witness And upon this Informants then producing the said Bond and shewing the same to the said Thomas Allen he could not deny the hand-writing of his said brother Thereupon the said Lord Lieutenant and Council declaring they were very well satisfied of the truth of this Informants evidence did press and importune the said Thomas Allen to make an open and ingenuous confession of the whole truth of the matter telling him if he did not confess it would be worse for him But the said Thomas Allen notwithstanding obstinately persisting in his said denial was by the Lord Lieutenant and Council ordered to stand committed close prisoner without Bail or Mainprise and so commanded the Gaoler to take him away Nevertheless the said Thomas Allen was the very same day by the prevalency interest means and procurement of the said Earl of Clanrickard or otherwise set at liberty upon his giving his own security of One-hundred pounds penalty personally to appear within ten days next after notice should be given for that purpose to be left at the house of one Thomas Lowe scituate in St. Thomas Street in Dublin before the Lord Lieutenant and Council and not to depart without license And this Informant further saith That some short time after this Informant and his said Father having further occasion to travel in the said County of Galway they came to the River Shannan where the wind being very high it was late before the Ferry-boat could pass them over to the said Town of Portumna where they arrived on a Saturday in the evening but finding the inhabitants there to gaze upon them and draw tumultuously together conceived it altogether unsafe to lodge there and therefore altho' they were both very wet and weary did rather chuse to travel four miles further to a lone house on the road to Loughreak and six miles short of Loughrea whither they intended that night to have gone had they not been prevented by the delay of the Ferry-boat as aforesaid and the next morning being Sunday about eleven a clock in the morning they came to Loughrea wherethey rested that day and night and yet at or by the instigation of the said Earl of Clanrickard and Thomas Allen or others his Accomplices the Constable of Loughrea and several other persons with him came very early the next morning being Monday to the house where this Informant and his said Father lodged that night in Loughrea aforesaid and there very rudely throwing open the Chamber-dore frightned them out of their sleep and there by virtue of a Warrant from one Iames Donnallan then a Steward also to the said Earl of Clanrickard a
present at the said Tryal brought in a Verdict against this Informant for two thousand pounds Damages and six pence cost upon which the said Earl hath since in Dublin obtained a Judgment against this Informant for the same to his utter Ruine the said Earl being a dangerous Papist of great power in Ireland and as this Informant is credibly informed he then was and still is Admiral of the Irish Seas belonging to Galloway under the Duke of York and it was then reported he was to be Governor of Galloway in the Year 1672. And this Informant further saith That at Galloway the same day after the Tryal was over he was endeavoured withal to be perswaded to submit himself to the said Earl and to declare what he had done was at the instigation of some others as being his only way to be safe and that the Earl would then pay him his Charges and discharge him of the said Verdict which he only obtained for his credit And it was then also added by John Carrol Clerk of the Crown that otherwise Let this Informant return to Dublin which way he would there were those Related to the said Earl would wait to do his Business for him Whereunto this Informant replyed That he never was put on by any one That what he had declared was no more than what the said Thomas Allen had said and that if it was to do again he would do it looking upon it a duty incumbent upon every good Subject and that he would take the best care of himself he could in returning home trusting in God to preserve him from such as sought unjustly to do him hurt And to that purpose finding himself often threatened and many times abused in Galloway he was forced together with his said Father to get thence by Night and forsake the common Road and to go all the by-ways they could to secure their lives they having since been credibly informed that they were pursued by seven Persons near sixty miles to have done them mischief and lately this Informant was credibly informed that there was a Life-Guard man hired to kill him upon the Earl of Clanrickard's account at Dublin Furthermore In November 1678. the said Earl of Clanrickard understanding that this Informant and his said Father had made a Relation of their great sufferings by the said Earls unjust Prosecutions and the great charges and damages they had thereby sustained he the said Earl on the thirtieth of November took out Writs of one thousand pounds out of the Kings Bench against this Informant and his said Father and by virtue of the same Arrested his said Ancient Father and there most inhumanely abused him and laid him in Prison from the Thirtieth of November till the expiration of two Terms before an appearance could be allowed of in the Kings Bench and also another Writ out of the Common Pleas of one thousand pounds laid upon this Informant's said Father which occasioned his Imprisonment until the twelfth of May following to the great charge of this Informant And this Informant further saith That one Burke a Steward or Agent unto the said Earl of Clanrickard declared to his face that he would be the death of this Informant if he could conveniently light on him and to accomplish in part his bloody Resolution did so severely strike this Informants Wife who was the Daughter of Captain Thomas Ellis Merchant of the City of Bristol that from that time she lay in a languishing Condition until she dyed being the Second of November 1680. it being in the house of this Informant that he committed the said Assault he the said Burke bringing Bayliffs and sub Sheriffs Officers eight in number to assist him and this Informant by great Providence escaped from them and since for several months they have been seen to watch for him insomuch that he durst not appear or converse with any fearing his Life or perpetual Imprisonment by the said Earl or his Confederates until he made his escape for England to make known his grievances Two years since also this Informant was set upon by several Papists near the City of Dublin and received Wounds but narrowly escaped his life by Gods Providence and the said Earl for further vexation hath lately fyled a large Declaration in the Common-Pleas stuft with many false suggestions containing near three Skins of Parchment it being an Action of Slander grounded upon the Statute made at Gloucester in the second year of Richard the Second and laid to this Informants said Fathers charge damages to the value of One thousand pounds to which the Defendant pleaded the General Plea Not Guilty and then there was no further prosecution as by the Records may plainly appear Whereupon this Informant and his said Father presented several Petitions unto the Lord Lieutenant and Council at Dublin about September last representing and setting forth their damages and the vexatious Suits brought against them for many years passed and prayed that the before mentioned Thomas Allen might be sent for and the Earl of Clanrickard living in Dublin and that we might be ordered to appear and prove these Treasonable Words which the said Allen spoke and have satisfaction and thereupon we might be dismissed from those unjust Prosecutions from the said Earl of Clanrickard but nothing would be done save leaving them to the Common Law whereas this Informant and his Father being so ruinated as aforesaid are not now in a capacity to prosecute or desend themselves against the said Earl of Clanrickard he being a near Relation to the Duke of Ormond About the twelfth day of May 1680. one Mr. Robert Downing came to this Informants House and shewed him a Paper written which was as he said by the Earls Order viz. That if this Informant and his said Father would give under their Hands and Seals that they do verily believe in their Consciences that the said Earl of Clanrickard was not any ways guilty of the Things spoken of him in the Affidavit against the said Thomas Allen that then the said Earl would forbear all further proceedings and discharge them from all things past by sealing mutual Releases to each other But this Informant refusing so to do declared he had good grounds to believe to the contrary and did hope in time to have satisfaction for the great damages he sustained by the said Earl of Clanrickard One Robert Potts sworn before two Justices of the Peace the fourteenth of April 1679. and declared he heard one John Venge a Gunsmith of Portumna say That he had fixed up for the said Earl five hundred Fire-Arms about five or six years since and that he had a great many more to fix up for the said Earl and that the said Gunsmith and his men with Forge and Tools did work in the Castle of Portumna belonging to the said Earl This Informant Petitioned the Lord Lieutenant and Council for a Copy of Potts Affidavit and some other Copies he thought necessary but the Clerk of
the Council said my Lord would not grant them And this Informant further saith that in the Year 1678. there were Proclamations to disarm Papists in Ireland and banish Popish Priests Jesuits and Fryars c. And this Informant hath been credibly informed that several Papists c. having not obeyed the said Proclamations have been seized on but producing Licenses from the Lord Lieutenant have been discharged and set at liberty insomuch that the said City and Country swarms with them and that there are several Irish and French Officers lately come into Ireland Papists and by the names of Collonels Majors Captains c. Nor were any Officers permitted to search the said Earls Castle or seize any Arms to him belonging being prohibited so to do as follows By the Lord Lieutenant-General and General Governour of Ireland Ormond FOR Reasonâ— best known to us We think fit hereby expresly to w 〈…〉 and require all his Majesties Officers and Souldiers whatsoever whom it may concern to forbear searching for or seizing upon any of the Arms belonging to our very good Lord William Earl of Clanrickard Given under our hand this 26th of Novemb. 1678. William Ellis And this Informant further saith That by the unjust Prosecutions which followed his honest discovery he is damnified above 1000. l. ster besides the loss of his Trade and was forced to sell an Estate of 100. l. per annum in defending his innocency and preserving his life and liberty and paying his just Debts contracted by the continual prosecutions of the said Earl or his Agents whereby this Informant and his said Evidence are utterly ruined by the never to be forgotten unkindness or rather apparent injustice of the said Justice Oliver Jones in fuffering the said Venire to be altered as aforesaid and that now this Informant is so much impoverished being forced to leave his Trade and habitation that he hath not wherewithal to help himself neither doth he know any place of safety but has incurred the displeasure of many and being in great danger fears he shall be destroyed as others have been for declaring the truth all which the before-mentioned premises this Informant hath received and endured by and through the means of the said unjust and notorious prosecutions of the Earl of Clanrickard these Eight years past which hath created great discouragements to many and stifles discoveries of Treasons coming to their mind and knowledg since the yeer 1672. Jurat 7th die February Anno Dom. 1680. Coram me Geo. Treby Recorder This Informant further saith that what he did in discovering of the said Treasonable words was out of sense of his duty to God and for the preservation of the Protestants there nor could he then in the least imagine by such a proceeding to be uttterly ruined as appears by the Depositions aforesaid Another Inducement of his discovery was the bloody Massacre that broke forth there in the year 1641. which will never be forgotten by the Protestants nor ever be repented of by the Papists And that notwithstanding the present apprehensions of great danger from the discovered Plot there are in and about the City and Suburbs of Dublin divers Mass-houses publickly frequented by Hundreds and Thousands connived at although several Proclamations have been issued out against them Again Had not this Information been fully and clearly proved to the Lord Lieutenant and Council he this Infoâ—â—â—â—t would certainly have been by them severely and deservedly punished But let all moderate Protestants and true English men consider the calamity that this Informant and his Father have suffered in making the said discovery and the necessity he is reduced to for so doing for all the proccedings have been as you may observe managed against him with that cruelty and injustice the Earl of Clanrickard shewing his implacable wrath and malicious hatred to all English Protestants as he hath in the former Rebellion given sufficient demonstrations of his bloody-mindedness towards the English Protestants in all parts when old Vlick Earl of Clanrickard living in the beginning of the Rebellion in Portumna and sometimes at Loughred did endeavour to save some of the English Protestants and commanded his Nephew the present Earl so to do but the new Earl refused to obey his Unckle old Vlick but went to the Army of the Rebels and instead of being kind to the Protestants and English he most cruelly handled them in all parts wheresoever he found them and was always found to be most cruel and unmerciful in the time of the Massacre and Rebellion and so hath continued ever since upon all occasions as you may see in his late passages concerning this Informant Many other cruel and unjust actions in that County hath he done to many of the English since he was restored especially to a Gentleman of Quality and a Justice of peace in that County because he lived in an Abby which stood upon Land that he bought with his money and refused to give it to Popish Clergy and Fryars they made the Earl to begin a Suit against the said Gentleman to his ruin by hiring Witnesses to testifie for the Earl the said Judg Jones was the Judg for the said Earl who never makes any scruple to give judgment against a Protestant which all English and Protestants have reason to take notice of FINIS
Papist but yet a Justice of the Peace living near Loughrea seized this Informant and his said Father upon a pretence that they travelled on the Sabbath or Lords day whereas several of the Inhabitants there travelled and came all that Sabbath-day into Loughrea with their Carts and Horses Loaden from Athlone Faire Twenty Miles distant from Loughrea and yet none of these inhabitants were any ways troubled or molested for their so travelling on the same Sabbath day And the said Constable and those persons with him then also seized and took away a Case of Pistols and two Swords belonging to this Informant and his said Father then lying on the Table in their Chambers and said this Informant and his Father intended to kill some body with the Pistols and Swords whenas in truth they only carried the same about with them for their own defence And this Informant nor his said Father could never get their said Pistols or Swords restored again to them And the said Constable and those other persons then with him as aforesaid having seized and forced this Informant and his said Father out of their bed did also then force them to travel six miles to one Dean Peirse a Justice of the Peace and Minister living at that distance from Loughrea and the said Justice of the Peace or Minister reproving this Informant and his said Father for such their travelling on the said Sabbath-day told them withall That he had heard they had given in evidence against the said Earl of Clanrickard and thereupon committed this Informant and his said Father to the Gaol at Loughrea aforesaid whither he commanded the Constable to carry them and gave him private directions as this Informant knows because he overheard him that no bail should be taken for them or either of them altho' he the said Justice or Minister just before pretended to this Informant and his said Father that they might give bail And this Informant further saith That he and his said Father being accordingly carried by the said Constable and those with him into the said Gaol in Loughrea were by the instigation prevalency and directions as aforesaid there kept close prisoners for about five or six days and by the Keepers of the said Gaol denied and not suffered to have any bed to lye on but only the ground in the said Gaol wherein they were so kept nor any clothes to cover them save only their own wearing clothes on their backs and altho' they earnestly requested to have some sheepskins-brought to cover them from the cold yet could they not obtain leave to have the same done neither would the said Keeper having receiv'd such directions as aforesaid suffer any Friend to come into or near the said Gaol or Prison to speak with or do any thing for this Informant or his said Father or to bring them any relief or suffer them to have any victuals or drink neither had they any whilst they continued there but what they could privately get of the poor prisoners in the same prison And altho' this Informant just as he and his said Father were so brought to and going into the said Gaol did employ an English man a person living in Loughrea and gave him money and lent him this Informants Horse to convey or carry a Letter from this Informant and his said Father to Galloway but Fourteen Miles from Loughrea yet within an hour or two after fearing the Earl of Clanrickard's displeasure being as this Informant hath great cause to believe charged by some or other of the Earls Agents or Tenants there at his Perril as he told me not to convey or carry the said Letter did return this Informant his money again and said that the said Constable Christopher Poor by name and a Popish Constable in Loughrea told him the said person that if he should carry the said Letter or any other ways appear to do any thing for this Informant or his said Father that the said Earl of Clanrickard would ruin him and his Family And the better to colour the said malicious and injurious prosecutions against this Informant and his said Father several persons by such instigations and prevalencies as aforesaid were procured to report that this Informant's said Father had a design to burn the said Town of Loughrea and that besides the said Information against this Informant and his said Father for such their travelling as aforesaid on the Sabbath-day there would be seven or eight other Indictments preferred and prosecuted against them at the then Galloway Assizes and in such Condition this Informant and his said Father lay in the said Goal or Prison in Loughrea aforesaid for some considerable time and perhaps might there have layn if not destroy'd or famish't before by their cruel usages had not this Informant through a Window of the said Prison accidentally seeing a stranger riding by conveyed to him a Letter directed to some friends of theirs then living in Galloway where by such means the said Letter was received and understanding thereby such the sad Condition of this Informant and his said Father their said friends did presently make application to the Judges of the Assizes then sitting there at Galloway and of them obtained an Order for the removal of this Informant and his said Father thither And they being by the said Keepers of the said Goal thereupon brought to Galloway at night late were put in the vilest Prison in that Town amongst the condemned Malefactors and without any accommodation at all and the next morning they were brought before the said Judges Baron Heu and Judg Cusack in the Court of Assizes they then sitting where an Indictment was then preferred and read against this Informant and his said Father for such their travelling as aforesaid on the Sabbath-day and another malicious Indictment was then also preferred there and read against this Informant's said Father whereby it was charged That he as before which was most falsly and maliciously reported had a design to burn Loughrea And to the first of the said Indictments this Informant and his said Father upon the Courts demand submitted and to the last this Informants said Father put in his Traverse and altho' no prosecutors or witnesses then appeared against either of them yet were they ordered to give One thousand pounds Security not to depart the said Town of Galloway without leave of the said Court and some time after on the last day of the said Assizes they were ordered by the said Court to give and accordingly did give new Security to appear there again at the next Assizes and to keep the peace and be of good behaviour in the mean time and having given security and the said Assizes being ended they then repaired to Dublin which is about one hundred miles from Galloway and from thence were forced to repair back again at the next Assizes accordingly to Galloway to their great trouble and charge and when they came there none appeared to maintain