respective Lieutenants tho' very unwillingly whereupon Major Jones one of the Agents declined the Voyage rather than remove his Company and so His Majesties Letter of the Twenty seventh of February arriving on the Twenty ninth of March whereby Sir Charles Coot 1644. and Captain Parsons were Licensed to attend His Majesty with the rest of the Agents they had Sealed Letters of Recommendation to Secretary Nicholas and took Ship the Second of April and came to Oxford the Seventh and on the Eighth kissed the Kings hand and presented their Petition which is to be found at large Burlace Appendix pag. 62. setting forth That the Irish Rebellion was raised out of Detestation to his Blessed Government and for rooting out the Protestant Religion and for dispossessing His Majesty of that Kingdom without the least occasion given by His Majesty or his Protestant Subjects c. upon reading whereof the King was pleased to say THAT HE KNEW THE CONTENTS OF THE PETITION WAS TRUTH AND THAT IT COULD NOT BE DENIED and thereupon it was thus indorsed His Majesty being very sensible of the Petitioners Losses and Sufferings is ready to hear relieve them AS THE EXIGENCY OF HIS AFFAIRS WILL PERMIT and wisheth the Petitioners to propose what they think fit in particular for His Majesties information and the Petitioners remedy and future Security The King also told them That the Irish protested upon their Salvations to him that at first the Conspiracy was not General but that those of the Pale were forced into Rebellion by the Governours of Ireland and that if the Parliament had permitted him to go into Ireland when he desired he doubted not but he should soon have suppressed the Rebellion But the Agents to leave nothing undone that might justly advance their Cause did take Notice of the false and Scandalous Remonstrance of the Confederates from Trim as they called it which being Printed by Thomas Burk the Irish Printer at Waterford with His Majesties Arms affixed thereon was now with Ostentation and Insolence published at Oxford and they made so smart an Answer thereunto as was beyound Reply both which Remonstrance and Answer are in Substance recited Appendix 5. and 6. they also together with that Answer 27 April 1644. presented unto the King the Proposals mentioned Appendix 21. These Writings were referr'd by the King to the Committee for Irish Affairs some of which were so disaffected to the Protestants of Ireland that they said The Proposals were drawn by the Close Committee at London and they wonder'd His Majesty would receive such a Mutinous Petition But the Petitioners were Men of Courage and would not be easily daunted 30 April they went next day to the Lord Cottington Chief of the Committee and prayed a Copy of the Irish Proposals He made strange of it as if he knew no such thing and told them That they meant the Irish Remonstrance They replied That was in Print and common and they did not mean It but they meant the Irish Propositions His Lordship told them If any such were it was â—it they should have a Copy but that he knew of no such thing altho' he really was present at the Committee April 19. when those propositions were read and by him and the rest with Charge of inviolable Secresie given to Sir William Stewart and the other Commissioners from the Council Hereupon the Agents address'd themselves to Sir William Stewart and the other Commissioners from the Council of Ireland desiring them to get them Audience from the King before Matters went too far in the Treaty and to obtain a Copy of the Irish Demands To which the next day Sir George Ratcliff return'd answer That they had acquainted the Lords of the Committee with the Desires of the Agents and that they were offended that the Agents should be so forward in prejudicating His Majesty's Justice and Theirs and that they should be heard before the Conclusion of the Treaty The next day being the First of May the Agents were sent for to the Committee and their Instructions and Proposals and the Order of Concurrence of the Irish House of Commons being read the Earl of Bristol told them That the King and the Committee were sensible of the prejudicate Opinion the Agents had of their Justice in pressing to be heard and by their belief of vulgar Reports but that the Agents could not be more careful of the Protestants Persons and Religion than they were The Agents replied That if they had erred in pressing to be heard it proceeded from their Zeal to the Service and for the Preservation of that Remnant of poor Protestants that intrusted them and out of a desire His Majesty and their Lordships might be rightly informed of their past Sufferings and present Calamities and desired to be admitted to Proof of Particulars Hereupon they were ordered to withdraw and being afterwards call'd in again they were commanded to subscribe their Propositions which they did and then were ordered to attend the Primate Usher the Bishop of Downe Sir George Ratcliff c. in the Afternoon which they did and were told by them how offensive the Heighth and Unreasonableness of their Proposals were and that the Committee sent them the Message mentioned Appendix 21 to which they immediately return'd the Answer there likewise recited Hereupon Sir George Ratcliff told them That whilst they continued so high in their Demands they must expect nothing but War They answer'd They were ill provided for it but would rather run the hazard of it than have a dishonorable and destructive Peace and that they could not make farther Alterations in their Proposals without betraying their Trust Sir George replied That if they would abate Three parts of them he was sure the Fourth part would not be granted them That they were sent to preserve the Protestants but that if the Irish Agents return'd without a Peace they would destroy the Remainder of the Protestants since the King was not in a Condition to help them and therefore desired the Agents to think of some way of securing them They answered That there were Five Months of the Cessation unexpir'd within which Time Means of Relief may be found and if not it were better to quit Ireland for a time than to make a destructive Peace Then Sir George asked How the English should get out of Ireland They said By keeping the Irish Agents in England till it is done He replied That he would rather advise the King to lose Ireland than break His Faith with the Irish Agents who came to Treat with Him upon His Word and that it was not likely if the Irish had not good Conditions of Peace that they would forbear Arms till the end of the Cessation On the next day the Agents gave Secretary Nicholas a new Set of Propositions to the same effect with the former only a little more moderate to be presented to the King But on the Seventh of May Sir William Saintleger being come to Oxford told the
set up and practised And that the Mayor and Aldermen with a multitude of others of the said Corporation were present countenancing and abetting the said Traiterous Excommunication and Declaration and do yet countenance and abett the same by entertaining relieving and cherishing the Contrivers and Publishers thereof Which by the Laws in force in this Land is High-Treason Fifthly That in the said Month of September last or in the Month of October the Captain of the Guards of that Town commonly called the Captain of the Young Men ☜ did make Search for us in the said Town as after a Criminal Person or Fugitive thereby endeavouring to bring Scorn and Contempt upon us and His Majesty's Authority placed in us Lastly There were divers Sums of Money put aboard the Ship called The Seven Stars to be Transported out of the Kingdom without License there were Fells and divers other Commodities unentred in the Custom-House for which Goods no Custom was paid to His Majesty which were sufficient grounds to cause the said Ship and Goods to be seized on the Goods belonging to Merchants of Limerick and Galway as was acknowledged in Letters from the Mayors of both Corporations desiring restitution For as much of this as concerns us we have answered in our Answer to the Declaration of the Bishops and shall onely add That we are neither by the Articles of Peace to accompt for Monies spent nor to bring any Receiver to accompt but that Power is in the Commissioners by the 28th Article of the Peace Here again they take upon them to declare the Sense of the People without Authority from them We acknowledge our self no fit Person in any Event of War to agree with the Enemy for the People committed by His Majesty to Our Government without License from His Majesty Touching the ways advised by them for preservation of the Nation it is also referred by us unto the Consideration of the Assembly we being disabled by the Practices before set down to act any thing towards it in the way of Opposition to the Enemy But where they say they never intended to hinder Assemblies or give Law to the People it is plain that they declared the People were not longer to obey our Orders who onely even by the Articles of Peace bad Power to call an Assembly And if to give and take away Governours at their pleasure from the People as these Men have done be not to give Law to them it is yet the highest Prerogative exercised by the Kings and States of the World And if they can no otherwise than by assuming this Power endeavour to defend the Altars and Souls trusted to them the World hath long wanted the Example given by them and the Apostles and Primitive Bishops and Fathers of the Church have been wanting in Example and Precept To this we willingly submit For we never intended to hinder Assemblies or to give Law to the People All we endeavoured was to defend the Altars and Souls entrusted to us As we are of Opinion the Souldiers will follow the Marquess of Clanrickard and the People obey him so will we contribute our best Endeavours to that effect We further give assurance hereby That if a Free and Lawful Assembly upon due Consideration of their own State and Condition shall find it the best way for their safety and preservation to make Agreement with the Enemy as we intend never by the Grace of God to grant away from us by an affirmative Assent our Churches and Altars if forc'd from us we are blameless So will we not hinder the People from compounding with the Enemy for the safety of their Lives and Estates when no way of Defence is appearing though upon such Agreement we see that we alone shall probably be the Losers of Sees Estates Churches Altars Immunities and Liberties But in such Contracts with the Enemy if any shall happen which God avert we shall pray and conjure the Catholicks of Ireland that that of the Maccabees be Recorded of them to future Ages Erat enim pro Uxoribus Filiis itemque pro fratribus cognatis minor Sollicitudo Maximus vero primus pro Sanctitate timor erat Templi This is the Answer delivered unto us the Fifth of this Instant November by the Bishops of Killalla Fearns Killmacduogh Clonfert Kilfenora and Dromore after several Conferences upon the Proposals made unto them at Galway the 7th of November 1650. SIGNED Gerald Fennell Richard Belling Jeffery Brown Lucas Dillon Rich. Everard Rich. Barnewall After this there was nothing left for the Lord-Lieutenant to hope or expect any Good from except the approaching Assembly to which on the Sixteenth of November he wrote an Exhortation to Unity and Obedience but finding as he suspected that the Influence of the Clergy over them would keep them from doing any thing to the purpose he prepared for his Voyage and sent his Goods and Servants on Ship-board and on the Second of December from Kilcolgan wrote them a long and excellent Letter in his own Vindication containing most of these Transactions and concluding thus WE desire that when you find we are any thing sharper in our Expressions than suits with the Respects you have to these Prelates and other Clergymen you would then likewise consider the provocation they have given us And that as to compass their ends they have not forborn falsely to charge us with the highest Crimes imaginable and with the greatest Defects and Failings that can render a Man of our Condition and Profession contemptible so it was in our own Defence necessary for us to shew that this Judgment was not given of us by a grave Congregation of Advised Temperate and Loyal Persons but by Factious Rash Violent and Disloyal Men assembled without Authority transported with Spleen Arrogance and Ambition taking advantage of the ill success themselves are guilty of to declare things contrary to Truth and contrary to the Sence and Desire of many learned and pious Men of their own Profession that are born down and awed by their Tyranny the Truth and Justification of which Judgment is disavowed by some who are mentioned in the Subscription as being obtruded on them by the Major Vote or done by their Procurators without their Assent or Knowledge To conclude We profess to the World that we have a high Reverence to and Esteem of the Character of Episcopacy even where we dissent from the Doctrine taught by those that bear it But if they shall lay aside the Ingenuity the Moderation the Charity becoming their Function nay the Humanity and Civility becoming Men and that to our personal Defamation we conceive we may detect the Faults of the Persons and yet retain our Respect to the Function And indeed his Excellency had reason for his Resentments of the Factious Deportment of the Popish Clergy for notwithstanding their expressions of Loyalty Omnem Operam adhibuerant Prelati ut ad pristinam redirent Federationem sine dependentia
REX ET REGINA BEATI HONI · SOIT · QVI · MAL · Y · PENSE · R. White scul Printed for Ioseph Watts in S t Pauls Church Yard HIBERNIA ANGLICANA OR THE HISTORY OF IRELAND From the Conquest thereof by the ENGLISH To this Present Time WITH An Introductory Discourse touching the Ancient State of that Kingdom and a New and Exact Map of the same PART I. By RICHARD COX Esq Recorder of Kingsale Ardua res est vetustis novitatem dare obsoletis nitorem obscuris lucem dubiis fidem Plin. Attamen audendum est veritas investiganda quam si non omnino Assequeremur tamen propius ad eam quam nunc sumus tandem perveniemus LONDON Printed by H. Clark for Ioseph Watts at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIX TO THEIR Most Excellent Majesties WILLIAM AND MARY By the Grace of God King and Queen OF England Scotland France and Ireland Defenders of the Faith c. May it please Your Majesties I Should not presume to lay this Treatise at Your Royal Feet but that it concerns a Noble Kingdom which is one of the most considerable Branches of Your Mighty Empire It is of great Advantage to it that it is a Subordinate Kingdom to the Crown of England for it is from that Royal Fountain that the Streams of Justice Peace Civility Riches and all other Improvements have been derived to it Campion 15. so that the Irish are as Campion says beholding to God for being conquered Davis 2. And yet Ireland has been so blind in this Great Point of its true Interest that the Natives have managed almost a continual War with the English ever since the first Conquest thereof so that it has cost Your Royal Predecessors an unspeakable Mass of Blood and Treasure to preserve it in due Obedience But no Cost can be too great where the Prize is of such Value and whoever considers the Situation Ports Plenty and other Advantages of Ireland will confess That it must be retained at what rate soever because if it should come into an Enemy's Hands England would find it impossible to flourish and perhaps difficult to subsist without it To demonstrate this Assertion it is enough to say That Ireland lies in the Line of Trade and that all the English Vessels that sail to the East West and South must as it were run the Gauntlet between the Harbours of Brest and Baltimore And I might add That the Irish Wool being transported would soon ruine the English-Clothing-Manufacture Hence it is that all your Majesties Predecessors have kept close to this Fundamental Maxim Of retaining Ireland inseparablely united to the Crown of England And though King Henry II may seem to deviate from this Rule by giving the Kingdom to his Son John yet this is to be said for him That he thought the Interest and Expectations his Son had in England would be security enough against his Defection and the rather because he could not then keep Ireland without continual Aids and Supplies from hence However this very Example was thought so dangerous that Ireland was never given away since that time except once by Henry the Third and then only to the Prince who was his Heir apparent and on this express Condition Ita quod non separetur a Corona Angliae I do not mention that unaccountable Patent to Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland not only because there was a Tenure by Homage reserved so that it was not a total Alienation and because it was but for Life and cum mixto Imperio but chiefly because it never took effect so that it was but Vmbratilis Honor cito evanuit But it is needless to tell your Majesties That Ireland must not be separated from England or to solicit your speedy Reduction of that Kingdom since the loss of it is incompatible with Your Glory and to suffer the Ruin of four hundred thousand Irish Protestants meerly for their adherence to Your Majesties and their Religion is inconsistent with your Goodness But in Truth the Recovery of Ireland was not proper for Your Majesty's Undertaking until it became difficult beyond the Hopes of others any Body can do easie things but it is Your Majesty's peculiar Talent to atchieve what all the rest of the World think Impossible Your Majesty did so in buoying up a sinking State and restoring it to a more Glorious Condition than ever it was in before And Your Majesty did so again in retrieving from Ruine two expiring Kingdoms that were at their last Gasp and the Recovery of the third is all that remains to consummate your Glory and make You the Darling both of Fame and of Fortune And when that is done Madam the bright Example of your Majesty's Virtue and Piety will influence that degenerate Nation to such a degree of Reformation and Religion as will restore that Kindgdom to its ancient Appellation and Ireland will again be called Insula Sacra That Your Majesty's Glorious Designs for the Advantage of England and the Recovery of Ireland for the Propagation of the Protestant Religion and for the Good of Mankind may be blessed with Success suitable to Your Majesty's Generous and Pious Intentions And that Your Majesties long and happy Reign here may be crowned with Everlasting Happiness hereafter shall be the fervent as well as daily Prayers of May it please Your Majesties Your Majesties most Dutiful most Loyal and most devoted Subject R. COX TO THE READER SInce Ireland is reckoned among the Principal Islands in the World and deserves to be esteemed so whether you consider the Situation of the Country the Number and Goodness of its Harbours the Fruitfulness of the Soil or the Temperature of the Climate it is strange that this Noble Kingdom and the Affairs of it should find no room in History but remain so very obscure that not only the Inhabitants know little or nothing of what has passed in their own Country but even England a Learned and Inquisitive Nation skilful beyond comparison in the Histories of all other Countries is nevertheless but very imperfectly informed in the Story of Ireland though it be a Kingdom subordinate to England and of the highest importance to it This could never be so if there were extant any compleat or coherent History of that Kingdom which indeed there is not those relating to the Times before the Conquest being Fabulous and those since but Scraps and Fragments As for those Histories that treat of the Times before the English-Conquest Doctor Keating's is the best and is exceedingly applauded by some that did and others that did not know better Prospect in Pref. 13. Peter Walsh thinks 't is the only compleat History that we have of all the Invasions Conquests Changes Monarchs Wars and other considerable Matters of that truly ancient Kingdom But after all it is no more than an ill-digested Heap of very silly Fictions And P. W's Prospect which is in effect the Epitomy
To him immediately repaired the King of Leinster Regan contra Fitz-Stephens Fitz-Gerald and Reymond Le Gross this last was made General of the Field and the next Day goes to assault Waterford by Land and Water after two Repulses Reymond perceived a Cabbin on the Wall propt with Timber on the out-side immediately he caused the Prop to be cut so that the House fell and with it part of the Wall at which Breach the English entred 23 August Regan ransack'd the City and slew every one they found in Arms except O Philim Prince of Decies and one Reginald whom they imprisoned Then was Eva Daughter of the King of Leinster married to the Earl according to the former Capitulations And soon after the Army marched to Dublin through the Mountains of Glandelogh the ordinary Road being guarded or made unpassible by the Dublinians who had again rebelled Dermond hated the Dublinians exceedingly because they had murthered his Father and in Derision buried him with a Dog However at the Intercession of the Archbishop Laurence he treated with them but the Time allotted for the Treaty Regan M. S. being expired Reymond and Miles Cogan took Advantage thereof broke into the City and sack'd it with great Slaughter but Hastalphus the Governour and some of the better sort with their Riches escaped by Sea Miles Cogan being left Governour of Dublin Strongbow 1171. at the Intercession of Dermond invades Meath which he burns and spoils Whereupon Rotherick upbraids Dermond's Perfidiousness and unless he will observe the late Peace threatens to behead his Son Cothurnus who was Hostage thereof Which upon Dermonds surly answer That he would proceed to conquer Connagh his ancient Ineritance was accordingly performed The Archbishop assembles a Synod at Armagh Hanmer 125. to enquire into the Causes of God's Anger which being met and pretermitting the Symony of the Prelates the Ignorance and Negligence of the Priests the Lechery and Exorbitances of the Clergy lay all upon the Laity and concluded That God was offended for selling the English as Bond men and therefore they decree That all the Englishmen be manumis'd But King Henry Hanmer 126. upon the Report of these Victories became jealous of Strongbow and therefore by Proclamation forbids the Transportation of any thing out of his Dominions to Ireland and commands all the English to return before Easter Speed 474. and to stop their farther Proceedings in Ireland on pain of forfeiting their Estates in England Whereupon the Earl used all possible means to appease the King and sent Reymond le Grosse as his Agent to submit his Conquests to his Majesties Pleasure The King who was then in Aquitain gave Reymond very good Words nevertheless he still kept a hard hand on the Adventurers In the mean time Hastulphus 1172. late Governour of Dublin returned about Whitsontide with sixty Ships Regan says 10000. and a smart Party of good Soldiers well arm'd and provided he attack'd the City of Dublin on the east Side thereof Miles Cogan the Governour boldly made a Sally but was beaten back with Loss Which his Brother Richard Cogan perceiving he issued out of the South-gate and came in the Rear of the Enemy which so surprized them that after a small Resistance they were entirely defeated Hastulphus himself was taken and it was designed to keep him Prisoner in Hopes of Ransome but being brought before the Governour he foolishly boasted what he would do at the next Invasion and therefore to prevent it he was immediately beheaded About the Calends of May Dermond Mac Morough King of Leinster died at Ferns 1172. whereupon Strongbow immediately repaired to Dublin to keep that City quiet if possible but by the King 's aforesaid Proclamation he was debarr'd of Supply either of Men or Victuals and thereby was reduc'd to great Distress Rotherick observing Strongbow's weak Condition confederated with Gothred Regan M. S. King of the Isle of Man and all the chief Men of Ireland and having got together thirty Ships and thirty thousand Men they besieged Dublin both by Land and Water whereunto they were encouraged by Laurence Archbishop of that City At the same time the Men of Kensile and the People of Wexford to the number of three thousand besieged Fitz-Stephens in his Castle of Carrig which he was then repairing and fortifying they reduc'd the poor old Britain to the last Extremity Nevertheless his Courage did not fail but with his small Company being five Gentlemen and a few Soldiers he made such a Reisistance that the Besiegers despaired to reduce him by Force and therefore they resolved to make use of a Stratagem which proved effectual at this Time and therefore hath been too often practised in Ireland on other Occasions They brought the Bishops of Wexford and Kildare a Mass-Book the Eucharist and certain Reliques and by them solemnly swore That Dublin was taken and that all the English found therein were slain and that Rotherick was marching towards them to finish the Siege of Carrig and that they in Favour of Fitz-Stephens and in Contemplation of his great Generosity and Valour offered him this Opportunity to put him and his Company on board a Ship that they might safely return into Wales before Rotherick and his enraged Army should arrive The good old Man was wheedled with this Perjury Stainhurst 120. and surrendred his Castle which being done some of his People were perfidiously murthered and himself and the rest were kept in Prison Strongbow was in the mean time reduc'd to great Distress in Dublin his English Soldiers not exceeding the Number of six hundred Regan M. S. nevertheless having no Opinion of the Courage or Integrity of the Irish he refused to mix with them or to admit any of them into his Service except Donell Cavenah Mac Gely and O Carvi but being farther pressed he would have accepted of any Reasonable Conditions he offered to hold Leinster of Rotherick and to become his Man that is to do him Fealty but Rotherick would not hear of any thing but an absolute Surrender Hereupon the Condition of the Irish was secure and that of the English was desperate Rotherick was bathing and solacing himself and his Army in a licentious and loose Posture when Strongbow and his small Garrison resolving to sell their Lives at the dearest rate they could made an unexpected Salley into the Irish Quarters Reymond le Gross with twenty Knights and a small Brigade led the Van Miles Cogan with thirty Knights and his Party followed and Strongbow and Fitz-Girald with forty Knights and the rest of the Garrison brought up the Rear The Consequence of this bold Attempt was an entire Victory for the Irish being surpriz'd and out of Order neither could nor did make any considerable Resistance but were soon put to Flight with the loss of one thousand five hundred Men. The next Day Strongbow marched to Wexford through the Barony of Idrone to relieve Fitz-Stephens amongst the
the King appointed no small Provision was made for so eager a Combat as that was presupposed to have been But when the prefixed Day approached near Vescie turning his great Boast to small Roast began to cry Creak and secretly sailed into France King Edward thereof advertised bestowed Vescies Lordships of Kildare and Rathingan on the Baron of Ophaly saying That albeit Vescie conveyed his Person into France yet he left his Lands behind him in Ireland Mr. Pryn makes an Observation on this Case Pryn 259. as if an Appeal between Vescie and Fitz-Girald in Ireland had been adjourned to England But to make the Remark useful it is necessary not only to consider what he says but also to consult the Records which he cites William Hay 1294. Lord Deputy to whom a Writ was sent to admit Thomas Saintleger Bishop of Meath to be of the Privy Council And not long after John Fitz-Thomas return'd to Ireland big with Glory and Success which transported him to a Contempt of all his Opposers he began with Richard Burk Cambdens Ann. Earl of Vlster whom together with William Burk he took Prisoners in Meath by the assistance of John Delamere and confined them to the Castle of Ley. But he had not so good luck in Kildare which was made the Seat of the War so that between the English and Irish it was entirely wasted the Castle of Kildare was also taken and the Records of that County burnt by Calwagh Brother to the King of Ophaly And these Misfortunes were accompanied with great Dearth and Pestilence William Dodingzel Lord Justice found Work enough to struggle with these Difficulties and the rather because John Fitz-Thomas appeared again with a great Army in Meath But the Parliament soon after met at Kilkenny 1294. and obliged him to release the Earl of Vlster taking his two Sons Hostages for him And it seems that this did not satisfie the Complainants but that they impeached him at the Parliament in England Lib. GGG 23 E. 1. for divers Offences and Felonies done in Ireland Lambeth He protested he could clear himself by Law but because he would not Prin 259. cum ipso Domino Rege placitare he submits himself wholly to the King's Favour 1295. into which he was received upon Pledges for his future demeanour and 't is probable he was also obliged to release his Claim to the Castle of Sligo and other his Lands in Connaught which was the Occasion of all this Stir About Easter the King built the Castle of Beaumorris in Wales 1295. for the better security of a Passage to and from Ireland And about the same time Bishop Vsher's life 34. the King required Aid to marry his Sister to the Emperour and such as did contribute thereunto are mentioned in the Pipe-Rolls of the Exchequer In the mean time on the third Day of April the Lord Justice died and during the Interval of Government the Irish made use of the Opportunity and wasted great part of Leinster burnt Newcastle and many other Towns But at length the Council chose Thomas Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald Lord Justice he was nicknamed Nappagh Simiacus or the Ape because when his Father and Grand-Father were murdered Frier Russel M. S. at Calan the Servants on the news of it run out of the House as if distracted and left this Thomas in the Cradle whereupon an Ape which was kept in the House took up the Child and carried him to the top of the Castle of Traly and brought him down Safe and laid him in the Cradle to the admiration of all the Beholders This Lord Justice was Father of the first Earl of Desmond and was so great a Man that he is often styled Prince and Ruler of Munster But it seems he supplyed the Place of Lord Justice but a very short time for John Wogan 1295. Lord Justice arrived from England on the eighteenth of October He made a Truce for two Years between the Burks and the Giraldines and received a Writ to take the Fealty of the Abbot of Owny in the County of Limerick and having called a Parliament which it seems setled Matters to his Mind he went with a smart Party to aid the King in Scotland His Majesty nobly feasted them at Roxborough Castle and they in requital did the King very good Service But that you may see what sort of Parliaments were in Ireland in those Days I will present the Reader with a List of this Parliament Richard de Burgo Earl ofVlster Geofry de Genevil John Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Kildare Thomas Fitz-Maurice Nappagh Theobald le Butler Theobald de Verdun Peter de Brimingham of Athenry Peter de Brimingham of Thetmoy Eustace de Poer John de Poer Hugh de Purcel John de Cogan John de Barry William de Barry Walter de Lacy. Richard de Excester John Pipard Water L'enfant Jordan de Exon. Adam de Stanton Symon de Phipo William Cadel John en Val. Morris de Carew George de la Roch. Maurice de Rochfort Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Kerry William de Ross 1296. Prior of Kilmainham was left Lord Deputy to Wogan but either the Irish did not fear him being a Clergyman or they thought this a time of Advantage whilst the Lord Justice and many of the Nobility and best Soldiers were in Scotland and therefore to improve it as they were used to do they rose in Rebellion in several Places Those of Slewmargy burnt Leighlin and other Towns 1297. But O Hanlon and Mac Mahon met with more Opposition in Vrgile for they were both slain John Wogan 1298. Lord Justice returned again from Scotland in October and throughly reconciled the Burks and the Giraldines and kept every thing so quiet that we hear of no Trouble in a great while except some Disturbance the Irish gave to the Lord Theobald de Verdun in attacking his Castle of Roch. Pollard Mony was now decryed both in England and Ireland 1300. and the King did again enter Scotland and sent to Ireland for Aid and wrote not only to the Lord Justice but also sent particular Letters to every one of the Nobility to attend him Whereupon the Lord Justice accompanied by John Fitz-Thomas Peirce Brimingham and many others made a second Expedition into Scotland with good Success In the mean time part of the City of Dublin and particularly S. Warberg's Church was burnt on S. Colme's Eve and the Irish were again at their usual Pranks taking Advantage of the Lord Justices absence who I suppose did again depute William de Ross and in Winter assaulted and burnt Wicklow and Rathdan 1301. but they were well paid for their pains and in Lent had been ruin'd but for the Dissention and Discord of the English and in the Harvest before some of the Irish also had their share of Civil Discord for they fell out amongst themselves so that the O Phelims and O Tools slew three hundred of the Birns
them to new Disturbances And accordingly the Earl of Desmond the Archbishop of Cashel the Bishops of Cork and Waterford and many other of the principal Men of Munster were pardoned and the Liberties and Charters of Youghal were restored and confirmed and their Priviledges enlarged In the mean time dyed Rowland Fitz-Eustace Baron of Portlester who at several times had been Deputy Chancellor and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland which last Place held thirty eight Years And about the same time died Cnoghor mac Trelagh O Brian Chief of Thomond and was succeeded by his Brother Gil duff by Popular Election according to the Custom of Tanistry But it is time to return to Perkin Warbeck whom we left in the Arms of a fair Lady in Scotland that King had already made several Essays in favour of this supposititious Prince but now his Affairs pressed him to make a Peace with the English which King Henry would not hear of unless Perkin were delivered up It was therefore necessary for the Impostor to seek new Quarters 1497. And therefore being secretly supplied by the King of Scotland with Necessaries for his Voyage he embarqued with his Wife and Family and landed safely at Cork the twenty sixth of July he could not have pitcht upon a Place more prone to Rebellion at that time but curst Cows have short Horns and their Ability was not suitable to their Inclinations however he listed one hundred and twenty Soldiers and by the Aid or at least Countenance of the Earl of Desmond he got Conveniences for their Transportation And so finding the Earl of Kildare so firm and potent that no good was to be done in Ireland and receiving an Invitation from the Cornishmen he sailed directly to Cornwal in September and landed safely at Whitsand-bay The City of Waterford which for its loyalty to the Crown against Lambert Symnel had received great Favours and Priviledges from his Majesty was now altogether as vigorous against Perkin and by its discreet behaviour in this Affair well deserved the Motto Intacta manet Waterfordia That City manned out four Ships and sent them in pursuit of Perkin but Fortune did not favour that Generous and Loyal Design This Impostor being thus arrived in England took upon him the Name of Richard IV King of England and as such behaved himself and acted his Part so well that he would often lament the Destruction of his People and would frequently bemoan the Tyranny and Oppressions they lived under which sort of Deportment took with the common People exceedingly insomuch that some thousands of them came to him at Bodmin with them he besieged Excester and assaulted the City with great vigour and Resolution which the Couragious and Loyal Citizens by the help of some of their Country Neighbours as valiantly defended Hereupon Perkin raised the Siege and marched to Taunton and although the Cornishmen continued resolute to conquer or dye yet Perkin perceiving their Courage was greater than their Strength and finding that the King's Army did daily increase whilst his did decrease he privately withdrew to the Sanctuary of Beaulieu in Hampshire and afterwards surrendred himself and being imprisoned in the Tower he made his escape once and attempted it the second time and was therefore together with his Friend John Waters Mayor of Cork hanged at Tyburne where he confirmed the Confession he had formerly made which was to this effect I Being born in Flanders Campion 104. in the Town of Turney put my self in Service with a Britton called Pregent Meno the which brought me with him into Ireland and when we were there arrived in the Town of Cork they of the Town because I was arrayed with some Cloaths of Silk of my said Masters threeped upon me That I should be the Duke of Clarence's Son that was before time at Divelin and forasmuch as I denyed it there was brought unto me the Holy Evangelists and the Cross by the Mayor of the Town called Ino Lavallin and there I took my Oath That I was not the said Duke's Son nor none of his Blood After this came to me an Englishman whose Name was Stephen Poytow with one John Walter and sware to me That they knew well that I was King Richard's Bastard-Son to whom I answered with like Oaths That I was not and then they advised me not to be afraid but that I should take it upon me boldly And if I would so do they would assist me with all their Power against the King of England and not only they but they were assured That the Earls of Desmond and Kildare should do the same for they passed not what part they took so they might be avenged on the King of England and so against my Will they made me to learn English and taught me what I should do and say And after this they called me Richard Duke of York second Son to Edward IV because King Richard's Bastard-Son was in the Hands of the King of England And upon this they entred into this false Quarrel and within short time after the French King sent Embassadors into Ireland viz. Lyot Lucas and Stephen Frayn and so I went into France and thence into Flanders and thence into Ireland thence into Scotland and so into England again But let us return to the Affairs of Ireland 1498. which were briskly managed by the Lord Lieutenant He called a Parliament at Trim which met on the twenty sixth of August in the fourteenth Year of the King's Reign which must be anno 1498. and not 1499. as it is mistaken in the printed Statutes for the King began his Reign the twenty second Day of August 1485. There is but one Act of this Parliament extant and that is To make all the Statutes in England about the Officers of the Custom-house to be of force in Ireland after Proclamation at Dublin and Drogheda A very needless Law certainly since it could have but four Years retro-spect all former English-Statutes being ratified here by Poyning's Act of 10 Hen. 7. cap. 22. In the mean time Henry O Neal who had murdered his Brother Con was this Year served in the same kind by Tirlagh and Con Sons of the former Con And not long after the Lord Lieutenant invaded Vlster in favour of the aforesaid Tirlagh O Neal who was his Nephew by the Mother he was joyned by O Donel Macguire and all Tirlaghs Friends and effectually besieged Dungannon took the Castle and set at Liberty all the Prisoners that Neal mac Art O Neal kept there and forced Neal mac Art himself to submit and give Hostages The Vlster Expedition being over the Lord Deputy in October marched to Cork where he placed a Garrison and forced the Inhabitants of that City and of Kingsale to swear Allegiance and to bind themselves thereunto both by Indentures and Hostages which it seems he thought were stronger Obligations upon them than their Oaths After his return in the beginning of March Ware 's Annals he held
within his Dominions for his faithful Subjects to increase their Knowledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well beloved Subjects Vnderstandings whenever assembled or met together in the said several Parish-Churches either to Pray or hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be Translated into our Mother-Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Knight our Vice-Roy of that our Kingdom of Ireland to give special Notice to all our Clergy as well Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons as others our Secular Parish-Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will and Pleasure accordingly But before Proclamations were issued out Sir Anthony Saint-Leger upon receipt of this Order call'd an Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops together with the then Clergy of Ireland in which Assembly he signified to them as well his Majesties Order aforesaid as also the Opinions of those Bishops and Clergy of England who had adhered unto the Order saying That it was his Majesties Will and Pleasure consenting unto their serious Considerations and Opinions then acted and agreed on in England as to Ecclesiastical Matters that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed Sir Anthony Saint-Leger having spoken to this effect George Dowdal who succeeded George Cromer in the Primacy of Armagh stood up and through his Romish Zeal to the Pope laboured with all his power and force to oppose the Liturgy of the Church that it might not be read or sung in the Church saying Then shall every illiterate Fellow read Service or Mass as he in those Days termed the Word Service To this Saying of the Archbishop's Sir Anthony replied No your Grace is mistaken for we have too many illiterate Priests amongst us already who neither can pronounce the Latin nor know what it means no more than the Common People that hear them but when the People hear the Liturgy in English they and the Priest will then understand what they pray for Upon this Reply George Dowdal bid Sir Anthony beware of the Clergy's Curse Sir Anthony made Answer I fear no strange Curse so long as I have the Blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one The Archbishop again said Can there be a truer Church than the Church of St. Peter the Mother Church of Rome Sir Anthony return'd this Answer I thought we had all been of the Church of Christ for he calls all true Believers in him his Church and himself the Head thereof The Archbishop replied And is not St. Peter's Church the Church of Christ Sir Anthony return'd this Answer St. Peter was a Memher of Christ's Church but the Church was not St. Peter's neither was St. Peter but Christ the Head thereof Then George Dowdal the Primate of Armagh rose up and several of the Suffragan Bishops under his Jurisdiction saving only Edward Staples then Bishop of Meath who tarried with the rest of the Clergy then assembled on the Kalends of March 1550. Sir Anthony then took up the Order and held it forth to George Brown Archbishop of Dublin who standing up received it saying This Order good Brethren is from our Gracious King and from the rest of our Brethren the Fathers and Clergy of England who have consulted herein and compared the Holy Scriptures with what they have done unto whom I submit as Jesus did to Caesar in all things just and lawful making no question why or wherefore as we own him our true and lawful King And it seems that on Easter-Sunday the Liturgy in the English Tongue was read in Christ-Curch according to the King's Order and the Archbishop Brown Preached an excellent Sermon on these Words Open mine Eyes that I may see the Wonders of thy Law Psal 119. ver 18. But whether the Lord Deputy were not zealous in propagating the Reformation or what other Differences there were between him and the Archbishop I cannot find but it is certain the Archbishop sent Complaints against him into England Ware 190. and thereupon he was recalled and Sir James Crofts was made Lord Deputy by Patent 1551. Dated the twenty ninth day of April and the Instructions to him and the Council were 1. To propagate the Worship of God in the English Tongue and the Service to be translated into Irish to those places which need it 2. To prevent the Sale of Bells Church-Goods Chantry-Lands c. and to Inventory them 3. To execute the Laws justly collect the Revenue carefully and muster the Army honestly 4. To get the Ports into the King's possession that his Customs may be duly answered 5. To search for a Mine of Allum 6. To Lett the King's Lands especially Leix and Offaly for one and twenty years to such as will live upon them 7. To enquire into the Conveniency of Building Ships in Ireland 8. To endeavour to perswade the Nobility to exchange some Irish Land for the like value in England 9. That the Soldier be not sued except before the Deputy or Marshal but if Justice be not done in three Months then to remit them to the Common Law 10. To allow Trade to all Foreigners though Enemies 11. Above all to reduce the Birns and Tools and their Country When the Lord Deputy Landed he was informed That his Predecessor Saint-Leger was gone to Munster and thereupon he rode directly to Cork and on the twenty third of May he was sworn and received the Sword there and one of the Cavenaghs or Mac Moroughs for some Crime was there hanged The Lord Deputy who was a zealous Protestant endeavoured all he could to perswade the Primate Dowdal to observe the King's Order about the Liturgy but he continued obstinate and therefore the King and Council of England on the twentieth day of October deprived him of the Title of Primate of all Ireland and annexed it to the See of Dublin for ever whereupon Dowdal withdrew beyond the Seas and Hugh Goodacre was made Archbishop of Armagh in his room being together with John Bale Bishop of Ossory consecrated in Christ-Church Dublin by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Kildare and Down on the second day of February 1552. About which time the English Liturgy with Orders and Rules for Ecclesiastical Habits and Ceremonies was reprinted at Dublin by Humyhry Powel But it is time to return to the Army which under the Command of the Lord Deputy marched into Vlster against the Scotch Islanders the English invaded the Isle of Raghlin but were forced to retreat with the Loss of one Ship and several Men Captain Bagnal also was taken Prisoner but he was afterwards exchanged for Surly buy Mac Donald who was then Prisoner at Dublin in
with nineteen Spaniards and fifty Irish under one Julio an Italian Engineer The Lord Justice coming to view it had like to have been killed with a Musquet Shot nevertheless he persevered in his Resolution and caused the Castle to be battered with three Cannon a Culverin and a demy-Culverin till a Breach was made at which Captain Macworth entred and took the Castle putting fifty to the Sword and six he took and executed them in the Camp the Captain Julio was preserved two or three days for certain Considerations and then not complying with the Lord Justices Expectations he was Hanged On the third of April 1580. the Army sat down before Askeaton which is a very strong Castle built upon Rocks and of very difficult Access nevertheless the cowardly Garrison were so frightned with the example of Carrigifoyl Cambd. Eliz. 240. that they basely deserted the Castle the first night of the Siege having first layed a train of Powder which burned great part of the Castle but did not prejudice the principal Towers The same day George Carew and others with three Companies attempted Ballyloghane another Castle of Desmond's which the Garrison upon sight of them likewise deserted but not so timely but that being closely pursued many of them were slain Now was Desmond dispossessed of all his Castles and therefore the Lord Justice leaving four Companies at Askelon returned to Lymerick on the fifth of April as Ormond did to Kilkenny Malby to Connaught and others to Dublin However the Army tho in Garrison was not ildle but behaved themselves effectually as they found Occasion even the Lord Justice himself went by Sea from Lymerick to Adare and sent Captain Case by Land and both returned after the slaughter of many Traytors with a Prey of twelve Hundred Cows and many Sheep At Lymerick the fifteenth of May the Lord Justice received a Comâ—ission from the Queen to be Lord Justice and another 〈…〉 Sir William Burk Baron of Castleconnel with a Yearly Pension of an hundred Marks during Life On the thirteenth of May Sullevan 101. Walsh ' s Loyal Remonstrance Pope Gregory the thirteenth granted to all the Irish that would fight against the Queen the same plenary Pardon and remission of all their Sins as to those that are engaged in the Holy War against the Turk On the seventeenth of May a separate Commission of Martial Law was granted granted to the Lord Rooh and Sir Cormack Mac Teig of Muskry with Power to give Protection for fifteeen days to any other than the principal Rebels On the fourteenth day of June the Lord Justice invaded and destroyed Clanawliff and thence marched through Slevelogher to Kerry and on the fifteenth took a Prey of two Thousand Kine and many Sheep and mist but little of surprizing the Earl of Desmond and Doctor Sanders this last being fain for haste to leave his Gown behind him he took another Prey the next day at Castlemange nevertheless the Army being ill payed began to Mutiny and some of them refused to march with the Earl of Ormond into the Mountains of Kerry but by the Lord Justice's Discretion this Sedition was appeased and the Mutineers were Pardoned On the eighth of July the Popish Lords of Munster appeared before the Lord Justice at Limerick and being charged with Correspondence with the Rebels and negligence in Prosecuting them all of them except the Lord Barry submitted and promised future Loyalty and were ordered to maintain two thousand Men during the War and to give Pledges of Performance but the next day they thought the Charge too heavy and therefore were confined to their Chambers till they sent their Pledges soon after Sir Cormock Mac Teig was dismissed with Favour and an Order to the Country to assist him in his Attempts against the Rebels because he had promised to do some considerable Service which he very luckily effected for James of Desmond on the fourth of August invaded Muskry and took a Prey from Sir Cormock Mac Teig Cambd. Eliz. 240. then Sheriff of the County of Cork whereupon his Brother Daniel Mac Teig assembled what Force he could get together to rescue the Prey it was briskly disputed between them and the issue was the Desmonians being an Hundred and Fifty were beaten and most of them slain and Sir James being taken Prisoner was brought to Sir Warham Saint Leger and Captain Rawleigh who caused him to be Hanged Drawn and Quartered at Cork In August Ormond dislodged from Adare and marched to Buttevant where a strange kind of Sickness called afterward in England The gentle Correction seized the whole Army it took them in the Head and for two or three Days they lay Senseless and then recovered few or none died of it though by the Violence of the Disease it was not expected that many could recover Ormond divided his small Army into two Parts and marched with one half to Castle-Island and the other he sent to Traley in Kerry where all met and then dividing into three Parts marched to Dingle and as they went they drove the whole Country before them whereby they took a Prey of eight thousand Cows besides Garrons Sheep c. and slew a great many People and had slain more but that Sir William Winter who was then in the Harbour of Ventry with some of Her Majesties Ships gave many of them Protections This Winter was Vice-Admiral of England and came to cruise about the Coast and to prevent the Spaniards Landing if they should come but he had not the Patience to stay or else believed they would not come in the Winter so he returned home before they came In the mean time the Earl of Desmond was reduced to great Extremity more of his Followers having perished by the Famine than were destroyed by the Sword so that the Countess came with Tears in her Eyes to intercede for her Husband August and Sir John Desmond and Doctor Sanders endeavoured to fly to the Lord of Baltinglass who was up in Leinster but they were like to be intercepted by the Garrison of Kilmallock who met them and their two Servants and took the Servants whilst the Masters escaped so they were forced to return to Kerry and had been taken there but that a false Brother gave them notice of the Design however they took two Fryers and a Prey of two hundred and thirty Kine and slew divers of the Rebels In the mean time the new Lord Deputy landed at Dublin on the twelfth of August and immediately sent for the Sword but the Lord Justice did not think fit to part with it until he personally surrendred it which he made no haste to do but instead of going directly to Dublin having left Sir George Bourchier Collonel of Munster with two thousand eight hundred and twenty Foot and three hundred ninety five Horse and given him and others proper instructions he rode to Killalow where the unconscionable Bishop demanded thirty Pound for one Nights grazing for an Hundred
out of every Plow-land only the twenty Plow-lands formerly held by Sorohen should pay but 15 s. a piece per annum and in case of Invasion so that of necessity the Soldiers must victual on the Country six shillings and eight pence per Plow-land shall be abated therefore and the Territories of Trachanckmy Corkaguiny and Offerbuy were to pay 02 13 04 out of every Knight's-Fee but that which was the best Article in the whole agreement was that the Country was to appoint their respective Collectours of the Composition-Money The year 1593 is memorable for the College of Dublin 1593. which was then finished and made an University whereof the Lord Burleigh was the first Chancellour and Vsher afterward the Learned Primate was the first Scholar that was entred there which proved a good Omen that that Noble foundation would produce many Good and Learned men for the Service of God and the King both in Church and State But the rebellious Spirit of the Irish could be no longer restrain'd Camb. Eliz. 478. but that it must have some vent O Connor was troublesome in Connaugh as O Donell was in Vlster and Macguire chief of Fermanagh alledging that he had paid 300 Bieves to the Deputy to excuse his Country from a Sheriff during his Government and that nevertheless one Captain Willis was appointed Sheriff and kept 200 followers Men Women and Boys who prey'd on the Country did rise up in Arms and drove them all to a Church where he would have murthered them but for Tyrone who got their lives spared on condition they should depart the Country Hereupon the Deputy invaded Fermanagh and proclaimed Macguire Traitor and took Eniskilling and they say he let drop some words reflecting on Tyrone which he afterwards said was the first cause of the jealousie he conceived of the English But Macguire not discouraged at this by the importunity of Gauran titular Primate of Ardmagh invades Connaugh intending to prey upon that Country but the valiant Bingham routed him and his Forces many of which were slain and particularly the Primate It is observable that in the Course of this War Tyrone served with Marshall Bagnall against Macguire and in a Recounter got a wound in his Thigh Nevertheless the Feuds betwixt Tyrone Lib. L. 1594. and the Marshal continued and the Marshal impeached the Earl of divers Treasons 1. That he entertained the aforesaid Primate being a Traitor 2. That he corresponded with O Donell and other Traitors but he so well acquitted himself before the Deputy and Council at Dundalk and by his Letters in England that in August 1594. the Council of England commended him for his Service against Macguire pronounced him innocent of the Crimes laid to his charge and chid the Marshal for his partiality Nevertheless it is plain that this cunning Earl at this very time plotted that formidable Rebellion which afterward broke out and in order to it he used two Strategems 1. Having six Companies under his Command at the Queen's pay he altered and changed the men so often that thereby his whole Country became disciplin'd Soldiers 2. He got a great quantity of Lead into his possession under pretence of building a stately House at Dungannon But in August the Lord Deputy was recalled and Sir William Russel youngest Son of Francis Earl of Bedford Lord Deputy landed at the head of Hoath 31st of July and the next day he went to Dublin but refused to accept of the Sword till the Council had first given him in writing under their hands an account of the State and Condition of the Kingdom which being done he was sworn on Sunday the 11th of August with great Solemnity The same day news were brougt that Cormock Mac Baron Tyrone's Brother who besieged Iniskelling had defeated the English being 46 Horse and 600 Foot under the Conduct of Sir Edward Herbert and Sir Henry Duke whereupon Sir Richard Bingham who was the sixth of August sent to relieve that place returned to Dublin 11 August Hereupon orders issued for a general Hosting and the next day there came news of 2500 Scots who had landed and done much mischief at Carigfergus On the 13th of August an Order of Council was made That the Lord Deputy leaving the Earl of Ormond to defend the Pale against Pheagh Mac Hugh and Walter Riagh should march to relieve Iniskelling and it was also ordered and agreed That the Council being divided viz. some to stay at Dublin and others to attend the Lord Deputy the Acts and Orders of either Party should be as effectual as if they were all together and should be esteemed and obeyed as the Act of the whole Council In the mean time Lib. M. Lambeth on the 15th of August Tyrone himself unexpectedly and to the amazement of all men came to the Council Board without previous Pass or Protection and on the 17th made his submission on his knees and in writing Lib. B. 2. Lambeth this wheedling Submission together with large offers and expressions of Loyalty he pretended all his distaste was at the former Deputy but that he reverenc'd this and was ready to doe any service he could for Her Majesty or his Lordship he confess'd that no Prince in the World was more Gracious to a Subject than Her Majesty had been to him that She had advanced him to a large Estate and high Title and called God to Witness that Her Majesty's Displeasure was his greatest grief and he renounced God if ever he would heave up his hand against Her Majesty thereafter He also promised to send his Son to be educated at Dublin and to deliver sufficient Pledges of his Loyalty whereupon by the opinion of the major part of the Council he was discharged Camd. Eliz. 493. the Marshall Bagnall in vain offering to prove several Treasons against him But as soon as the Queen was informed thereof she smartly reprimanded this fatal oversight of the Deputy and Council who might at least have made use of Tyrone to relieve Iniskelling The Deputy marched from Dublin the 19th August 1594. and came to Trim that night the 20th to Molingar and the next day to Athloan the 23d to Roscomon the 24th to Abby Boyle on the 26th he passed the Curlew Mountains and encamped at Drumdone and the next day passed the Bogs and marched eleven Miles to the Hill of Killargan on the 28th he went over other Bogs with great danger and came to Ballaghnimerla and on the 29th to Glacknemansha on the 30th his Lordship with great difficulty and some loss passed the River with 500 Men and entered the Castle of Iniskelling without opposition the Enemy being fled upon the news of his approach Iniskelling being thus relieved the Deputy returned by easie Marches and came safe to Dublin on Monday the 9th of September On the 16th of January the Deputy took a Hunting Journy to Ballynecor and drove Pheah Mac Hugh into the Glinnes and garison'd Captain Street's Company in
Nobility and Lords of Countries do not only in their hearts affect this plausible Quarrel and are divided from us in Religion but have an especial Quarrel against the English Government because it limiteth and tieth them who have ever been and ever would be as absolute Tyrants as any are under the Sun the Towns being inhabited by men of the same Religion and Birth as the rest are so carryed away with the Love of gain that for it they will furnish the Rebels with all things that may arm them or inable them against the State or against themselves The Wealth of the Kingdom which consisteth in Cattel Oat-meal and other victuals is allmost all in the Rebels hands who in every Province till my coming have been masters of the Field The expectation of these Rebels is very present and very confident that Spain will either so invade your Majesty that you shall have no leisure to prosecute them here or so succour them that they will get most of the Towns into their hands e'er your Majesty shall relieve and reinforce your Army so that now if your Majesty resolve to subdue these Rebels by force they are so many and so fram'd to be Soldiers that the War will certainly be great costly and long If your Majesty will seek to break them by factions amongst themselves they are covetous and mercenary and must be purchased and their Jesuits and practising Priests must be hunted out and taken from them which now do sodder so fast and so close together If your Majesty will have a strong party in the Irish Nobility and make use of them you must hide from them all purpose of Establishing English Government till the strength of the Irish be so broken that they shall see no safety but in your Majesties Protection If your Majesty will be assured of the Possession of your Towns and keep them from supplying the wants of the Rebels you must have Garisons brought into them able to command and make it a capital Offence for any Merchant in Ireland to trade with the Rebels or buy or sell any Arms or Munition whatsoever for your good Subjects may have for their money out of your Majesties Store that which shall be appointed by order and may serve for their necessary defence whereas if once they be tradable the Rebels will give such extreme and excessive Prices that they will never be kept from them If your Majesty will secure this your Realm from the danger of Invasion as soon as those which direct and manage your Majesty's Intelligences give notice of the preparations and readiness of the Enemy you must be as well armed and provided for your Defence Which Provision consists in having Forces upon the Coast enroll'd and train'd in having Megazines of Victuals in your Majesties West and North-west Parts ready to be transported and in having Ships both of War and Transportation which may carry and waft them both upon the first Allarm of a Descent the enrolling and training of your Subjects is no charge to your Majesties own Coffers The providing of Megazines will never be any loss for in using them you may save a Kingdom and if you use them not you may have your old Store sold and if it be well handled to your Majesties Profit The arming your Majesties Ships when you hear your Enemy arms to Sea is agreeable to your own Provident and Princely Courses and to the Policies of all Princes and States of the World But to return to Ireland again As I have shewed your Majesty the danger and disadvantages which your Servants and Ministers here shall and do meet withall in this great Work of reducing this Kingdom so I will now as well as I can represent to your Majesty your Strengths and Advantages First These Rebels are neither able to force any wall'd Town Castle or House of strength nor to keep any that they get so that while your Majesty keeps your Army and Vigour you are undoubtedly Mestriss if all Towns and Holds whatsoever by which means if your Majesty have good Ministers all the Wealth of the Land shall be drawn into the hands of your Subjects your Soldiers in the Winter shall be with ease lodg'd and readily supplyed of any wants and We that command your Majesties Forces may make the War offensive and defensive may fight and be in safety as occasion is offered Secondly your Majesty's Horsemen are so incomparably better than the Rebels and their Foot are so unwilling to fight in Battel or gross howsoever they be desirous to skirmish and loose fight that your Majesty may be allways Mistress of the Champion Countries which are the best parts of this Kingdom Thirdly Your Majesty victualling your Army out of England and with your Garisons burning and spoiling the Country in all places shall starve the Rebels in one Year because no place else can supply them Fourthly Since no War can be made without Munition and Munition this Rebel cannot have but from Spain Scotland or your Towns here if your Majesty will still continue your Ships and Pinaces upon the Coast and be pleas'd to send a printed Proclamation That upon pain of Death no Merchant Townsman or other Subject do traffick with the Rebel or buy or sell in any sort any kind of Munition or Arms I doubt not but in short time I shall make them bankrupt of their own Store and I hope our Seamen will keep them from any new Fifthly Your Majesty hath a rich store of gallant Collonels Captains and Gentlemen of Quality whose Example and Execution is of more Vse than all the rest of your Troups whereas the best Men of Quality among the Rebels who are their Leaders and their Horse-men dare never put themselves to any hazard but send their Kerne and their Hirelings to fight with your Majesty's Troups so that although their common Soldiers are too hard for our new Men yet are they not able to stand before such gallant Men as will charge them Sixthly Your Majesty's Commanders being advised and exercised know all Advantages and by the Strength of their Order will in great Fights beat the Rebels for they neither march nor lodge nor fight in order but only by the benefit of Footmanship can come on and go off at their pleasure which makes them attend a whole Day still skermishing and never engaging themselves so that it hath been ever the Fault and Weakness of your Majesty's Leaders whensoever you have received any Blow for the Rebels do but watch and attend upon all gross Oversights Now if it please your Majesty to compare your Advantages and Disadvantages together you shall find that though these Rebels are more in number than your Majesty's Army and have though I do unwillingly confess it better Bodies and perfecter use of their Arms than those Men which your Majesty sends over yet your Majesty commanding the walled Towns Holds and Champion Countries and having a brave Nobility and Gentry a better Discipline
this Contention was drown'd in 1618. upon which his Lady brought her young Son over from Ireland whither he had been carried at the Age of Three years and now he was about Nine She put him to a Private School under a Roman Catholick but by Order of King James he was removed to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Doctor Abbot and by him he was wholly maintain'd for Five or Six years without any Pension from Court or possibility of Help from home where all was sequestred and deprest By him also was he first instructed in the Protestant Religion and in the Doctrine of the Church of England unto which he stuck fast to his Death In 1628. his Grace was at Portsmouth to take Share in the Expedition then preparing for the Relief of Rochel but the sudden Death of the Duke of Buckingham put him upon other Measures for in a while after he married the Lady Elizabeth Preston which ended and reconciled the long Contentions of the Family This Lady was by the Marriage aforementioned the only Child of the said Earl of Desmond who being also lately drown'd she fell in Wardship to King Charles the First and His Majesty bestowed the Wardship upon the Earl of Holland then Lord Chamberlain She was intended for a Nephew of the Duke of Buckingham's which drew him into that Partiality and his Grace was in particular forbid by His Majesty to pretend unto His Ward However the young Lady saw none in the whole Court who either for Beauty or for Parts could outshine her Kinsman And Both being agreed he was forced to pay down Fifteen thousand Pounds to the said Earl of Holland for her Wardship These were all the Favours that either he or his Family could then meet with in the Court of England So hastning with his Lady to Acton near Bristol and there staying about a Year with his Uncle Sir Robert Poyntz he went for Ireland at the end of 1630. soon after which as the Manner there was he purchas'd a Troop of Horse in the Standing Army The Lord Wentworth afterwards Earl of Strafford went over Lord Deputy in 1633. In a while after he call'd a Parliament which being appointed to meet within the Castle of Dublin a Proclamation issued That none of the Members either Peers or Commons should enter with their Swords All obey'd the Order save this young Lord who told the Black Rod at the Door He should have no Sword of his except in his Guts So being the only Peer who sat that day in defiance of the Proclamation it fired the Lord Deputy as not wâ—nt to be disobey'd His Grace was call'd upon in the Evening to answer for it who thereupon shew'd His Majesty's Writ calling him to Parliament Cinctus cum gladio which sort of Answer being not expected and finding him like to prove an untractable Companion it was in deliberation that Night between the Lord Deputy and his Two-Friends Sir George Ratcliff and Mr. Wandesford Whether to trample him quite under foot or to oblige so daring a young Man who was now also grown very Popular But Sir George being for the more benign Extreme he was taken into Favour caress'd and made one of the Privy Council No Opportunities were from that time forward omitted to oblige him or set him forth in a high Character to His Majesty So that in the Year 1639 the Lord Lieutenant made him Lieutenant General of the Horse in the Army which was then newly rais'd but as soon disbanded Upon the neck of this the Earl of Strafford fell into those Troubles which in May 1640. hurried him to the Scaffold But the Earl having heard with what vigour his Grace contended to oppose and overthrow these Accusations which came against him from the Parliament of Ireland as it was the last Request this Earl made to His Majesty That he would be pleas'd to bestow his Blue Garter upon his Grace so in June following his Grace had notice of His Majesty's Gracious Intentions to confer it accordingly The Earl of Leicester was at this time appointed to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland tho' by some Accidents he never went over It was on the 23d of October 1641. that the Rebellion broke out the News whereof being brought to His Majesty then in Scotland His Majesty does by Letter to his Grace from Edinborough of the 31th of the same Month lament that Calamity and desires and presses his Grace to take on him to be Lieutenant General of the Army This was in effect by Necessity thrown on him even before that Command cameâ— but in May 1642. it came to him in Form by Commission from the Earl of Leicester as General In August after His Majesty being at Nottingham where He set up His Standard sent his Grace a Patent for the Honor of Marquis and in September following His Majesty by the Advice and Consent of the Lords Justices appointed him to â—old the said Command of Lieutenant General immediately from Himself by Patent under the Broad Seal It was by these Steps that his Grace came suddenly to be embark'd in a Course of Life to which he was utterly a Stranger He had not had the Means for Travel or ever seen War either abroad or at home He was made a General before he was a Soldier His very first Essay was to oppose a bloody Rebellion then newly broke out And how far he was able by a vigorous Body and the vivacity of his Parts and a boundless Zeal for the Crown to discharge and sustain that Trust or how he bore up in all those Vicissitudes of Exaltation and Banishment of Plenty and of Want of Dignity and Depression which did in the Course of about Fifty Years after so often befal him may prove Matter for a larger Place The last who manag'd the Sword of State was the Marquis of Clanrickard who was also an English Peer and Earl of St. Albans He was the First Roman Catholick that had been entrusted with the Chief Government since the Reformation But the Irish were come to that pass as not to endure a Protestant to be over them and so this brave Gentleman was deputed by the Marquis of Ormond to take his Place And tho' his Religion was pleasing to the Irish yet the King's Authority wherewith he was clothed was by no means acceptable to them that design'd to shake off the Yoke of England and therefore they proved as troublesom and refractary to him as they had been before to the Lord Lieutenant So that after Two Years vexatious Agitation amongst them and after he had in vain tried all ways to support the sinking State he laid down Arms and had Liberty to retire into England where he died He was a Person of sound Understanding and unblemish'd Loyalty and did from the beginning abhor their Courses towards the English And altho' the Nuncio and the Clergy made frequent Trials to seduce him from his Integrity yet being evermore fixt in his Principles he resisted all
Three pence per Pound for other Goods due by Common Law But the Irish were very uneasie at the Plantation of Ulster and therefore it was necessary to countenance and protect it with an extraordinary Militia in that Province to support the Charge of which the King 1611. on the 22th day of May instituted the Order of Baronets which was to be Hereditary and not to exceed the number of Two hundred and every of them upon passing the Patent was to pay into the Exchequer as much Money as would maintain Thirty Men in Ulster for Three Years at Eight pence a day But if the Reader desires to know more of this Order I must refer him to Selden's Titles of Honour pag 822. and 909. and The Present State of England pag. 289. and Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle ad Annum 1611. But there had not been a Parliament in Ireland for Seven and twenty Years past since the Twenty seventh Year of Queen Elizabeth's Reign so that it was high time to call one now and the Ministers of State were at work to manage that Matter to the advantage of his Majesty and the English Protestant Interest in that Kingdom which they foresaw would be oppos'd with might and main by all those of the Popish Party and therefore they propos'd that an Order should issue for every Parliament-man to take the Oath of Supremacy and that the Lords should declare their Suffrages openly Content or Not content as in England and not rise and whisper in the Lord Chancellor's Ear as was the Custom in Ireland and that the King should find some Pretence to send for some few of those Noblemen that would most briskly oppose his Intentions as Henry the Eighth had formerly done and particularly that the Lord Courcy might not be suffered to sit in the House because his Ancestors were called by Writ and so his Honour being in Fee-simple did descend to Daughters who were Heirs-general of his Family and that the Lord Shrewsbury's Titles of Honour in Ireland were not * Contra adjudg'd 4. Inst cap. Ireland forfeited by the Act of Absentees and therefore he might have a Voice in that Parliament or make his Proxy and that for the Credit of the Business the Lord Deputy might be Ennobled before the Parliament sat But some of these were not practicable and the rest not thought fit to be done at that time But I must not forget to take notice of a necessary Office in those days tho now it be obsolete viz. the Interpreter to the State which was enjoy'd by Thomas Cahill with an Annual Sallary of 26 l. 6 s. 8 d. In September the Lord Deputy published a Proclamation of the intended Parliament and thereby invited the Subjects to exhibit their Grievances and to consider of Proposals for the Publick Good to be past into Acts and he also signified his Majesty's gracious Intentions to erect some new Corporations for the better Encouragement of the Plantation of Ulster And it seems that the Government was thenceforward imploy'd about the Plantation of Ulster and the Preparation of Bills to be past in the approaching Parliament and in erecting of some new Corporations viz. Belfast Charlemont Aâ—trim Bandon Cloghnikilty Tallow Newry Lifford Donegall Ballyshanon Tâ—â—am Eniskilling Traly Athy Bi r Kilmallock c. The Bills that were design'd to be made Acts of Parliament were 1. An Act to cut Paces and mend High-ways 2. To extinguish Uses and suppress fraudulent Conveyances 3. That Sale in Market overt should not alter Property of Stolen Goods 4. For the Enrolment of Deeds of Bargains and Sale and for Conveyance of Land 5. To try Accessories in Foreign Counties 6. To reduce Peremptory Challenges to Twenty 7. To enable Tenant in Tail to make Leases 8. To deprive some Criminals of Benefit of Clargy as in England 9. For making Linen Cloth sowing Hemp and Flax. 10. For Trial of Pyrates 11. To Re-edifie Cathedral Churches and to remove some of them to Gallway Dingle Carigfergus Newry Wexfoâ—d Cavan c. 12. To restrain Ecclesiastical Persons from Alienating c. 13. Against Pluralities Non-residence or Simony 14. Against Receivers and Harbourers of Jesuits Serminary Priests c. 15. And sending Children beyond Seas 16. Against Idle Holy-days 17. To expeâ— Monks Friarâ— Nuns c. 18. To give the King all Chantries and other Superstitious Uses 19. To establish the Compositions 20. For the Attainder of the Earls of Tyrone Tytconel and others 21. To revive and perpetâ—ate the Impost of Wines 22. To Naturalize Manufactures 23. To resume all Immunities to Corporations from Customs 24. That those Attainded of Treason in England shall forfeit their Estates in Ireland 25. An Act of Recognition 26. To abolish the Brehon Law and Tanistry and Irish Exactions 27. Artificers Apprentices to be Free-men in any Corporation 28. Against Idlers and Vagabonds 29. The Barony to answer the Stealth unless they can track it farther 30. That Bastards take the Name of the Mother and that it be Felony to lay it to any Man 31. No Man to keep a Woman as a Wiâ—â— and turn her away at pleasure on pain of One Years Imprisonment And if any Authorized Priest do divorce it to be Felony 32. Against Usury above Ten per Cent. 33. To impower Judges of Assiâ—â— to raise Taxes for Court-houses and Goals But in November 1612 1612. the Popish Lords dissatisfied with these Proceedings wrote a joynt Letter to the King complaining that the Bills to be passed in the next Parliament were not Communicated to them they also complained of the new Corporations and that the Oath of Supremacy was tendered to Magistrates and they insinuated the Danger of a general Revolt and concluded that if the Laws about Religion were repeal'd a firm and faithful Subjection would be established in their Minds and on the 17 th of May 1613. the Popish Lords did Petition the Lord Deputy to the effect aforesaid adding nevertheless some stubborn and unseemly Expressions and questioning the Kings Prerogative in erecting new Corporations or calling by Writ new Lords to Parliament and they affirmed some of the new Burroughs were unfit to be incorporated and they excepted against the Castle of Dublin for the place of Session and the rather because the Ammunition being there they might be in Danger of being blown up and they were troubled at the Lord Deputies Guard as that which they said was design'd to keep them in Awe and terrifie them into Compliance But these were but vain Pretences Lib. C. for they well enough knew that the Guard was but 100 Men as was usual and Customary and that it was impossible to blow up the Papists but that the Protestants also and perhaps the City of Dublin must have likewise been destroy'd on the contrary the Papists were so far from being afraid that they were very tumultuous and came to Dublin in vast numbers to frighten the Government The Lord Gormanstowne was amongst the most Seditious and unruly
Name of THE CASE OF TENURES and was excellently reported in Print by Baron Barry afterwards Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and Baron of Sautry This Grand Inquisition was counted so great a Master-piece of the Lord Deputies and so beneficial to the King and advantagious to the English Interest That some Persons who went to England to complain of it were there not only discountenanced but imprison'd and afterwards sent back to be dealt by as the Lord Deputy should think fit which it seems produced their Submission And not long after the Lord Deputy having first received Orders to Grant the Impropriations belonging to the King to the use of the Clergy and to Grant to Trinity Colledge near Dublin Lands equal in value to the Pension they had from the Crown of 388 l. 15 s. per Annum went to England to give his Majesty a Triumphant Account of his glorious Successes in Ireland which he performed to Admiration First to the King in a private Audience and afterwards publickly at the Council-board He there told the King and Council That he had found the Irish Exchequer of Paper but he had made it of Treasure and that he had not only improv'd the Patrimony of the Church of Ireland but had also brought it to be Conformable to that of England both in Doctrine and Government by the Acceptance of the Thirty Nine Articles there That before his going to Ireland the Lord Justices wrote That the Expence exceeded the Income 24000 l. per Annum and they had no ways to raise it but by the Levying Nine pence a Sunday on Papists for not coming to Church but that now it was far otherwise without that Persecution And he advis'd That the Army should rather be encreased than diminshed it being an excellent Minister and Assistant in Execution of the Kings Writs and the great Peace-maker between the British and the Natives and the best security of past and future Plantations That by the Statutes of Wills and Uses there will more advantage arise to the Crown of England than by the six Subsidies because thereby the insant Heirs of all great Families in the Kingdom will unavoidably come under the Guardianship of the King whereby they will be bred Protestants and of what Consequence this Superintendency is doth in part appear in the Person of the Earl of Ormond formerly the Kings Ward who if bred under the Wing of his own Parents had been of the same Affections and Religion with his other Brothers and Sisters whereas he is now a firm Protestant and like to prove a great and able Servant to the Crown and a great Assistant as well in inviting others to be of his Religion as in the Civil Government it being certain That no People are more apt to be of the Religion of their great Lords than the Irish are That by the Statute of fraudulent Conveyances the Irish are prevented in their cunning Disigns by secret and sleeping Conveyancies so that the King will have his Forfeitures and Wardships and the English be encouraged to purchase of them That before his time the Pirates infested the very Harbours and a Ship was fired by them in the Port of Dublin in sight of his Majesties Castle and the Pirates were robbing the Ship two days together without opposition the Reason was because our Sea-guard for want of Money did not come till August before which time the mischief was done but now they are well Paid and come in March and that now the Exportation is double to what is imported into the Kingdom That he discourag'd Woollen and encourag'd the Linen Manufacture and had sow'd 1000 l. worth of Holland-Flax Seed and set up six or seven Looms and doubts not Success because the Irish can under-sell France or Holland Twenty per Cent. And then he laments That the English of Ireland are treated as Aliens First In the Imposition of 4 s. per Tun on Coal Secondly In the Prohibition to transport Horses or Mares hence without excessive Custom Thirdly In the Imposition of 3 s. and 4 d. per Head for every live Beast exported thence and afterwards he procur'd a Privy Seal to supersede these pro tempore Lastly That tho' he was represented more like a Basha of Buda than the Minister of a Pious Christian King yet severity was not natural to him but assumed because it was necessary for the Restoration of a Despoyled Crown Church and People from the Claws of those that had been used to the Paths of an uncontroled Liberty and Oppression But to proceed ADAM LOFTUS Viscount ELY 1636. Sir CHRISTOPHER WANDESFORD Master of the Rolls were Sworn Lords Justices on the 3d. day of July 1636. and immediately some Fryars notwithstanding the former Proclamation had a publick Meeting and passed unpunish'd for the Lord Deputy wrote over That he held it not convenient to rub upon that Sore till they were provided for a thorough Cure These Lords Justices had Orders to call upon Corporations for a return of their pretended Priviledges to issue Money to finish the Fort of Galway to suspend the Lord Courcyes Pension to quicken the Admeasurement in Conaught and not to let any Soldiers be Transported But on the 23d of November THOMAS Viscount WENTWORTH returned Lord Deputy and then the aforesaid Case of Tenures was argued but the Judgment That the Letters Patent were void Husbands Collections 2 Part 245. did so Alarm the whole Nation that it was found necessary to delay the Execution for a time and afterwards Anno 1640. on private Conference with the Irish Committee then in England for it was not made an Article amongst the Grievances publickly complain'd of the King quitted the benefit and advantage thereof and so the vast Expence of this Grand Office and Inquisition which amounted to at least 10000 l. was in effect lost and this terrifying Bug-bear did not add one Acre to the Possessions of the Crown nor one English Plantation to the Kingdom as was at first design'd In the Year 1636 1636. John Atherton was preferred to the Bishoprick of Waterford and Lismore by a Symoniacal Contrivance as was believed says the Writer of Bishop Bedells Life pag. 144. but that is not probable because that Bishoprick was then so Poor that it was too small a Temptation to so great a Sin it is more likely that being a bustling Man of active Parts and a bold Spirit he was thought a fit Instrument of State to promote some Designs that were then on Foot and as proper for the Recovery of the ancient Possessions of his See as any Body that could be pitcht upon and accordingly we find him a fierce Adversary to the Earl of Cork and a severe Prosecutor of the Bishop of Killalla which last nevertheless lived to be his Successor And tho' Atherton did answer the Expectation of his Benefactors for a time yet his Tragical end by the hands of the Common Executioner on the 5th of December 1640. for a Crime
that hereafter he will be pleased upon the humble Suit of both Houses of Parliament to give His Royal Assent to such Bills as they shall tender unto him for the setling of those Propositions and all other things necessarily conducing thereunto Ibid. 86. And on the Twenty fourth of February His Majesty returned His Gracious Answer in Approbation of these Votes in haec verba viz. That as he hath offered and is still ready to venture His own Royal Person for the Recovery of that Kingdom if His Parliament shall advise him thereunto so He will not deny to contribute any other Assistance he can to that Service by parting with any Profit or Advantage of his own there and therefore relying on the Wisdom of His Parliament doth consent to every Proposition now made to him without taking time to examine whether this course may not retard the reducing of that Kingdom by exasperating the Rebels and rendring them desperate of being received into Grace if they shall return to their Obedience It would be too tedious to relate all that was done in this Affair of the Adventurers and therefore all that I shall mention here upon that Head is That these Votes produced several Acts of Parliament in Confirmation of them and raised the Sum of 400000 l for the Irish War But on the 9th day of March in the Declaration presented to the King at Newmarket Husbands 97. the Parliament inserted this Article viz. That the Rebellion in Ireland was framed and contrived here in England and that the English Papists should have risen about the same time we have several Testimonies and Advertisements from Ireland and that is a common Speech amongst the Rebels wherewith concur other Evidences and Observations of the suspicious Meetings and Consultations the tumultuary and seditious Carriage of those of that Religion in divers parts of this Kingdom about the time of the breaking out of the Irish Rebellion the Deposition of O Conally the Information of Master Cole Minister the Letter of Tristram Whitcombe the Deposition of Thomas Crant and many others which we may produce do all agree in this the publick Declaration of the Lords Gentlemen and others of the Pale That they would joyn with the Rebels whom they call the Irish Army or any other to recover unto His Majesty His Royal Prerogative wrested from him by the Puritan Faction in the House of Parliament in England and to maintain the same against all others as also to maintain Episcopal Jurisdiction and the lawfulness thereof these two being Quarrels upon which His Majesties late Army in the North should have been incensed against us To which His Majesty Answers thus Ibid. 106. If the Rebellion in Ireland so odious to all Christians seems to have been framed and maintained in England or to have any countenance from hence We conjure both Our Houses of Parliament and all Our loving Subjects whatsoever to use all possible means to discover and find such out that we may joyn in the most exemplary Vengeance upon them that can be imagined But We must think Our self highly and causelesly injured in Our Reputation if any Declaration Action or Expression of the Irish Rebels any Letter from Count Rosettie to the Papists for Fasting and Praying or from Tristram Whitcombe of strange Speeches uttered in Ireland shall beget any Jealousie or Misapprehension in Our Subjects of Our Justice Piety and Affection it being evident to all Understandings That those mischievous and wicked Rebels are not so capable of great Advantage as by having their false Discourse so far believed as to raise Fears and Jealousies to the Distraction of this Kingdom the only way to their Security And we cannot express a deeper sense of the Sufferings of Our poor Protestant Subjects in that Kingdom than We have done in Our often Messages to both Houses by which We have offered and are still ready to venture Our Royal Person for their Redemption well knowing That as We are in Our own Interest more concerned in them fo We are to make a strict Accompt to Almighty God for any Neglect of Our Duty or their Preservation And on the 15th of March 113. from Huntington the King sent this Message viz. That he doth very earnestly desire that they will use all possible Industry in expediting the business of Ireland in which they shall find so chearful a Concurrence by his Majesty that no Inconvenience shall happen to that Service by his Absence he having all that Passion for the reducing of that Kingdom which he hath expressed in his former Messages and being unable by words to manifest more Affection to it than he hath endeavoured to do by those Messages having likewise done all such Acts as he hath been moved unto by his Parliament therefore if the Misfortunes and Calamities of his poor Protestant Subjects there shall grow upon them tho' His Majesty shall be deeply concerned in and sensible of their Sufferings he shall wash his hands before all the World from the least Imputation of Slackness in that most necessary and pious Work Whereupon the Parliament Voted the next day Ibid. That those Persons that advise His Majesty to absent himself from the Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourers of the Rebellion in Ireland Resolved c. 1642. That those Persons that advised His Majesty to this Message are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourers of the Rebellion in Ireland The Year 1642. began with Sir Symon Harcourt's Expedition against Carrickmain in the County of Dublin on the Twenty sixth of March which proved fatal to him nevertheless his Lieutenant-Colonel Gibson took the Castle and put all within it to the Sword refusing to give Quarter to those obstinate Rebels that had slain his beloved Colonel And about the same time all the Popish Priests that could be found in Dublin were by the Lords Justices sent in French Bottoms to France In the beginning of April 1642. Doctor Jones afterwards Bishop of Meath and Seven other Divines who by Virtue of a Commission dated the 23d of December 1641. had taken many Examinations about the Rebellion and the Murders Plunders and Robberies committed by the Irish did out of their Depositions form a Remonstrance and being recommended by the Lords Justices and Council they did Present it to the Commons House of Parliament in England It set forth That the Rebellion was occasioned by the ancient Hatred which Papists bear to Protestants and by their Surfet of Freedom and Indulgence in that Kingdom That the Design was to eradicate the Protestant Religion and the Professors of it that the Rebellion was general and of a long Contrivance that sometimes they pretended the Kings Commission and sometimes spoke Contemptibly of his Majesty that they designed to extirpate all of English Extraction even the very Papists that they kicked Bibles up and down and
the Siege and sail'd up the Shanon and took the Castle of Glin and afterwards sailed round to Kinsale where he landed his Regiment as hath been already mentioned But notwithstanding the Disasters the Irish met with yet being very numerous in this Province they did easily recruit and the English tho' Victorious yet wanted Necessaries to keep the Field so that in Winter the Irish returned again to Athloan and kept the Castle block'd up until Sir Richard Greenvill did Relieve it as hath been already related And as to Ulster a Party of Scots came thither in the beginning of April and had Carrigfergus delivered up to them according to Articles and afterwards had Colraine and the Countrey thereabouts for their Quarters and 〈◊〉 the Twenty seventh of April a Party of them drew out to Malone and the next day were joyned with 1000 Foot three Troops of Horse and two of Dragoons by the Lord Conway and Colonel Chichester and having sent one Ship to Colraine and Derry and another to Carlingford with Supplies they came the Twenty ninth to Lisnegarvy where they met 800 Foot and two Troops of the Lords Claneboys and Ards and then dividing into two Parties Monroe with 1600 Foot five Troops of Horse and three of Dragoons marched to Killvarlin and forced a Pass which the Lord of Evagh kept with 2500 Foot and 60 Horse and having in that Encounter slain 150 of the Rebels the whole Army afterwards united and passed at that place and came to Loghbricklane on the Thirtieth of April and took the Island and killed 60 desperate Rebels that were in it and on the Third of May they took the Newry and hanged 60 Rebels there And on the Sixth of May they marched to Armagh but the Irish having notice of their Approach burned the Town not sparing the Cathedral Church and murdered a vast number of Protestants some say 5000 which they had in their Power whereupon the Scots returned to Carrigfergus on the Twelfth of May and carried with them a very considerable Booty of Cattle And tho' the Scots complain'd that they wanted Bread exceedingly yet in June they made a shift to make another Excursion and being joyn'd with Sir John Clotworthy they made up together 3450 Foot four Troops of Horse and one of Dragoons and scoured the whole County of Antrim so that the Marquess of that name who as Monroe writes did wheedle them with good words but secretly did them all the Mischief he could was forced upon their Summons to surrender his Person and his strong Castle of Dunluce and then the Scots marched towards Charlemont by the way of Armagh as Clotworthy did by the way of Toome through the Barony of Loghinsolin and in both places they found the Irish under so great a Famine that they eat their own Dead however they returned re infecta perhaps for want of Victuals But much better Success had Sir William and Sir Robert Stewart Battle of Rapho and the Lagan Forces who in June obtain'd a glorious Victory over the Irish at Glanmackwin not far from Rapho with the Slaughter of near Two hundred of the Enemy And it seems that by vertue of a * It is at large Dugdale's View 913. Treaty in England on the Sixth of August Ceneral Lesly came over with the rest of the Scotch Forces which were to be Ten thousand Men in all and perhaps were so by the Muster but were not near that Number by the Poll so that the Lord Conway was forc'd to joyn with him to oppose Owen Roe who was then come to Ireland and therefore he could not comply with the Invitation of the State to bring Three thousand Foot to their Assistance to Dublin But the Reader will not think it tedious to have a Description of a Naval Battel in Ireland which hapned in this manner Sir John Clotworthy's Regiment built a Fort at Toom and thereby got a Convenience to pass the Ban at pleasure and to make Incursions as often as he pleas'd into the County of Londonderry To revenge this the Irish Garison at Charlemont built some Boats with which they sailed down the Black-water into Loghneagh and preyed and plundered all the Borders thereof Hereupon those at Antrim built a Boat of Twenty Tun and furnish'd it with Six Brass Guns and they also got Six or Seven lesser Boats and in them all they stowed Three hundred Men under the Command of Lieutenant-Colonel Owen O Conally the Discoverer of the Rebellion who was a stout and active Man and Captain Langford These sailed over the Logh and Landed at the Mouth of the Black-water where they cast up Two small Forts and return'd But the Irish found Means to pass by these Forts in dark Nights and not only continued their former manner of Plundring but also raised a small Fort at Clanbrazill to protect their Fleet upon any Emergency Upon notice of this Conally and Langford Mann'd out their Navy again and met the Irish near the Shore of Clanbrazill whereupon a Naval Battel ensued But the Rebels being Fresh-water Soldiers were soon forced on Shore and the Victors pursuing their Fortune followed them to the Fort and forc'd them to surrender it And in this Expedition Sixty Rebels were slain and as many were taken Prisoners which together with the Boats were brought in Triumph to Antrim But we must cast our Eyes on England where we shall find that on the Eighth day of April His Majesty sent the Parliament the following Message Husbands â—33 viz. That His Majesty being grieved at the very Soul for the Calamities of His Good Subjects of Ireland and being most tenderly sensible of the false and scandalous Reports dispersed amongst the People concerning the Rebellion there which not only wounds His Majesty in Honour but likewise greatly retards the Reducing of that unhappy Kingdom and multiples the Distractions at home by weakning the mutual Confidence betwixt Him and His People Out of His Pious Zeal to the Honor of Almighty God in Establishing the True Protestant Profession in that Kingdom and His Princely Care for the Good of all His Dominions hath firmly resolved with all convenient speed to go into Ireland to chastize those wicked and detestable Rebels odious to God and all good Men thereby so to settle the Peace of that Kingdom and the Security of This that the very Name of Fears and Jealousies may be no more heard of amongst us And as His Majesty doubts not but that His Parliament will chearfully give all possible Assistance to this good Work so He requires them and all His Loving Subjects to believe That he shall upon those Considerations as earnestly pursue this Design not declining any Hazard of His Person in performing that Duty which he oweth to the Defence of God's True Religion and His Distressed Subjects as for these and only these Ends he undertakes it To the Sincerity of whiâ—â— Profession He calls God to Witness with this further Assurance That Hâ—â— Majesty will never
consent upon whatsoever Pretence to a Toleration of the Popish Profession there or the Abolition of the Laws now in force against Popish Recusants in that Kingdom His Majesty hath further thought fit to advertise His Parliament That towards this Work He intends to raise forthwith by His Commissions in the Counties near Westchester a Guardâ— for His own Person when he shall come into Ireland consisting of Two thousand Foot and Two hundred Horse which shall be Armed at Westchester from His Magazin at Hull at which time all the Officers and Soldiers shall take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance The Charge of Raising and Paying whereof His Majesty desires His Parliament to add to their former Undertakings for that War which His Majesty will not only well accept but if their Pay be found too great a Burthen to His Subjects His Majesty will be willing by the Advice of His Parliament to sell or 〈◊〉 any of His Parks Lands or Houses towards the Supplies of the 〈◊〉 of Ireland with the Addition of these Levies to the former of English and Scots agreed upon in Parliament he hopes so to appear in this Action that by the Assistance of Almighty God in a short time that Kingdom may be wholly reduced and restored to Peace and some measure of Happiness whereby he may chearfully return to be Welcomed home with the Affections and Blessings of all His good English People Towards this good Work as His Majesty hath lately made Dispatches unto Scotland to quicken the Levies there for Ulster so he heartily wishes That His Parliament here would give all possible Expedition to thâ—se which they have resolved for Munster and Conaught and hopes the Encouragement which the Adventures of whose Interest His Majesty will be always very careful will hereby receive as likewise by the lately signing of a Commission for the Affairs of Ireland to such Persons as were recommended to Him by Both Houses of Parliament will raise full Sums of Money for the doing thereof His Majesty hath been likewise pleased out of His earnest desire to remove all Occasions which do unhappily multiply Misunderstandings between Him and His Parliament to prepare a Bill to be offered to them by His Attorney concerning the Militia whereby He hopes the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom may be fully secured to the general satisfaction of all Men without violation of His Majesty's just Rights or prejudice to the Liberty of the Subject If this shall be thankfully received He is glad of it if refused He calls God and all the World to judge on whose part the Default is One thing His Majesty requires if this Bill be approved of That if any Corporation shall make their Lawful Rights appear they may be reserved to them Before His Majesty shall part from England He will take all due Care to entrust such Persons with such Authority in His absence as He shall find to be requisite for the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom and the happy Progress of this Parliament To which the Parliament returned the following Answer May it please Your Majesty YOur Majesty's most Loyal and Faithful Subjects Husbands 141. the Lords and Commons in Parliament have duly considered the Message received from Your Majesty concerning Your Purpose of going into Ireland in Your own Person to prosecute the War there with the Bodies of Your English Subjects lâ—vied transported and maintained at their Charge which You are pleased to propound to us not as a Matter wherein Your Majesty desires the Advice of Your Parliament but as already firmly resolved on and forthwith to be put in Execution by granting out Commissions for the Levying of Two thousand Foot and Two hundred Horse for a Guard for Your Person when You shall come into that Kingdom Wherein we cannot chuse but with all Reverence and Humility to Your Majesty observe That You have declined Your Great Council the Parliament and varied from the usual Course of Your Royal Predecessors That a Business of so great Importance concerning the Peace and Safety of all Your Subjects and wherein they have a special Interest by Your Majesty's Promise and by those great Sums which they have disbursed and for which they stand ingaged should be concluded and undertaken without their Advice Whereupon we hold it our Duty to declare That if at this time Your Majesty shall go into Ireland You will very much endanger the Safety of Your Royal Person and Kingdoms and of all other States professing the Protestant Religion in Christendom and make way to the Execution of that cruel and bloody Design of the Papists every where to root out and destroy the Reformed Religion as the Irish Papists have in a great part already effected in that Kingdom and in all likelihood would quickly be attempted in other Places if the Consideration of the Strength and Union of the Two Nations of England and Scotland did not much hinder and discourage the Execution of any such Design And that we may manifest to Your Majesty the Danger and Misery which such a Journy and Enterprize would produce we present to Your Majesty the Reasons of this our humble Opinion and Advice 1. Your Royal Person will be subject not only to the Casualty of War but to Secret Practices and Conspiracies especially Your Majesty continuing Your Profession to maintain the Protestant Religion in that Kingdom which the Papists are generally bound by their Vow to extirpate 2. It will exceedingly encourage the Rebels who do generally profess and declare That Your Majesty doth favour and allow their Proceedings and that this Insurrection was undertaken by the Warrant of Your Commission and it will make good their Expectation of great Advantage by Your Majesty's Presence at this time of so much Distraction in this Kingdom whereby they may hope we shall be disabled to supply the War there especially there appearing less Necessity of Your Majesty's Journy at this time by reason of the manifold Successes which God hath given against them 3. It will much hinder and impair the Means whereby this War is to be supported and increase the Charge of it and in both these respects make it more insupportable to Your Subjects And this we can confidently affirm because many of the Adventurers who have already subscribed do upon the knowledge of Your Majesties Intention declare their Resolution not to pay in their Money and others very willing to have subscribed do now profess the contrary 4. Your Majesties Absence must necessarily very much interrupt the Proceedings of Parliament and deprive Your Subjects of the Benefit of those further Acts of Grace and Justice which we shall humbly expect from Your Majesty for the Establishing of a perfect Union and mutual Confidence between Your Majesty and Your People and procuring and confirming the Prosperity and Happiness of both 5. It will exceedingly increase the Jealousies and Fears of Your People and render their Doubts more probable of some force intended by some evil
it was before The Protestants considered the necessity of this Tax and patiently submitted to it but the Papists made all the opposition they could but in vain for there was no other way left and this it self was not sufficient to prevent the mutiny and the ruin of the Army All these things tended to draw on the Cessation which the Marquess of Ormond by His Majesties Letter of the Twenty third of April was ordered to make with the Irish and was by a Second Letter from His Majesty of the Third of May brought to him by Mr. Brent pressed to hasten and by a Third Letter of the Second of July and a Fourth of the Seventh of September he was farther importuned in that Matter nevertheless there was a Party in the Council upon whom the Villanies of the Rebels had made so deep an Impression that they could not endure to hear of any Treaty with the Confederates and therefore the Marquess of Ormond on the Twenty second of June made a Motion in Council which is Entered in the Council-Book as followeth viz. By the Lords Justices and Council Jo. Borlace Hen. Tichburne THE Lord Marquess of Ormond this day moving at this Board that if Ten thousand Pounds may be raised whereof the one half to be in Money and the other in Victuals and to be brought in within a Fortnight that his Lordship would in such Case proceed in the War and immediately endeavour to take in Wexford and forbear to prooceed in the intended Treaty of Cessation of Arms with the Rebels It was thought fit to call before Us the Mayor of this City of Dublin and others who appearing We had Conference with them at this Board concerning the same and find that such is the Poverty of this Place and People as that Sum of Money or Proportion of Victual cannot be raised Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin 22d June 1643. La. Dublin Roscommon Edw. Brabazon Char. Lambert Adam Loftus William Parsons Thomas Lucas Francis Willoughby G. Wentworth But whether they thought that Supplies would be sent from England or that they were willing to struggle with any Extremities rather than to have Correspondence with the Murderers of their Friends and Relations and the Plunderers of themselves it is certain that Part of the Council still continued averse to the Cessation Hereupon Sir Robert Meredith Sir William Parsons Sir John Temple and Sir Adam Loftus were Committed to Prison by His Majesties Order on the Second of July and on their Petition they were refus'd to be Bayl'd but they had the Liberty of the Castle with a Keeper But on the 4th of July the Lords Justices and Council received a smart Letter from the two Houses of Parliament in England taxing them with Publishing That their present Difficulties were occasioned by the Failures of the English Parliament To which they returned as Tart an Answer on the Twenty eighth of October importing That they gave full frequent and seasonable Notice of all their Wants from time to time to the English Parliament and therefore did not know where else to lay the blame In the mean time there hapned a pleasant Passage on the Eighth of July at which time the Lords Justices and Council sent a Message in writing to the Confederates Purporting that if the Rebels would release Captain Farrer they would exchange Captain Synot for him but the Confederates were so distasted at the word Rebels that they sent back this Answer We do not know to whom this Certificate is directed and we will avow Our selves in all Our Actions Bur. 128. to be His Majesties Loyal Subjects neither shall it be safe henceforth for any Messenger to bring any Paper to Us containing other Language than such as Suits with Our Duty and the Affections We bear to His Majesties Service wherein some may pretend but none shall have more real Desires to farther His Majesties interest than His Majesties Loyal and Obedient Subjects Mountgarret Muskery Fr. Thom. Dublin Malachias Tuamen Castlehaven Audley R. Bealing Torlo O Neile Patr. Darcy And it is observable Lords Justices Letter of 29. July 4â— that Sir John Netervill being indicted of Treason Petitioned the King setting forth that his Witnesses were forced by the Rack to swear more than was true and instances Cornelius Moran and that his own Examination was mutilated of all Matters that might excuse or lessen his Crime but upon Search it appeared that Cornelius Moran was not made use of as an Evidence against him at all and that the Clauses he mentioned to be expung'd were found uncancell'd in his Examination It seems that the Treaty about the Cessation so influenced the Army that it did little this Summer only Colonel Monk on the 27th of June issued out with a Party of Thirteen hundred Foot and 140 Horse and he had the good Fortune at a Pass on the Boyne near Castlejordan to encounter Four thousand Irish Foot and Six hundred Horse under General Preston and to get the better of them however for want of Provisions he was fain to march to Wickloe and was afterwards Commanded thence into Meath to attend Owen Roe O Neal whose Army was near Portlester and there he joyned the Lord Moor who was Commander in chief of this Party and tho' it did not come to a Battel yet the valiant Lord Moor was unfortunately Slain by a Shot from a great Gun not many days before the Cessation was concluded Neither was there much done in the rest of the Provinces for the same Reason but the little that was done ought to be mentioned before we touch the Cessation that so we may take that Treaty entire And first in Munster the Lord of Insiquin divided his Army in the beginning of May and himself marched westward Battel of Killworth whilst Sir CHARLES VAVASOR went Eastward and took Mac Thomas's Castle and other Castles in the County of Waterford But on the Twenty seventh of May the Army to the number of Four hundred Horse and Four thousand Foot rendevouzed at Bottivant from whence Lieutenant Colonel Story with Two hundred Horse and Twelve hundred Foot was detached into Kerry where they got a Considerable Prey and also rescued some English and on the Twenty eighth the Lord Insiquin with the rest of the Army marched to Killmallock and ranged to and fro thereabouts whilst on the Thirty first of May Sir Charles Vavasor with another Detachment attacked the strong Castle of Cloghleagh which he took on the Third of June but on the Fourth of June by great negligence and want of Conduct he was well beaten by the Earl of Castlehaven on the Plain between Formoy and Killworth and Six hundred English were there slain and Sir Charles and others were taken Prisoners which was a just Judgment upon them for suffering some inferiour Officers to violate the Quarter they had given to the Garrison of Cloghleagh and by this Considerable Victory the Rebels were so elevated that they made a brisk
also procured the Earl of Glamorgan to be sent into Ireland who made a Peace secretly with the Irish on the 25th day of August as we shall see anon and which also met with the same Fate and for the same Reason And this unfolds the Secret of some Mysteries which at that time were unintelligible for it was a Paradox to Ormond and those Cavaliers who were so zealous for the King that they passionately coveted a Peace with the Irish as that which they thought the only probable Means left to preserve His Majesty I say it amaz'd these Men to find the Irish delay and indeed reject the Peace which themselves at first had courted and which was their Interest to hasten even upon worse Terms than were offered them Nevertheless the Confederates continued to quibble upon Niceties and to reassume Debates that were determined before and particularly the Words in one of the Articles That Officers of Both Religions be equally preferr'd being upon an Objection of the Lord Digby explain'd by themselves to intend only Indifferency were now so strained that they would admit no other Interpretation of the Word Equally but that it must extend to Number whereat His Majesty was exceedingly disgusted But in May there was a General Assembly of the Irish which pursuant to a Decision of their Clergy Appendix 29 did on the Ninth of June Vote That as to the Demand of Restoring the Protestant Churches the Commissioners shall give a positive Denial And the Truth of it is that they thought themselves so sure of what Conditions they pleas'd from the Earl of Glamorgan that they little minded what Answer they gave to the Marquis of Ormond or his Commissioners And on the other side the King thought himself so sure of the Ten thousand Men from them that Sir Marmaduke Langdale was in July sent with Seven hundred Horse to Carnarvan to receive and conduct them as there should be occasion But when their Expectation in England began to tire and no News came either of a Peace or of Succors the Lord Digby Secretary of State wrote the following Letter to the Lord of Muskery and the rest that had been Agents for the Confederates at Oxford My Lords and Gentlemen HIS Majsty having long expected a Conclusion of a happy Peace within your Kingdom and His Affairs having highly suffered by the failing of His Expectations from thence cannot chuse but wonder what the Cause is of it calling to mind those fair Professions and Promises which you made unto Him when you were imployed here as Agents And knowing well what Power and Instructions He hath long since given to my Lord Lieutenant to comply with you for your Satisfaction as far forth as with Reason or Honor His Majesty could in Civil Things or with Prudence or Conscience in Matters of Religion and in the latter as to the utmost of what for any worldly Consideration He will ever be induced to So did He conceive nothing less than what you declared unto Him you were persuaded the Catholicks would be satisfied withal nay ought not in their own Interest to seek more in the present Condition His Majesty is in lest further Concessions might by confirming former Scandals cast upon His Majesty in Matters of Religion so alienate the Hearts of His faithful and loyal Adherents as to make them abandon Him Which as it would draw inevitable Ruin on Him so were you rightly apprehensive that when the Parliament should by that means have prevailed here that must soon after bring a certain Destruction upon your selves What the change of Princples or Resolutions are His Majesty knows not but He finds by the not concluding of a Peace there that your Party it seems is not satisfied with the utmost that His Majesty can grant in Matters of Religion that is the taking away of the Penal Laws against Roman Catholicks within that Kingdom And His Majesty here hears that you insist upon the Demands of Churches for the Publick Exercise of Religion which is the Occasion that His Majesty hath commanded me to write thus frankly unto you and to tell you That He cannot believe it possible that Rational and Prudent Men had there been no Propositions made to the contrary can insist upon that which must needs be so destructive to His Majesty at present and to your selves in the Consequences of His Ruin that is inevitably to be made a Prey to the Rebels of these Kingdoms or to a Foreign Nation Wherefore my Lords and Gentlemen to disabuse you I am commanded by His Majesty to declare unto you That were the Condition of His Affairs much more desperate than they are He would never redeem them by any Concession of so much wrong both to His Honor and Conscience It is for the Defence of His Religion principally that he hath undergone the Extremities of War here and He would never redeem his Crown by destroying It there So that to deal clearly with you as you may be happy your selves and be happy Instruments of His Majesty's Restoring if you would be contented with Reason and give Him that speedy Assistance which you well may so if nothing will content you but what must wound His Honor and Conscience you must expect howsoever His Condition is and how detestable soever the Rebels of this Kingdom are to Him He will in that Point joyn with them the Scots or with any of the Protestant Religion rather than do the least Act that may hazard that Religion in which and for which He will live and die Having said thus much by His Majesty's Command I have no more to add but that I shall think my self very happy if this take any such effect as may tend to the Peace of that Kingdom and make me Your Affectionate humble Servant GEO. DIGBIE Cardiff 1 August 1645. But the Confederates little regarded this Importunity they had other Designs of their own to mind and were busie managing the Two Treaties with Ormond and Glamorgan and whilst they proceeded diligently with the Earl they dealt sophistically with the Marquis still raising new Scruples and Difficulties varying and inhancing upon the King as His Condition grew worse so that on the Second of August they demanded to be exempt from the Excommunication of a Protestant Bishop because they could not in Conscience seek Absolution from those of another Religâ—n And thus Matters continued until the 25th of August at which time the secret Peace with Glamorgan was concluded and then to let him know that they design'd no more effectual Compliance with him than they had perform'd with others they did on the 28th of August make the following Order ☞ viz. The General Assembly Order and Declare 〈…〉 Union and Oath of Association shall remain firm and inviâ—lable and in full strength in all Points and to all Purposes until the Articles of the intended Peace shall be ratifiâ—d in Parliament Notwithstanding any Proclamation of the Peace c. And on the First of September
stupendious Revolution was That General Preston and his Army being mostly of the Pale and in whom English Blood and Honor should have had more prevalence than to suffer them to be guilty of so manifest and perfidious Violation of a Peace so lately made with their own King should be persuaded to joyn with Owen Roe and the Ulster Irish in so ill a Cause and even against his Interest and yet it is certain that they were tainted so early that tho' Owen Roe march'd through their Quarters to intercept Ormond yet none of them sent him the least notice and when the Marquis sent to Preston to come to him to consult about those Affairs Preston excused it with a Pretence of Sickness Nevertheless the Nuncio would not trust him until he had tied him by an Engagement to oblige his Honor and an Oath to bind his Conscience both which are recited Appendix 32. And upon the noise of Preston's Defection the Lord Lieutenant sent him an Expostulatory Letter to which he return'd the following Canting Answer May it please your Excellency IN Answer to Yours of the Eighth of this Instant I return That finding the Peace that was Concluded and Published destructive to my Religion and Liberty of the Nation to the Maintenance of which together with His Majesty's Just Prerogatives I had formerly sworn and associated my self I called together my Regiments and issued new Commissions for reinforcing of my Army my Intention being therein no other tha◠complying with my former Resolution and Engagement which I desire may be accorded with Assurance whereby we may be the better enabled to comply with His Majesty's Necessities in serving Him Which is the only Ambition of My Lord Your Lordships most humble Servant T. PRESTON Kilka 10 October 1646. But let us return to the Nuncio who by the Artifice and Industry of the Popish Clergy was become the Generalissimo of Two Armies which being united made up 16000 Foot and 1600 Horse with which he marched towards Dublin and was so confident to take it by a General Assault at his first Approach and express'd it with such Arguments of Probability that it was generally believ'd in his Camp so that Colonel Fitz-Williams pretending Kindness to Ormond did by his Letter of the 22th of September give him notice of the Danger and advis'd him to prevent it by confirming Glamorgan's Concessions and concludes That then Preston will live and die for His Majesty And to this Advertisement the Marquis on the 26th of September return'd the following Answer SIR IF I could have assured the Clergy my Lord of Glamorgan's Conditions I had not retired hither they are Things I have nothing to do with nor will have If they be valid in themselves they need no Corroboration if invalid I have no Power to give them Strength I cannot believe General Preston so regardless of his Honor as to appear in a way of Hostility before Dublin which were in the highest degree to violate the Loyalty he professeth the many Assurances given me by himself and in his behalf by others and above all the Honor of his Profession But if all that can be called Faith between King and Subject and betwixt Man and Man shall be so infamously laid aside together with all hope of Reconciliation Nature will teach us to make the best Resistance we can and God the sure Punisher of Treachery and Disloyalty at last will bless our Endeavors with Success or our Sufferings with Patience and Honor. Your Servant ORMOND But we must leave this mighty Army on their March and visit the Marquis of Ormond who was so enraged at this unexcusable Perfidy of the Confederates that he resolved to think no more of Treating with them but on the contrary prepared for the utmost Resistance And he was likewise very much confirmed in those Resolutions by the Opinion of the Lord Digby whom he had left Resident at Kilkenny and who in his Letter of the 24th of September hath this Passage My Lord there is no dealing with this People but by Force You see by the short Letter how they forge large Offers and improve others for their Ends. Hereupon Resolutions were unanimously taken in Council to Address to the Parliamet for Succors as shall be hereafter related at large in its proper place And the Lord Lieutenant and Council did write to the King ☞ That the Irish having perfidiously violated the Peace had begun a new War to wrest the Kingdom from His Majesty and transfer it to the King of Spain or the Pope to avoid which they were forced to apply themselves to the Parliament And the same day they wrote to the Lord Mayor and City of London for Assistance and assur'd them that the City Debts seiz'd in the beginning of the War were but borrow'd in extremity and that an exact Account are kept of them and they will be justly repaid by the King in due time And hereupon the Captain of the Parliaments Ship that carried the Commissioners over furnish'd the Lord Lieutenant with Thirty Barrels of Powder There was nothing more could be done for the Preservation of Dublin but to invite the Parliament Forces of Ulster to its Assistance which was not neglected and many of them were passionately inclin'd to the Service as knowing that the whole Kingdom would suffer very much in the Loss of that City But the Chief Commanders and the Parliament Commissioners would not consent unless Tredagh might be put into their Hands To which Ormond replied That he was in Treaty with the Parliament and therefore could not part with Tredagh till that were finished but desires them to reinforce his Garisons or divert the Common Enemy by taking the Field However the Irish were afraid of this Conjunction and therefore Owen Roe from Athy on the Ninth of October invited the Lord Lieutenant thither to treat with the Nuncio but Ormond knew there was no good Musick to be made upon that String and therefore the next day from Trim he return'd an Expostulation Why they were in Arms and desired them to restore Athlone and Athy To which Owen Roe replied the same day from Kilka That those Garisons are in surer Hands for the King now than they were in before whilst they were kept by Men inclined to the Parliament But tho this Irish General was so high being the Favorite of the Nuncio and his Party yet General Preston was not so but foreseeing the Fate and Scandal of the perfidious Breach of the Peace both he and his Army were somewhat cold in the Affair Besides this there was a National Emulation between the Two Armies O Neal's being Old Irish as the others was of the Old English and this was increas'd by the Insolence of the former and the Envy of the latter For Owen Roe and his Party who had been lately Victorious at Bemburb and had never submitted to the Peace because the Nuucio did reject it thought themselves justly entitled to the Reputation of
being the better Soldiers and the better Catholicks Whilst the other being the Civiliz'd Inhabitants of the Pale look'd upon the Northern Army as a sort of Barbarians And therefore the Lord Digby writes thus to the Lord Lieutenant from Grangemelan 13 October All here of the Nuncio and O Neal ' s Parties is the height of Insolency and Villanies O Neal ' s and Preston ' s Armies hate one another more than the English hates either of them O Neal has Eight thousand Foot whereof Five thousand well Armed and Eight hundred Horse the worst in the World he designs on Naas Matters standing thus General Preston On the Nineteenth of October made some Proposals to the Lord Digby to which he return'd this Answer by Sir Nicholas White That if Preston would submit to the Peace the Lord Lieutenant would break off the other Treaty but cannot do it after the Provisions and Country are destroy'd because then he will be tied by the Teeth to the Parliament on whom he must depend for Bread That he shall have reasonable Security of Religion but must decline the extravagant Expectations of the Nuncio That they shall have the Penal Laws repeal'd and not be disturb'd in the Possession of the Churches they now have until His Majesty's Pleasure cut of Restraint be known And for security hereof they shall have the Engagement of the Queen the Prince of Wales of the Crown of France and of the Marquis of Clanrickard and that Preston shall have a considerable Command and so shall as many of Owen Roe's Officers as will comply But an Answer must be sent before the Lord Lieutenant be necessitated to destroy his own Quarters And this General Preston did also send Sir James Dillon to offer the Command of his Army to the Lord of Clanrickard and that they would submit to the Peace if they might be secur'd in their Religion But as Clanrickard would not meddle without Ormond's Consent so Ormond began to be shie of Preston and not to regard what he said because he had promis'd him not to shoot a Gun at any English Garison and yet he did now assault and take Castlejordan which breach of his private Promise more sullied his Reputation with Ormond than did his Contravention of the General Peace Moreover whilst they pretended fairly and talk'd of Peace they nevertheless march'd on and destroy'd the English Quarters and therefore when the Lord Tâ—â—f on the 23th of October sent a healing Message to the Lord Lieutenant in behalf of Preston and in order to revive the Peace he smartly answered That now they had destroyed his Quarters and taken several of His Majesty's Castles and murdered His Subjects without any cause of Complaint they begin to talk and but to talk of Accommodation And when Preston replied That the Peace was disadvantagious to the Catholicks and was therefore rejected the Marquis answered That Oaths are not necessary to bind one to his Benefit and therefore are useful only when they oblige to Disadvantage and if they may for that Reason be violated all Faith amongst Men is destroy'd Whereupon on the Thirtieth of October Preston writes That he will send the Lord Lieutenant Propositions in two or three days which accordinly were sent on the Second day of November and were signed by both the Generals together with a Letter as followeth viz. May it please your Excellency BY the Command of the Confederate Catholicks of this Kingdom who offer the inclosed Propositions we have under our Leading Two Armies Our Thoughts are best to our Religion King and Country our Ends to establish the First and make the Two following secure and happy It is the great part of our Care and Desires to purchase your Excellency to the effecting of so blessed a Work We do not desire the effusion of Blood and to that purpose the inclosed Propositions are sent from us We pray to God your Consideration of them may prove fruitful We are commanded to pray your Excellency to render an Answer to them by Two of the Clock in the Afternoon on Thursday next be it War or Peace We shall endeavor in our Ways to exercise Faith and Honor and upon this Thought we rest Your Excellencies most humble Servants T. PRESTON OWEN O NEILE 1. That the Exercise of the Romish Religion be in Dublin Tredagh and all the Kingdoms of Ireland as free and as publick as it is now in Paris in France or Bruxels in the Low-Countries 2. That the Council of State called ordinarily the Council-Table be of Members true and faithful to His Majesty and such of which there may be no fear or suspicion of going to the Parliament Party 3. That Dublin Tredagh Trim Newry Carlingford and all Garisons within the Protestant Quarters ☞ be Garison'd by Confederate Catholicks to maintain and keep the said Cities and Places for the use of our Sovereign Lord King Charles and his Lawful Successors for the Defence of this Kingdom of Ireland 4. That the present Council of the Confederates shall Swear truly and faithfully to keep and maintain for the use of His Majesty and His Lawful Successors and for the Defence of the said Kingdom of Ireland the above Cities of Dublin and Tredagh and all other Forts Places and Castles as above 5. That the said Council and all General Officers and Soldiers whatsoever do Swear and Protest to fight by Sea and Land against the Parliamentarians and all the Kings Enemies And that they will never come to any Convention Agreement or Article with the said Parliamentarians or any the Kings Enemies to the prejudice of His Majesties Rights or of this Kingdom of Ireland 6. That according to Our Oath of Association We will to the best of Our Power and Cunning defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom the Kings Rights the Lives and Fortunes of the Subjects His Excellency is prayed to make Answer to the above Propositions at furthest by Two of the Clock in the Afternoon on Thursday next But it seems that these Proposals were thought so insolent and unreasonable that it was not fit to Countenance them with an Answer In the mean time the Lord Lieutenant had sent to the Lord Clanrickard to come to him with what Assistance he could and this Lord who was always Loyal and abhorred the violation of the Peace did his Endeavour to bring a considerable Party with him but as he words it in his Letter of the Second of November The sharp Sword of Excommunication had so cut his Power and means that he could bring with him but one Troop of Horse to Tecroghan however his Presence was very considerable and as it gave great Comfort to the Lord Lieutenant so it gave mighty hopes to Preston who believed that Clanrickard who for his exemplary Loyalty would be confided in by one side and for his Religion might be trusted by the other was a fit Mediator to reconcile both Parties and accordingly he applyed himself to that Lord and by the
Assistance of the Lord Digby they brought the matter so far to bear that on the 12th of November the Lord Digby writes thus to the Lord Lieutenant Yesterday the Lord Clanrickard and I finished our Negotiations to which Preston and his Army and Sir Philem O Neal and part of Owen Roes Army will submit You may depend on this Engagement of Preston and his Army since it cannot be violated without such a Perâ—idy ☞ as certainly the Profession of Soldiers and Gentlemen hath never been guilty of The most that will be expected from you is a Declaration to this effect That whereas it is well known even by His Majesties Printed Letters that His gracious Intentions were to secure His Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom in the free Exercise of their Religion by repeal of the Penalties of the Law against them which in the last Articles was left out by the Subtilty of some of their own Party who intended to found this late mischief upon it that it was far from His Majesties intention or Yours to take advantage of that Omission but that they may rest as secure of His Majesties Favour in the repeal of the said Penalties as if it had been positively exprest in the Articles and that for matter of their Churches and Ecclesiastical Possessions it being referred to the King it was far from Your intentions to molest them therein till you knew His Majesties Pleasure in that particular As for your Engagement to obey His Majesties free Commands the Queen and Prince of Wales and my Significations to the advantage of the Catholicks during His Majesties want of Freedom and that you will not obey such Commands to the prejudice of what is undertaken as shall be procured by advantage of His Majesties want of Freedom Your Letter to the Marquis of Clanrickard will suffice you must proceed frankly c. And this was the Posture of Affairs when on the 14th of November Commissioners arrived from the Parliament with Fourteen hundred Foot and other Necessaries for the Preservation of Dublin which they expected to be given up to them upon the Terms proposed In what Condition was the Marquiss of Ormond now he had two inconsistent Treaties upon his hands and both well nigh concluded and he was in Danger least his own Army who abhorred any farther Correspondence with the Irish would with the Assistance of the Fourteen hundred Men newly come Deliver up both Dublin and him to the Parliament of England It is certain he had need of all that Dexterity and Presence of mind that he was Master of to extricate himself out of these Difficulties as he afterwards did It was never a Doubt with him whether he should preserve the Kingdom for his Majesty or submit it to the Parliament but the Question was whether an Union with the Irish would do the former since their Levity was such as that there could be no dependance upon them I have seen all the dispatches between Ormond and Digby upon this occasion and can assure the Reader that the Lord Lieutenant was prevailed upon against his own Judgment by the Lord Digby's importunity and when he did Consent he foretold the issue of that Reconciliation But we will first give an Account of the Treaty with the Parliament Commissioners and then discover the farther Proceedings with the Irish The Lord Lieutenant and Council being pressed by Enemies without and Necessities and intolerable Wants in the City did on the 26th day of September by Letters to the King and to the Lord Mayor of London represent the miserable Condition they were in and did also send over the Lord Chief Justice Lowther Sir Francis Willoughby and Sir Paul Davis in one of the Parliaments ships to the Parliament of England with Instructions from himself and the Council and other Instructions from the Council only The Instructions from the Lord Lieutenant and Council were 1. That a Difference ought to be made the between those that were Contrivers and first Actors of the Rebellion and those that by the Torrent of that Rebellion were afterwards accidently engaged therein and that the Confiscatitions of the former were sufficient to satisfie the Adventurers 2. That they demonstrate the necessity of making the late Peace for the Preservation of the Protestants for tho' the Protestants do survive the breach of the Peace the Reason is because the Irish are now divided and their Frame of Government dissolved 3. That before the Peace they the Lord Lieutenant and Council did enter into a Treaty with the Parliament Commissioners in Ulster to prevent it but by the Departure of the Marquis of Argile into Scotland and of Sir Robert King into England that Treaty fell for want of a sufficient number of the Commissioners and that misfortune was followed by the defeat of Monroe and the Scots at Bemburb 4. That England has receiv'd advantage by the Peace First by their experience of the perfidiousness and Treachery of the Irish ☞ And Secondly by obtaining just cause to use them severely 5. That the Covenant may not be impos'd until it be done by Act of Parliament that nothing of it may be now imposed lest it divide the Protestants and hinder them from a joynt prosecution of the War and for the same Reason the Book of Common Prayer be not suppressed but let those use the Directory that will 6. To â—ustifie the Goverment and Conduct of His Majesties Servants and to wipe off all Scandals 7. To preserve the Estates Persons and Imployments of all those that went hence to serve His Majesty in England and did not joyn with the Rebels at least to get them Liberty to compound or to transport themselves and their Goods 8. That it be immediately published we have free Commerce and Traffick with the Parliaments Towns and Allies and that three or four Ships be sent to Guard our Coasts from the Rebels 9. That Magazines of all sorts be speedily prepared at Liverpool Chester c. 10. To advise them that if Succours be not immediately sent all will be lost and the recovery of it will cost ten times as much Blood and Treasure as it will to keep it now 11. That if the Soldier be not constantly Paid he will revolt to the better Pay-master and that the Revenue here does not keep the publick Persons and Clergy from want 11. That Directions be sent to the Parliaments Forces in Ulster Munster and Conaught to correspond and joyn with Us. 12. That if they send Forces under their own Officers Care be taken to Pay ours equally with theirs to prevent Difference and Mutiny 13. That Sir Francis Butler Colonel Richard Gibson Colonel Henry Warren Colonel Monk and Lieutenant Colonel Gibs now Prisoners with the Parliament Being Men that know the Country and are experienced in the Service may be rather sent than Novices and Strangers or any others Lastly Men without Money and Victuals will do us more harm than good And if as soon as you are
ulla a Rege Vindic. Ever 105. yet as Father Ponce confesses or rather boasts they were endeavouring all they could to resort to their first Confederacy without any regard to the King But as soon as the Assembly understood the Lord-Lieutenant's Resolution to leave the Kingdom without appointing a Deputy they sent the Lords Clanrickard and Dillon and two more to him with the following Publick Act and Declaration of the Assembly The General Assembly's Publick Act and Declaration Dated at Loghreogh the 17th of December same Year 1650 upon and some few Days after Receipt of the precedent Letter from the Marquess of Ormond then Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland WHereas the Archbishops and Bishops met at this Assembly have of their own free accords for removing of Jealousies that any might apprehend of their Proceedings declared and protested That by their Excommunication and Declaration at Jamestown in August last they had no other Aim than the Preservation of the Catholick Religion and People and did not propose to make any Vsurpation on his Majesty's Authority or on the Liberties of the People confessing it belongs not to their Jurisdiction so to do upon consideration of which their Declaration and Protestation and their Professions to that purpose in this Assembly and of his Excellency's Letter dated the 16th of November last recommending unto us as the chief ends for which this Assembly was called the removing of all Divisions as the best way for our Preservation We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Gentry met in this Assembly conceiving that there is no better Foundation and Ground for our Vnion than the holding to and obeying his Majesty's Authority to which we owe and ought to pay all dutiful Obedience do hereby declare and protest That our Allegiance to his Majesty is so inherent in us that we cannot be withdrawn from the same nor is there any power or authority in the Lords Spiritual or Temporal Gentry or People Clergy or Laity of the Kingdom that can alter change or take away his Majesty's Authority we holding that to be the chief Flower of the Crown and the Support of the Peoples Liberty which we hereby protest declare and avow and also do esteem the same essentially inviolably and justly due from us and the chiefest Mean under GOD to uphold our Vnion and Preservation And do unanimously beseech his Excellency in his great Affections to the Advancement of his Majesty's Service and his hearty desires to this Nation 's preservation to which he hath relation of highest Concernments in Blood Alliance and Interest to leave that Authority with us in some person faithful to his Majesty and acceptable to the Nation To which person when made known unto us we will not only afford all due Obedience but will also offer and propose the best Ways and Means that God will please to direct us to for preservation of his Majesty's Rights and Peoples Interests and Liberties and for begetting ready Obedience in all places and persons to his Majesty's Authority And we do farther declare That albeit Drogheda and all other places which were upon conclusion of the Peace in January 1648 in the Enemies power in this Kingdom the Cities of London Derry and Dublin only excepted were in his Excellency's time of Government and Conduct through many hazards in his person and loss in his Fortune reduced to his Majesty's Obedience God was pleased to bring us to the State and Condition we are at present yet we are fully satisfied that his Excellency had faithful Intentions and hearty Affections to advance his Majesty ' Interests and Service in this Kingdom Loghreogh 7th Decem. 1650. By Command of the Assembly Richard Blake Hereupon his Excellency sent them word That he had sent a Deputation to the Marquess of Clanrickard to Govern the Kingdom provided that their Declaration might be so far explained as to give the Marquess of Clanrickard full satisfaction that the Expressions they made touching the Obedience they owed and resolved to pay unto his Majesty's Authority was meant The Authority placed in his Lordship or any other Governour deriving or holding his Authority from his Majesty and that they esteem it not in the Power of any Person Congregation or Assembly whatsoever to discharge or set the People free from obeying his Lordship or any other such Governour during the continuance of the said Authority in him without which he said he could not in Duty to his Majesty leave his Authority subject to be tossed to and fro at the uncertain Fancies of any Man or Men and without any probability of saving the Nation which could be no otherwise effected than by an absolute chearful Obedience of the People unto the Authority placed over them And so having given charge to the Lord Clanrickard not to accept the Government upon other Terms and having refused a Pass from Ireton which a great Man yet living sollicitous of Excellency's safety had obtained and being accompanied with the Lord Insiquin and the Colonels Vaughan Wogan and Warren and about twenty more in a small Vessel of twenty eight Tun and four Guns he set sail for France about the middle of December leaving ULICK Marquess of CLANRICKARD Earl of Saint ALBANS Lord-Deputy to whom the Assembly applied themselves and besought him to assume the Government as Lord-Deputy of Ireland according to the Power left with him by the Lord-Lieutenant But the Marquess absolutely refused to do it except they satisfied the Proviso mentioned in the Lord-Lieutenant's Letter to them and that he saw such an Union amongst them as might free the King's Authority from the Affronts it had been exposed unto Whereupon they petitioned him again to assume that Authority without which the Nation as they said would be exposed to Ruine and they promised entire Obedience thereunto and for farther manifestation of the Sincerity of their Intentions they made the following Act By the General Assembly of the Kingdom of Ireland Logreogh 24th of Decemb. 1653. ALthough this Assembly have endeavoured by their Declaration of the 7th of this Month to give full Testimony of their Obedience to his Majesty's Authority yet for further Satisfaction and for removal of all Jealousies we do further declare That the Lords Spiritual or Temporal Gentry or People Clergy or Laity of this Kingdom shall not attempt labour endeavour or do any Act or Acts to set free or discharge the people from yeilding due and perfect Obedience to his Majesty's Authority invested in the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard or any other Governour or Governours of this Kingdom And in case of any such Labour Act or Endeavour by which any Mischief might ensue by seducing the people we declare That no person or persons shall or ought to be lead thereby but by their Disobedience on any such grounds are lyable and subject to the heavy Censures and Penalties of the Laws of the Land in force and practised in the Reign of Henry the Seventh and other Catholique Princes Nevertheless it is further
compared with the Certificates here Also prevent the abuse in Coyning Vending annd Vttering small Moneys 14thly Endeavour to bring all to a Conformity in the Religion by Law Established and acquaint us with what difficulties you meet with therein 15thly Inspect our Forts Castles Magazines and Stores and endeavour to make Salt-Petre 16thly We are informed That small Profit hath heretofore come to our Exchequer by Castle-Chamber Fines tho Misdemeanors proper for punishment in that Court were many we would therefore have you look into the reasons thereof and to resettle and uphold the Honour and Jurisdiction of that Court for the repressing exorbitant Offences wherein our Learned Council are to do their Duty faithfully 17thly The Vice-Treasurer or his Deputy to receive all Money 18thly Reduce the Moneys there to the condition of Sterling and establish a Mint there 19thly Finding some Propositions of the Duke of Ormond recorded in the Register of Council-Causes 1662. fit to be observed we have renewed them with reference to your Government therefore observe them Lastly Several Popish Clergy since the return of the Duke of Ormond hither have exerâ—â—ed their Jurisdictions to the great grief of the Remonstrants If so execute the Laws against the Titular Archbishops Bishops and Vicar-Generals that have threatned or excommunicated the Remonstrants and that you protect such Remonstrants as have not withdrawn their Subscriptions These were the publick Instructions but the Administration of the Government seem'd to have another Foundation for now the Mystery of Iniquity began to appear and the Papists were publickly countenanc'd and indulg'd in Ireland many of them got into the Commission of the Peace and it was attempted also to bring them into the Army but Matters not running so smoothly as the Lord Lieutenant expected he returned to England for new Instructions and left the Government in the Hands of the Lord Chancellor and Sir Arthur Forbus Lords Justices who were Sworn on the 12 th of June and continued in that Office until his Excellency's return which was on the 23 d day of September 1671. In the mean time on the 21 st of February 1670. Collonel Richard Talbot Petitioned His Majesty in the behalf of His most distressed Subjects of Ireland who were outed of their Estates by the late Vsurped Powers which Petition was referr'd to a Committe of the Council to Examine and Report and a State of their Case was given to the Committee in Writing Whereupon on the 28 th of January the Kings Solicitor attended the Committe at the Council-Chamber His Majesty being present and there the Petition and Talbot's Commission from the Irish the State of their Case and the Paper of Instances were read On the 1 st of February the King being present Sir George Lane was call'd in and the first Instance being the Case of Mr. Hore was objected against him but Sir George baffled the Petitioners in that Matter and having prov'd an Agreement with Mr. Hore which His Majesty was pleased to say He remembred That Affair was clear'd to the satisfaction of the King and the Committee much contrary to the Expectation of the Petitioners who perhaps had prevail'd with the King to be there that he might be an Ear-witness of the Wrong that was done them But the King being weary of such Debates did on the 4 th of February in Council appoint the Lords Buckingham Anglesy Hollis and Ashley and Secretary Trevor or any three of them to be a Committee to Peruse and Revise all the Papers and Writings concerning the Settlement of Ireland from the first to the last and to take an Abstract of the State thereof in Writing And accordingly on the 12 th of June 1671. they made their Report at large which was the Foundation of a Commission dated the 1 st of August 1671. under the great Seal to Prince Rupert the Dukes of Buckingham and Lauderdale Earl of Anglesy Lords Ashley and Hollis Sir John Trevor and Sir Thomas Chichly to Inspect the Settlement of Ireland and all Proceedings from first to last in Order thereunto And this was followed by another Commission of the 17 th of January 1672. to Prince Rupert Earl of Shaftsbury the Lord Treasurer Clifford and others amongst whom the Dukes of Ormond was one to inspect the Affairs of Ireland viz. the Acts of Settlement and Explanation and the Execution of them and the disposing of Forfeited Lands and the State of His Majesties Revenue c. But how specious soever the Pretences were for these Commissions the secret Design was to unravel the Settlement and to humble the Duke of Ormond upon whom they always fell when the Popish Interest prevailed for otherwise the pretended Grievances if they had been really true were few and small and it were much better for the publick That even greater Irregularities than were complain'd of should remain unremedied than that the great and common Security of the Nation should be shaken And of this Opinion was the Parliament of England who always concern'd themselves effectually for the English Interest and the Protestant Religion in Ireland and accordingly on the 9th day of March 1673 they Address'd to His Majesty as followeth And this Address occasion'd that the aforesaid Commission of Inspection was Superseded on the 2d of July 1673. WE Your Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Commons in this Present Parliament Assembled taking into Consideration the great Calamities which have formerly befallen Your Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Ireland from the Popish Recausants there who for the most part are profest Enemies to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest and how they make use of Your Majesties Gracious Disposition and Clemency are at this time grown more Insolent and Presumptuous than formerly to the apparent Danger of that Kingdom and Your Majesties Protestant Subjects there the consequence whereof may likewise prove very fatal to this Your Majesties Kingdom of England if not timely prevented And having seriously weighed what Remedies may be most properly applied to those growing Distempers do in all Humility present Your Majesty with these our Petitions 1. That for the Establishment and Quieting the possessions of Your Majesties Subjects in that Kingdom Your Majesty would be pleased to maintain the Act of Settlement and Explanatory Act thereupon and to recall the Commission of Enquiry into Irish Affairs bearing date the 17 th of January last as containing many new and extraordinary Powers not only to the Prejudice of particular Persons whose Estates and Titles are thereby made liable to be questioned but in a manner to the overthrow of the Acts of Settlement and if pursued may be the occasion of great Charge and Attendance to many of Your Subjects in Ireland and shake the Peace and Security of the whole 2. That Your Majesty would give order that no Papist be either continued or hereafter admitted to be Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs Coroners or Mayors Sovereigns or Portreeves in that Kingdom 3. That the Titular Popish Archbishops
Gates and accordingly they did so and refused Entrance to this Regiment on the 7 th of December On the 9 th Collonel Philips put himself into Derry and on the 10 th was by the People chosen Governour thereof and on the 11 th the City sent away Councellor Cairns as their Agent into England But Alarms every day encreasing of the Irish designs to Massacre them the Country stocked into Derry and on the 15 th of December the Governor drew up a Declaration to which they all consented In the mean time Tyrconnel knowing the Lord Mountjoy's Interest in that Country sent him down to try if he could be admitted to Garison the Town and upon Capitulations and Articles concluded the 21 st of December he was permitted to put in five Companies of Protestants into the City under Collonel â—undy I should have mention'd that there was a currant Report spread abroad and generally believed That the Irish designed a Massacre on the 9 th of December this was the true reason of shutting Derry-gates and of making an Association in the Counties of Down and Antrim There were but two Regiments viz. the Lord of Antrim's and Sir Thomas Newcomen's in those two Counties so that it had been easy to have Surprized them and the design was laid to that purpose but some of the Conspirators were too Cautious and so it miscarried In the mean time the Lord Tyrconnel was openly raising some Men and secretly Listing more and having notice of his Master's Disaster in England resolved to do his Endeavour to preserve Ireland for him but he so cunningly dissembled his design that he perswaded the Lord Mountjoy to be Colleague to the Lord Chief Baron Rice in a pretended Embassy to King James to beg his leave to surrender the Kingdom since it was impossible to keep it And it is said he promis'd solemnly to the Lord Mountjoy that he would raise no more Forces nor innovate any thing in his Absence But Rice had other Instructions so that the Lord Mountjoy was not only treacherously secured in France and thrown into the Bastile but also his Friends were basely used in Ireland and the Lord Deputy as soon as the Lord Mountjoy was gone gave out Commissions to every Body that would undertake to Subsist their Men for three Months In the mean time the Irish in the Countries least inhabited by English and particularly in the West part of the County of Cork began immediately after Christmas to Rob and Plunder openly whereupon many then alive who remembred that the Irish began the Rellellion of 1641. in that manner were frightned themselves and alarm'd others so that they flock'd into the Walled Towns in Crowds nor did those that had the Courage to keep their Houses fare any better for the Irish being now grown Lawless set no Bounds to their Insolence but in great Numbers with a Piper before them Robbed the English of all their Stock at Noon-day and before their Faces it was to no purpose to complain for tho the Injur'd Party might get good Words 't is certain none of them got any Remedy and this was the Case and the English were generally plundered before they made the least Resistance in the Province of Munster But on the 25 th day of February The People of Bandon had notice that the Earl of Clancarty was marching with six Companies to reinforce the Troop of Horse and two Companies of Foot that were then in Garison there whereupon they took an immediate Resolution to Disarm the Garison which they bravely perform'd with the Slaughter of eight Irish-men and took all their Horses and Arms and would certainly have done great things suitable to their Ancient Reputation if they could have got Ammunition and other Necessaries and any reasonable Assistance but that very Night the Citizens of Cork were disarmed and the next day Castlemartyr was taken and so having no hopes of Succour they nevertheless generously refused to deliver up any of their Leaders and at last purchased their Pardon for 1000 l. And thus Matters stood when King James Landed at Kingsale on the 12 th of March from whence he marched to Dublin and immediately sent down his Army into the North where he met with little Obstruction until it came before Londonderry the Siege of which Place will in after Ages be more renowned than those of Ostend or Candy because all the necessaries for Defence were infinitely less and yet the Success was very much greater but it is altogether unnecessary to trouble you with the Relation of that Siege or the famous Actions of the brave Inniskilling Men because they are already Printed at large in the respective Narratives of those Matters to which I refer you and remain SIR Your Humble Servant H. R. Appendix I. AN EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE City of Cork TO THE Lord-Deputy of Ireland ANNO 1603. THAT the Commissioners had by Directions charged them to suffer His Majesties Ministers to pass through their Ports with Eight and Forty Barrels of Powder and Lead and Match proportionable to be brought from His Majesties Store in that City to the Fort of Halebolyn and that in regard they wondered so great a Proportion should be carried to the Fort where no Artillery was yet planted especially the Quantities formerly issued being not yet spent nor any Service being in hand they fearing the Commssioners purposed to assault the Town or at least to starve them were enforced thereby to make stay of the said Munition till his Lordships Pleasure were further known renewing their Suit to have the Custody of the Fort committed to the Corporation That they did all they could to cause the mixed Mony of the new Standard to pass currant but it was with such Grief and Loss to the poor Town as they hoped his Lordship would be a means to his Majesty for altering the same That they had received Rebuke from his Lordship concerning certain Insolencies but could not call to mind any particular wherein they had offended the State except that be an Offence after many Abuses and Wrongs done them to keep Watch and Ward to preserve themselves and keep the City for the Kings Majesty in those doubtful times as they term'd them That touching the point of Religion they only exercised now publickly that which ever before they had â—â—en suffered to exercise privately And as their Publick Prayers gave Publick Testimony of their Faithful Hearts to the King 's Royal Majesty so they were tyed to be no less careful to manifest their duties to Almighty God in which they would never be Dissembling Temporisers Appendix II. The Examination of Owen O Conally the Descoverer of the Irish Rebellion WHo being duly Sworn and Examined saith That he being at Monimore in the County of Londonderry on Tuesday last he received a Letter from Colonel Hugh Oge Mac Mahon desiring him to come to Connaught in the County of Monaghan and to be with him on Wednesday or Thursday last
to new Consultations how yet to bring their wicked ends and contrivances to full effect making the Seats of their Assembly at the City of Kilkenny there with full advice of their Titular Clergy and Popish Lawyers Without any Authority derived from your Majesty they call a Parliament which being Assembled they turned into a National Assembly utterly strange to the Laws of England and Ireland and to your Majesties Royal Prerogative which they falsely pretend to maintain there they Enacted That no other Temporal Government or Jurisdiction shall be Assumed Kept or Exercised in this Kingdom save what shall be approved by the General Assembly or Supream Council There they set up a new Form of Government utterly opposite to the Laws of England and Ireland and your Royal Authority Ordering a Council for Governing in each County a Council in each Province and a Council for the Kingdom by the Name of The Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks to be held at Kilkenny or elsewhere they appoint These Councils are to be the ordinary Judicatories to hear and determine all Causes as well touching Life and Member as amply as your Majesties Judges of Oyer and Terminer and Goal-delivery could do and accordingly they give Judgment of Death by Votes against your British Subjects whom otherwise also they Hang and Execute by Warrants of their Commanders and others without Process or other proceedings as also to Hear and Determin all Causes for Goods Chattels and Interests and to establish Rents and Possessions as if a right of Conquest were already vested in them And they Ordain that all Persons of all professions and degrees shall obey their Orders there they establish the Romish Clergy in all the Possessions of the Church throughout the Kingdom and appoint an Oath of Association to be taken in all the Parishes of the Realm there they form Armies and Commanders of all sorts to resist your Majesties Forces and if they may to perfect their intended Conquest of this your Kingdom They appoint Sheriffs Coroners Constables and other Officers in each County to execute their Orders they in some parts have caused their Captains Officers and others to take Oath before their Titular Clergy that they shall not suffer any English or Protestant to live in this Kingdom or bear any Office no not so much as a petty Constable they by their Popish Clergy sollicited with all industry and travel powerful Aids from Foreign parts to Assist them in this Conquest whereby they seem to disclaim all dependance on your Majesty either for Favour or Justice They did set up the Spanish Colours publickly at Wexford amongst the Old English but Papists and Captain Ashly as we are credibly informed did testifie that they had done the like at Gallaway They by the crafty delusion of the Popish Clergy and the contracted hatred of the Papists against the British and Protestants had got into their Possession the most part of the Sea Ports out of which they have murdered or expulsed the English and Protestants which Ports they use as Inlets to all their foreign Supplies having also devised to have Admirals and other Officers at Sea to the End to become Masters of these Seas to your Majesties disherison and prejudice Whether these Expressions and Actions being but a few gathered out of many which we know of them either considered in the barbarous Irish or your better educated Old English or both be natural Streams issuing from a Fountain of real Intention to preserve and maintain your Royal Rights and Prerogative we submit to any equal Judgment In their Petition they say that their Adversaries have misrepresented their Addresses to your Majesty your Majesty may be pleased to remember that we certified thither that their Petition came not hither till the Seventh of August last which we soon after sent thither they having spent all the preceding Winter and the then succeeding Summer in their Courses of Rebellion whilst they had hopes all that time by force to carry the Cause never in all that time making Application in that Nature either to your Majesties Army or your Majesties Ministers that we could hear of until they found your Majesties Forces so to spread and prevail against them as put them in great fear then they betook themselves to the way of Petition having formerly most contemptibly despised and disobeyed your Majesties Proclamation under your own Royal Signature and Privy signet commanding them to lay down Arms then presuming by the Old Irish shift of feigned Profession of Subjection to abuse your Majesties boundless Mercy as their Ancestors had done the Royal Clemency of many of your famous Predecessors in several Ages to the continual Disquiet fruitless Expence and as it fell out dishonour of themselves and their Subjects of England whereof Records and Histories are full And as to their Addresses by Read then a Rebel with them it is most fraudulently alledged for although it be true that in December 1641. a few of the Rebelli ous Noblemen and Gentry of the Pale framed a Petition and delivered it to Read seeming to intend to send him away with it to your Majesty yet he tarried with them unsent until March after at which Time after the Siege of Drogheda raised and that he could no longer live in those parts he rendered himself to the Lord Marquess of Ormond in the Field not coming as a Messenger from them in any such kind and in his Examination he declares that after he had received that Petition he demanded of them several Times when he should be sent away to which they only answered there would be time enough for that they then making account to carry all before them by strength of Arms. And as to their Charge against their Adversaries if thereby they mean us we do unanimously and in all Truth deny our selves to be their Adversaries farther than they are so to your Majesty your Crown and Royal Estate as they are of which their present Condition we are so well assured as we cannot without base Disloyalty shew our selves to them in that behalf other than Adversaries and it cannot be justified or made appear that ever we or any of us have had Contentions with or heart burning against any of them in respect of any our private Interest or Intercourse but have always treated them before this Rebellion as our Friends and your Majesties Loyal Subjects as we then took them to be And where they asperse those Adversaries with the Crime of Bloud committed on their Wives and Children We cannot deny but that in the Course of the War forced by them upon us for our own necessary Defence and for the Preservation of this your State and Kingdom some of their Blood hath been shed by your Majesties Army in Fights with them which we wish they had drawn upon themselves but if they look back upon their own Beginning and proceding in this horrid Rebellion they shall find themselves heavily loaden with the crying
the Pale from appearing at Dublin and forc'd them to defend themselves however they sent his Majesties sworn Servant Lieutenant Collonel Read to represent their Case to his Majesty but he was not only stopped but also Racked at Dublin 10. That the Lord President of Munster by direction of the Lords Justices that Province being quiet put to death Men Women and Children without distinction and mistrusted and threatned the Catholick Nobles and Gentry and Arm'd inferior fellows and the Province of Conaught was used in like manner so that in these Provinces the Catholicks were forc'd on their defence still waiting his Majesties Pleasure and ready to obey his Commands whilst the Lords Justices c. were busie by Addresses to the Malignant Party in England to deprive the Irish of all hopes of his Majesties Justice and Mercy and to plant a perpetual enmity between the Enemy and them 11. That whereas Ireland since the Reign of Hen 2. hath had its own Parliament with equal Power Priviledges c. to that of England and only dependant on the Crown in all which time there is no President that a Statute made in England had any force in Ireland until Enacted there Now by false suggestions an Act of Adventurers 17 Car. hath past in England whereby the Irish unsummon'd and unhear'd are declared Rebels and two Millions and a half of Acres of their Land dispos'd of which Act tho' forc'd on his Majesty and in it self unjust and void yet continues of evil consequence and extream prejudice to his Majesty and totally destructive to the Irish Nation for tho' the scope seems to aim at Rebels only yet the words include all the Irish and takes away many of his Majesties Tenures and much of his Revenue and therefore they protest against it as an Act without President and against the Kings Prerogative and the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and by colour whereof the Protestant Army disavow his Majesties Authority and depend on the Parliament 12. That strangers in Dublin being banish'd thence by Proclamation were by direction of the Lords Justices pillaged as soon as they got without the Town and what they left in the Town was confiscated and their desire to return under Protection was denyed that Catholicks quiet and under Protection were by the Lords Justices Order sooner destroy'd plundered or killed than those in Action and Quarter daily violated and others that came to Dublin for retreat and shelter were Imprisoned and Tryed for their Lives and Dublin Cork Youghall Kinsale and Tredagh that opened their Gates to his Majesties Forces are worse us'd than the Israelites in Egypt so that it will be made appear that more murthers breaches of publick Faith and Quarter more destruction and desolation and more cruelty not fit to be nam'd were committed in less than Eighteen Months by the direction and advice of the Lords Justices and their Party of the Council than can be parallel'd to have been done by any Christian people 13. That the Lords Justices have against the fundamental Laws procured several Sessions of Parliament tho' Nine parts of Ten of the genuine Members are absent it being inconsistent with their safety to come under the Power of the Lords Justices and in their room are Clerks Soldiers and Serving-men introduc'd into the House of Commons not at all Elected or not Legally Chosen and not having Estates however they have made Orders and releas'd Traytors Impeach'd in full Parliament and passed or might have passed some Acts against Law and prejudicial to his Majesty and the Nation and have also kept Terms only by false and illegal Judgments and Outlaries to Attaint many thousand good Subjects without Summons or Notice and obscure Men are made Sheriffs and Servants and Mechanicks are made Jurors to pass upon the Lives and Estates of those who came in upon Protection and publick Faith Wherefore and to settle the Revenue and prevent desolation and effusion of Blood and to procure the satisfaction of his Subjects who were willing to imploy 10000 men in defence of his Royal Rights they pray his Majesty to give gracious Answers to these Just complaints and to call a Free Parliament in an indifferent place before some Person of Honor and Fortune of approved Faith to his Majesty and acceptable to the People of Ireland who may be speedily Invested with the Government and that in such Parliament their grievances may be redress'd and Poynings Act suspended pro hac vice and either continued or Repeal'd as shall be thought fit and that no matter whereof complaint is made in this Remonstance may debar Catholicks from Sitting and Voting in such Parliament c. Delivered by the Lord Gormanstown Sir Lucas Dillon Sir Robert Talbot John Welsh Authorized by the Confederates 17 March 1642. to his Majesties Commissioners at Trim to be presented to the King Appendix VI. The Substance of the Answer of the Protestant Committee to the false and scandalous Remonstrance of the inhumane and bloody Rebels of Ireland given unto His Majesty at Oxford in May 1644. THAT the Remonstrants were not necessitated to take up Arms for their Religion for they were not troubled or so much as questioned about it for a long time before the Rebellion nor for His Majesties Prerogative for there were no Opponents of it in Ireland except the Remonstrants who have usurped all the King's Prerogatives as well as the Subjects Estates and have printed an Order of their general Assembly to exclude all Temporal Government and Jurisdiction but what is approved or instituted by that Assembly or the supream Council nor for their Lives Liberties and Estates because they had the Protection of the Law and His Majesties Government and not one Instance can be produced that a Papist quatenus a Papist ever suffered unpunished Violence from a Protestant either in Person or Estate except in open Rebellion And as to the just Liberties of Subjects wherein the Protestants are as much concerned as the Remonstrants they were never so fully and freely enjoyed in Ireland as at the Time of the Insurrection so that there was no Necessity to murther and rob the Protestants for the Preservation of the Confederates Nor have any of their Addresses since the Rebellion been slighted or suppressed Their first was from Cavan of the Sixth of November and received a mild and favourable Answer and was forthwith certified to the Lord Lieutenant The second was from seven Lords of the Pale then in Rebellion who refused upon safe Conduct to come to the State but desired Commissioners might be appointed to confer with them and though such a Condescention was thought dishonorable since it was the others duty to come to the Government yet both the Request and Answer were transmitted to the Lord Lieutenant Their third Address was from the united Lords by the Mediation of the Earl of Castlehaven 23 d. of March when His Majesties Army had raised the Siege of Tredagh and were Masters of the Field however
increased Usury reduced to Ten per Cent. which was formerly at Twenty and Thirty and every thing mended whereby it is manifest that the English spent their time in improving the Kingdom and not in building their Fortunes on the Ruines of the Catholickâ— nor in hatching Rebellions That the English were so far from malicious differences with the Irish that they endeavoured to unite with them and had done so if the Popish Clergy and Lawyers envying their happy condition had not sowed discord between them the former by publishing that the Protestants were Hereticks that it was meritorious to destroy them and that they would have immediate passage to Heaven that should dye in that action and that the Pope was of that opinion as appear'd by his Bull Appendix 15 which the Irish published even after the Cessation and the Lawyers by alledging Grievances which either were of no Importance or were redressed as fast as the Government possibly could and by declaring that men killed in Rebellion could not forfeit their Lands and by reflecting on the illegal Jurisdiction assumed by the Council Board which nevertheless those Lawyers promoted and encouraged for the advantage of their own Practice and to heap up matters of Complaint And after all there are less Grievances in Ireland than in most other Kingdoms of Europe and so their own Parliament declared Anno 1634. As to the Graces most of them have been performed to them only one Warrant of Assistance was granted to the Bishop of Down which was soon called in and the enrolling the Surrenders of Conaught and the grant of those Lands and Tenures were stopt for a time and the limitation of his Majesties Title to Sixty Years was not setled but Bills for these and some other of the Graces were sent to England and returned back approved and would have past the next Session if the Rebels had had patience And whereas it was one of the Graces that all distinctions between British and Irish should be abolished which was desired by the Protestants and Thirteen old Statutes against the Irish were Repealed to that Purpose yet it is manifest the Remonstrants desired no such thing for they have done their utmost to extirpate the Protestants and have thereby entailed an everlasting difference between both Nations And as to Traverses to Inquisitions they were admitted according to Law in particular Inquisitions but in general Inquisitions found for Plantations because the chief Governour and Council and the Kings Council and other chief Officers were present and the Jurors were always the Prime Men of each Territory and the Offices publickly found mostly by consent and all Parties fully heard and the Parties had neither Title nor evidence to countenance a Traverse nor could an indifferent Tryal easily be had in these Cases and for these Reasons Traverses were not admitted to these Grand Offices but upon cause shewn nor was any Jury Punished for not finding these Inquisitions except one in the County of Galway which was willful and obstinate against full evidence as their own Lawyers afterwards confess'd That the allegation that an Hundred and Fifty Patents were avoided in a Morning is a notorious untruth what was done was promoted by James Cusack one of the Kings Council and Clerk of the Commission for defective Titles now a Remonstrant the manner thus A Committee of some Judges and Kings Council were appointed to consider the Patents produc'd and the Patentees Council were heard and if they confessed the Patent void it was so declar'd if they contested it was referred to a Tryal at Law which being done to avoid needless trouble and charge was a favour and not a grievance and was done to Protestants as well as Papists and had been so formerly and in imitation of it the Remonstrants sent Queries to the Judges not long before the Insurrection and if they had half so much regard to the great Seal and the publick Faith as the Protestants have they would never have entred into this Unnatural and horrid Rebellion especially since this Grievance if it was one was by his Majesties orders redressed before the War broke out In the Third Article the Remonstrants unwittingly confess the goodness of his Majesty and his Father and how gracious both those Kings have been to them which should have obliged them to returns of duty and obedience but instead of that they return Complaints and without cause against the Kings best Officers and such as have done more good to the Kingdom of Ireland than the Remonstrants either offered or could do But their desperate hatred against Protestants in general ☞ and English Governors and Officers in particular is the cause of all this but if those Officers would have joyned with the Remonstrants in setting up Popeâ—y and diminishing his Majesties Prerogative then they should have had the good word of the Remonstrants In the mena time they can be charged with no particulars except that of detesting the Cruelty and Persidy of the Rebels and if the Ministers of State had been faulty what is that to the Innocent common People certainly the Robbery and Murther of them proceeded from a National Antipathy which is no new thing in Ireland but was often cruelly exercised even in and before the Reign of Edward the Third To the Fourth Article that it is untrue and the Remonstrants would have instanced particular cases if there were any to be found for the Decrees of the Court of Wards have been Regular and Just and the execution moderate above Two Hundred Wardships have been granted to Friends in trust for the Heirs to pay Debts support Younger Children c. and none were granted to Strangers but by his Majesties immediate Warrant except in some few Cases where the Party neglected or was obstinate and in all cases care hath been taken of the Evidences Marriage and Education of Wards And as for the Swarms of Officers complained of there are but Five Escheators and Eight Feodaries and Two Pursivants in the whole Kingdom and all of them Men of Judgment Moderation and Integrity so that the Remonstrants have not cause to complain of these things but their real grievances are that the Wards are bred Protestants and the Tanist hindred from intruding into the Estate and the great Lords deprived of their Dependancies and his Majesties Revenue duly Collected and their Licentious Appetites restrained To the Fifth Article they say that all that was given made his Majesty never the Richer for it was spent again upon themselves in defraying the publick charge of the Kingdom and particularly in paying the new Army which was mostly Papists however the Catholicks were so far from being the most forward in granting the Tax that it was first moved by the Protestants and mainly opposed by the Papists both in England and Ireland as his Majesty may remember and they paid it with Luctation and Clamour and never rested till in lieu of it they obtained more Graces from his Majesty than their
the Sacred Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ do grant a full and plenary Indulgence and absolute Remission for all their Sins and such as in the holy time of Jubile is usual to be granted to those that devoutly visit a certain number of Priviledged Churches within and without the Walls of our City of Rome By the tenor of which present Letters for once only and no more we freely bestow the favour of this Absolution upon all and every one of them and withal desiring heartily all the Faithful in Christ now in Arms as aforesaid to be partakers of this most precious Treasure To all and every one of these foresaid Faithful Christians we grant Licence and give power to choose into themselves for this effect any fit Confessor whether a Secular Priest or a Regular of some order as likewise any other Selected Person approved of by the Ordinary of the Place who after a diligent hearing of their Confessions shall have power to liberate and absolve them from Excommunication Suspension and all other Ecclesiastical Sentences and Censures by whomsoever or for what cause soever pronounced or inflicted upon them As also from all Sins Trespasses Transgressions Crimes and Delinquences how hainous and atrocious soever they be not omitting those very enormities in the most peculiar Cases which by any whatsoever former Constitutions of Ours or of our Predecessors Popes than which we will have these to be no less valued in every point were designed to be reserved to the Ordinary or to the Apostolick See from all which the Confessor shall hereby have Power granted him to Absolve the aforesaid Catholicks at the Bar of Conscience and in that sence only And furthermore we give them Power to exchange what Vow or Vows soeever they were formerly astricted to those of Religion and Chastity excepted into any other pious and good work or works imposed or to be imposed on them and every one of them to perform in all the foresaid Cases by a wholsome Penance according to the mind and will of the Confessor Therefore by the Tenour of these present Letters and by the vertue of that holy strict obedience wherein all Christians are bound unto us we charge and command all and every one of the Reverend Brethren Archbishops Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Prelates and whatsoever Ordinaries of Places now residing in Ireland together with all Vicars Substitutes and Officials under them or these failing We command all such to whom in those places the care of Souls in incumbent that as soon as they shall have received the Copies of these our Letters they shall forthwith without any stop or delay Publish them and cause them to be Published throughout all their Churches Diocesses Provinces Countries Cities Towns Lands Villages and Places whatsoever Nevertheless We do not intend by these present Letters where any publick or secret Irregularity is made known or any Defection Apostasy Incapacity or Inability in any manner of way contracted to dispense therewith or grant to any other any power or faculty of Dispensation Rehabilitation or Restoring the Delinquent to his former condition though but at the Bar of Conscience neither can or should these our present Letters avail or be stedable to those who by us and the Apostick See or by any Prelate or Ecclesiastical Judge have been Excommunicated Suspended Interdicted or declared and publickly denounced to have justly incurred the Sentences and Censures of the Church till â—irst they have satisfied and agreed with the Parties therein concerned notwithstanding all other Constitutions and Apostolical Ordinations whereby nevertheless the faculty of Absolution in these as well as other expressed cases is so reserved to his Holiness the Pope for the time being that no kind of Jubile nor power of granting such Indulgences can in any sort avail unless express mention be made of the fault or faults in particular and the whole tenor of them fully deducted by an individual Relation from word to word and not by general Clauses importing the same thing This or some other exquisite from of the like nature being carefully Observed We in that case especially expressly and namely by the effect of these Presents do totally abolish and remit them all and every one of them their offences notwithstanding any thing to the contrary Now that these principal Letters of ours which cannot be conveniently brought to every place may the sooner come to the notice of all Our Will and Pleasure is that any whatsoever Copies or Transcripts whether Writen or Printed that are Subscribed with the Hand of a Publick Notary and which have the Seal of some Eminent Person in Ecclesiastical dignity affixed thereunto be of the same Force Power and Authority and have the like credit in every respect given unto them as would be to these our Principal Letters if they were shewn and Exhibited Dated at Rome in the Vatican or St. Peter's Palace the 25th of May 1643 and in the Twentieth Year of our Pontificat M. A. Maraldus Appendix XVI Articles of Cessation of Arms agreed upon by and between James Marquess of Ormond Lieutenant General of his Majesties Army in the Kingdom of Ireland of the one part and Donogh Viscount Muskery Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Nicholas Plunket Esquire Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Sir Richard Barnwel Baronet Torlogh O Neale Geffry Brown Ever Mac Gennis and John Walsh Esquires Authorised by his Majesties Roman-Catholick Subjects of the other part FIrst It is concluded and accorded that there be a Cessation of Arms and of all Acts of Hostility between His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects who are now in Arms c. in this Kingdom and their Party and all others His Majesties good Subjects for one whole Year to begin in the Fifteenth day of September Anno. Dom. 1643 at the Hour of 12 of the said day 2. It is concluded and accorded that free Passage Entercourse Commerce and Traffick during the said Cessation shall be between His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects who are now in Arms c. and their Party and all others His Majesties good Subjects and all others in League with his Majesty by Sea and Land 3. It is concluded and accorded and the said Viscount Muskery and the rest of the above named Persons do promise and undertake for and in the behalf of those for whom they are Authorized to Treat and Conclude as aforesaid That all Ships Barques and Vessels which shall bring Provisions to any Harbour in this Kingdom in the Hands or Possession of such as shall obey the Articles of this Cessation from Minehead and Whitehaven and from all the Ports between on that side where Wales is situate so as they be Ships belonging to any of the said Ports and do not use any Acts of Hostility to any of the said Roman-Catholicks who are now in Arms or to any of their Party or to any who shall be Waged or Imployed unto or by them shall not be interrupted by any of their Party nor
by any Ships or other Vessels of what Country or Nation soever under their Power or Command or Waged Imployed or Contracted with on their behalf or by any Forts Garrisons or Forces within this Kingdom under their Power in their coming to this Kingdom or returning from thence 4. It is concluded and accorded and the said Lord Viscount Muskery and the rest of the above named Parties do promise and undertake for and in the behalf of those for whom they are Authorised as aforesaid that all Ships Barks and Vessels which shall bring Provisions to any Harbour in this Kingdom in the hands of such as shall obey the Articles of this Cessation from any Potts in the Kingdom of England having his Majesties Pass or the Pass of any who is or shall be His Majesties Admiral or Vice-Admiral or the Pass of any Governor or Governors of any the Ports in England in his Majesties Hands or which shall hereafter during this Cessation be in his Majesties Hands or the Pass of the said Marquess shall not be interrupted by any of those for whom the said Lord Viscount Muskery and the rest of the above named Persons are Authorised as aforesaid neither in their coming to this Kingdom or in their return so as they use not any acts of Hostility to any of their said Party And this to be a Rule until his Majesties Pleasure be further declared therein upon application of the Agents of the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms c. to His Majesty 5. It is concluded and accorded and the said James Marquess of Ormond doth promise and undertake for and in the Name of His Majesty that no interruption shall be given by any Ship or Ships under his Majesties Power and Command or Waged Imployed or Contracted with by or in the behalf of his Majesty or by any of his Majesties Forts Garrisons or Forces within this Kingdom to any Ship or Ships that shall Trade with any of the said Roman-Catholicks who are now in Arms c. or any of their Party or which shall come in or go out of any the Cities Towns Harbours Creeks or Ports of this Kingdom in the hands of the said Roman-Catholicks now in Arms c. with Arms Ammunition Merchandise Commodity or any thing whatsoever during this Cessation As on the other side the said Donogh Viscount Muskery and the rest above named of that Party do promise and undertake for and in the behalf of those by whom they are Authorised that no interruption shall be given by any Ship or other Vessel whatsoever under the Power and Command of their Party or Waged Imployed or Contracted with by or in the behalf of their Party or by any Forts Garrisons or Forces within this Kingdom in their Power to any Ship or ships that shall Trade with any of his Majesties Subjects obeying this Cessation or which shall come in or go out of any of the Cities Towns Harbours or Ports of this Kingdom which shall obey this Cessation with Arms Ammunition Merchandise Commodity or any other thing whatsoever during this Cessation Provided that no Ship or Ships shall be admitted free Trade by colour of this Article but such as are warranted by the precedent Articles 6. It is Concluded and Accorded that the Quarters in the Province of Leinster be as followeth viz. That the County of Dublin the County of the City of Dublin the County of the Town of Droghedagh and the County of Lowth shall remain and be during the Cessation in the possession of his Majesties Protestant Subjects and of such as adhere unto them respectively saving and excepting unto the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms c. and their Party all such Castles Towns Lands Territories and the Lands and Hereditaments thereunto belonging which upon the said Fifteenth day of September 1643 at the Hour aforesaid are possessed in the said Counties or any of them by any of the said Party And it is further Concluded and Accorded that as much of the County of Meath as is on the East and South-side of the River of Boyne from Droghedagh to Trym and thence to the Lordship of Moylagh and thence to Moyglare and thence to Dublin shall during the said Cessation remain and be in the possession of His Majesties Protestant Subjects and of such as adhere unto them respectively saving and excepting to the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms and their Party all such Castles Towns Lands and Territories and the Lands and Hereditaments thereunto belonging which upon the said Fifteenth day of September 1643 at the Hour aforesaid are possessed by any of the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms c. and of their Party within the said Limits and Boundaries and that the Residue of the said County of Meath shall remain in the Hands and Possession of the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms c. and their Party except the Castles Towns Lands Territories and the Lands and Hereditaments thereunto belonging which upon the said Fifteenth day of September 1643 at the Hour aforesaid are possessed within the said last mentioned Quarters in the County of Meath by his Majesties Protestant Subjects and such as adhere unto them or by any of them respectively And that so much of the County of Kildare as is on this side of the Liffy where Naas is situate and on the other side of the Liffy from Dublin Westward into the County of Kildare so far as the Rye water at Kilcock and so far betwixt that and the Liffy as shall be at the same distance from Dublin as the said Rye Water is at Kilcock on that side of the Liffy shall during the said Cessation remain and be in the Hands and Possessions of his Majesties Protestant Subjects and their Adherents respectively except such Castles Towns Territories and the Lands and Hereditaments thereunto belonging which upon the said Fifteenth day of September 1643 at the Hour aforesaid are possessed within the said Quarters by the said Roman-Catholick Subjects who are now in Arms c. and their Party and that the residue of the said County of Kildare shall remain in the hands of the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms c. and their Party except such Castles Towns Lands Territories and the Lands and Hereditaments thereunto belonging which upon the said Fifteenth day of September 1643 at the Hour aforesaid are possessed by his Majesties Protestant Subjects and their Adherents respectively within the said last mentioned Quarters in the said County of Kildare And that the several Counties of Wicklow West Meath Kings County Queens County Catherlagh Kilkenny County of the City of Kilkenny Wexford and Longford shall during the said Cessation remain in the Hands of the said Roman-Catholick Subjects now in Arms c. and their Party except such Castles Towns Lands Territories and the Lands and Hereditaments thereunto belonging which upon the said Fifteenth day of September 1643 at the Hour aforesaid are possessed within the said County by
doing us Justice nor indeed will any Man in the Country since my Lord of Muskery's departure own a Power of doing right to us But by their diversity of Governments and uncertainty of Governours the Parties Injured are posted from place to place and put to circular and formal courses of Petitioning and Prosecuting by the delay and discouragement whereof they incline rather to sit down with an Injury sustained than to pursue a reparation more grievous in obtaining than the wrong it being in many places unsafe to Travel in their Quarters for any cause whatsoever a Servant of my own being assaulted and attempted to be Murdered in Imokilly for going about my occasions Twelfthly That in November last at a Meeting which I procured in Cappaquin betwixt my Lord of Muskery and John Welsh on their part and other Commissioners on Ours my self being present sundry of these particulars were debated and several of them as the First Second and Fifth sufficiently cleared and evidenced to be injurious to us and that at that time they promised to send unto me within Eight or Ten days such positive orders for redress in those manifest particulars as we could reasonably expect and that in those which were then left doubtful and disputable I should receive the answer of their Supream Council And in all matters besides Commissioners should be assigned to meet with ours within Eight or Nine days to redress all Grievances and to determine all differences But from thenceforth I could never receive any performance of that promise or other satisfaction but having importuned them thereunto I received answer from one of them That more weighty business would not give admission to mine whilst in the interim they keep all things in difference within their own possession and so think it less necessary to descend to any determination By means whereof and of their willful withholding of those Rights whereout I should have raised some reasonable support for His Majesties Forces here more especially by their deteiner of the Three Houndred Pounds worth of Cattle ordered unto me by your Lordship they have driven me to so great Streights and Exigencies that of Nine Hundred Men which I had ready a few Weeks since to send unto his Majesty there remained not Two Hundred to be sent away on Munday last with the Shipping the rest being dispresed through meer want Besides which disadvantage to His Majesties Service the many Injuries Insolencies and Pressures obtruded and Multiplied daily on the poor English doth beget so many heavy clamours and complaints such disencouragements anguish and vexation of Spirit as makes the wretched Souls weary of their Lives and me of the sad and perplexed condition whereunto I am put by having these insufferable and insupportble affronts and difficulties to struggle with whence I implore some immediate rescue suitable to the nature they are of c. Appendix XVIII The Declaration of the Parliament against the Cessation AS it is evident to all the World that this late horrid Rebellion of the Papists in Ireland did without any colour or pretext of Provocation professedly and boldly aim at the destruction of the Protestant Religion the rejecting of the Laws of England and the Extirpation of the British Inhabitants out of that Kingdom So it is no less manifest that this Parliament of England to whom his Majesty hath left the managing of the War against those Rebels hath taken the Troubles of Ireland to heart with that resentment and compassion as may evidence their Zeal to Religion their Love to their Distressed Country-men and Brethren there in these times when the like Jesuitical Practices have cast England into woful Distractions and Unnatural War notwithstanding which the Reducing of Ireland hath still been a chief part of the care of this Parliament and God hath been pleased to bless our endeavours with such success as that those furious Blood-thirsty Papists have been stopped in the carier of their cruelty some part of the Protestant Blood which at first was spilt like Water upon the Ground hath been revenged their Massacres Burnings and Famishings have by a Divine retaliation been repaid into their Bosom and the Protestant Party hath been erected to that condition of Strength and Hope that their Enemies are constrained distrusting their Forces to have recourse to their Craft and Policies and therefore by their subtil Agents at Court and their active Instruments elsewhere have been endeavouring now of a long time to make our Armies in Ireland disaffected to the Parliament what by occasion of their wants not so readily supplyed as their need required what by amusing them with these unhappy differences fallen in here between King and People labouring by that means to divide those Forces into Factions to the end the main work they have in hand might be neglected which is the Prosecuting the War against the Rebels so far brought low in some parts of Ireland that if they can be deprived of the benefit of this Harvest they are not likely to see the next Summer And therefore the Rebels finding that notwithstanding the Distractions here occasioning the slowneâ—s and scarceness of Supplies yet they themselves are in a far worse condition being in a want of most things necessary not only for the maintaining of a War but even of Life the Judgment of God being remarkable upon them in this that as their Bloody and Treacherous Religion made them inhumanely cruel in shedding the Protestants Blood so now the Famine amongst many of them hath made them unnaturally and Canibal-like ☜ Eat and Feed one upon another Therefore that they may have time to expect from their Friends abroad new Supplies both of Victuals and Ammunition and may without molestation reap the Fruit of this Harvest they have laboured a Treaty for a Cessation which Project of theirs doth no less aim at the overthrow of the remainder of the Protestants in that Kingdom than their treacherous taking of Arms at first did intend the destruction of them all for their Cessation and Hostility their War and Peace ☜ are alike to be esteemed of and with those that neither in Peace nor War keep any Faith it is best to be in perpetual Defiance Therefore the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled according to the continued care of that Kingdom of Ireland do in a special manner take into their consideration the condition thereof upon this occasion of an intended Cessation and so much the rather because it is feared that the Protestant Forces through want of Provisions for their Armies may at last if not relieved be perswaded to admit of this course in hope thereby to procure some means for their subsisting as also because there is too much ground to suspect that if this Cessation should be agreed unto they might have opportunity to joyn with the Popish Party here for their greater strengthning And though it were to have no influence upon this Kingdom yet the evil consequences of it are so
many and pernicious to Ireland that this Parliament should betray the trust reposed in them if they did not declare against this Cessation and use all means in time to make it abortive and therefore they desire that it may be observed and taken notice of First From whence the Counsel and Design of this Cessation ariseth even from the Rebels and Papists themselves for their own Preservation for soon after they had missed of their intent to make themselves absolute Masters of that Kingdom of Ireland by their treacherous Surprises and seeing that this Kingdom did with most Christian and Generous Resolutions undertake the Charges of the War for the Relief and Recovery of Ireland Propositions were brought over from the Rebels by the Lords Dillon and Tafe at which time they were intercepted and restrained by the Order of the House of Commons after that they had the boldness even while their Hands were still imbrued in the Protestants Blood to petition his Majesty that their demands might be heard And for this purpose they obtained a Commission to be sent over into Ireland to divers Persons of Qality whereof some were Papists to Hear Receive and Transmit to his Majesty their Demands which was done accordingly and one Master Burk a Notorious Pragmatick Irish Papist was the chief Sollicitor in this business After this the Just Revenging God giving daily success to handfuls of the Protestant Forces against their great numbers so that by a wonderful Blessing from Heaven they were in most parts put to the worst Then did they begin to set on Foot an Overture for a Cessation of Arms concerning which what going and coming hath been between the Court and the Rebels is very well known and what Meetings and Treatties have been held about it in Ireland by Warrant of his Majesties Ample Commission sent to that effect and what Reception and Countenance most Pragmatical Papists negotiating the business have found at Court and that those of the State in Dublin who had so much Religion and Honesty as to disswade the Cessation were first discountenanced and at last put out of their Places and restrained to Prison as Sir William Parsons One of the Lords Justices there Sir John Temple Master of the Rolls Sir Adam Loftus Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and Treasurer at Wars and Sir Robert Meredith one also of the Council Table Secondly The Lords and Commons desire it may be observed that during all these Passages and Negotiations the Houses of Parliament were never acquainted by the State of Ireland with the Treaty of a Cessation much less was their Advice or Counsel demanded notwithstanding that the care and managing of the War was devolved on them both by Act of Parliament and by his Majesties Commission under the Great Seal to Advise Order and Dispose of all things concerning the Government and Defence of that Kingdom But the wants of the Army were often represented and complained of whereby with much craft a ground was preparing for the Pretext wherewith now they would cover the Counsels of this Cessation as if nothing had drawn it on but the extream Wants of their Armies whereas it is evident that the Reports of such a Treaty have been in a great part the cause of their wants for thereby the Adventurers were disheartened Contributions were stopped and by the admittance to Court of the Negotiators of this Cessation their wicked Councels have had that influence as to procure the Intercepting of much Provisions which were sent for Ireland so that Ships going for Ireland with Victuals and others coming from thence with Commodities to exchange for Victuals have been taken not only by Dunkirkers having his Majesties Warrant but also by English Ships commanded by Sir John Pennington under his Majesty And moreover the Parliament Messengers sent into several Counties with the Ordinance of January last for Loans and Contributions have been taken and imprisoned their Money taken from them and not one Peny either Loan or Contribution hath been suffered to be sent for for Ireland from these Counties which were under the power of the Kings Army while in the mean time the Houses of Parliament by their Ordinances Declarations and Solicitations to the City of London and the Counties free from the terror of the Kings Forces were still procuring not contemptible Aid and Relief for the distresses of Ireland Thirdly As the Lords and Commons have reason to declare against this Plot and Design of a Cessation of Arms as being treated and carryed on without their Advice so also because of the great prejudice which will thereby redound to the Protestant Religion and the encouragement and advancement which it will give to the practice of Popery when these Rebellious Papists shall by this agreement continue and set up with more freedom their Idolatrous Worship their Popish Superstitions and Romish Abominations in all the places of their Command to the dishonouring of God the grieving of all true Protestant Hearts the disposing of the Laws of the Crown of England and to the provoking of the wrath of a Jealous God as if both Kingdoms not smarted enough already for this sin of too much conniving at and tolerating of Antichristian Idolatry under pretext of Civil Contracts and Politick Agreements Fourthly In the Fourth place they desire it may be observed that this Cessation will prove dishonourable to the Publick Faith of this Kingdom it will elude and make null the Acts and Ordinances of Parliament made for the forfeiting of the Rebels Lands at the passing of which Acts it was represented that such a course would drive the Rebels to Despair and it proves so but otherways than was meant for despairing of their Force and Courage they go about to overcome us with their Craft Fifthly and Lastly What shall become of the many Poor Exiled Protestants turned out of their Estates by this Rebellion who must now continue begging their Bread while the Rebels shall enjoy their Lands and Houses And who shall secure the rest of the Protestants that either by their own Courage Industry and great Charges have kept their Possessions or by the success of our Armies have been restored Can there be any assurance gotten from a Perfidious Enemy of a Cossation from Treachery and breach of Agreement when they shall see a fit time and opportunity These and many other considerations being well weighed it will appear evidently that this Design of a Cessacion is a deep Plot laid by the Rebels and really invented for their own Safety and falsly pretended to be for the benefit of the Armies And whereas the Lords and Commons have no certain Information that the Treaty is concluded but are informed by several Letters that all the Protestants as well Inhabitants as Soldiers in that Kingdom are resolved to withstand that proceeding and to adventure on the greatest extremities rather than have any sort of peace with that generation who have so cruelly in time of Peace Murdered many Thousands of our Countreymen
inconveniencies the Supremacy of Rome and take away or much endanger your Majesties supream and just Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical Administration of Honour and Power not to be endured the said Acts extending as well to seditious Sectaries as to Popish Recusants so as by the Repeal thereof any Man may seem to be left to chuse his own Religion in that Kingdom which must needs beget great Confusion and the abounding of the Roman Clergy hath been one of the greatest Occasions of this late Rebellion Besides it is humbly desired that your Majesty will be pleased to take into your gracious Consideration a Clause in the Act of Parliament passed by your Majesties Royal Assent in England in the 17 th year of your Reign touching Punishments to be inflicted upon those that shall introduce the Authority of the See of Rome in any Cause whatsoever 2. Prop. That your Majesty will be pleased to call a free Parliament in the said Kingdom to be held and continued as in the said Remonstrance is expressed and the Statute of the Tenth Year of King Henry the Seventh called Poyning'â— Acts explaining or enlarging the same be suspended during that Parliament for the speedy Settlement of the present Affairs and the Repeal thereof to be there further considered of Answ Whereas their desire to have a free Parliament called reflecteth by secret and cunning Implication upon your Majesties present Parliament in Ireland as if it were not a free Parliament We humbly beseech your Majesty to represent how dangerous it is to make such insinuation or intimation to your People of that Kingdom touching that Parliament wherein several Acts of Parliament have already past the validity whereof may be endangered if the Parliament should not be approved as a free Parliament and it is a point of high Nature as we humbly conceive is not properly to be discussed but in Parliament and your Majesties said Parliament now sitting is a free Parliament in Law holden before a Person of Honour and Fortune in the Kingdom composed of good loyal and well-affected Subjects to your Majesty who doubtless will be ready to comply in all things that shall appear to be pious and just for the good of the true Protestant Religion and for your Majesties Service and the good of the Church and State that if this present Parliament should be dissolved it would be a great Terror and Discontent to all your Majesties Protestant Subjects of the Kingdom and may be also a means to force many of your Majesties Subjects to quit that Kingdom or peradventure to adhere to some other party there in opposition of the Romish Irish Confederates rather than to be liable to their Power which effects may prove of most dangerous Consequence And we humbly offer to your Majesties Consideration your own gracious Expression mentioned in the Grounds and Motives inducing your Majesty to agree to a Cessation of Arms for one whole Year with the Roman Catholicks of Ireland Printed at Oxford the Ninteenth of October 1643. And let all our good Subjects be assured that as we have for these reasons and with Caution and Deliberation consented to the Proposition to peace and to that purpose do continue our Parliament there so we shall proceed in the accomplishing thereof with that Care and Circumspection that we shall not admit even Peace it self otherwise than it may be agreeable to Conscience Honour and Justice We also humbly desire that such Laws as your Majesty shall think fit to pass may be transmitted according to Poyning's Law and other Laws of Explanation thereof or of Addition thereunto now in force with great Contentment and Security to your Majesties Protestant Subjects but if the present Parliament be dissolved we humbly represent unto your Majesty that so many of your ablest and best Protestant Subjects have been murthered or banished by this Rebellion that few or no Protestant Freeholders will be found in the Countries Cities or Boroughs to elect and chuse Knights Citizens or Burgesses which will be most dangerous to your Majesties Rights and Prerogatives and good Subjects and may beget great disputes in After-times for the repealings of Poyning's Acts notwithstanding their seigned Expressions of their Loyalty yet it plainly appeareth they do not repose such Trust in your Majesties Justice as becomes Loyal Subjects to do and such they pretend themselves to be for that they seek thereby to prevent your Majesty and your Council of England and Ireland of so full a View and Time of Mature Consideration to be had of Acts of Parliament of Ireland before they pass as in prudence is requisite and hath been found necessary by the Experience of well near Two Hundred Years and if their intentions were so clear as they profess we know not why they should avoid the strictest View and Trial of your Majesty and your Councils of both Kingdoms this their desire tending to introduce a grand Diminution to the royal and necessary Power for the Conservation of your regal State and Protection of your good Protestant Subjects there and elsewhere and what special use they aim at in seeking such a repeal your Protestant Subjects as they know not the particular so can they conjecture of none unless the said Confederates have some design by way of surprize to obtrude upon your Majesty in their new desired Parliament some Acts of Justification of their ill-done Actions and for condemning such of your Protestant Subjects as have in their several Degrees most faithfully served your Majesty there which we the rather believe seeing they have vowed by their Oath of Association and the Bull lately published in Ireland since the Cessation the Destruction of the Protestants there when they have the Sword in their hands to put the same in Execution 3. Prop. That all Acts and Ordinances made and passed in the now pretended Parliament in that Kingdom since the Seventh Day of August 1641. be clearly annulled and declared void and taken off the File Answ We humbly desire that they particularize those Orders and Ordinances which may prejudice your Majesties Service for we are well assured that the Parliament now sitting in Ireland on Signification of your Majesties Pleasure therein will give your Majesty full satisfaction or repeal any unjust Orders or Ordinances whatsoever which may be prejudicial to your Majesty And there may be some Orders or Ordinances which may concern particular Persons in their Lives Liberties or Fortunes that may suffer unheard by the admitting of so general a Proposition which is meerly proposed as we humbly conceive to put a Scorn upon your Majesties Parliament now sitting there and to discourage your Protestant Subjects who have faithfully served your Majesty in that Parliament 4. Prop. That all Indictments Attainders Outlawries in the King's-Bench or elsewhere since the said Seventh Day of August 1641. and all Letters Patents Grants Leases Custodiums Bonds Recognizances and all other Records Act or Acts depending thereon or in prejudice of the said Catholicks
and if the Confederates be so desirous to try their innocency as they pretend they need not stay for another Parliament in Ireland but submit to that which is now in being which is an equal and just Parliament as in some of our Reasons touching that point is expressed ☞ and the offering to draw it to a new Parliament is in effect to desire that they may be their own Judges For as that Kingdom is now imbroiled and wasted the chief Delinquents or their Confederates will be so prevalent a Faction in the next Parliament that they will be able and doubtless will clear all the Popish Party how guilty soever and condemn all the Protestants how innocent soever These Answers to the high and unexpected demands of the Confederates we have framed in humble obedience to your Majesties directions but being very sensible as of the weight and great importance of the business so also of our own weakness and want of time and well knowing that some of your Majesties Privy-Counsellors Judges and Officers of that Kingdom are now in Town sent for over and here attending by your Majesties Command who by their long observationsâ— and experience of the aâ—aâ—rs and state of Ireland are better ablâ— to give your Majesty morâ— full and satisfactory answers touching the premises than we can and conceiving that the Collection in answer to the said Confederates Remonstrance which we humbly presented to your Majesty the Seventeenth of the last Month of April may in many things give your Majesty more light than these our answers do or can We humbly beseech your Majesty that the said Privy-Counsellors Judges and Officers as occasion shall require may be called upon and heard to give your Majesty the more satisfaction in these particulars and that to the same purpose the Book of the said Collections may be perused and considered of as your Majesty shall find most requisite Append. XXIV Articles of Peace made concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between his Excellency James Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty of the one part And Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Bryen Patrick Darcy Geffery Brown and John Dillon Esquires Appointed and Authorised for and in the behalf of His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects on the other part 1. IT is concluded accorded and agreed upon by his Majesties said Commissioner for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty and the said Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Bryen Patrick Darcy Geffery Brown and John Dillon Esquires on the behalf of the said Roman Catholick Subjects and his Majesty is graciously pleased that it shall be provided by Act of Parliament to be passed in the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom That the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in the said Kingdom or any of them be not bound or obliged to take the Oath expressed in the Statute of Secundo Eliz. commonly called the Oath of Supremacy and that the said Oath shall not be tendred unto them and that the refusal of the said Oath shall not redound to the prejudice of them or any of them they taking the Oath of Allegiance in haec verba I A. B. do truly acknowledge confess testify and declare in my conscience before God and the World That our Sovereign Lord King CHARLES is Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm and of other His Majesties Dominions and Countries and I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty and His Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against His or their Crown or Dignity and do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto His Majesty His Heirs and Successors or to the Lord Deputy or other Governour for the time being all Treasons or Trayterout Conspiracies which I shall know or hear to be intended against his Majesty or any of them and I do make this recognition and acknowledgement heartily willingly and truly upon the true faith of a Christian So help me God c. So as by the same Act it be further Provided and Enacted that if any Roman-Catholick happen to be promoted presented or advanced to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Dignity or Benifice according to the form now used in the Protestant Church of Ireland that the freedom and exemption aforesaid shall not extend to any such Roman-Catholick Or if any being a Protestant be advanced promoted or presented to any Ecclesiastical Benefice Dignity or Promotion shall afterwards happen to become a Roman-Catholick that the freedom and exemption aforesaid shall not so far extend to any such Roman-Catholick but that upon tender of the said Oath and refusal thereof he be for that cause left subject to privation of the said Benefice Dignity or Promotion according to the said Statue and it is further concluded accorded and agreed by and between the said Parties that for all matters concerning the first Proposition of the said Catholicks viz. That all Acts made against the Professors of the Roman-Catholick Faith whereby any restraint penalty mulct or incapacity may be laid upon any Roman-Catholick within the Kingdom of Ireland may be Repealed and the said Catholicks to be allowed the freedom of the Roman Catholick Religion That His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects be referred to His Majesties gracious Favour and further Concessions and that no clause in these Articles shall or may hinder His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects or any of them from the benefit of His Majesties further Graces and Concessions and that no use shall be made of the Papers past on this Treaty or any of them concerning the said first Proposition which may in any sort hinder the said Roman-Catholick Subjects or any of them from His Majesties further Concessions And that His Majesties said Commissioner and other chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom for the time being shall cause whatsoever shall be further directed by His Majesty to be passed in Parliament for and on the behalf of His said Roman Catholick Subjects to be accordingly drawn into Bills and transmitted according to the usual manner to be afterwards passed as Acts in the said Parliament 2. It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and his Majesty is graciously pleased to call a new Parliament to be held in this Kingdom on or before the last day of November next ensuing and that all matters agreed on by these Articles to be passed in Parliament shall be transmitted into England according to the usual form to be passed in the said Parliament and that the said Acts so to be agreed upon and so to be passed shall receive no alteration or diminution here or
Irish Rebels and finding how they are in all likelihood in danger to be overborn by the power and potency of their said Adversaries do in all humility beseech your Lordships first to call to mind that his Majesty hath by his Royal assent unto an Act of Parliament obliged himself not to grant any Pardon or terms of Peace to the aforesaid Rebels without the consent of his Parliament of England and accordingly that your Lordships would not suffer any part of his Majesties Honour to be betrayed to calumny in assenting to such packed terms of Peace as they have already contrived to draw your Lordships unto without the consent of the said Parliament of England and without admitting your Petitioners to a free and full debate of the cause whereby they may vindicate his Majesty and themselves from that unnatural aspersion which the Irish would maliciously fasten on them by making the one the fauter and the other the occasion of their Rebellion And that the matter may not be carryed with such indulgency towards them as that to extenuate their real enormities your Petitioners must be made guilty of imaginary crimes and undergo a heavier censure for demanding Justice than they for perpetrating all their Treasons and that their Lives Fortunes and Posterities and which is dearest their Religion may not be sold or sacrificed to the malice of the Irish Papists or if this lawful favour shall be denied them that they may have leave to protest against any such fatal and destructive conclusions as are in hand to be made with the aforesaid Irish Rebels without consent of the King and Parliament or your Petitioners privity and that their fictious pretences of assisting his Majesty wherewith they have too long already abused himself and his Ministers on purpose to protract the War in England may not be a sufficient wile to delude your Lordships any longer but that your Petitioners and not Persons disaffected to their Religion and Nation now to be preserved or ruined may be heard to plead in this cause before any Judgment be given therein and that the Examples of their former and frequent breaches of the Cessation yet unrepaired may be accounted a reasonable caution to your Lordships to expect little better observation of any Peace that shall abridge them of their devilish designs And your Petioners shall ever Pray for your Lordships increase of Honour and Happiness Signed by the Lord Broghill the Magistrates of Cork Kinsale Youghall and Bandonbridge and above Three Hundred other Persons Append. XXVI The Articles between Sir Knelme Digby and the Pope Articles to be sent to the Lord Rimucini to be put in Execution in Ireland with Power to add to and take from them according to the present State of Affairs and as need shall be which will be better understood there upon the place 1. THAT the King of Great Britain do effectually grant in the Kingdom of Ireland the free and publick Use of the Roman Catholick Religion allowing the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy to be restored to the Catholicks with all the Churches and Revenues according to the Custom of the said Religion And as to the Monasteries pretended to have been released to the Possessors by Cardinal Pool Legate in the Time of Queen Mary that it be debated in a free Parliament in Ireland what may or can be done in that Point as likewise touching the three Bishopricks that of Dublin and the other two which are in the Hands of the Heretick Protestants under the Obedience of the King 2. That he annul and repeal all the Penal Laws and others whatsoever made aginst the said Catholicks on the Account of their Religion from the beginning of the Defection of Henry the Eighth to this Day 3. That for the better establishing the free and publick Exercise of the Catholick Religion and to add more Force and Security to the Repeal of the said Laws the King do call a Parliament in Ireland independent on that of England 4. That the Government of the Kingdom of Ireland and the principal Offices there be put into the Hands of the Catholicks and that Catholicks be made capable and promoted to Offices Honours and Degrees in that Kingdom in like manner as the Protestants have been till this Time 5. That the King do put into the Hands of the Irish Catholicks or at least such English Catholicks as the Supream Council of Ireland shall approve of the Town of Dublin and the other two which are held in his Name in Ireland 6. That he join his Forces with those of the Irish to drive the Scots and Parliamentarians out of Ireland 7. This being performed by the King and what else may in Ireland be added or altered in these Articles by the Lord Rimucini His Holiness is willing to pay to the Queen of Great Britain a Hundred Thousand Crowns of Roman Money 8. That the said King do repeal all the Laws made against the Catholicks of England and particularly the two Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance so as they may enjoy their Revenues Honours Liberties and Priviledges as other the Gentlemen of that Kingdom do so that their being Catholicks shall be no manner of prejudice to them and that in the first Parliament or other Settlement of the Affairs of England His Majesty do approve and confirm the aforesaid Repeal and in the mean Time that they do actually enjoy all manner of Equality with the Protestants 9. That an Agreement be made between the King and the Supream Council of Ireland to transport into England a Body of an Army of Twelve Thousand Foot under Irish Commanders and Officers to whom shall be joyned Three Thousand or at least Two Thousand Five Hundred English Horse under Catholick Commanders upon such Conditions to be adjusted between them concerning the Government of the Army the Ports of their Landing and Places of Security as shall be adjudged just and convenient 10. When the said Forces shall be entred into England and joyned together in any Place His Holiness will pay the first Year a Hundred Thousand Crowns of Roman Money by a Monthly Proportion the same to be continued the second and third Year as â—â—is Forces shall stand and according to the Advantage that shall â—e made by the said Army 11. And lastly because the first six Articles may speedily be put in Execution His Holiness will expect the performance of them in six Months from the Date of these Presents and as to the Eighth and Ninth that require perhaps longer Time he will stay four Months more besides the Six beyond which he will not be tyed to this present Promise At Rome the 30 th Day of November 1645. Append. XXVII The Articles made by the Earl of Glamorgan WHereas much time hath been spent in meetings and debates betwixt His Excellency James Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland Commissioner to His most Excellent Majesty Charles by the Grace of God King of
continue free Traffick and Commerce with all his Majesties good Subjects of England and that we will not in the least manner prejudice any of them that shall have recourse to our Harbours either in their Bodies Ships or Goods nor shall we take any thing from them without payment of ready mony for the same And now that by his Majesties said Command we have proceeded to re-enter upon the work of his service in this Province we conceive no higher Testimony can be be given of his Majesties acceptation or of the estimation we bear about us towards their proceeding than by resorting unto them in person with his Majesties Authority and exhibiting unto them the incouragement and satisfaction they may receive in this assurance that as we bear an especial regard to their present undertakings and performances accompanied with a real sense of their former sufferings so least there should any advantage be derived unto those who endeavour to improve all opportunities of sowing sedition and distrust by this suggestion that the former differences in judgement and opinion which have induced persons to serve diversly under his Majesty and the Parliament will occasion prejudice or ill resentments to arise towards such Persons as have not formerly concurred in judgment with others in his Majesties service We do declare that we are qualified with special Power and Authority from his Majesty to assure them that no distinction shall be made in any such consideration but that all persons now interested and engaged in this cause shall be reflected upon with equal favour and regard and that we shall make it our endeavours so to improve and confirm his Majesties Gracious disposure towards them as that we will never call to memory any past difference in Opinion Judgment Action or Profession to the prejudice of any Member of this Army or any person relating to it but on the contrary shall be very ready to attest our good affections towards them in the discharge of such good Offices as shall be in our power in return whereof we shall only expect their perseverance in their present ingagements for his Majesties service with such alacrity constancy and affection as may suit with their late publick Declaration and Professions To whom we desire this assurance also may be inculcated that as we shall in the future use our utmost care and diligence to provide for their preservation from the like hardships to those they have formerly undergone so we have already employed our best industry and endeavours for the settlement of such a course as we may with most reason hope will in these uncertain times produce a constant and competent subsistence for them enabling them to make such a progress in their present undertakings as may with the accomplishment of the great ends thereof establish their own Honour and content Thus much we have thought fit to publish unto the world to furnish it with an evidence of strong conviction against us if we ever swerve to the best of our power from the just ways of maintaining the true Protestant Religion the Honour and Interest of his Sacred Majesty the just Rights of Parliament the Liberties of the Subjects and the safety quiet and wellfare of the people instrusted to our Care At Cork 6 Octob. 1648 Append. XLIII Articles of Peace made concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between his Excellency James Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General of his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland for and on the behalf of his most Excellent Majesty by vertue of the Authority wherewith the said Lord Lieutenant is instrusted on the one part And the General Assembly of the Roman Catholicks of the said Kingdom for and on the behalf of His Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects of the same on the other part HIs Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects as thereunto bound by allegiance duty and nature do most humbly and freely acknowledge and recognize their Soveraign Lord King Charles to be lawful and undoubted King of this Kingdom of Ireland and other his Highness ' s Realms and Dominions And his Majesties said Roman Catholick Subjects appreheuding with a deep sence the sad condition where unto His Majesty is reduced As a farther testimony of their Loyalty Do declare that they and their posterity for ever to the utmost of their power even to the expence of their blood and fortunes will maintain and uphold His Majesty His Heirs and lawful Successors their Rights Prerogatives Government and Authority and thereunto freely and heartily will render all due obedience Of which faithful and loyal recognition and declaration so seasonablly made by the said Roman Catholickes His Majesty is graciously pleased to accept and accordingly to own them His loyal and dutiful Subjects And is further graciously pleased to extend unto them the following graces and securities 1. IMprimis It is concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Lord Lieutenant for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty and the said General Assembly for and on the behalf of the said Roman Catholick Subjects and his Majesty is graciously pleased that it shall be enacted by Act to be passed in the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom that all and every the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion within the said Kingdom shall be free and exempt from all Mulcts Penalties Restraints and Inhibitions that are or may be imposed upon them by any Law Statute Usage or Custom whatsoever for or concerning the free exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion And that it shall be likewise enacted that the said Roman Catholicks or any of them shall not be questioned or molested in their Persons Goods or Estates for any matter or cause whatsoever for concerning or by reason of the free exercise of their Religion by vertue of any Power Authority Statute Law or Usage whatsoever And that it shall be further enacted That no Roman Catholick in this Kingdom shall be compelled to exercise any Religion Form of Devotion or Divine Service other than such as shall be agreeable to their Conscience and that they shall not be prejudiced or molested in their Persons Goods or Estates for not observing using or hearing the Book of Common-Prayer or any other Form of Devotion or Divine Service by vertue of any Colour or Statute made in the second Year of Queen Eliz. or by vertue or colour of any other Law Declaration of Law Statute Custom or Usage whatsoever made or declared or to be made or declared And that it shall be further enacted that the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion or any of them be not bound or obliged to take the Oath commonly called the Oath of Supremacy expressed in the Stat. of 2 El. c. 1. or in any other Statute or Statutes And that the said Oath shall not be tendered unto them and that the refusal of the said Oath shall not redound to the prejudice of them or any of them they taking the Oath of
Allegiance in haec verba viz. I A. B. do hereby acknowledge profess testifie and declare in my Conscience before God and the World that our Sovereign Lord King Charles is lawful and rightful King of this Realm and of other his Majesties Dominions and Countries and I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty and His Heirs and Successors and Him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against His or Their Crown and Dignity and do my best endeavour to disclose and make known to His Majesty His Heirs and Successors or to the Lord Deputy or other His Majesties chief Governor or Governors for the time being all Treason or Traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear to be intended against His Majesty or any of Them And I do make this Recognition and Acknowledgment heartily willingly and truly upon the true Faith of a Christian So help me God c. Nevertheless the said Lord Lieutenant doth not hereby intend that any thing in these Concessions contained shall extend or be construed to extend to the granting of Churches ☞ Church-Livings or the exercise of Jurisdiction the authority of the said Lord Lieutenant not extending so far yet the said Lord Lieutenant is authorized to give the said Roman Catholicks full assurance as hereby the said L. Lieut. doth give unto the said Rom. Catholicks full assurance that they or any of them shall not be molested in the possession which they have at present of Churches and Church-Livings or of the exercise of their respactive Jurisdictions as they now exercise the same until such time as His Majesty upon a full consideration of the desires of the said Roman Catholicks in a Free Parliament to be held in this Kingdom shall declare his further Pleasure 2. Item It is concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and his Majesty is further graciously pleased that a Free Parliament shall be held in this Kingdom within six months after the Date of these Articles of Peace or as soon after as Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costologh Lord President of Connaught Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander Mac Donnel Esquire Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnewal Baronet Jeffery Browne Donnogh O Callaghan Tyrlagh O Neile Miles Reily and Gerâ—ald Fennel Esquires or the major part of them will desire the same so that by possibility it may be held and that in the mean time and until the Articles of these Presents agreed to be passed in Parliament be accordingly passed the same shall be inviolably observed as to the matters therein contained as if they were enacted in Parliament And that in case a Parliament be not called and held in this Kingdom within two years next after the Date of these Articles of Peace then his Majesties Lord Lieutenant or other his Majesties chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom for the time being will at the request of the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon c. or the major part of them call a General Assembly of the Lords and Commons of this Kingdom to attend upon the said Lord Lieutenant or other his Majesties chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom for the time being in some convenient place for the better setling of the affairs of the Kingdom And it is further concluded accorded and agreed by and between the said parties that all matters that by these Articles are agreed upon to be passed in Parliament shall be transmitted into England according to the usual form to be passed in the said Parliament and that the said Acts so agreed upon and so to be passed shall receive no disjunction or alteration here or in England Provided that nothing shall be concluded by both or either of the said Houses of Parliament which may bring prejudice to any of his Majesties Protestant Party or their Adherents or to his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects or their Adherents other than such things as upon this Treaty are concluded to be done or such things as may be proper for the Committee of Priviledges of either or both Houses to take cognizance of as in such cases heretofore hath been accustomed and other than such matters as his Majesty will be graciously pleased to declare his further pleasure in to be passed in Parliament for the satisfaction of his Subjects and other than such things as shall be propounded to either or both Houses by his Majesties Lord Lieutenant or other chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom for the time being during the said Parliament for the advancement of his Majesties Service and the Peace of the Kingdom which clause is to admit no construction which may trench upon the Articles of Peace or any of them and that both Houses of Parliament may consider what they shall think convenient touching the Repeal or Suspension of the Statute commonly called Poyning's Act Entituled An Act That no Parliament be holden in that Land until the Acts be certified into England 3. Item It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and his Majesty is graciously pleased That all Acts Ordinances and Orders made by both or either Houses of Parliament to the blemish dishonour or prejudice of his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom or any of them sithence the seventh of August 1641. shall be vacated and that the same and all Exemplifications and other Acts which continue the memory of them be made void by Act to be past in the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom and that in the mean time the said Acts or Ordinances or any of them shall be no prejudice to the said Roman Catholicks or any of them 4. Item It is also concluded and agreed upon and his Majesty is likewise graciously pleased that all indictments attainders outlawries in this Kingdom and all the processes and other proceedings thereupon and all Letters Patents Grants Leases Customs Bonds Recognizances and all Records Act or Acts Office or Offices Inquisitions and all other things depending upon or taken by reason of the said Indictments Attainders or outlawries sithence the seventh day of August 1641. in prejudice of the said Catholicks their Heires Executors Administrators or Assignes or any of them or the Widows of them or any of them shall be vacated and made void in such sort as no memory shall remain thereof to the blemish dishonour or prejudice of the said Catholicks their Heirs Executors Administrators or Assignes or any of them or the Widows of them or any of them and that to be done when the said Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon c. or the major part of them shall desire the same so that by possibility it may be done and in the mean time that no such indictments attainders outlawries processes or any other proceedings thereupon or any letters patents grants leases custodiums
delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last that the Clergy and Laity receiving Redress or Justice the Discontent of the Subject might be removed no Amendment appeared after eight Months effluxed but the Evil still continued that occasioned the Ruine of the Nation And we also protest to the whole World having done our best we have no Power to remove the Jealousies and Fears of the People Besides the above Injuries and Violation of the Articles of the Peace against Religion the King's Interest and the Nation nothing appearing before the Eyes of the People but Desolation Waste Burning and the Destruction of the Kingdom three parts of four thereof being come under Contribution to the Enemy Cities Towns and strong Holds taken from them Altars pulled down Churches lost Priests killed and banished Sacraments and Sacrifices and all things holy profaned and almost utterly extinguished Armies and great numbers of Souldiers by them maintained and the Enemy not fought withal those that would fight for them born down and those that would betray them cherished and advanced finally no visible Army or Defence appearing they are come to despair of recovering what is lost or defending what they hold and some inclining for safety of their Lives and Estates do compound with the Parliament perswading themselves no Safety can be to any living under the Government of the LORD LIEUTENANT attended by Fate and Disaster For prevention of these Evils and that the Kingdom may not be utterly lost to his Majesty and his Catholick Subjects this Congregation of Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of both Clergies of this Kingdom found our selves bound in Conscience after great Deliberation to declare against the continuance of his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond premitting this Protestation to the World ☞ that we had never come to such Declaration but that we and the People of this Kingdom generally despair of the Kingdom 's Recovery under his Government as hereby we do declare as well in our own Names and behalf as in the Names and behalf of the rest of the Catholicks of this Kingdom against him the said Marquess of Ormond having by his Misgovernment ill Conduct of his Majesy's Army and the Breach of Publick Faith with the People in several particulars of the Articles of the Peace render'd himself uncapable of continuing that great Trust any longer being questionable before his Majesy for the said Injuries and ill Government to which effect we will joyn with other Members of this Kingdom in drawing a Charge against him and we do hereby manifest to the People they are no longer obliged to obey the Orders and Commands of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond but are until a general Assembly of the Nation can be conveniently called together unanimously to serve against the common Enemy for the Defence of the Catholick Religion his Majesty's Interest their Liberties ☞ Lives and Fortunes in pursuance of the Oath of Association and to observe and obey in the mean time the Form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe until it be otherwise ordered by an Assembly or until upon application to his Majesty he settle the same otherise And we do fulminate the annexed Excommunication of one Date with this Declaration against all the Opposers of the same Declaration All the good Christians and Catholicks that shall read this our said Declaration forced from us by the Affliction and Disaster of distressed Ireland be pleased to know that we well understand the present Condition of this Nation is more inclining to Ruin and Despair than Recovery yet will we relie upon the Mercy of God who can and will take off from us the heavy Judgment of his Anger War and Plague if we shall amend our wicked Lives and lean like little ones upon the Arms of his Mercy as we cry to him for Remedy let us confess with Tears our Sins saying with the Prophet Isaiah Câ—cidimus quasi folium universi iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos non est qui invocet nomen taum Domine non est qui consurgat teneat te abscondisti faciem tuam à nobis allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae This Language from the Heart will reconcile Heaven to us Et quiescat ira Dei erit placabilis super neâ—uitia populâ— sui Though this Noble-Man hath left us nothing but Weakness and Want and Desolation and that the Enemy is rich strong and powerful God is stronger and can help us and for his own Name-sake will deliver us Dominus Eliae the God of Wonders and Miracles erit etiam nunc apud Hibernos if our Faith prove strong and our Actions sound and sincere We will conclude with St. Paul that Ocean of Wisdom and Doctor of Nations Si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos quis accusabit adversus electos Dei Deus est qui justificat quis est qui condemnat quis ergo nos separabit à charitate Christi Tribulatio an Angustia an Fames an Nuditas an Periculum an Persecutio an Gladius sed in his omnibus superamus propter â—um qui dilexit nos Let nothing separate you from that burning Charity of Christianity and God will ever preserve protect and bless you H. Ardmacan Jo. Archiâ—p Tuam Jo. Rapotens Eugen. Killmor Fran. Aladen Nic. Fermens Procurator Dublin Fr. Anton. Clonmacnocens Walt. Clonfert Procurator Leighlinens Fr. Artur Dunens Connor Procurator Dromorens Fr. Hugo Duacensis Fr. Gul. de Burgo Provincialis Hiberniae Ordinis prâ—â—dicat Jac. Abbas de Conga Comiss generalis Canon Reg. S. Aug. Fr. Thom. Keran Abbas de Duellio Carol. Kelly S. Theologiae Doctor Decan Tuam Fr. Bernard Egan Procurator R. admodum P. Provincial fratrum minorum Fr. Ricar O Kelly Procur Vic. Generalis Kildare Prior Rathbran Ord. predicat Thad Eganus S. Th. D. praepos Tuam Luc. Plunket S. Th. D. Proton Apostolicus Rector Collegii de Kellecu exercitus Lageniâ— Capellan major Jo. Doulaeus juris Doc. Abbas de Kilmanach unus ex procuratoribus Capit. Cler. Tuam Gual Enos S. T. D. Protonot Apostolicus Theâ—aur Fernen procurator prepositi Ecclesiae Collegiaâ—ae Galviensis And we the under-named sitting at Galloway with the Committee authorized by the Congregation held at James-Town 6. Augusti currentis do concur with the above Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries in the above Declaration and withal do now make firm the same as an Act of our own by our several Subscriptions this 23d of August 1650. Thomas Cashell J. Laonen Episcopus Edmun. Limiricen Rob. Corcag Cluan Fr. Teren. Immolâ—cen Jac. Fallon Vic. Apostolicus Acaden The Excommunication mentioned in the above Declaration WHereas we the underwritten Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries sitting in this our present Congregation at James-Town with the Consent and Approbation of the rest through the Dangers of these distracted Times
superciliously or malitiously of those Actions whereunto they are willing Strangers And this being a Disadvantage whereunto all Commanders have been and ever will be subject we have no Reason to expect an Exemption from it and might therefore pass by this Grievance reserving Our self for an Account of Our Actions till it were required from Us by him to whom only in this Case We are obliged to render one But such is our desire to satisfy those that are faithful to the Cause We have laboured in and may have been stumbled at that Chance of War that We shall give them the Reason and Grounds of Our Undertaking and of the supposed Omission recited in what remains of these Grievances And first it is necessary it should be understood that a little before the time of that Defeat the Condition of Affairs in this Kingdom stood thus The Provinces of Leinster Munster and Connaught were entirely reduced to his Majesty's Obedience except the City of Dublin and Balishannon which were block'd up with a small Number of our Men. But in Vlster the Rebels by the Assistance of Owen O-Neil and the Interruption given to the Lord Viscount Mountgomery by the Scotish Clergy had raised the Seige of London-Derry and were become Masters of the Field About the same time also We had certain Intelligence that Cromwel with a very strong Army a vast Sum of Money and great plenty of all Provisions was ready ship'd for this Kingdom And it was from good Hands intimated unto Us that he purposed his Descent in Munster and that he had Intelligence with some Governour of the Sea-ports there Hereupon it was taken into Consideration at a Council of War whether the blocking up of Dublin should be continued or whether We should not retire from thence to Drogheda Trym and the Garisons adjacent and prepare our selves for securing Munster and making a defensive or offensive War as occasion should afterwards be offered And of this Opinion We were the rather because it was there also concluded that the Lord President of Munster with a good Party of our best Horse should go into Munster to secure it and that the very Day we rose from Finglass and marched to Rathmines Reynolds landed with 600 Horse and 1500 Foot Hereunto it was strongly objected That if We sent away Our heavy Cannon which we proposed should be done the more to facilitate an orderly Retreat the People would despair of the taking of Dublin that they would accompt all that was done as good as nothing unless that City were reduced That they would not consider that the City was to be reduced by distressing it by blocking up which might have securely been done the way We proposed but taking the Matter to be given over and consequently despairing of the Ease they expected by the total Reduction of the Kingdom would grow more and more backward in their Contribution and perhaps be seduced to a Conjunction with Owen O-Neil and a Rejection of the Peace and his Majesty's Authority thereby established over them which even then We found was though under-hand privately and under other Pretences aimed at by some that since have taken the Advantage of the time to declare themselves without Disguise It was also objected that unless Dublin were reduced before Cromwel's Landing with the Force and Treasure we were sure he had in Readiness at the Water-side that it was to be feared he would be able to corrupt many of the English which considering the Treasure he brought with him and the want We were in might as reasonably be apprehended as that Owen O-Neil and his Party should have become Mercenary to Sir Charles Coot Perswaded by these Arguments delivered by the whole Council of War We were resolved to continue before Dublin and to endeavour to approach near unto it to the end to take from them within the Conveniency of grazing betwixt Our Camp and their Works which if it had been effected their Horses being 1200 must in three days have starved and then the Benefit of the Sea would have been with much ease taken from them which would so much have discouraged all their Souldiers that it was probable they would in a few Days more have forced their Officers to a Treaty and Surrender of the City It was then conceived that Baggatrath was the fittest Place to be fortified But before We gave Order for it We sent the Earl of Castle-haven General Preston Sir Arthur Ashton and Major General Purcel to view it who returned unto Us approving the Place as in all Respects fit for our Purpose We then gave the Major General Order to command thither in the beginning of the Night 1500 Foot with Materials to fortify which was the Number advised to be sent by those Persons that had seen it In the Morning at Day-break we went thither and finding the Work not advanced to Our Expectation found fault therewith The Major General told Us That he was so misguided from the Camp thither which was not an English Mile that he came not to the Place till an Hour before Day Yet such was the natural Strength of the Place that being helped with a few Hours Work We conceived it might very well be made good against any Attempt of the Enemy But the better to secure it We put the whole Army in Arms and appointed it to be drawn down near Baggatrath shewing every General Officer where his Charge was and appointing the drawing down some Cannon to an Eminency of Ground commanding the same and some of the Fields leading from Dublin thither And then having been up all Night partly in writing of Dispatches and to be in the better Readiness in case the Enemy upon discovering Our Men marching should sally We retired to take a little Rest which was about nine of the Clock About ten We wakened with the Noise of Shot and before we could get on Horseback Our 1500 Men were beaten out of Baggatrath and soon after was Sir William Vaughan kill'd and the Horse with him routed Whereupon all those in the left Wing except Our Brothers and Colonel Miles Reyly's Regiments ran away without once facing the Enemy and as was alledged which we have not heard disproved against their Officers uttermost Endeavour In short The Rebels gained Field after Field till they came up to the Ordnance and thence into the Rear of Us standing in a Field with a Party of Foot commanded by Colonel Gifford who gave very good Fire upon them for a while but upon Discovery of another Party of the Rebels marching up to their Front some called for Quarter others threw down their Arms and some continued Shooting Then We quitted the Field and endeavoured but in vain several times to rally the Horse These are the Grounds for continuing the blocking up Dublin and this is briefly as much of the manner of the Defeat as We were Witness of and can readily call to mind That his Majesty's Army on that side the River attempted by
occasion and we believe there is nothing contained in that Letter but is well known to be Truth and will be justified by many of best Quality in that Assembly What the words were which were heard to fall from us dangerous to the Persons of some Prelates when we are particularly charged with them we shall deny nothing that is Truth In the mean time let it be judged if we had such a desire of doing them hurt in their Persons whether in the Person of the Bishop of Killalloe who had signed this Declaration We had not in our Power a Subject whereon to have manifested our Disposition to revenge Whom yet the Bishops in a Letter of theirs to the Earl of Westmeath the Bishop of Leighlin and others which Letter is before recited upon another occasion do acknowledge to have been preserved by Our means Ante pag. 33. Part 2. though in the said Letter they untruly charge those they call Cavaliers with any Attempt or Purpose of doing the said Bishop's Person any further prejudice than to apprehend him and bring him before Us. As to the 11th Article Answer to the 11th Article We acknowledg to have represented to His Majesty That divers Places in this Kingdom were in disobedience to his Authority And that there were and are such places is a Truth as well known to these Declarers as any Work is known to the Workman that made it Which to have concealed from his Majesty had been to have betrayed the Trust by Him reposed in Us and to have taken upon Our Self the blame due to them We also acknowledg to have humbly desired his Majesty's leave to withdraw Our own Person out of the Kingdom in case those Disobediences were multiplied Which having received and those Disobediences being multiplied We had withdrawn Our Self from being an idle Witness of the loss of the Kingdom and the Ruin of many of Our Friends had not divers of these Declarers several times but more especially at Loghreagh disswaded Us from going and promised to do their uttermost endeavour to procure Us the Obedience We desired without which it was plain to all Men We could attempt nothing for the preservation of the Kingdom with hope of Success But We were not so bold as to direct his Majesty to remove his Authority or how else to dispose of it as the Declarers are But how really troubled they are that the People should be deprived of the King's Authority and the benefit of the Articles of Peace is apparent by this Declaration and Excommunication wherein they direct the People to return to their Association which is inconsistent with both And by the Answer of the Bishops at Galloway to the Commissioners whereof We shall have occasion to speak hereafter And where they charge Us with Envy to the Nation for doing Our Duty to the King We hope to have given such proof of the contrary as hath satisfied the most interested Men in the Nation And We conceive We could not have manifested Our Affection to it by a more Signal Instance than by offering to leave his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard and to withdraw Our Self to sollicite for Supplies when it was most probable they might be got finding that our being a Protestant gave these Declarers some advantage to withdraw the People from their Obedience to Us. As to the 12th Article Answer to the 12th Article we are not willing to look back so far as to the time when by his Majesties Command and Commission We bore Arms in the War against the Confederates but must justify Our Self that We were never active in unnatural execution against them but have many times suffered much Calumny for Our desire of preserving many of them that fell into our Hands as some in that Assembly can witness who were by Our means preserved and if they think fit may testify as much But if the Declarers oppose Our being active then to Our unactivity this last Summer as an Argument of Our want of desire to oppose the Enemy We answer That in the time they mention We had free election of Officers the absolute Power of Dublin and other Garrisons where We caused the Soldiers to be continually exercised their Arms kept in order and could in a short time when We pleased have drawn the Army together and marched with it where We pleased Advantages which rendred the Victories We gained full as easy as those gotten by the Enemy against Us have been upon the like advantage on their part It is true that all this last Summer We and the Lord Inchiquin have continued in Connaught and Thomond where there was no Enemy But it is also true ☜ that We were not suffered to have the means of preparing an Army fit to seek or oppose an Enemy as We have set down in Our Letter of the Second of August to the Bishops at James-Town recited formerly upon another Occasion And since they here mention the Lord Inchiquin with Us We think fit to mind divers in that Assembly to whom it is well known that many of the Bishops did long since upon several Occasions declare that all their Suspicion and the Suspicion the People held of Us was by reason of the Power the Lord Inchiquin had with Us. And that during his continuance in Imployment or the continuance of any of his Party in the Army it was not possible for them to remove that Suspicion out of the Minds of the People But that if his Lordship were once out of Command and his Party removed they doubted not full and chearful Obedience would be given Us. Hereupon his Lordship voluntarily withdrew himself from having to do with the Conduct of the Army ☜ yet is he by these Men charged for want of Activity When his Lordship had thus waved his Imployment and his Party were gone off and that they had wrought the like distrust of the remainder of the Party that came off to Us from Dublin and other Parts so that nâ—w We were forced likewise to send them away then they judgâ—â—â—t a fit time for them to declare also against Us. Then divers â—â—â—ops and other Church-men changed their Note and dealt undeâ—â—â—and with the Lord Inchiquin to stay in the Kingdom though We should go saying That the distrust and dislike of the People was only against Us and not against him Then they fell first to call their Meeting at James-Town and then to publish this Declaration from which they were with-held for fear all the time the foresaid Parties were with Us. This We suspected would be the issue of their working away the Protestant Party and of all their Promises Yet to leave them wholly without Excuse and to satisfy some that believed better of them We consented to part with those Men of whose Courage and Fidelity to his Majesty and Affection to Us We had good Experience and cast our Self wholly upon the Assurances these Bishops and
others had so often and so solemnly made to Us of giving Us and procuring for Us all possible Compliance and Obedience the Result whereof appears in their Declaration Yet it is very well known that when-ever the Enemy drew towards the Shannon-side We drew together all the Men We could to the defence of the Passages which otherwise the Enemy had gained And whatever our Play and Merriment was We had certainly as great cause to grieve at the loss of a Kingdom to his Majesty as these Declarers who have not carried themselves so towards him as to expect a greater proportion of his Favour than We. In Answer to the 13th Article The Answer to the 13th Article We say that Drogheda was put into the Hands and Trust of Sir Arthur Ashton a Roman-Catholick and that of the Souldiers and Officers of that Garison the greater part were of that Religion That for Trym it was governed by Mr. Daniel O-Neil who though a Protestant was yet a Native of this Kingdom and one that had manifested great Affection to the Nation That the greater part of the Officers and Souldiers with him were Roman-Catholicks and that the Lord Viscount Dillon a Roman Catholick had Command over the said Daniel O-Neil For Dundalk it is known that Place was given up through the good Affection to his Majesty of divers Officers and Souldiers rather than forced by Siege or otherwise with some of whom We conceived it fit to leave the Charge thereof What Actions or Expressions of Ours they were that disheartned the Roman-Catholicks to fight or be under our Command is not here set down So that We can no otherwise answer to this than that We never did any such Action or let fall any such Expression but were indifferent in our Actions and Expressions of Civility and Respect to all the Officers of the Army What these Catholicks and many Thousands of the People with the Commissioners of Trust or the greater part of them might fear if We had mastered the Kingdom We are not to answer for But if they feared We would in case We had mastered the Kingdom have infringed any of the Articles of Peace their Fear was unjust and groundless nor have We ever before heard there was such a Fear in them To the 14th Article The Answer to the 14th Article We answer That they have in Truth no reason to speak of any particular Corruptions and Abuses in this Article generally mentioned that which they instance in Secretary Lane's having a Custodium of Kilbeggan being so false that he never had any thing to do with it If they had a true Instance We suppose they would not have spared to make use of it What Daniel O-Neil had they set not down nor till they do are We able to answer it If these pretended Grievances whereof most are disproved The Answer to the 15th Article and some confessed and proved to be no Breaches of the Peace were delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last We never saw them till September after the meeting at James-Town in August last And if hereby be meant that Paper of pretended Grievances without Title or Subscription whereunto We have sent you Our Answers We never saw them till the 17th of August last The Conclusion of their Declaration is a general Recapitulation of the Miseries and Desolation fallen upon the Kingdom and People in tragical and passionate Expressions Answer to the Conclusion endeavouring to infuse into them a belief that all those Afflictions are through Our means fallen upon them whereas We suppose We have made it evident That next to the good Pleasure of God to chastise the Nation the Reason thereof may most reasonably be attributed to the Sedition Disloyalty Pride Covetousness and Ambition to Rule of these Declarers whom We challenge to instance whom We have born down that would have fought for them or whom cherished or advanced that would or did betray them And where they say that some are inclining to submit to those they call the Parliament perswading themselves that there can be no safety under Our Government attended by Fate and Disaster as they express themselves more like Heathen-Poets than Christian-Bishops and Church-men it is known to some there that to Our certain knowledg divers Persons and Places of consideration would have submitted to the Enemy if We had gone rather than live under the Tyranny and Confusion of the Government projected by these by these Declares which was the principal Reason of Our stay as will We fear be too evidently verified when We are gone unless that Assembly prevent it by more prudent temperate and solid Determinations than these Men are capable of giving or receiving Next they say that for Prevention of those Evils and that the Kingdom should not be utterly lost to his Majesty and his Catholick Subjects they found themselves bound in Conscience to declare against the Continuance of his Majesty's Authority in Us and accordingly in their own Name and in the Name of the rest of the Catholicks of the Kingdom they do declare against the Continuance of his Majesty's Authority in Us having by Our Misgovernment and ill Conduct of the Army and Breach of Publick Faith rendred our Self uncapable of continuing that great Trust any longer To which We answer ☜ That to prevent the Loss of the Kingdom to his Majesty they take the Kingdom to themselves and without so much as making any Address to him or pretending to have received any Direction or Commission from him they declare to the People that they are no longer obliged to obey any Orders or Commands of the Person by Commission authorized from Him but until a General assembly may conveniently be called or until upon application to his Majesty he settle the same elsewhere to observe the form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe Whereby is to be observed that as they take it upon them when they please and in the highest Temporal Affairs in the World to declare the Sense of the People without their Consent a thing that We have never read or heard was ever till now pretended to by King Pope or Clergy so they evidently assume the Power of dissolving and erecting the Temporal Government of the Kingdom And this they say they found themselves bound in Conscience to do Which being a pretence inscrutable and at all times readily to be taken up can only be answered by the Laws of the Land the will not allow the Excuse of Conscience for taking a Purse on the Highway or to come home to this Matter for Acts of High-Treason For the Clause viz. or until upon application to his Majesty he settle the same elsewhere it is inserted with purpose to abuse the People with a belief of their Loyalty ☜ when they have first incited them to Rebellion Touching the Complaint they say they will make against Us to his Majesty it should in Reason and Justice have