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A28828 The history of the execrable Irish rebellion trac'd from many preceding acts to the grand eruption the 23 of October, 1641, and thence pursued to the Act of Settlement, MDCLXII. Borlase, Edmund, d. 1682? 1680 (1680) Wing B3768; ESTC R32855 554,451 526

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Act of Additions and Explanation of certain Clauses in the former Act as also an Act giving further time to Subscribers for Lands in Ireland with an Advantage of Irish Measure By vertue of which great sums were rais'd and in truth the Forces of Ireland yet competently well supplied But his Majesty perceiving a defect in the necessary Transportations of what was requisite he by the Advice of his Council declares That he hopes that not only the Loyalty and good Affections of all our loving Subjects will concur with us in the constant preserving a good understanding between us and our People but at this time their own and our Interest and compassion of the lamentable condition of our poor Protestant Subjects in Ireland will invite them to a fair Intelligence and Unity amongst themselves that so we may with one heart intend the relieving and recovering of that unhappy Kingdom where those barbarous Rebels practise such inhumane and unheard of Outrages upon our miserable People that no Christian Ear can hear without horrour nor Story parallel And yet further to dis-burthen his thoughts for Ireland he was pleas'd to signifie to both Houses of Parliament the 24th of Feb. 1641. That for Ireland in behalf of which his heart bleeds as he hath concurred with all Propositions made for that Service by his Parliament so he is resolv'd to leave nothing undone for their relief which shall fall within his possible power And because his Majesty's removal to York from the Parliament should not hinder the Supplies for Ireland he from Huntingdon the 15th of March 1642. declares 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 endeavour'd to do by those Messages having likewise done all such Acts as he hath been mov'd unto by his Parliament therefore if the misfortunes and calamities of his poor Protestant Subjects shall grow upon them though his Majesty shall be deeply concern'd 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 Thus his Majesty resented that horrid Rebellion having nothing left further to express the deep sense he had of the publick miseries of his Kingdom Yet the Parliament who conceiv'd themselves deeply intrusted with the Concerns of Ireland the prosecution of that War being left to them but not so as to exclude his Majesty replied That they humbly besought his Majesty to consider how impossible it is that any Protestation though publisht in your Majesty's Name of your tenderness of the miseries of your Protestant Subjects in Ireland c. can give satisfaction to reasonable and indifferent Men when at the same time divers of the Irish Traitors and Rebels the known Favourers of them and Agents for them are admitted to your Majesty's Presence with Grace and Favour and some of them imployed in your Service and when Cloaths Munition Horses and other Necessaries bought by your Parliament and sent for the supply of the Army against the Rebels there are violently taken away some by your Majesty's Command others by your Minister's To which it 's replied That those Cloaths c. entring into Coventry his Majesty had good reason to believe they would have been dispos'd of amongst the Souldiers who there bore Arms against him putting the Parliament besides in mind That he was so far from diverting any of those Provisions made for the relief of Ireland the thought of whose miserable condition made his heart bleed that 3000 Suits of Cloaths being found at Chester for the Souldiers in Ireland he commanded that they should be speedily transported thither no necessity of his own Army being sufficient to prevail with him to seize on them Thus both the King and Parliament interessed in the great Concern of Ireland were passionately affected with her sad condition whilst the distractions and jealousies at home so dis-cemented their Forces as the Irish Harp hung on the Willows and those noble Souls which even now return'd with Laurels droopt betwixt the living and the dead Affairs standing in this posture neither of them prov'd at leisure to consider more than in Declarations the miserable condition of bleeding Ireland inasmuch as they were so far from sending over thither any further supplies of Men Money or Ammunition how incessantly soever they were mov'd to it from the Lords Justices and Council as the Parliament at that time finding themselves under great Necessities for want of Money order'd the sum of 100000 l. of the Adventurers Money then in the hands of the Treasurer for the relief of Ireland to be made use of for the setting forth their Army under the Command of the Earl of Essex then ready for his March against the King at Nottingham notwithstanding a Clause in that memorable Act That no part of that Money shall be imployed to any other purpose than the reducing of those Rebels This rais'd a great noise and highly reflected upon the Parliament That they who so heartily on all occasions had complain'd of the King's neglect of his poor Protestants in Ireland should now make use of that Money to raise Arms against him in England and so leave the remnant of those suffering Souls in Ireland to the Insolencies of the Rebels and their own Forces Flesh of their Flesh sent over with so much Charge for the suppression of that horrid Rebellion to neglect and scorn for want of a seasonable and just supply Upon which his Majesty from York the 30th of August 1642. sent a Message to the House of Commons requiring them to retract that Order To palliate which they alledg'd many things against the King As the denying the Lord Wharton to go with 5000 Foot and 500 Horse for the relief of Munster the hindring of two Pieces of Battery writ for by the Lords Justices the detaining of the Lord Lieutenant the Earl of Leicester when the Affairs of Ireland were known to suffer for want of a Commander in Chief notwithstanding his Majesty had charged them that they had detain'd the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on whom writes he he relyed principally for the conduct and management of Affairs there never regarding his earnestness formerly prest when he was thought to be stayed by the Parliament that he should repair to his Command of which the Earl of Leicester in a Letter to the Earl of Northumberland is not silent order'd by the Parliament to be printed the 26th of September 1642. To which the Parliament adds The calling away of Sir Charles Lloyd Captain Green and others in actual imployment against the
the present state of Ireland * Fol. 216. His Majesties third Letter concerning the Cessation The Treaty towards a Cessation The Irish Commissioners the 23. of June 1643. first presented themselves to the Lieutenant-General Their Commission from the Supream Council The Treaty deferred against which the Commissioners excepted The Insolencies of the Irish in Reply to a Warrant of the State Colonel Monk against Preston The Lord Moor killed Read Husband 's Collect fo 340. The Rebels very audacious and active upon the very point of the conclusion of the Cessation The Cessation concluded His Majesties Motives to the Cessation fol. 355. Octob. 19. 1643. Reasons given in by the Judges for the continuance of this Parliament against a free one sought by the Rebels Sept. 13. 1643. His Majesties fourth Letter touching the Cessation and his care of his Army * Annals Eliz. Anno 1595. The Cessation begat great heats betwixt the King and his Parliament * His Majesties Answer to the Commissioners last Paper at Uxbridge fol. 557. Monro's Letter to the Lords Justices in dislike of the Cessation The Supream Council's Letter from Kilkenny to the Lords Justices touching the Scots breach of the Cessation Several Regiments transported into England The Oath imposed upon the Souldiers going for England * See his Majesties Message from Oxford the 24. of Jan. 1645. Fol. 227. * View their Letter again of the 15th of Octob. 1643. * Octob. 24. 1644. The Irish break the Cessation Agents being to go from the Rebels to Oxford the Protestants Petition the State that they might have some to attend at the same time his Majesties Pleasure Motions made upon the Cessation that some of the Confederates should be admitted unto their dwellings The Marquis● of Ormond made Lord Lieutenant the 21. of Jan. 1643. The Lord Lieutenant regulating of the Army * The Establishment of which with the rates set on each Commodity according to an Act of Council made at the Council Board the 4th of December was by Proclamation at the Castle of Dublin published the 9th of December 1644. As the 12th of Oct. preceding there had passed one of the same nature though this more large * Appendix 10. 11. * The Lord Viscount Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Dermot Mac Trag O Bryan c. The Confederates sent their Agents to Oxford The Lord Lieutenant from the Council Board sent others * Sir William Stewart Sir Gerard Lowther Sir Philip Percival Justice Donnelon to whom were added being resident at Oxford Sir George Radcliffe Sir William Sambach * Captain William Ridgeway Esquire Sir Francis Hamilton Sir Charles Coote Captain William Parsons the Insolencers of the Confederates Appendix 12. The Protestant Committee of the Irish Parliament pressed the execution of the Laws against the Rebels c. * The Lord Cottington Earl of Bristol Portland Lord George Digby Sir Edward Nicholas Sir John Culpeper Sir Edward Hide c. These of the Council much troubled betwixt the contests of the Rebels and Protestants The Irish Agents seemingly mov'd at what they were from the Confederates inforced to stand upon The King's Admonition to the Irish Agents at their departure * Appendix 13. The Irish Agents Behaviour on their Return into Ireland The Earl of Glamorgan's unjust Management of the King's Affairs in Ireland Legible in his Message dated at Oxford 29. Jan. 1645. * July 18. 1644 * The Lord Inchequin The Lord Broghil Sir Wil. Fenton Sir Percy Smith Lieut. Col. Wil. Brocket Lieut. Col. Tho. Serle Serjeant Major Muschamp The Lord Inchequin's revolt to the Parliament after the Cessation The Scots preserve themselves against the incursions of the Rebels 1645. * The Lord D. principal Secretary * The Lord I. from Ascot 27. Aug. 1645. * In a Letter printed at Oxford pag. 3. * Col. Fitz-Williams's Letter to Lord D. 16. July 1645. In his Letter from Caerdiff 3. August 1645 * To whom and the Irish Agents the King in his Letter to the Queen Jan. 30. 1644. advises not to give much Countenance 1646. The first Peace concluded The Lord Lieutenant upon Agreements on all sides repair'd to Kilkenny expecting there to receive Advance for his Majesty's Service * In his Works fol. 320. A Congregation of Clergy are summon'd contrary to his expectation to Waterford They inveigh against the Peace they had lately consented to The King of Arms barbarously used at Limerick The Confederates treachery to cut off the Lord Lieutenant The Congregation at Waterford declared Peace void The Nuncio's exorbitant carriage The Oath taken by General Preston The Nuncio besieges the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin and the Consequences thereof Some of the Supream Council being appointed to confer with the Lord Lieutenant the Nuncio admonishes them not to proceed That nothing yet might be ill resented of by the Lord Lieutenant the Supream Council wins on his Patience The Nuncio's Excommunication Matth. 16. 18 19. John 20. 23. 2 Cor. 2. 11. The two Generals Preston and O Neil being with the Nuncio engaged to sit down before Dublin sends a Letter with Propositions The Lord Lieutenant in great straits at the approach of the Nuncio to Dublin Upon the Irish breach of faith the Lord Lieutenant made a shew of delivering all into the Parliaments hands * Sir Gerr. Lowther Lord Chief Baron Sir Francis Willoughby Sir Paul Davis Knights The Parliament of England Voted Philip Lord Lisle Lord Lieutenant of Ireland He arrives in Ireland Knockmohun a strong Garrison Sir Rich. Osborn Governour His Expedition with his Commission soon determin'd being oppos'd by those who afterwards were accus'd * 7th of May. The Confederates upon Recruits out of England piece again with the Lord Lieutenant * Sir Thomas Wharton Sir Rob. King Sir John Clotworthy Sir Rob. Meredith Knights Rich. Salway Esq. The Lord Lieutenant not being admitted to send to the King the Treaty with the Parliaments Agents broke off The Marquis of Clanrickard's fidelity Upon the Marquis of Clanrickard's free dealing with the Confederates General Preston and others sign an Engagement Upon this there seem'd to be some Agreement betwixt the Lord Lieutenant and Confederates they taking Commissions from the Lord Lieutenant Yet after all the Officers of General Preston being not Excommunication-proof the Lord Lieutenant was again disappointed The Lord Lieutenant returns to Dublin which being not able to supply his Souldiers they were forced to be quarter'd on the Countrey where nothing but Victuals were taken by them The Assembly at Kilkenny justifie the Commissioners yet agreed with the Congregation at Waterford The Irish being in all things sound treacherous those who were most averse to the Parliament yet now wished the Lord Lieutenant might conclude with them The Lord Lieutenant's Conviction that the Irish intended to renounce the Crown of England A Motion to call in a forreign Prince The Kings Answer to the Lord Lieutenant upon his signification of his Streights in Dublin The Lord Lieutenant delivers Dublin to the Parliaments Commissioners though upon his
inclination the Irish endeavour to delude him * Arthur Annesly Esq. Sir Robert King Sir Robert Meredith Colonel John Moore Colonel Michael Jones who carried over a Regiment of Horse and 1000 Foot and was made Commander in chief of all the Forces within the Province of Leimster and Governor of Dublin who upon his entrance upon the Place found 11 old Regiments of Foot which he reduced to 7. viz. The Earl of Kildare's the Lord Moor's Sir Henry Tichburn Sir John Borlase Jun. Colonel Francis Willoughby Colonel Baily and Flowers in all about 4000. no Recruit being sent to any of them 1647 * Edw. Parry Laonensis Jac. Margetson nunc temporis Armachanus Ben. Culme Anibr Anngier Ja. Sybald Godf. Rhodes Hen. Hall exin Episc Acadensis Jos. War Jo. Brookbank Gilbert Dean Dud. Boswell Rob. Parry Joan. Creighton Can. Edw. Syng exin Ardfertensis Rob. Dickson Rand. Ince Hen. Byrch Rich. Powell The Marquis of Ormond having free access to the King acquaints him of the Impression he had made in many for his Service Some of the Scots being convinc'd of what they had done amiss in his Majesties Service better resolve and encourage the Marquis of Ormond to return into Ireland The subtilty of the Independent Army The Marquis now suspected by the Army Gen. Preston routs Colonel Jones Preston's advance on a design to Dublin * The Lord Digby Dungan-hill Battel the 8. of Aug. 1647. by some term'd Linch-Knock Battel Jones's and Monk's good Service The Battle of Knocknones or Knockness Inchiquin meditates the Alteration of his Party The Marquess of Ormond provides to return into Ireland pre-possessing the Marquess of Clanrickard and the Lord Taaff with the Design The Lord Inchiquin of the same Party 1648. The Nuncio pursued close and then quits the Kingdom Viz. 23. of Feb. 1648 9. An Express of the Nuncio's Behaviour Jones finding Clanrickard active stirs forth and takes in someCastles Several suspected to be for the Marquess of Ormond sent into England Colonel Monk seizes on Carickfergus Some suspicions that the Lord Inchequin would have submitted to the Parliament The Lord Inchequin taken off his inclinations by hopes of greater Honour The Marquis of Ormond's return into Ireland The Marquis of Antrim and the Lord Muskery sent to the Queen and the Prince in France to consider the Confederates Condition The Queen and Prince's Answer His Majesties Answer to the Parliaments Message touching the Lord Lieutenant The Confederates Commissioners come to the Lord Lieutenant at Carrick The Peace of 1648. concluded * Sir Richard Blake Knight The Lord Lieutenant's Speech upon the presenting of the Articles of Peace The LordLieutenant by the Commissioners of Trust infinitely abridged in his Office The Commissioners of Trust. * Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon of Costeloe Lord President of Connaght Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskery Francis Lord Baron of Athunry Alexander MacDonnel Esq Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Nicholas Plunket Knight Sir Richard Barnwal Baronet Geoffry Brown Donnogh Ocallagham Tirlagh O Neal Miles Reily Gerald Fennel Esquires Owen O Neal and Antrim refuse to submit to the Peace The Scots not yet willing to joyn in the Peace The Lord Lieutenant treats with Jones to come in 1649. Inchequin does the like but in-effectually The difficulty the Lord Lieutenant encountred in forming his Army The Lord Lieutenant finds Arms and Money no ways answerable to his expectation The Lord Lieutenant constitutes the Officers of the Army to march against Dublin The Lord Lieutenant begins the Campaign in May but was forced to use his own Credit to begin the service some write but with 8000 Foot and 2000 Horse Dublin resolv'd to be first attempted The Lord Lieutenant appears before Dublin The Lord Inchequin defeats a Party of Jones's Horse sent to Tredagh The Lord Inchequin takes in Tredagh Owen O Neal and the Parliaments Party agree Inchequin routs Farral Takes in Dundalk Colonel Monk dismissed the Parliaments Service Inchequin takes in Trim. Owen O Neal in behalf of the Parliament raises the Siege of Londonderry Sir Charles Coot censured for his compliance with Owen O Neil The Lord Lieutenant upon the view of his Army found it considerable rather to Block up the City than make a Regular Siege Colonel Reynolds Hunks and Venables arrive at Dublin Cromwel accepts of the Lieutenantship The Lord Inchequin suspecting Cromwel might land in Munster went thither A Party sent to fortifie Baggatrath under Purcel * Major General Parcel The Lord Lieutenant's Forces routed at Rathmines The Defeat at Rathmines alter'd Consultations The Lord Lieutenant from Rathmines retires to Kilkenny Colonel Jones besieging Tredath was raised by the Lord Lieutenants coming to Trim. Cromwel lands at Dublin Cromwel gains Tredath by Storm c. * Near Eniscorfy there was a Monastery of Franciscans which upon the approach of the Army quitted the Place and their Provisions very considerable Cromwel takes in Wexford The Lord Lieutenant sought all opportunities to fight Cromwel Carrick taken in The Means the Lord Lieutenant took to reduce O Neal. The Commissioners of Trust dissent from the Lord Lieutenant O Neal dies The Garrisons in Munster revolt to the Parliament The Revolt of the Munster Garrisons begot a Jealousie in the Irish Army Cromwel makes his Attempt upon Waterford but draws off to his Winter-Quarters Cromwel draws off from Waterford goes to Dungarvan Colonel Jones dies about the 18th of Decem. The Lord Lieutenant's Endeavour to impede Cromwel The Lord Lieutenant's gallant Attempt to relieve the Party that went to take in Passage The Lord Lieutenant disappointed in retaking of Carrick and good Service done by Colonel Milo Power The Treachery of Waterford against the Lord Lieutenant His Account of the State of Ireland to the King The Clergy the Fomentors of all mis-conceits against the Lord Lieutenant His desire to clear their suspicions being by their Orders onely met at Kilkenny The Clergies Assembly at Cloanmacnoise whence they intitle their Merits The Deputies of the Counties adjourn to Juni 1650. The Siege of Clonmel Limerick so far from complying as it performed not outward Civility The Assembly appointed at Loghreogh The Citizens of Limericks animosity against the Lord Inchiquin The Citizens of Limerick insinuate to the Lord Inchiquin as much against the Lord Lieutenant as before they did against him The second Assembly at Loghreogh The Lord Lieutenant had license from the King on the disobedience of the Irish to withdraw The Assembly at Loghreogh address to the Lord Lieutenant upon his resolves to leave the Kingdom Wolf's Insurrection Limerick still refractory and contemptious The Bishop of Clogher defeated His Character The Confederate Clergies Resolution to meet at Jamestown The Lord Lieutenants Reply to the Clergies insolent Letter The Clergies Answer The Bishop of Dromore and Doctor Kelly's Negotiation with the Lord Lieutenant The Message from the Bishops being justly resented by the Lord Lieutenant he writes to them to meet him at Loghreoh but they augment their Contempts The Bishops of Jamestown instead of what
for Religion another Rebellion that of Hugh O-Neal commonly called Tyrones Rebellion whose Forces together with the Spanish assistances were overthrown by Mountjoy Lord Deputy at Kinsale Dec. 24. 1601. he himself submitting March 1602. These were during the Reign of Queen Eliz. IV. After whose death King James succeeded and within one Month after Anno 1603. the Cities of Waterford Cork and Limerick stood out and opposed the Proclaiming the Kng he not being they said a Catholick these acted Hostility inviting all other Cities to a conjunction to which Kilkenny and Wexford were inclining but by the Deputy Mountjoys marching against them with an Army they were forced to Submission V. After Anno 1607. was a Providential discovery of another Rebellion in Ireland the Lord Chichister being Deputy the Discoverer not being willing to appear a Letter from him not subscribed was superscribed to Sir William Usher Clerk of the Council and dropt in the Council Chamber then in the Castle of Dublin in which was mention'd a Design for seizing that Castle murthering the Deputy c. with a general revolt and dependance on Spanish Forces c. and this also for Religion for particulars whereof I refer to that Letter dated March 19. 1607. which you have VI. The very next year Anno 1608. was the breaking out of Sir Cahie O Dogherty's Rebellion in Ulster by whom Derry was taken and burnt the Governor Sir George Paulet murther'd and Culmore Castle some miles distant surpriz'd that being the Magazine for Arms and Ammunition for those parts His Confederates were considerable his Forces increasing and expecting Tyrone and Tyrconnil's return with Forces from Flanders Against him was the Marshal Sir Richard Wingfield sent with a strong Party the Deputy following with more Forces from Dublin But this short yet smart Rebellion ended with the death of the Arch rebel and the dispersing his followers VII Seven years after Anno 1615. was a Providential discovery made by one Teige O Lenan to Sir Thomas Philips of Lemovadey in Ulster of a Design of Alexander mac Donel Bryan Crosse O-Neal and other the principal of the Irish in Tyrone and Tyrconnil with large Confederacies for Religion They first designed the taking Charlemount commanded by Sir Toby Caulfield where was then Prisoner Conne Greg O-Neal Tyrones Son and about the same time by severally appointed Parties was order'd the taking in the principal Forts and Towns in Ulster and murthering the Protestants in that Province and elsewhere They had promises of Foreign assistance from Spain France and Rome the particulars you have During the Reign of King James were these 4 last mentioned VIII After Anno 1634. under the Government of the Lord Viscount Wentworth Lord Deputy Ever or Emerus mac Mahon a Popish Priest privately discover'd to Sir George Radcliffe principal in trust with the Lord Deputy that there was a Design for a general rising in Ireland to be seconded and assisted from abroad The Discoverer having assurance of Pardon acknowledging himself engaged in that Conspiracy having been employed some years on that account in Foraign Courts soliciting supplies for carrying on that work for Religion This Discoverer was after the Popish Bishop of Down and after of Clogher Hereof the Lord Deputy inform'd his Majesty King Charles I. who thereupon by his Ambassadors watching practices in Courts abroad there were at length general and dark hints given of something tending to a Rebellion in Ireland but how or when or by whom was not then so appearing Hereof his Majesty by his Royal Letters Signed by Sir Henry Vane one of his principal Secretaries dated March 16. 1640. and directed to the then Lords Justices Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase did charge them with the care of that danger imminent of which his Majesties Letter you have likewise a Copy And this brings to that Rebellion Anno 1641. which on the 23d of October did break out unexpectedly notwithstanding all cautions concerning it this like a violent Hurricane bearing all down before it which gives you your work at present The result and design of all which thus here briefly collected shews 1. That from Shane O-Neals Rebellion Anno 1566. until that in 1641. there passed about 75 years a space of time within the ordinary age of a man 2. That within those but 75. years there had been in Ireland Five open Rebellions one as it were in the neck of another viz. Shane O-Neals Anno 1566. Desmonds Anno 1569. Hugh O-Neal called Tyrones Rebellion Anno 1595. O Doghertyes Anno 1608. and this Grand Rebellion 1641. this surpassing all before I know not why that Rebellion of the Cities of Waterford Cork and Limerick may not add to that number this being as open as any and dangerous and requiring the presence of the principal Commander and the marching of the Forces of the Kingdom to suppress it Add to these those 2 Discoveries mentioned Anno 1607. and 1615. not to mention apart that Anno 1634. falling into that of 1641. which 2 former had been dismal to the Kingdom if not by Gods providence seasonably and wonderfully discovered and happily prevented Therefore have we herein not to wonder at Rebellions in Ireland than which nothing there more common from generation to generation and may not the like be yet expected when opportunity shall be for it the same Spirit and Causes remaining This is not Sir to forestal your work but serves as an Index directing to what follows of yours giving also an edge to this desire of finding the breviat as by you enlarged if you have thought fit to make use of it I shall now end your trouble herein giving you the deserved praise of your labours and zeal to that necessary undertaking I rest Sir Your very affectionate Friend and Servant Henry Midensis Dublin May 27. 1679. Since I reduced the History to what it is I reflected on several to whom I might have adrest it some who having run through the Hazzard of that War and the Councils of that Age might well have own'd it it being in the main an Epitome of their Illustrious Actions Others being design'd to the Government but not aiming at the Work as too sensible of the English Interest to betray it justly challenges a respect and Title thereunto And not a few through whose Provision the Irish were subdued might well have contenanc'd the Event But considering how insignificant a great Title is where Truth must be the main support elated Dedications bespeaking Authors more ambitious than known I could not delude my Reason with a Conceipt that a Mecaenas as the Laurel exempts from Thunder and therefore countent with the Integrity of the Story having no ends to oblige me to a single respect I here comit it naked to the Decision of the Age. It may be some whose Excellency consists in Detraction will think by this I had a particular Design besides the bare History to preserve the Memory of some who otherwise in tract of time might
Conspiracies hatch'd our ruine not discernable ere the Monster arriv'd at its Birth a Prodigy scarce credible in so vigilant a State Though when it 's consider'd how tenderly the great concerns of Religion the principal wheels of all Commotion in a State were handled the astonishment that things aspir'd to so much Villany may easily be unridl'd Towards the end of the Lord Falkland's Government there being great need of Money for support of the standing Army in Ireland and maintaining of 500 Horse and 5000 Foot much by extraordinary means having been otherwise disposed the Catholicks of Ireland glad of the occasion seem'd very forward to supply the State in hopes of a Connivance if not a Toleration of their Religion though therein they were onely to bear their share or rather offered their Mite with the Protestants which they improved to so great an insolence as the Lord Falkland with the Council was forced to take notice in a Proclamation dated the 1st of April 1629. That the late Intermission of Legal Proceedings against Popish pretended Titulary Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Deans Vicars General Jesuits Friers and others of that sort that derive their pretended Authority and Orders from the See of Rome in contempt of his Majesties Royal Power and Authority had bred such an extraordinary insolence and presumption in them as he was necessitated to charge and command them in his Majesties name to for bear the exercise of their Popish Rites and Ceremonies Notwithstanding which their Insolencies afterwards so increased as that the power of the High Commission rais'd in respect of them being withdrawn they erected a new University at Dublin to confront his Majesties Colledge there continuing their Nunneries and Monasteries that thence many things were objected against the Lord Falkland's Government to clear which the Council of Ireland in his defence to the King the 28th of April 1629. declared That towards the insolencies of the Papists and the late outragious presumption of the unsetled Irish in some parts your Deputy and Council of late us'd particular Abstinence holding themselves somewhat limited concerning them by late Insinuations Letters and Directions from England And yet afterwards so mindful too were the Lords of the Council in England of what had been by the State of Ireland happily supprest that the 31 of January 1629. they return'd their acknowledgment and put the State of Ireland in mind How much it concern'd the good Government of Ireland to prevent in time the first growing of such evils for that where such People are permitted to swarm they will soon grow licentious and endure no Government but their own which cannot otherwise be restored than by a due and seasonable execution of the Law and of such Directions as from time to time have been sent from his Majesty and Council c. further encouraging them to carry a soft or harder hand according to their discretions Which I do not find but they prudently observ'd though all was too little to root out the Leven that had season'd the Batch during the Government of the then Lords Justices As Dr. Bedel the Reverend Bishop of Kilmore takes notice of at large with a deep and hearty resentment worthy his Piety Courage and Learning till the arrival of Thomas Lord Viscount Wentworth who by his singular Wisdom Courage and quick Intelligence so managed affairs there though some thought they were carried on too severely as doubtless the Nation in general was never more seemingly in obedience what ever afterwards was aggravated against that Noble Person whose behaviour was less pleasing to some men interess'd in the detection of their morose and sinister dealings than to the Nation which flourish'd under his Auspicious Government Reverence is that wherewith Princes are girt from God Yet then the contrivance of some Spirits was so restless as Anno 1634. being the 10th of King Charls the First they design'd to have engag'd the Nation in a War which one Ever Mac-Mahon an eminent Popish Priest privately discovered to some of the Privy Council at Dublin at whose feet he prostrated himself for mercy having with others been employ'd abroad to Foreign Princes viz. the Pope the Kings of France Spain and other Princes on that service as in the Relation writ by the Lord Macquire in the Tower is apparent the Design having been of as ancient a Date as the Isle of Rhee's Enterprise 1628. About which time the Earl of Tyrone and Cardinal Richlieu held an intimate correspondence though the King of France's Wars then in Italy frustrated for that time the Insurrection and Invasion Upon the discovery of which Ever Mac-Mahon seeming penitent had his Pardon So that the thing being onely treated of in general the prudence of the Governour giving the People no suspicion that he feared it and yet watched against it blasted their design The same Providence we may also believe this Noble Person had in the antecedent warnings which the Reverend Dean of Kilmore particularly mentions though he in reference to the Intregues of State mov'd not so visibly as to make every one capable of his foresight Prime Ministers are not to level their proceedings to the capacities of all who pretend vigilancy of the State yet thence during his Government all things in the Publick proceeded with a serene countenance so as the Lord Deputy Wentworth came for England and return'd into Ireland several times with his Majesties greatest Approbation and the Peace of the Nation Anno 1634. a Parliament was summon'd in Ireland by his motion 1. For that the Contribution from the Countrey towards the maintenance of the Army ended that December 2. For that the Revenues there fell short of his Majesties Charges 20000 l. yearly 3. That there was a Debt of 80000 l. upon the Crown 4. For that there had been no Subsidies but one since the beginning of King James's Reign and the People were now grown wealthy being continued in their Estates who ever had enjoy'd them twenty years By the Supply of which Parliament the Lord Deputy paid the 80000 l. Debt due from the Crown than which nothing was more to his Majesties Honour and his Servants Integrity in testimony of which his Majesty saith That they cannot but witness who know that Kingdom that during the Government there by Lieutenants of his choice that Kingdom enjoyed more Plenty and Peace than ever it had since it was under the subjection of the Crown of England Traffick by Sea and Trade by Land increas'd Values of Land improv'd Shipping multipli'd beyond belief never was the Protestant Religion more advanc'd nor the Protestants protected in greater security against the Papists Inasmuch as we must remember you the Parliament capitulating with him to nominate a Governour for Ireland that the present Rebellion was begun when there was no Lieutenant there and when the Power which had been formerly us'd in that Kingdom was question'd and disgrac'd when those in the Parliament there by whom that Rebellion was hatch'd
were countenanc'd in their Complaints and Prosecution And as to the Progress of Religion there receive from the Bishop of Derry this account in his Discourse of the Sabbath where having occasion to mention the incomparable and pious Primate Archbishop Usher he takes notice That having liv'd sundry years a Bishop in the Province of Ulster whilst the Political part of the care of that Church lay heavy upon his shoulders he prais'd God they were like Candles in the Levitical Temple looking one towards another and all towards the Stem no contention arising amongst them but who should hate contention most and pursue the Peace of the Church with swiftest paces inasmuch as if the high-soaring Counsels of some short-wing'd Christians whose eyes regarded nothing but the present Prey with the Rebellious practises of the Irish Enemy tied together like Samson's Foxes with Firebrands at their tails had not thrust them away from the Stern and chas'd them from their Sees with Bellona's bloody Whip They might before this time without either persecution or noise have given a more welcome and comfortable account of the Irish Church than our Age is likely to produce The last time this Noble Person the Earl of Strafford enter'd Ireland was the 18th of March 1639. when he arriv'd at Dublin Lord Lieutenant a little before having in an extraordinary Solemnity and conflux of Ambassadors and Peers been made Earl of Strafford at which time he appear'd in Parliament begun the 16th of March in the 14th of King Charles the I. expressing his Majesties Necessities in such terms as immediately Four entire Subsidies without further expostulation were unanimously consented unto the freedom of which added much to the largeness of the gift with which he rais'd 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse additional to the Veterain Forces which at the breaking forth of the Rebellion consisted but of 2297 Foot and 943 Horse And so having setled his Majesties affairs in Ireland he went for England to the Parliament at Westminster summon'd by his Mediation the 13th of April 1640. being attended from Ireland with the acclamations of the whole House of Parliament yet legible in a very remarkable manner in the Preamble of their Act of Subsidies Anno 16 Car. 1. yet afterwards we know his fate Never writes Perinshief sufficiently bewail'd by the King till the issue of his blood dri'd up those of his tears All the actions of his Government were narrowly sifted and though no one thing after the mercenary Tongues of the Lawyers had endeavour'd to render him a Monster of men could be found Treason many accumulated were so voted That him whom even now the Parliament of Ireland extolled as an excellent Governour and one for whose due and sincere Administration of Justice they had principally consented to so great a Subsidy they afterwards pursued as the cause of all their mischiefs and so by their Agents even those who afterwards complotted the Rebellion incens'd the Parliament at Westminster against him as they denied all that they had attributed to his Worth fixing on him what-ever might contribute to a praevious Government or the Kingdom 's impoverishment the state of which cannot be better clear'd than by what his Majesty in a full Council at White-hall the 27th of Ian. 1640. seem'd clearly to acquiesce in upon the Earl of Strafford's avowing of the Answer to the Irish Remonstrance against him ordering that a Copy thereof should be forthwith given by the Clerk of the Council to the Committee of Ireland then attending upon him since Registred among the publick Records Thus was this great Man accused thus justifi'd yet all was not sufficient to exempt him from the destructive Bill of Attainder suggesting His tyrannous and exorbitant Power over the Liberties and Estates of his Majesties Subjects in Ireland laying and assessing of Soldiers by his own authority upon the Subject against their consent saying also that he had an Army in Ireland which his Majesty might make use of to reduce this Kingdom meaning England as appears by the Act which passed the 10th of May 1641. His Majesty having Sign'd a Commission to the Earl of Arundel the Lord Privy Seal the Lord High Chamberlain and others to that intent which had an after Act vacating the authority of the precedent for future imitation sufficiently thereby saith his Majesty telling the World that some remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard measure and such as they would be loth should be repeated to themselves And that it might remain to Potesterity to whom the Age is accomptable for her Actions what he suffered in his Trial and by what artifices he was brought to it the Act for the reversal of the Earl of Straffords Attainder Anno xiv Car. II. fully shows to which it may seem impertinent to add more Histories and the Occurrences of those times having presented his Actions at his Trial more significant than I dare pretend to such a Scene of Justice attended with that Magnificence in its Structure such Seats for their Majesties for Ambassadors and the most discerning Audience of England not being to be parallel'd Therefore I shall conclude as to Him with what his Majesty speaks in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That his great abilities were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great Errors and many Enemies whereof he could not but contract good store while moving in so high a Sphere and with so vigorous a Lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious Exhalations which condens'd by a Popular Odium were capable to cast a Cloud upon the brightest Merit and Integrity c. Yet saith this Excellent King I could never be convinc'd of any such criminousness in him having heard all the particulars of his great Cause from one end to the other as willingly to expose his life to the stroke of Justice and the malice of his Enemies However He suffered on Tower-hill the 12th of May 1641. taking his death with as much Christianity as Courage though some account nothing Christian that is not Effeminate of whom we should say more but must refer the rest to what is extant in Print The 19th of May following Robert Earl of Leicester was designed by his Majesty Lord Lieutenant of Ireland newly return'd from his Embassy in France where he had discharg'd his Trust with singular Prudence and Courage as he had done before in Denmark and elsewhere The choice of whom exceedingly endear'd his Majesties Wisdom to the most knowing and intelligent Party of the Nation the Earl having been one never engag'd in Monopolies one of the Grievances of the Times or the publick Complaints of the Kingdom but being long experienc'd in State-affairs promised nothing save his Majesties Honour and the Kingdoms security Being thought by his knowledge in Martial Affairs and other his great Abilities to be no doubt abundantly capable to reduce the Irish to
the late exorbitances so bitterly decried in Parliament of Paper Petitions or Bills in Civil Causes to be brought before them at the Council-board or before any other by their Authority reducing by his Majesties approbation the Subsidies from 40000 l. a Subsidy to 12000 l. a Piece Bringing all things to that compliance as best suited with his Majesties Interest and the quiet of the Nation that if it were possible there might not be the least discontent or jealousie rais'd amongst the People and for a season all things seem'd so peaceable as never any Government was less excepted against Yet then in the end of the year 1640. his Majesty being inform'd of an intention to raise Troubles in Ireland commanded Sir Henry Vane his Principal Secretary to write unto these Lords Justices this Letter Right Honourable HIs Majesty hath commanded me to acquaint your Lordships with an advice given him from abroad and confirm'd by his Ministers in Spain and elsewhere which in this distemper'd time and conjuncture of affairs deserves to be seriously consider'd and an especial care and watchfulness to be had therein which is That of late there have passed from Spain and the like may well have been from other Parts an unspeakable number of Irish Church-men for England and Ireland and some good old Soldiers under pretext of asking leave to raise men for the King of Spain whereas it is observ'd among the Irish Friers there a whisper runs as if they expected a Rebellion in Ireland and particularly in Connaght Wherefore his Majesty thought fit to give your Lordships this notice that in your wisdoms you might manage the same with that dexterity and secresie as to discover and prevent so pernicious a Design if any such there should be and to have a watchful eye on the proceedings and actions of those who come thither from abroad on what pretext soever And so herewith I rest Your Lordships most humble Servant Henry Vane White-hall March 16. 1640. Which was delivered to the Lord Justice Parsons and since his death found in his Study and by Sir James Barry Lord Baron of Santry a right Honourable and worthy Person presented to his present Majesty who look'd upon it as a precious Jewel discovering his Father's Royal thoughts towards the preservation of his Protestant Subjects and People But how far it was at first communicated is uncertain though being of so great a Trust it may very well be believed to have been often reflected on with caution and prudence Certain it is that notwithstanding that there was an Item that there should be an especial care against levying of Soldiers for Spain yet Colonel John Barry Colonel Taaff Colonel Garret Barry and Colonel Porter had all Warrants to transport 4000 Men thither which several of the House of Commons in Ireland and England too with much artifice though with divers ends endeavour'd to prevent on plausible terms As that from the experience of what they might learn abroad they afterwards might prove ill Instruments at home whereas it was more necessary that they should be employ'd on Husbandry whereof that Kingdom had great need And many of the active men of the House of Commons in Ireland as Darcy the Lawyer Plunket Chevers Martin and others urg'd their stay with a passion seemingly much concern'd for that amongst many Reasons which I will not undertake at so long a distance positively to remember though I had the honour to be a Member of that House yet I cannot forget that their chief Argument was drawn from the Spaniards having long born an ill will to England and her Empire And therefore they did not know mark the insinuation how soon those very Regiments acquainted with every Creek of the Kingdom might be return'd on their own Bowels having naturally a love to their Religion which such an Incendiary as the King of Spain might soon inflame to the highest prejudice Which I the longer insist on for that the Collection of Murthers committed on the Irish published by R. S. 1662. would insinuate the better to invalidate the Abstract of Murthers committed by the Irish that the Catholick Members of the House of Commons in Ireland never hindred as that Abstract affirms the Transportation of the Earl of Straffords disbanded Soldiers into Spain purposely to advance the Rebellion which is clear they did Inasmuch as upon these and other Arguments their Transportation was deferr'd though if the discontented Irish Army had been disposed of beyond-Sea according to the Contracts with the French and Spanish Ambassadors it was very clear as is judicially affirmed that there could have been no Rebellion in Ireland the Pretence and Means thereof having been thereby taken away though some were of opinion that where-ever these Forces had been they could yet easily have been brought over again as others have been since the principal Heads of the Rebels Army being led by old experienc'd Soldiers who at the breaking out of the Rebellion were generally beyond-Sea as the Leimster Forces by Colonel Preston a branch out of the House of Gormanston the Ulster Forces by Owen Roe O-Neal both bred in Flanders Munster Forces by Garret Barry and the Connaght Forces by one Burck animated with their Cause and the Pope's encouragement And it cannot be denied that the promiscuous compleating of the Army lately rais'd of 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse in Ireland taught many of the Common Soldiers the use of Arms who otherwise would have been ignorant thereof And evil in Perrot's and Fitzwilliam's Government much took notice of and by Camden in his Eliz. Anno 1593. towards the end observ'd in the like case to be most improvidently done as afterwards was found the Irish being always disloyal to the English Upon which I cannot but reflect on what Antalcidas in Plutarch * tells Agesilaus of being sorely hurt by the Thebans That they had paid him his deserved hire for teaching them against their wills to be Soldiers who before had neither will nor skill to fight Certain it is that most of these Soldiers thus rais'd betook themselves to the Rebels Party although very few of their Officers if we may credit a late Historian were polluted with the crime Yet notwithstanding the Letter fore-cited and many troublesome passages in Parliament wherewith the Lords Justices and Council were not seldom alarm'd sufficient to waken their confidence no Cloud not the breadth of a hand appear'd but the Lords Justices kept a fair correspondence with the Parliament giving all the furtherance they could to the going of their Committee into England hoping that what his Majesty should be pleased to grant at their requests might redound to the common benefit of the Nation Neither did the Lords Justices or Council transmit unto his Majesty or any of the State of England any mis-reprehensions of the proceedings and actions of that Parliament as some maliciously insinuated in as much as a Noble Person a Peer in the Lords House said That the Lords Justices had
always cheerfully receiv'd their Requests and Messages and were ready to comply with them desiring that this their compliance might be entred in the Journal to the end that it might remain to Posterity Having by his Majesties Commission dated the 4th of January 1640. authority to Continue Prorogue or Determine the Parliament as they thought fit which liberty they indulg'd much to the freedom of the Parliament However being resolv'd as the sequel prov'd to pretend any thing rather than not to have some exceptions against the Government the Irish Parliament sent to his Majesty a Declaration therein magnifying the Six entire Subsidies they had given in the 10th year of his Majesties Reign and the Four Subsidies in the 15th year of his Reign pretending moreover that they had been ill presented to his Majesty which was clearly evinc'd to the contrary and several Graces vouchsaf'd them thereupon Amongst other things the State at that time found difficult to do the Disbanding of the new rais'd Army was not the least which the Parliament of England had great jealousies of and besought his Majesty that it should be dissolv'd In answer whereof his Majesty repli'd That the thing was already upon consultation but he found many difficulties in it and therefore told the Parliament He held it not onely fit to wish it but to show the way how it might conveniently be done However in August 1641. it was effectually perform'd for which afterwards the Lords Justices had his Majesties gracious approbation and the Arms and Ammunition were carefully brought into his Majesties Stores by the vigilance of the Master of the Ordnance the Lord Justice Borlase else certainly most of those Arms as well as the Men had been undoubtedly listed in the Confederates Army which many of their Party in the House of Commons in Ireland having an eye to made them so averse to have them Disbanded And the Plot proceeded being so cunningly manag'd by some of the Members of Parliament subtil in their insinuations that many of the Protestants and well-meaning people of the House blinded with an apprehension of Ease and Redress lying under the same pretended Yoak with the rest were innocently decoi'd into their acting violently with them Hence Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor of Ireland was impeach'd of High Treason and others of the prime Officers and Ministers of State were Articled against yea some of the Bishops were not spar'd contrary to all presidents of that nature as was certifi'd by the Lords Justices to the Principal Secretary on search made upon his Majesties commands for that purpose So as besides some of the active men of the House Lawyers Darcy Martin Plunket Cusack Brown Linch Bodkin Evers and others took upon them with much confidence to declare the Law to make new Expositions of their own upon the Text as That killing in Rebellion was no forfeiture of Lands and to frame 21 Queries Which in a solemn Committee of the House Adjourn'd from time to time they discuss'd at their own freedom in the Dining-Room at the Castle disdaining the moderate Qualifications of the Judges who gave them modest Answers such as the Law and Duty to their Sovereign would admit and in stead of them vented their own sense as if the State were then in its Infancy and from them meerly to receive its Constitution as Sir John Temple observes resolving upon an alteration in the Government and drawing of it wholly into the hands of the Natives Sir Phelim Oneal making it plain in his Letters of Triumph to his Holy Confessor That his purposes were Conquest and not defence of Religion his Majesties Prerogative or their Liberty No! No King of England writes Mahony a Jesuit nor Crown nor People nor state of that Kingdom having at any time any kind of Right to the Kingdom of Ireland or any part thereof that the English Title to it was but meer Usurpation and Violence and that therefore the old Natives i. e. the meer Irish might chuse and make themselves a King of one of their own Irish and in the then Circumstances of Charles the First of England ' s being a Heretick ought i. e. were bound in Conscience to do so and throw off together the Yoak both of Hereticks and Foreigners Which Tenents being roughly drawn the Confederate Irish seem'd afterward to condemn forsooth in a Council of their own at Kilkenny Yet it is very observable and that from Walsh himself who says He can never forget it having extraordinary great admiration thereat That there was not one in the National Congregation met by an extraordinary favour the 11th of June at Dublin 1666. that open'd once his mouth for confession of any Villanies committed against the King at any time in the late Rebellion or Civil War or even to speak a word for so much as a general Petition to be exhibited to his Majesty imploring his Majesties gracious Pardon Notwithstanding the first Rebellion 1641. and what follow'd upon the Nuncio's access and the violation of the first Peace 1646. and the Nuncio's Censures against the Cessation with the Lord Inchequin and the Peace 1648. And the Declaration and Excommunication of the Bishops as James-Town 1650 against the Lord Lieutenant the Marquis of Ormond and those who obey'd him Emphatically enough exprest by P. W. No. 1. He enforces this Argument further There was no crime writes he at all committed by All or any of the Roman Catholick Clergy of Ireland nor even at any time nor in any occasion or matter hapen'd since the 23d of October 1641. that needed Petitioning for Pardon either for themselves or any other of the Irish Clergy if we must believe the Bishop of Ardagh Patrick Plunket pleading for them in so express terms and the tacit approbation of his words by the universal silence of that Assembly In pursuance of which the Protestant Commissioners of Ireland in their Answer to the Objections the Rebels Agents put in against the Preamble of the Bill of Settlement took notice that in the whole Volume of Papers which were put in by the Catholicks about that Affair there was not one grateful Acknowledgment or so much as one civil mention of his Majesties singular Condescention They having the favour to inspect that Act of Settlement and object as they pleas'd as if all his Majesty could do for them were no more than he ought And further it is these Commissioners observation That in all the Irish Papers they do not own the slaughter of so many thousands to be a Rebellion or once give the Title of Rebels to those who were the first Agents in that horrid and bloody Massacre which being not acknowledged by them more easily absolves the rudeness of their Ingratitude for his Majesties favours And a Person of Honour in his Animadversions on Fanaticism who deserves much for his excellencies in the case takes notice That no Catholick ever made any profession against the Rebellion or manifested his detestation or dislike of
it by any publick Writing that the Design seem'd a Birth acceptable to the Catholick Community And the Pope by his Nuncio afterwards to whom the general part of the Clergy and Natives adhear'd in effect maintain'd what Mahony had deliver'd for wholesome Doctrine accounting the Popes Bulls and Interdictions and Absolutions how long soever since publish'd still in the same force and vigour as they were the first day of their publication And it is very few years since writes this Honourable Person that upon the meeting of the Secular and Regular Clergy of Ireland before-mention'd to frame an Address to the King in testimony of their obedience disclaiming any Temporal Authority in the Popes the Court of Rome was so alarm'd by it that Cardinal Barbarin writ to them to desist from any such Declaration putting them in mind that the Kingdom of England was still under Excommunication And Walsh acquaints us at large of Mac-Mahon the Irish Jesuits printed Book of the lawfulness of killing not onely all the Protestants but even all such of the Roman Catholick Irish who should stand for the Crown of England and the Rights of the King to Ireland A Tenent agreeable to Salamanca's approbation of Oneal's Rebellion 1602. instigated by Pope Clement the 8th whereby it 's declared That all Catholicks who followed the English Standard against Prince Oneal mortally sinned And Osulevan the Priest in King James's Reign said It was a Doctrine fetch'd from Hell that Catholicks in Ireland should joyn with the Queens Forces which were Protestants against the Rebels Catholicks in Ireland and that such English ought to be no less set upon than the Turks So that whatsoever delusive Tenents have been broach'd of late as to perswade us the Adder is without sting the contrary hath been written in letters of blood not in his Majesty's Kingdoms only but wheresome-ever the Papal Power was exalted That persons professing the Reformed Religion are but Tenants at Will for their Lives and Fortunes and through Centuries of Ages it appears that as their Fleeces grow they are shorn till a time of slaughter be appointed That hence we may see at what we should have arriv'd had the Irish been fortunate in their attempt for though the loyal Formulary or Remonstrance highly magnified by some may seem a Bond of Iron it may easily by the Pope become weaker than a Rope of Straw During the Summer Sessions of Parliament already spoke of wherein the Heads of the Rebellion were closely complotting some under a suspicion that the Earl of Strafford's Servants in revenge of their Lord's death intended a Mischief to the Parliament mov'd the House and accordingly had Orders that the Lords Justices would let his Majesty's Stores for Powder and Arms be search'd which by a Committee they so curiously perform'd as they turn'd over several improbable Chests to find it out and when they had seen that there was none according to what the Officers of the Ordnance had before assur'd them yet they seem'd unsatisfied and repair'd on a new Order to the Lords Justices to be admitted to see the Stores of Powder and Arms plac'd in other Parts in and about the Castle To whom the Lord Justice Borlase Master of the Ordnance principally interess'd in securing his Majesties Stores answer'd That those were the King 's precious Jewels not to be without special Gause shewed assuring them further that they needed not to be afraid for that upon his Honour there was no Powder underneath either of the Houses of Parliament as at the Trial of the Lord Mac Quire at the King's Bench in Westminster was openly in Court testified by the Lord Blaney a great sufferer a worthy and gallant Person the said Lord Justice Borlase having at that time such a motion in his blood upon the importunity of that enquiry as he would afterwards often mention that action of theirs as aiming how slightly soever then looked on by others at some further mark than was th●n discernable So that at that instant he denied them whereat they seem'd discontented as being left in uncertainty in what state his Majesty's Stores stood which they desired particularly to know the late new Army being disbanded then and their Arms brought in that if the Powder and Arms were not there they might find them elsewhere or if there then by the intended surprize to be sure of them and to know where on the sudden to find them In which search the Lord Mac Quire was a chief actor and very inquisitive Thus in order to their Design they made ready for the Business passing that Session of Parliament began the xi of May 1641. for the most part away in Protestations Declarations Votes upon the Queries the stay of Souldiers from going over Seas and private Petitions little to the good of the Common-wealth or advancement of his Majesty's Service whereof the Lords Justices and Councel having notice finding withal that the Popish Party in both Houses grew to so great a height as was scarce compatible to the present Government they imparted by a Message to both Houses the 14th of July following their intention to give a recess for some months the harvest coming on and both Houses growing thin Which intimation of a recess both Houses readily assented to so that the 7th of August the Lords Justices adjourn'd the Houses to the 9th of November following which afterwards the Members of Parliament aggravated as a great unkindness the Committee of Parliament being expected from England and arriv'd at Dublin near the end of August Whereas when the Parliament was adjourn'd and before there was no certainty of their Committee's return the Earl of Roscommon who few days before coming from England expressing in plain terms that the Bills desired were not likely in any short time to be dispatch'd as the Letters from the Irish Committee at London which this Lord brought over inform'd too and That they were daily about their dispatch but could not guess when they might have it Yet as I have took notice in August beyond expectation the Committee return'd upon whose arrival the Lords Justices and Councel desirous to give them all satisfaction imaginable sate daily composing of Acts to be passed the next Sessions of Parliament for the benefit of his Majesty and the good of his Subjects on which the Members of Parliament then at Dublin and their Committee newly arriv'd seem'd with great contentment to retire into the Countrey the Lords Justices forthwith sending Briefs to all the Ports in the Kingdom of the Graces concerning Customs commanding the Officers punctually to obey those his Majesty's Directions particularly what-ever concern'd Wool Tobacco as all other things of that nature wherein his Majesty had been pleas'd to gratifie the Committee They gave Order also for drawing a Bill for repeal of the Preamble of the Act of Subsidies They also desired Sir William Cole and Sir James Montgomery two of the Committee if they could ever take the Assizes in the County
the State First they agreed That their Loyalty to his Majesty should be still reserv'd say they of the modest sort but both his Revenues and Government must be reduc'd to certain bounds His Rents none other than the antient Reservations before the Plantations and the Customs so order'd as to them should be thought fitting Secondly For the Government such as would be esteem'd Loyal would have it committed into the hands of two Lords Justices one of the antient Irish Race the other of the antient British Inhabitants in the Kingdom provided that they be of the Romish Profession Thirdly That a Parliament be forthwith call'd consisting of whom they shall think fit to be admitted wherein their own Religious Men shall be Assistants Fourthly That Poining's Act must be repeal'd and Ireland declar'd to be a Kingdom independent on England and without any reference to it in any case whatsoever Fifthly All Acts prejudicial to the Romish Religion shall be abolish'd and it to be Enacted That there be none other Profession in the Kingdom but the Romish Sixthly That onely the antient Nobility of the Kingdom shall stand and of them such as shall refuse to conform to the Romish Religion to be remov'd and others put in their room Howsoever the present Earl of Kildare must be put out and another put in his place Seventhly All Plantation Lands to be recall'd and the antient Proprietors to be invested into their former Estates with the Limitations in their Covenant express'd That they had not formerly sold their Interests on valuable Considerations Eighthly That the respective Counties of the Kingdom be subdivided and certain Bounds or Baronies assign'd to the Chief Septs and other of the Nobility who are to be answerable for the Government thereof and that a standing Army may be still in being the respective Governours are to keep a certain number of men to be ready at all Risings out as they term it they also being to build and maintain certain Fortresses in places most convenient within their Precincts And that these Governours be of absolute Power onely responsible to the Parliament Lastly For maintaining a Correspondency with other Nations and for securing the Coasts that also they may be render'd considerable to others a Navy of a certain number of Ships is to be maintain'd that to this end five Houses are to be appointed one in each Province accounting Meath for one of them that to these Houses shall be allotted an Annual Pension of certain thousands of Pounds to be made up of part of the Lands appropriate to Abbeys and a further Contribution to be rais'd in the respective Provinces to that end That these Houses are to be assign'd to a certain order of Knights answerable to that of Malta who are to be Sea-men And to maintain this Fleet that all Prizes are to be apportion'd some part for a Common Bank the rest to be divided to which purpose the selling of Woods serviceable for this use is forbidden The House for this purpose to be assign'd to the Province of Leimster is Kilmainham or rather Howth the Lord of Howth being otherwise to be accommodated provided he joyn with them that place being esteem'd most convenient in respect of situation which they have small grounds to hope for For the effecting of which they consider'd that the Forces of the Kingdom would easily amount to two hundred thousand able men wanting onely Commanders which as I have already took notice of might be supplied from O-Neals Regiment in Flanders and other places breeding up the Irish in Arms and Rebellion And for Money the other Sinew of War they were resolv'd not to want it if it could be rais'd-either from Tenant or the Farmers of the Customs who having it then ready were to bring it to their respective Banks So as nothing was omitted which rationally might further their design Which after the State by Proclamation had made known and many on suspicion were daily seiz'd on Certainties of its success were hourly brought to the State That night the Lord Blany brought the ill news of the Rebels seising upon Castle Blany in the County of Monaghan and his Wife and Children and Servants as also of the surprisal of Carrick Mac-ross a House of the Earl of Essex's and Sir Spotswood's in the same County burning divers Villages robbing and spoiling many English none but Protestants On Sunday Sir Arthur Tirringham gave intelligence that the Irish in Newry had broken up the King's Store of Arms and had seiz'd upon them and the Ammunition there listing themselves under the command of Sir Con Mac-Gennis Knight and one Creely a Monk Thus almost every hour some like Job's Messengers hasted to the State as preserv'd onely to acquaint them of the disasters of their Relations and the sufferings of the Protestants of which with all circumstances to it the Lords Justices and Council gave his Majesty an account by Sir Henry Spotswood being then in Scotland and sent Owen O Conally with Letters dated the 25th of October to the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the effect of which Letter you may see in its proper place In the interim the State being from all parts terrifi'd with the insolencies of the Rebels they scarce knew how to steer their course no Money being in the Treasury and the main part of the Citizens being justly suspected for that being mov'd to advance Money on the occasion will Posterity believe it their whole Community would not reach 50 l. And such as had escaped the violence of the Rebels having nothing but their Persons for a prey could contribute little many of which were so frighted with what they had seen and suffered that like inanimate Bodies they appear'd sensless and stupid However the Lords Justices and Council having secur'd the Castle by a Company of Foot under the command of Sir Francis Willoughby one of the Privy Council a known and experienc'd Soldier and setled Sir Charles Coote also of the Privy Council in the Government of the City wherein as in other Services he proved afterwards signally eminent and noble They advertis'd the Earl of Ormond whom the Rebels boasted they had made of their Party then at his House at Carrick of what had hitherto happen'd desiring him to repair to Dublin with his Troop which he accordingly observ'd about the beginning of November About the 27th of October the Lords Justices and Council sent Commissions to the Lords Viscounts of Clandeboys and of the Ardes to raise the Scots in the Northern Parts they also writ to Sir William and Sir Robert Stewart with other Gentlemen of Quality in the North Giving them power to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword yet so as to rescue such as should submit to his Majesties Grace and Mercy signifying withall That although by the said Commission they gave them full power thereunto yet they did then let them know that for those who were chief among the Rebels and Ring-Leaders of the
denying it to the last with more sense of conscience saith his Majesty in his Answer to the Parliament's two last Papers concerning Ireland than they who examined him expected However one Plunket having taken an old Broad Seal from an absolete Patent out of Farnham-Abbey and fixed it to a forged Commission it to seduce the Vulgar into an opinion of their Loyalty when they had first incited them to a Rebellion as in a parallel Case his Excellency takes notice of in his Answer to their Declaration at James-town And saith his Majesty in his Declaration to the Parliament's Answer at Newmarket the 9th of March 1641. We must think our self highly and causlesly 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 Prayer or from Tristram Whitcombe of strange Speeches utter'd in Ireland shall beget any jealousie or mis-apprehension 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 Discourses so far believed as to raise fears and jealousies to the distraction of this Kingdom the only way to their security Wherefore the Lords Justices and Councel detesting such Umbrages the 30th of October publisht a Proclamation to take off the people from being seduced by seditious and scandalous reports father'd on the Crown And that none ignorantly involv'd in so detestable a Guilt as the publick Conspiracy might suffer the State yet further to manifest their desire of reducing all into a general obedience having never drawn his Majesty's Sword upon jealousies or presumptions till the highest Extremities and unparallel'd Outrages compell'd them thereunto publisht the first of November a Proclamation declaring That all in the Counties of Meath Westmeath Lowth and Longford being no Free-holders nor now in prison who had taken any Goods from his Majesty's faithful Subjects not having shed blood in the Action and came in within ten days after this Proclamation should be receiv'd to his Majesty's mercy and no further prosecuted Which as others of the like nature little prevail'd to un-deceive the Rebels they being before link'd in an un-dissolvible tye of Animosity and Superstition Thus every day notwithstanding that the Conspiracy was discovered and all endeavours used to reclaim them the Irish proceeded in their Massacres and Rebellion though they did not after the knowledge of the detection of their Plot execute so generally their Villany with such open slaughters and cruelties as they did at first but stripping wounding and turning the English and Protestants out of their Houses they sent them naked and desolate in miserable weather to Dublin where their numbers at length grew so burdensom as though Thousands were ship'd away soon after they arriv'd there and such as could serve in the Army were daily in-listed yet they brought so great an extremity and want of all provisions to Dublin as the Inhabitants were reduced to great exigencies inasmuch as the mercies of the Rebels were extream cruelty Thousands of the dispoiled English dying afterwards by lingring Diseases contracted by the inhumane and cruel usage of their Enemies Miseries still increasing the Lords Justices and Councel sent a second Dispatch to the King the 5th of November then in Scotland directing also their Letters to his Privy Councel in England there being an absolute necessity to invoke all Powers that might stand with his Majesty's Honour They then and not before directed Letters to the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament inclosing in those they writ to his Majesty what they had signified by Letters to the Lords of the Councel or to the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament About the 6th of November 1641. the Rebels of Cavan commanded by Philip Mac-Hugh Mac-Shane O Relie Knight of the Shire for that County and others of the Sept of O Relies proffer'd an humble Remonstrance so they entituled their presumptuous Paper to the Lords Justices and Council to be recommended by them to his Majesty which Dr. Jones and Mr. Waldrone then delivered to their Lordships the Doctor being obliged to that service He his Wife and Children lying at the Rebels mercy To which their Lordships answered with all the moderation and satisfaction that could stand with their Duty and the weak conditions of affairs in Dublin the safety whereof wholly depended on the gaining of time and saith my Author he assur'd himself the Remonstrants expected not any other Answer the Remonstrance being tendred rather to win upon the People whose cause they pleaded then to give any reasonable account or satisfaction to the Lords concerning their proceedings which yet their Lordships forthwith certifi'd with their Answer to the Lord Lieutenant to whom his Majesty had expresly commanded all Affairs of Ireland should be address'd However they during the presenting of this Remonstrance mustered their Forces summoning all from 16 to 60 years of Age to appear the Munday following at Virginia a Place distant from Cavan twelve miles and in the way to Dublin notwithstanding that they had impower'd Dr. Jones to assure their Lordships That their should be a cessation of all things until the return of their Lordships Answer Thus no faith or confidence could ever be reposed in them And afterwards it fell out that none were more treacherous and fierce than they as great inhumanity and cruelty being acted by them of Cavan as of any other Place that County by the 11th of December being wholly reduc'd into the hands of the Rebels excepting the two Castles of Keilagh and Crohan belonging to Sir Francis Hamilton Knight and Baronet and Sir James Craig Knight who so nobly defended each their own and alternatively succoured one another that they perpetually furnish'd the Rebels with work sufficient notwithstanding whatsoever Mulmore O Relie the Sheriff or Edmond O Relie his Father or Philip Mac-Hugh O Relie their chief Commander could possibly do with all their Horsemen whom these gallant men often beat though encounter'd with much disadvantage Sir Francis Hamilton not losing in the whole Service from the 23d of October 1641. to the 15th of June 1642. setting aside such as were cut off in stragling more than five men belonging to this Castle one of them being a Serjeant who being taken at an advantage was barbarously mangled with thirty six wounds so that all that the Rebels could do effected no Conquest on these Places till the 8th of April 1642. that Sir James Craig a Gentleman of singular and the best abilities died and the Store in both Castles fell short Water growing scarce a mortal infectious sickness increasing the Rebels having tainted their Well with dead Carcases And now the care of both Castles fell unto Sir Hamilton's Charge which being impossible to be relieved from Dublin or to hold out longer their straits daily increasing both these Castles were delivered up the 4th of
Protestants Subjects there I cannot but again earnestly commend the dispach of that Expedition unto you for it is the chief Business that at this time I take to heart and there cannot almost be any Business that I c●● have more care of I might now take up some of your time in expressing my Detestation of Rebellions in general and of this in particular But knowing that Deeds and not Declarations must suppress this great Insolency I do here in Word offer you whatsoever my Power Pains or Industry can contribute to this good and necessary Work of reducing the Irish Nation to their true and wonted Obedience And that nothing may be omitted on my Part I must here take notice of the Bill for pressing of Souldiers now depending among you my Lords concerning which I declare that in case it comes so to me as it may not infringe or diminish my Prerogative I will pass it And farther seeing there is a Dispute rais'd I being little beholding to him whosoever at this time began it concerning the bounds of this ancient and undoubted Prerogative to avoid further Debate at this time I offer that the Bill may pass with a Salvo Jure both for King and People leaving such Debates to a time that may better bear them If this be not accepted the fault is not mine that this Bill pass not but theirs that refuse so fair an offer To conclude I conjure you by all that is or can be dear to you or me that laying away all Disputes you go on chearfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland A Charm one should think sufficiently powerful Yet the Lords and Commons in Parliament from his Majesty's Speech took great exceptions suffering the Supplies of Ireland to be retarded demanding of the King the Names of those who had counsell'd Him to take notice of any Debate in the House before it was from'd into a Bill whence began the Cry against evil Counsellors afterwards the pretext of the Misery that ensued Some Forces indeed the Parliament had sent to the Sea-side and others were on their March yet Winds and Tides Votes and Councels did not equally agree so as the Exigences by this means that the State of Ireland was cast upon almost split them Whereupon the Lords Justices and Council publisht a Proclamation dated the 28th of December 1641. Requiring all Persons other than such as had necessary Causes to Dublin such as the Lords Justices the Lieutenant-General of the Army or the Governour of his Majesty's Forces in the City of Dublin should approve or other than such as should bring Provision to the City to be sold should forbear coming to the City or Suburbs thereof upon pain of Death Which was done in time of high necessity Provision being scarce and few repairing to the City but what were Spies and Traitors And because what his Majesty had propos'd before-mention'd for the service of Ireland seem'd to have little effect he again sends a Message to the Lords House by the Lord Chamberlain the 28th of December That being sensible of the Miseries of Ireland the Succours for which went on slowly he offer'd to raise 10000 Voluntiers if the Commons would undertake to pay them A Proposition rather heard than consented to About this time Sir Thomas Carey and Dr. Cale a Sorbonist offer'd from the Rebels these Propositions to the Council Board for a Treaty First That there should be a Toleration of Religion Secondly That Popish Officers as well as Protestant should be admitted to all Employments Thirdly That the Wrongs of Plantations should be repair'd since 1610. Fourthly That there should be a Protlamation to take off the File the Title of Rebels and Traitors All which pass'd somewhat currantly till One then being absent through sickness hearing thereof repair'd to the Council Board though at that time much indispos'd and upon strong Arguments Arguments that would admit of no Sophistry stop'd the proceeding of so dishonourable a Motion so early did some endeavour to force on the State a necessity of complying with the insolent Demands of the Rebels by this faithful Minister of State confidently rejected And here that you may see what the Rebels afterwards thought the only means to reduce Ireland into Peace and Quietness we shall here present you with their Propositions methodically digested The Means to reduce Ireland unto Peace and Quietness 1. THat a general and free Pardon without any exception be granted to all his Majesty's Subjects of this Kingdom and that in pursuance thereof and for strengthning the same an Act of Abolition may pass in the Parliament here 2. That all marks of National distinction between English and Irish may be abolished and taken away by Act of Parliament 3. That by several Acts of Parliament to be respectively passed here and in England it may be declared that the Parliament of Ireland hath no subordination with the Parliament of England but that the same hath in it self supream Jurisdiction in this Kingdom as absolute as the Parliament of England there hath 4. That the Act of the 12th of H. 7th commonly called Poining's Act and all other Acts expounding or explaining the same may be repealed 5. That as in England there pass'd an Act for a Triennial Parliament so there may pass in Ireland another for a Sexennial Parliament 6. That it may be enacted by Parliament that the Act of the 2d of Q. Eliz. in Ireland and all other Acts made against Catholicks or the Catholick Religion since the 20th year of H. 8th may be repeal'd 7. That the Bishopricks Deanaries and all other spiritual Promotions in this Kingdom and all Frieries and Nunneries may be restored to the Catholick Owners and likewise all Impropriations of Tythes and that the Scits Ambits and Precincts of the Religious Houses of the Monks may be restored to them but as to the rest of their temporal Possessions it is not design'd to be taken from the present Proprietors but to be left unto them till God shall otherwise incline their own hearts 8. That such as are now entituled Catholick Archbishops Bishops Abbots or other Dignitaries in this Kingdom by donation of the Pope may during their lives enjoy their spiritual Promotions with Protestation nevertheless and other fit Clauses to be laid down for preservation of his Majesty's Patronages First-fruits and twentieth Parts in Manner and Quantity as now his Highness receives benefit thereby 9. That all Inquisitions taken since the year 1634. to entitle his Majesty to Connaght Thomond Ormond Eliogartie Kilnemanagh Duheara Wickloe and Idvagh may be vacated and their Estates secured according to his Majesties late Graces 10. That an Act of Parliament may pass here for securing the Subjects Title to their several Estates against the Crown upon any Title accrued unto it before sixty years or under colour or pretext of the present Commotions 11. That all Plantations made since the year 1610. may be avoided by Parliament if the Parliament shall hold it just
Walls of Cork with great Forces not far from whence the Confederates promising General Garret Barry with the consent of his Council of War the Lord Muskery and others planted his Camp at Rochforts Town holding thereby Cork in a manner besieg'd on the North-side whilst my Lord Roch the Lord of Ikern Dunboin the Baron of Loghmo Mr. Richard Butler with the Tipperary Forces were drawing down on the South till by the valour of those few English then in Town viz. the Lord Inchiquin Col. Vavasor and 400 Musketeers and 90 Horse they were beaten off with the loss of 200 of their Men their Tents and whole Bag and Baggage being taken In the whole Service Sir William St. Leger as long as he had health was active with the meanest Officers of the Army doing many times a private Soldiers duty as well as a careful Generals But finding at length the Rebels multitudes to increase and his Men to decay even in being victorious and the Supplies of Men and Money with Provisions which he expected out of England to come over very slowly and far short of what the necessities of that Province required well understanding too the difference then in England betwixt his Majesty and the Parliament and what were the designs of some putting fair Glosses on the Rebellion of Ireland which his Soul apprehended as one of the most detestable Insurrections of the World These things so troubled his Spirit as being discouraged in the desperate undertakings necessity and the honour of his Nation put him daily upon so deep an impression fixed in his mind as the distemper of his body increasing he wasted away and died at his house at Downrallie four miles from Cork in the County of Cork 1642. and was there buried a little before whose death he writ the second of April 1642. a most significant Letter to the Lord Lieutenant touching the Affairs of that Province and his utter detestation of the Rebels Remonstrance sent him after a motion made for a Cessation which he would have seconded with further testimony of his aversion to their insolency as would have tended much to their dis-encouragement had he been enabled with any reasonable strength so to have done The Command of the Forces in this Province was after the death of Sir William St. Leger for the present by the Lords Justices and Council committed to the Lord Inchequin who had married his Daughter and during his Father in Law 's life had shewed himself very forward in several Services against the Rebels He was a meer Irish-man of the antient Family of O-Brian's but bred up a Protestant and one that had given good testimony of the truth of his Profession as his hatred and detestation of his Countrey-mens Rebellion and having match'd into the Lord President 's Family was held the fittest Person to cast the Command upon till there were another Lord President made by the King or he confirm'd by his Majesty in that Province In the mean time the Lord Inchequin takes some opportunity and having beaten the Rebels Forces at the Battel of Liscarrol in the County of Cork got great reputation by that action The Battel was fought on Saturday the 3d. of September 1642. in which on the English Party was kill'd Lewis Boyle Lord Viscount Kynalmeaky second Son to the late Earl and Brother to this of Cork who behav'd himself most nobly in that Expedition and was buried at Youghall in his Fathers Tomb. And on the Irish side was slain Captain Oliver Stephenson Grandson of him who in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had done eminent service in the Wars against the Earl of Desmond And afterwards the Division increasing in England the sending over a new Lord President was neglected so as the Lord Inchequin continu'd in the Government managing affairs there sometimes for the King against the Parliament sometimes for the Parliament against the King as he conceiv'd might bring on the absolute settlement of that Government upon himself of whom we shall speak more hereafter And now having shewed you the effects of the English Courage strangely reviv'd and managed against the Rebels it will be seasonable to acquaint you by what means the Forces there have been animated to so eminent a Service You have already read the generous resolutions of the Parliament in England upon the first discovery of the Rebellion as the encouragement his Majesty gave them upon his first and second appearance in the House of Lords after his return from Scotland And you have read if it would have been admitted how he would have adventured his Royal Person thither and have rais'd 10000 English Volunteers speedily for that Service if so the House of Commons would have declared that they would pay them which would not be accepted but instead thereof the 24th of January following the Town and Castle of Carickfergus were advised by the two Houses to be given in Command and Keeping to the Scots 2500 of which were to be transported thither and paid by England so as to be accountable according to their Order the 22. of Jan. to the King and Parliament and the Lord General in his Place for all their actions in that Service Which his Majesty was loath to grant as prejudicial to the Crown of England and employing too great trust for Auxiliary Forces Though at the importunity of the Parliament it was so setled at Windsor the 27th of January 1641. But what service the Scots did in those Parts more than subsist by English Pay deserves an enquiry It will now be convenient to acquaint you that after many necessary Propositions to the King from the Parliament passionately affected with the miseries of Ireland it was in the Petition of the House of Commons December the first mov'd That his Majesty would be pleas'd to forbear to alienate any of the Forfeited or Escheated Lands in Ireland which shall accrue to the Crown by reason of this Rebellion that out of these the Crown may be the better supported and some satisfaction made to his Subjects of this Kingdom England for the great Expences they were like to undergo in this War To which his Majesty answer'd That concerning Ireland he understood their desire of not alienating the forfeited Lands thereof to proceed from their much care and love and likewise that it might be a Resolution very fit for him to take But whether it be seasonable to declare resolutions of that nature before the event of a War be seen that he much doubted Howsoever we cannot repli'd his Majesty but thank you for this care and your chearful Engagement for the suppression of that Rebellion upon the speedy effecting whereof the Glory of God in the Protestant Profession the safety of the British there our Honour and that of the Nation so much depends all the Interests of this Kingdom being so involv'd in that business We cannot but quicken your affections therein and shall desire you to frame your
were in assuring them that without further Supplies of all kinds the Soldiers being so unruly as the Lieutenant General the 23d of May 1642. was forc'd to publish a sharp Proclamation against their exorbitancies it was not possible for them to carry on the War or to hinder the Incursions of the Rebels even into those parts which they had recovered out of their hands thought fit to take another course for the present And that the Forces they had in Ireland might be ready for action and in the mean time not wholely unserviceable they allotted after no little opposition to the contrary to several Captains and other Officers of the Army such convenient Houses and Villages as they had taken from the Rebels giving them leave to carry their several Troops and Companies under their Command to Quarter in them by which means they freed themselves from the present Charge of providing Victuals for them forcing them to live upon the spoils of their Enemies which they quickly found the way to do and made themselves Masters of all the Cattel and other Substance of those that lived within reasonable distance of them By which means all the considerable Places belonging to the Rebels within twenty miles of Dublin came to be in the hands of the Soldiers as having them granted by way of Custodium for the present unto them an Expedient acceptable to the Officers and extremely prejudicial to the Rebels The 10th of June the Lords Justices and Council finding themselves much prejudic'd by their Protections they had given to many who under pretext of labouring at the Plow had their Weapons hidden near them to cut off stragling Soldiers and Protestants as they passed by them single The State to prevent such inconveniencies withdrew their former Protections by a Proclamation of that Date A circumstance much insisted on by the Rebels but the Reasons of the State will best appear by their Proclamation no Protection being ever violated by the State with their privity or revoked but on time given And now that the State of Ireland might have the less charge upon them they thought it convenient to send the Lord Mac-Guire and Mac-Mahon into England whose Fates I shall here give you a particular account of though they suffered not till some years after Mac-Guire was one principally design'd for the surprizal of the Castle of Dublin and the securing or murthering of the Lords Justices and Council for which intent he came purposely the day before to Dublin but the Plot being that night detected he fled disguised from his usual Lodgings at one Nevils a Chirurgeon in Castle-street and secretly hid himself at one Kerns a Tailor in Cook-street where he was found in a Cock-loft by Mr. John Woodcock one of the Sheriffs of Dublin standing with his Cloak wrapped about him in an obscure place in which posture he was apprehended and brought before the Lords Justices and Council to whom he confessed sufficient to be committed to the Castle the 23d of October about the time he intended to have perpetrated his Villany in that Place from whence the 12th of June 1642. after several Examinations had of his Guiltiness he with Hugh Oge Mac-Mahon was sent into England where they both continued Prisoners some years in the Tower of London whence they made an escape the 18th of August 1644. and were retaken the 20th of October following Strange that in such a time they could not secure their Escape but vengeance would not suffer them to live Mac-Mahon in Michaelmass-Term the 18th of November that year was tried at the Kings-Bench-Bar in Westminster-Hall and shortly after executed at Tyburn Whilst the Lord Mac-Guire made such a defence for himself as his final Trial was not till the 10th and 11th of February 1644. in Hilary-Term at which time he was brought to the Kings-Bench where after his Indictment read for conspiring to disinherit the Kings Majesty to raise Sedition and breed a miserable slaughter amongst the Kings Subjects he first mov'd to have his Peers being Baron of Inskillin in Ireland and forceably brought to Westminster for that none ought to be condemn'd but by such in pursuance of which he pleaded the Statute the 10th of H. 7. whereby all the Statutes made in England should from thence-forth be in force in Ireland Upon which the King's Council Serjeant Roll and Whitfield beside Pryn and Nudigate demurr'd and the Defendant joyn'd in the Demurrer At length Judge Bacon declar'd that an Irish Baron was triable by a Jury in England so the Lord Grey was tried for Acts done in Ireland upon which an Order pass'd the 10th of February by the Lords and Commons for his Trial at which he desir'd respite for the summoning of his Witnesses which in consideration that his Lordship had had long time to expect his Trial and that no Witnesses could say any thing against what the Witnesses on the Kings side could prove was deni'd Afterwards he made a general Challenge against 23 that were Empannel'd for the first Jury which peremptory Challenge was accepted the Law allowing it And the Prisoner for that time was discharg'd with a Command to be brought again the next day which was done accordingly Then he mov'd that his Plea of Peerage might be referr'd to another Court or to the Lords but that was deni'd for that he had put himself on the Countrey besides the Lords and Commons had order'd his Trial. Then another Jury was nam'd which his Lordship accepted against for that he conceiv'd it not fit that those who had bought his Land should pass upon his Trial. To clear which after some heats in arguing betwixt the Kings Council and the Defendant the Judge consented that the Jury should be required upon Oath to answer whether any of them had any Adventure or share of the Rebels Lands in Ireland Which being answer'd in the Negative the Court proceeded and he being in several Circumstances besides his Confession found Guilty the Judge demanded why Sentence should not pass against him his Lordship amongst other things too tedious and of little concern to mention desir'd to know by what Seal the Judge proceeded against him Who answer'd By the Old and Order of Parliament To which the Lord Mac-Guire repli'd That under favour he conceiv'd that the Ordinance of Parliament for a new Great Seal made the old invalid To which the Judge repli'd That he acted by the old Seal being made a Judge at that time Besides there is nothing saith he done in this Court by the new Seal the Sheriffs are hereby a Charter that comes in from year to year and there is no other Seal in order of Execution After which the Judge proceeded to Sentence which he heard patiently having doubtless long the Sentence of death in himself and accordingly he was Drawn Hang'd and Quarter'd at Tyburn the 20th of February 1644. But to return to the State who in the manner before mention'd continu'd the Army
called ordinarily the Council-Table be of Members true and faithful to his Majesty and such of which there may be no fear or suspition of going to the Parliament Party 3. That Dublin Tredagh Trim Newry Catherlagh Carlingford and all Garrisons within the Protestant Quarters be Garrison'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 J. Preston Owen O Neile Let all dis-passionate men now consider what could the Marquis do his Quarters were so strait and narrow that they could yield no support to the few Forces he had left all his Garrisons besieg'd without an Enemy being destitute of all Provisions within all the Army he had for the Field and Garrisons amounted not to 5000 Foot and 1100 Horse without Cloathes Money or Fixed Arms and with so inconsiderable a Store of Ammunition that when the Nuncio was upon his march towards Dublin he had not in that most important City the Metropolis of the Kingdom more than 14 Barrels of Powder So that not onely the Inhabitants but the Soldiers themselves grew impatient of the distresses they were in and which inevitably they saw must fall upon them and they who had before presum'd in corners and whispers to tax the Marquis of not being zealous enough of the English Interest and too credulous of what was promised and undertaken by the Irish had now the boldness to murmur aloud at him as if he had combined with the Irish to put all into their hands They who from the beginning of the Troubles had been firm and unshaken in their Duty and Loyalty to the King and chearfully suffered great losses and undergone great hazards for being so and been of the most constant affection to and confidence in the Marquis and resolved to obey him in whatsoever he should order for the King's Service for the conducting whereof he was solely and entirely trusted by his Majesty could not yet endure to think of being put into or falling under the power of the Irish who by this new breach of Faith had made themselves utterly uncapable of any future Trust for what security could they publickly give for performance of the Contract which they had not lately given for the observation of that which so infamously they had receded from Whereupon he found it absolutely necessary to make a shew of inclining to the English and sent to the Ships then riding in the Bay of Dublin that they would transport some Commissioners from him to the Parliament to treat about the surrender of the City and the other Garrisons under his Command Which Proposition was embrac'd by them and the Persons deputed accordingly conveyed into England By this means the Marquis was forthwith supplied with 20 Barrels of Powder which the Captain of those Ships delivered to him the 10th of March by the permission of the Lord Lisle the Parliaments Lord Lieutenant without which he could have made no defence against the Nuncio whereby the Irish had a fair warning to bethink themselves in time of returning to their Duty since they might discern that if they would not suffer Dublin c. to continue in the Kings obedience it should be delivered to them who would deal less graciously with them and had power enough to punish those indignities which had been offered And the Marquis was still without other Engagement than to do what he should judge most conducing to his Majesties Service However the Rebels persisted in their intentions against Dublin where for a while we must leave them and see what course the Parliament took to infest their Quarters much they were concern'd that affairs went not on so successfully there as they expected where that they might have one Governour answerable to the exigencies of that Kingdom they Voted Philip Viscount Lisle Lord Lieutenant passing thereupon in April 1646. a Patent to him for one year allotting him 40000 l. with what else was requisite for his dispatch in raising which they were so slow many of the House being of an opposite Party as he could not get away from London till the 1st of Febr. 1646. arriving at Bristol the 6th where he found several of his own Troops and his Brother Colonel Sidney's in readiness to be transported for Ireland But Money being not come he was forc'd to Quarter them thereabouts till its arrival and himself with 30000 l. 7 Pieces of Battery 1000 Muskets 100 Barrels of Powder embarqu'd the 18th at Minhead and landed near Cork the 20th and came thither the day following where he was altogether unexpected especially by the Lord Inchequin he found things in great disorder the Army filled with Officers disaffected to him the Custodiums and Contributions no way manag'd to the publick advantage thereupon reform'd the defects and marching the 15th of March to visit Talloe Lismore Toughall Fermoy and other Places found the Countrey protected even to the Walls of the Protestant Garrisons so as no mischief could be done by them to the Rebels and about the 20th of March Knockmohun was delivered to him He order'd all things for the best advantage of the Interest he was put upon and finding his Commission was near expir'd the General Officers petition'd that in case his Lordship were not continued the Command of the Army might rest in them which the Lord President with others oppos'd The Lord Lieutenant's Commission determind ' the 15th of April 1647. And shortly after such animosities arose betwixt the Parliaments Commissioners and the Lord Inchequin as doubtless if some Privy Counsellors had not interpos'd great inconveniencies would certainly thence have risen The Lord Lisle accompani'd with the Lord Broghil and Colonel Sidney went presently for England and arriv'd at London about the beginning of May following taking the first occasion to give the House an account of his Journey which may
solicite for considerable Aids in Moneys to be sent timely the preservation of the Catholick Religion in this Kingdom depending thereon If you find upon the place that a settlement of Peace cannot be had according to the several Instructions that go with the Commissioners to his Holiness and Christian Majesty and Prince of Wales nor such considerable Aids that may probably prove for the Preservation of the Nation then you are to inform your self by correspondence with our Commissioners imployed to Rome whether his Holiness will accept of this offer of being Protector to this Nation and if you find he will not accept thereof nor otherwise send such powerful and timely Aids as may serve to preservation then you are by advice of other the Commissioners imployed to his Majesty and Prince of Wales and by correspondence had with the Commissioners imployed to Rome and by correspondence likewise with our Commissioners imployed since if it may be timely had to inform your self where the most considerable Aids for preserving this Nation may be had by this offer of the Protectorship of the Nation in manner as by other Instructions into France grounded on the same of the Assembly is contain'd and so to manage the disposal of the Protectorship as you and the rest of our said Commissioners shall find most for the advantage of the Nation The like Instructions for Spain bearing the same Date Upon these and other considerations ever in his view the Marquess thought it much more prudent and agreeable to the Trust reposed in him to deposite the Kings Interest and Right of the Crown of Ireland into the hands of the Lords and Commons of England who still made great profession of Duty and Submission to his Majesty from whom it would probably return to the Crown in a short time then to trust it with the Irish from whom less then a very chargeable War would never recover it in what state soever the Affairs of England should be and how lasting and bloody and costly that War might prove by the intermedling and pretences of Foraign Princes was not hard to conclude In that such Auxiliaries many times prove dangerous Assistance not being over-tender or much distinguishing betwixt the Party they come to assist and that they come to subdue when they are made Umpires in such Quarrels as may be guessed by the Accompt in the 14th Appendix of which the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Ireland being very sensible they thus in March expressed themselves and their condition to the Parliament of England The Declaration of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled in Ireland of the present Estate and distressed Condition of the Protestants in the said Kingdom and their Address unto the most Honourable the Parliament of England for Relief WE the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Ireland having by the Mercy of God your Care of us and the Industry of those intrusted by his Majesty with the Government here preserved unto us the means of sitting together and of delivering freely our thoughts concerning the condition of this miserable Kingdom whereof we are the representative Body and finding withall the Government our Selves and indeed the Protestants in the Kingdom reduced to that final point of Extremity that if not very speedily supported and preserved all in these Parts must become a Prey unto the bloody and inhumane Rebels and this City of Dublin the chief Seat and Cittadel of this Kingdom with the other Garrisons depending thereupon be turn'd into the prime Seats and Strengths of those who have given evident proof that they aim not at less then the extirpation of all Protestants and the setting up the abominable Idol of the Mass and Superstition and at the shaking off of all Loyalty and Subjection to the Crown of England We therefore hold it our duty as being also perhaps the last which we by reason of the near approach of a powerful and pernicious Enemy may have the means to discharge in this Capacity to make the present Address and Representation of our miserable Condition to the most Honourable the Parliament of England which as it hath in all times of common Danger been the Fountain from whence the Power and Lustre of the Crown of England in this Kingdom hath sprung so it is now the onely Sanctuary unto which in behalf of our selves and the distressed Interest thereof we can fly for Succour and Preservation We hold it un-necessary to particularize our present Wants and Miseries and Imposibilities of further subsistance of our selves since they are too well known even to our Enemies in so much as it may be feared that the benefit which we confidently expect by the great diligence and Wisdom of the most Honourable the Parliament of England may not arrive timely for our Relief and Preservation nor can we so misdoubt the Wisdom Justice and Piety of those Honourable Houses whereof we have had heretofore very real and great experience which we do here with all thankfulness acknowledge as to fear that they will suffer the Protestant Religion the Interest of the Crown of England and of the Protestants in these important Garrisons and Quarters to be sacrificed unto the fury of the merciless Rebels But on the contrary as we do earnestly desire so are we most confident that the Goodness and Wisdom of the most Honourable the Parliament of England will so seasonably send over a sufficient Power as well to subdue and suppress these merciless and bloody Rebels as to maintain these places accompanied with an assurance from the most Honourable the Parliament of England for enjoying those Conditions of Honour subsistance and safety which have been lately offered by their Commissioners for and in the name of the most Honourable the Parliament of England to those who have hitherto govern'd and preservd them and to his Majesties Protestant Subjects and those who have faithfully and constantly adhered unto them unto which they may be pleased to joyn such further additions of Grace and Bounty as to their Wisdoms and Goodness shall be thought fit as that they and all the Protestants and such others as have faithfully and constantly adhered unto them may find Security and Preservation therein whereby we may heartily joyn under those whom the said most Honourable the Parliament of England shall appoint in prosecuting so Pious a War and being Gods Instruments for the bringing just Vengeance upon such Perfidious Rebels and in restoring the Protestant Religion and Interest of the Crown of England in this Kingdom to its due and former Lustre which we will ever strive with the hazard of our Lives and Fortunes to maintain While the Marquess was in this deliberation being privy to the Parliaments actions he receiv'd information that the King was delivered by the Scots to the Commissioners of the two Houses of Parliament who were then treating with him for the settling of Peace in all his Dominions and at the same time several Persons of
Quality arrived at Dublin having been privately dispatch'd by his Majesty with signification of his Majesties Pleasure upon the advertisement he had receiv'd of the Condition of Ireland to this purpose That if it were possible for the Marquess to keep Dublin and the other Garrisons under the same intire Obedience to his Majesty they were then in it would be acceptable to his Majesty But if there were or should be a necessity of giving them up to any other Power he would rather put them into the hands of the English then of the Irish which was the Rule the Marquess was to guide himself by who had likewise his other very important considerations which if all the rest had been away had been enough to have inclin'd him to that resolution The King was now in the Power and hands of those who rais'd a War against him principally upon the credit of those reproaches and scandals that had perswaded the People to a belief of his inclinations to Popery and of his contriving or at least countenancing the Rebellion in Ireland in which so much Protestant Blood had been so wantonly and cruelly let out The Cessation formerly made and continued with those Rebels though prudently charitably and necessarily entred into had been the most un-popular Act the King had ever done and had wonderfully contributed to the Reputation of the two Houses of Parliament if according to the general opinion then currant there should a Peace ensue between the King and them so that his Majesty would lose nothing by the Parliament being possessed of Dublin and those other Towns then in the disposal of the Lord Lieutenant On the contrary if they intended to pursue his Majesty with continued and new reproaches and thereby to make him so odious to his Subjects that they might with more facility and applause execute their horrible Conspiracy against his Life there could be nothing so disadvantagious to his Majesty as the surrender of Dublin to the Irish Confederates which being done by the Kings Lord Lieutenant would easily be interpreted to be by his Majesties direction and so make a confirmation of all they had published of that kind and amongst the ignorant seduced People might have been a countenance to though nothing could be a justification of their unparalell'd Dealings Hereupon the Marquess took a Resolution since he could not possibly keep it himself to deliver it into the hands of the English and to that purpose sent again to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster that he would surrender Dublin and the other Garrisons to them upon the same condition they had before offered who quickly dispatcht their Ships with Commissioners Men and Money and all other Provisions necessary to take the same into their possession The Confederate Catholicks were no sooner inform'd of this but they sent again to the Lord Lieutenant an overture of Accommodation as they call it yet the Messengers intrusted by them were so wary lest indeed by accepting what they proposed they might be obliged to a Conjunction that they refused to give their Propositions in Writing And when upon their Discourse the Lord Lieutenant had writ what they had propounded and shewed it to them albeit they could not deny but that it was the same yet they refused to Sign it whereby it was very natural to conclude that the Overture was made by them onely to lay some imputation upon the Marquess of not being necessitated to agree with the two Houses of Parliament rather then with any purpose of submitting to the Kings Authority At last being so far pressed they found it necessary to let the Marquess know in plain terms what he was to trust to they sent him a Message in Writing in which they declared That they must insist upon the Propositions of the Clergy formerly mention'd to be agreed at Waterford and to which they had sworn and that if he would have a Cessation with them he must promise not to receive any Forces from the two Houses of Parliament in 6 or 7 months Not proposing in the mean time any way how his Majesties Army should be maintain'd but by a full submission unto all their unreasonable Demands Notwithstanding all which the Parliament failing to make that speedy performance of what they had promised and their Commissioners not having as it was agreed on brought Bills sufficiently drawn to be accepted of for 10000 l. and the Marquess having it thereby in his Power fairly to comply with the Irish if they had yet recovered the temper and discretion that might justifie him He sent again to them as well an Answer to their Overtures of accommodation as an offer not to receive any Forces from the two Houses for the space of three weeks if they would during that time consent to a Ceassation that a full Peace might be treated and agreed upon To which Motion they never vouchsafed to return any Answer about the same time Owen O Neil wisely foreseeing that the Nuncio or the Supream Council did not enough consider or foresee the evil consequences that would undoubtedly attend the Lord Lieutenant's being compelled to leave the Kingdom and to put Dublin and the other Garrisons into the possession of the English Rebels sent his Nephew Daniel O Neil to the Marquess of Ormond that if the Marquess would accept of a Cessation for two months which he believ'd the Assembly or Supream Council would propose with what mind soever he would promise and undertake to continue it for a Twelvemonth and in the mean time he would use his utmost power to procure a Peace Owen O Neil was a man of an haughty and positive humour and rather hard to be inclined to submit to reasonable Conditions then easie to decline them or break his word when he had consented therefore the Lord Lieutenant return'd this Answer that if he would give him his word to continue the Cessation for a full year he would accept it when proposed from the Supream Council for two months and he would in the mean time wave any further Treaty with the Parliament yet sent him word he would not hold himself by this promise longer then fourteen days engaged if he did not in that time receive such a positive effect of his Overture as he expected Owen O Neil accepted of the Condition and with all possible speed dispatched his Nephew Daniel to the Supream Council at Clonmel with a Letter containing his Advice and another to the Bishop of Clogher his chief Confident to whom he sent Reasons at large which ought to induce the Nation to desire such a Cessation When the Council receiv'd the Letter and knew that the Lord Lieutenant expected an Answer within 14 days they resolved to return no Answer till those days were expired and during that time committed Daniel O Neil to Prison that he might not return to his Unkle and when the time was passed they releas'd him on condition that he should come no more into
by a Letter from Sir Robert Stewart they were pacified and all the Affairs of that Province managed by Sir Charles Coot Sir Robert Stewart being at Liberty upon his Parole Before this Townsend and Doily two Colonels under Inchequin in Munster sent over to the Committee at Derby-House some Propositions for the surrender of the Towns in Munster upon Condition of indempnity and receiving part of the Arrears for the whole Army this was pretended to be acted by the consent of Inchequin and that he with his own hand had approved and interlin'd them in several Places Hereupon the Committee at Derby-House sent back Colonel Edmond Temple with an Answer to those Colonels and Power withall to Treat with the Lord Inchequin about somewhat more certain and more reasonable to be propounded by him But before his arrival there Sir Richard Fanshaw the Princes Secretary was come from the Prince to Inchequin with a Declaration of the Princes Design to send the Duke of York into Ireland with such of the revolted Ships as remain'd in Holland and to let him know the hopes he had that by his assistance and the Army under his Command both he and his Father might be restored This so puft up Inchequin as that he would hear of no Overtures and made him absolutely dis-avow to have had any knowledge of the Propositions sent over and thereupon imprisoned Townsend and Doily thereby putting an issue to that Negotiation Fortifying besides all the Harbours against the Parliaments Forces placing and displacing their Officers as he thought most convenient to introduce the Kings keeping a Correspondence with the West of Ireland as yet free to all Trade and holding frequent intelligence with Jarsey where the Prince was said would keep his Court Thus the Interest of the Parliament was wholly lost in Munster where Sir William Fenton Colonel Fair Captain Fenton and other Officers for their affections to the Parliament being imprison'd were exchang'd in December for the Lord Inchequin's Son imprison'd in the Tower about October 1648. Near this time Owen Roe attempted to rescue Fort-Falkland besieged by the Lord Inchiquin and Colonel Preston joyn'd but he was repulsed with the loss of many men as his Lieutenant General Rice Mac-Guire and Lewis More dangerously hurt which put Owen to such straits as he made an Overture to Colonel Jones by his Vicar-General O Rely to surrender Athy Mary-burrough and Rebban and lay down his Arms if he and his Confederates might have the priviledges they had in King James's time But Jones could better improve the Offers to a beneficial delay than ascertain any thing Though afterwards Owen Roe and his Council of Officers further offered That if he nor the new expected Army from England would not molest him in his Quarters but give him leave to depart with his Forces into Spain he would not joyn with Ormond Preston or Inchiquin And here we must resume our account of the Marquis of Ormond who after he had in vain solicited supplies of Money in France to the end that he might carry some Relief to a Kingdom so harrassed and worn and be the better thereby able to unite those who would be sure to have temptation enough of Profit to go contrary to the Kings obedience his Excellency was at last compelled being with great importunity called by the Lord Inchiquin and the rest who were resolv'd to uphold his Majesties Interest to transport himself unfurnish'd of Money sufficient Arms or Ammunition considerable and without any other Retinue than his own Servants and some old Officers of the Kings And in this Equipage he Embarqu'd from Haure de Grace in a Dutch Ship and arriv'd about the end of September 1648. at Cork where he was receiv'd by the Lord Inchiquin Lord President of Munster and the Irish with much contentment soon after whose arrival even the 6th of October he published the ensuing Declaration By the Lord Lieutenant General of Ireland ORMOND TO prevent the too frequent prejudices incident through jealousies distrusts and mis-constructions to all undertakings We account it not the least worthy our labour upon the instant of our arrival to prepare this People whose welfare we contend for with a right understanding of those intentions in us which in order to his Majesties Service we desire may terminate in their good To enumerate the several Reasons by which we were induc'd for preservation of the Protestant Religion and the English Interest to leave the City of Dublin and other his Majesties Garrisons then under our Power in this Kingdom in the hands of those intrusted by his two Houses of Parliament were to set forth a Narrative in place of a Manifest It may suffice to be known that those Transactions had for one main ground this confidence That by being under the Power of the Houses they would upon a happy expected composure of Affairs in England revert unto and be revested in his Majesty as his proper right But having found how contrary to the inclinations of the well-affected to his Majesties restauration in England the Power of that Kingdom hath unhappily devolv'd to hands imployed onely in the art and labour of pulling down and subverting the Fundamentals of Monarchy with whom a pernicious Party in this Kingdom do equally sympathize and co-operate And being filled with a deep sense of the Duty and obligations that are upon us strictly to embrace all opportunities of employing our endeavours towards the recovery of his Majesties just Rights in any part of his Dominions Haing observed the Protestant Army in the Province of Munster by special providence discovering the Arts and practises used to intangle the Members thereof in engagements as directly contrary to their Duties towards God and Man as to their intentions and resolutions to have found means to manifest the Candor and Integrity thereof in a disclaimer of any obedience to or concurrence with those Powers or Persons which have so grosly vari'd even their own professed Principles of preserving his Majesties Person and Rights by confining him under a most strict Imprisonment his Majesty also vouchsafing graciously to accept the Declaration of the said Army as an eminent and seasonable expression of their fidelity toward him and in testimony thereof having laid his Commands upon us to make our repair unto this Province to discharge the duties of our Place We have as well in obedience thereunto as in pursuance of our own duty and desire to advance his Majesties Service resolved to evidence our approbation and esteem of the proceedings of the said Army by publishing unto the World our like determination in the same ensuing particulars And accordingly we profess and declare First to improve our utmost endeavours for the settlement of the Protestant Religion according to the example of the best Reformed Churches Secondly to defend the King in his Prerogatives Thirdly to maintain the Priviledges and Freedom of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subjects that in order hereunto we shall oppose
to the hazard of our lives those Rebels of this Kingdom who shall refuse their obedience to his Majesty upon such terms as he hath thought fit by us to require it and we shall endeavour to the utmost the suppressing of that Independent-Party who have thus fiercely laboured the extirpation of the true Protestant Religion the ruine of our Prince the dishonour of Parliament and the Vassalage of our Fellow-Subjects against all those who shall depend upon them or adhere unto them And that this our undertaking might not appear obnoxious to the Trade of England but that we desire a firm Union and Agreement be preserved betwixt us we do likewise declare that we will 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 money 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 given of his Majesties acceptation or of the estimation we bear about us towards their Proceedings 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 lest 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 Judgment 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 qualifi'd 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 fervour 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 onely 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 employ'd 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 Subsistance 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 welfare of the People intrusted to our Care At Cork 6. Octob. 1648. Here it must not be forgotten that during the time the Marquis was in France and after the Parliaments Forces had upon so great inequality of number defeated the Irish and in all Encounters driven them into their Fastnesses the Confederate Catholicks had easily discern'd the mischiefs they had brought upon themselves by forcing the Kings Authority out of the Kingdom and introducing another which had no purposes of mercy towards them And therefore they had sent the Lord Marquis of Antrim who from the beginning had passionately serv'd them in their most intimate Concerns the Lord Viscount Muskery and others as their Commissioners to the Queen of England and to her Son the Prince of Wales who were both then at Paris to beseech them since by reason of the King's imprisonment they could not be suffered to apply themselves to his Majesty to take compassion of the miserable condition of Ireland and to restore that Nation to their protection making ample professions and protestations of Duty and of applying themselves for the future to his Majesties Service if they might be once again own'd by him and countenanced and conducted by his Authority And thereupon the Queen and Prince answered those Persons That they would shortly send a Person qualifi'd to treat with them who should have power to give them whatsoever was requisite to their security and happiness With which Answer they return'd well satisfi'd into Ireland So that as soon as the Lord Lieutenant was Landed at Cork he wrote the 4th of October to the Assembly of the Confederate Catholicks then at Kilkenny That he was upon the humble Petition which they had presented to the Queen and Prince come with full power to conclude a Peace with them and to that purpose desir'd that as little time might be lost as was possible and that Commissioners might be sent to him at his House at Carrick whither he would go to expect them within 14 miles of the Place where the Assembly then sate who were so much gladder of his presence by the obligation which they had newly received from the Kings Authority For when the Nuncio and Owen O Neil had thought to have surprized them and to have compelled them to renounce the Cessation the Lord Inchequin being sent unto by them for his protection had march'd with his Army to their relief and forc'd O Neal over the Shannon thereby restoring them to liberty and freedom so that they return'd a message of joy and congratulation to the Lord Lieutenant for his safe arrival and appointed Commissioners to treat with him at the place appointed A Copy of the Marquis of Ormond's Letter to the Supreme Council afore-mention'd was gotten by Colonel Jones and sent over to the Committee of Derby-house and being read in the House of Commons it was Voted to be sent down into the Isle of Wight to the Commissioners then Treating there with the King to know if he would avow it and in case he did disavow it that then he would declare against
they were advised to return to their Association and until a General Assembly of the Nation could be conveniently called unanimously to serve against the common Enemy since no Persons were named or appointed to conduct them it must be acknowledged that they were left without any direction at all to the rage and fury of those who intended nothing but their Reduction Together with their Excommunication they published in the head of the Army a Declaration entituled A Declaration of the Archibishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of the Regular and Secular Clergy of the Kingdom of Ireland against the continuance of his Majesty's Authority in the Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the mis-government of the Subjects and the ill conduct of his Majesty's Army and violation of the Articles of Peace If the Archbishops Bishops and Secular and Regular Clergy of Ireland will take upon them to declare against the King's Authority where his Majesty hath placed it and will make themselves Judges of his supream Minister for the government of the Subjects and the ill conduct of his Majesty's Army they assume an Authority to themselves that no other Christian Clergy ever pretended and sufficiently declare to the King how far they are from being Subjects or intending to pay him any Obedience longer than they are govern'd in such Manner and by such Persons as they think fit to be pleas'd with If the Marquess of Ormond had mis-govern'd the People and conducted his Majesty's Army amiss the Clergy are not competent Judges of the one or the other And for the violation of the Articles of Peace the Commissioners nominated and appointed to provide for the due execution of them were the only Persons who could determine and remedy such Violation and who well knew there was no cause for their complaint But on the other hand as hath been before mention'd these Men obstructed that concurrence and obedience in the People without which those Articles could not be observed or the security of the People provided for The Preface of that Declaration according to their usual method justified and magnified their Piety and Vertue in the beginning and carrying on the War extolled their Duty and Affection to their King in submitting to him and returning to their Allegiance when they said they could have better or as good Conditions from the Parliament of England intimated what a vast sum of Money they had provided near half a Million of English pounds besides several Magazines of Corn with a fair Train of Artillery great quantity of Powder Match Ammunition with other Materials for carrying on the War and many other Particulars of that nature the monstrous untruths whereof doth sufficiently appear in what hath been said before The Marquess having been forced to borrow those little sums of Money out of the Pockets of his Friends and to spend all that he raised upon the sail of a good quantity of his own Land for the support of his Wife and Children to enable the Army to march which was not then what-ever hath been since re-paid to him And the Magazines of Corn and Ammunition and other Materials for War being so absolutely un-furnished that it was not possible for him to reduce those small Forts of Maryburrough and Athy held by Neal's Party till he had by his own Power and Interest procured some Supplies before clearly mention'd so far were these Men from making that Provision they brag of What Conditions they might have had from the Parliament of England may be concluded by the usage they have since found nor if they were put to it would they be able to prove their Assertions divine vengeance having made that Party more merciless towards them whose forwardness obstinacy and treachery against the King's Authority contributed most to their Service than those who worthily opposed them and were most enemies to their Proceedings They endeavour'd by all imaginable Reproaches and Calumnies to lessen the Peoples Reverence towards the Lord Lieutenant laying such Aspersions on him in the said Declaration as might most alienate their Affections though themselves knew them to be un-true and without colour They complained that he had given Money Commissions for Colonels and other Commands unto Protestants and upon them consumed the substance of the Kingdom who most of them either betrayed or deserted the Service whereas they knew well that there was not one Protestant Officer to whom the Lord Lieutenant gave a Commission who betrayed any Place committed to him or otherwise treated in order to their support than all the other Officers of the same condition in the Army nor did they quit the Service until many of them had gallantly lost their Lives and that the Clergy had so far incensed the People against them only for being Protestants that the Marquess was compelled to give them leave to depart the Kingdom or otherwise to dispose of themselves and the Parliament Commanders gave Passes to such as would depart the Kingdom and gladly entertain'd such as went over to their Party They accused him of Improvidence in conducting the Army after the defeat at Rathmines of not relieving Tredath of permitting Play Drinking and Licentiousness in the Camp and as bold Aspersions as without Excommunication might gain credit with the People and reflect upon his Honour where he was not enough known Whereas the Action at Rathmines is before set down at large and the taking of Tredath by a Storm when it was scarce apprehended And it is notoriously known that in his Person he was so strict and vigilant that he gave not himself freedom and liberty to enjoy those Pleasures which might very well have consisted with the Office and Duty of the most severe General and that in above three months time which was from his first drawing the Forces to the Rendezvous till after the misfortune at Rathmines he never slept out of his Souldier's Habit. So that the malice and craft of those unreasonable and sensless Calumnies are easie enough to be discerned and can only make an impression upon vulgar minds not well informed of the Humour and Spirit of the Contrivers They magnified exceedingly the Merit of the Prelates the Declaration they had made at Cloanmacnoise their frequent expressions of their Sincerity and most blame the Marquess for not making use of their Power and Diligence toward the advancing the King's Interest but rather for suspecting and blaming them by his Letter to the Prelates at Jamestown before-mention'd and they said words were heard to fall from him dangerous as to the Persons of some of the Prelates To all which little need be said since there is before so just and full mention of their fair Declarations Professions and Actions which accompanied them And for the danger the Persons of some Prelates were in they will be ashamed to urge when it is known that their Bishop of Killalough was brought to him in custody even after he had sign'd this Declaration and Excommunication
and set at liberty by him and whom the Bishops themselves in their Letter of the 12th of September 1650. to the Earl of Westmeath c. do acknowledge to be preserved by the Marquess and for which many will rather expect an Apology than for any Jealousie he could entertain of the Persons who behaved themselves in that manner towards the King's Lord Lieutenant They charge him with having represented to his Majesty that some Parts of the Kingdom were dis-obedient which absolutely deny any Dis-obedience by them committed and that thereby he had procured from his Majesty a Letter to withdraw his own Person and the Royal Authority if such dis-obedience was multiplied and so leave the People without the Benefit of Peace This was the Reward his Excellency out of his Envy to a Catholick Loyal Nation prepared for their Loyalty and Obedience seal'd by the shedding of their blood and the loss of their substance Whether the obstinate and Rebellious carriage of Waterford Limerick and other Places which brought destruction upon themselves did not deserve and require such a Representation to be made unto the King may be judged by all men upon what hath been before truly set down of those Particulars and if the Places themselves had not acknowledged that dis-obedience yet the Prelates seemed to lament those Acts of Dis-obedience and most earnestly disswaded him from leaving the Kingdom promising all their endeavours to reduce the People to Obedience which was onely in their Power to have done else the Marquess would not so long have exposed Himself and his Honour to those Reproaches or suffered his Person with the Impotent Title of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to have remained in that Kingdom and every day to hear of the rendring and betraying of Places to the Enemy which he could no more remedy then he could infuse a Spirit of Obedience Unity and Understanding into that unhappy infatuated Nation Yet he was so far from wishing that his Majesty should absolutely withdraw his Royal Authority from them how unworthy soever they made themselves of it that he offered to leave the Kings Power in the Person of the Marquess of Clanrickard as he afterwards did hoping that since their great exception was to him for being a Protestant they would with all Alacrity have complied with the other who is known to be a most zealous Roman Catholick yet a great Royalist They reproach'd him That while he was an Enemy to the Catholicks he had been very active in unnatural executions against them and shedding the blood of poor Priests and Churchmen But since the Peace he had shewed little of action keeping himself in Connaght and Thomond where no danger was or the Enemy appear'd not Here you see they would neither suffer him to have an Army to oppose the Enemy nor be content that he should retire into those Places where the Enemy could least infest him and from whence with those few Troops which remained with him he defended the Shannon and kept the Enemy from getting over the River while he staid there And for the former activity and success against them which they were content to impute to him it was when he had a free election of Officers an absolute Power over his Garrisons where he caused the Soldiers continually to be exercised their Arms kept in order and from whence he could have drawn his Army together and have march'd with it to what place he would which advantages he was now without and the Enemy possessed of and therefore it was no wonder that they now obtain'd their Victories as easily as he had done formerly But since they were so disingenious and ungrateful there being many amongst them whose lives he had saved not without suspicion of being favourable to them when he should have been just to charge him with being active in unnatural executions against them and in shedding the blood of poor Priests and Church-men and for the Improvement and Propagation of Calumny it hath pleased some Persons to cause that Declaration to be Translated in Latin and Printed thereby to make him odious to the Roman Catholicks and have named two Priests who they say were by his order Executed and put to death in cold blood and after his promise given to save their lives whose names were Mr. Higgins and Mr. White It will not be impertinent to set down at large the Case of these two Persons that from thence men who have no mind to be deceived and mislead may judge of the Candor and Sincerity of those Persons who would obtrude such Calumnies to the World It must therefore be known that when these two Priests were put to death the War was conducted and carried on by the two Houses of Parliament that the Government of Ireland was in the hands of the two Lords Justices who upon the inhumane and barbarous Cruelties first practised by the Irish Catholicks in the beginning of the Rebellion had forbidden any quarter to be given to those whom they found in Arms and principally against all Priests known Incendaries of that Rebellion and prime Actors in exemplary Cruelties and the Marquess of Ormond was then onely Lieutenant General of the Army and received all Orders from the Lords Justices and Council who having intelligence that a Party of the Rebels intended to be at such a time at the Naas order'd him to draw some Troops together with hope to surprize them And the Lieutenant General marching all night came early in the morning into the Town from whence the Rebels upon notice were newly fled In this Town some of the Souldiers found Mr. Higgins who might it's true have easily fled if he had apprehended any danger in the stay When he was brought before the Marquess he voluntarily acknowledged that he was a Priest and that his Residence was in the Town from whence he refused to fly away with those that were guilty because he not onely knew himself very innocent but believ'd he should not be without ample Evidence of it having by his sole Charity and Power preserved very many of the English Protestants from the rage and fury of the Irish and therefore he onely besought the Marquess to preserve him from the violence of the Souldiers and to put him securely into Dublin to be tried for any Crime which the Marquess promis'd to do and perform'd it though with so much hazard that when it was spread abroad amongst the Souldiers that he was a Priest the Officer into whose Custody he was intrusted was assaulted by them and it was as much as the Marquess could do to relieve him and compose the mutiny When he came to Dublin he informed the Lords Justices and Council of the Prisoner he had brought with him of the good Testimony he had receiv'd of his peaceable Carriage of the pains he had taken to restrain those with whom he had Credit from entring into Rebellion and of very many charitable Offices he had perform'd of which there wanted not
to prescribe invite all his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects to such a Declaration which yet until they should understand the Clergies sense upon the first Proviso they said they did humbly as fit for a time to forbear To the fourth they answered That whatsomever his Excellency should find to be within their power and would direct to be done concerning the Place of Residence for his Person they would readily obey his Lordships command therein To the fifth they answered That upon conference with his Excellency of the Places fit to be Garrison'd and the number of Men fit to be put in them they would according to the Articles of Peace use their utmost endeavours to have such Garrisons so agreed upon admitted And to the last they said They had at all times been ready and willing that his Excellencies Charge should be supported out of the Revenue of the Kingdom and that they were now ready to concur in assigning any of the Dues already accrued or such as should grow due hereafter or to impose any new Allotment upon the Subject towards his maintenance When the Lord Lieutenant perceived that the temper and desire of the Commissioners of Trust was so different from that of the Congregation and that in truth they were afflicted and scandalized at the exorbitancy of the other and that they thought they should be able to reduce them from the destructive Counsels they were engaged in He would not upon any experience or judgment of his own restrain them from attempting what was not impossible to compass and which many would have concluded would be compassed if attempted and which what other effect soever it had would make evident that there was not a concurrence in the Nation in those Acts which were likely to destroy the Kingdom And therefore he willingly consented that the Commissioners should go to Gallway where the Committee of the Congregation resided whereof the Bishop of Ferns was one to whom they shewed the Letter they received from the Lord Lieutenant and desired them to consider the state of the Kingdom and to know from them what they conceiv'd remain'd that might best tend to the preservation of the Nation without keeping the Kings Authority amongst them for that many of the most considerable would instantly make their conditions with the Enemy if the Kings Authority were taken away and that there was no hope of keeping or leaving that Authority but by revoking the Excommunication and Declaration For the Lord Lieutenant would not stay to keep it nor would he leave it nor the Marquis of Clanrickard undergo it but on these terms And hereupon they used all those Reasons and Arguments which cannot but occur to all men who are not blinded with Passion and Prejudice to induce them to such a Retraction as could onely advance the happiness or indeed the subsistence of the Nation But the Bishops were inexorable and instead of abating any of that fury they had formerly express'd that added new contumelies and reproaches to all the Authority of the King they said They observ'd by the Lord Lieutenants Letter that he had informed his Majesty of the Disobediences and Affronts that had been put upon his Authority and consequently that he had suggested matter unto his Majesty for making that Declaration against the Peace That they had perused the Declaration which had been published in Scotland disavowing the Peace And that they were of opinion for ought appeared to them That the King had withdrawn his Commission and Authority from the Lord Lieutenant That in the said Declaration the Irish Nation as bloody Rebels were cast from the protection of the Kings Laws and Regal Favours And therefore it might be presum'd that he would not have his Authority kept over such a Nation to govern them whereas they had been of opinion and all their endeavours had been employ'd to keep the Kings Authority over them But when his Majesty throws away the Nation as Rebels from his protection withdrawing his own Authority they could not understand the mystery of preserving the same with them or over them nor how it could be done That they believed the best remedy the Kings Authority being taken away by that Declaration of meeting the Inconveniency of the Peoples closing with the Parliament is the returning to the Confederacy as they said was intended by the Nation in case of the breach of Peace on his Majesties part that they said would keep an union amongst them if men would not be precipitately guilty of the breach of their Oath of Association which Oath by two solemn Orders of two several Assemblies was to continue binding if any breach of the Articles of Peace should happen on his Majesties part That the Kings Authority and the Lord Lieutenants Commission being recalled by that Declaration they were of opinion that the Lord Lieutenant had no Authority to delegate his Authority to any other And if they must expose their Lives and Fortunes to the hazard of fighting to the making good of that Peace seeing the danger was alike to defend that or get a better Peace why should they bind themselves within the limits of those Articles so disowned And so with several Tautologies urged the Declaration in Scotland as a ground and excuse for all their proceedings when what they had done as we have before took notice of was before the issuing forth of that Declaration In fine they concluded they could not consent with safety of Conscience to the revoking their Declaration and Excommunication demanded by the Lord Lieutenant nor to give assurance to him or the Commissioners of Trust for not attempting the like for the future And to manifest their inveterate malice against him being in Galway the Captain of the Guard of the Town commonly called The Captain of the Guard of the young men did make search for him in the said Town as after a criminal person or a fugitive thereby endeavouring to bring contempt and scorn upon him and his Majesties Authority placed in him And now you must know they would not make this Declaration in case of Conscience of so vast an extent and importance without forsooth setting down their Reasons under their hands which for the Doctrine sake I would not conceal from the world that it may better judge of those Spiritual Guides who made themselves guilty of that mass of mischief and ruine that flowed from thence Their first Reason was Because the Kings Authority was not in the Lord Lieutenant nor was then they said power in them to confer a new Authority on him which would be destructive to the Nation if it continued in him and preservative in another and that they said was their sense when they declared against the Kings Authority in his Person so that though they had presumption enough to take the Kings Authority out of his Lieutenants hands by their Declaration and Excommunication and to inhibit all men to submit unto it they had now modesty to
required to be aiding and assisting in the execution of this Our Proclamation as often as occasion shall require Given at our Court at Whitehal the first day of June 1660. in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign Afterwards assoon as such matters for so great a Business could be brought about his Majesty the 8th of May summon'd a Parliament at Dublin in which passed the great Act of Settlement after that his Majesty had published the 30th of November 1660. His Gracious Declaration for the settlement of his Kingdom of Ireland and satisfaction of the several Interests of Adventurers and Souldiers and other Subjects there wherein as to the Irish first such are considered as came in upon the Cessation secondly those who honestly and faithfully performed what they promised in the Peace and thirdly such as being beyond Seas cheerfully receiv'd and obeyed his Majesties Commands abroad all which are comprehended in several Articles proceeding from these Heads and the Souldiers and Adventurers by themselves These also who had the Fortune whether through Loyalty or Suspicion that they were not able to bear up against the English Interest to withstand the Nuncio have in the Act of Settlement their Fortunes and themselves secur'd memorable to Posterity who being fewer then those that bowed not their knees to Baal in Israel we cannot but mention it being a Reward for their eminent Sufferings And because the voice of a Parliament next to the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai ought to impress the greatest Reverence on the heart and affections of the People I shall here present you with the Preamble to the Bill of Settlement in Ireland 1662. which in brief commits that to Posterity no Paint can ever Palliate An Act 14 Carol. 2. WHereas an unnatural Insurrection did break forth against your Majesties Royal Father of ever blessed memory his Crown and Dignity in this your Majesties Kingdom of Ireland upon the 23. of October in the year of our Lord God 1641. and manifest it self by the Murthers and Destruction of many thousands of your said Majesties good and loyal Subjects which afterwards universally spreading and diffusing it self over the whole Kingdom setled into and became a formed and almost National Rebellion of the Irish Papists against your Royal Father of blessed memory his Crown and Dignity to the destruction of the English and Protestants inhabiting in Ireland The which Irish Papists being represented in a General Assembly chosen by themselves and acting by a Council called by them The Supream Council of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland did first assume usurp and exercise the Power of Life and Death make Peace and War Levy and Coin Money and many other Acts of Soveraign Authority Treating with Foreign Princes and Potentates for their Government and Protection and afterwards acted under a Foreign Authority by all the said ways disowning and rejecting your Royal Fathers and your Majesties undoubted Right to this Kingdom even while they treacherously used his and your Majesties Names in the outward forms of their Proceedings withal impiously seeming by words and shews to swear unto that which by the whole Series of their Deeds they denied And moreover presuming to pretend his late Majesties Sacred Authority even for their worst actions all which they did amongst other their evil Designs to frighten his good Protestant Subjects from their Loyalty to blast his Majesties Honour and to widen the Breach between his said Majesty and his seduced Subjects in England The which Ends by their said wicked Stratagems they did too successfully and mischievously effect Before this Preamble to the Act of Settlement pass'd the Irish by their Agents in England had an unusual Favour of inspecting that Bill and objecting what they thought fit which they did in the presence of the Commissioners sent out of Ireland by the Convention and Lords Justices and Council even before his Majesty his Council and the Committee of Lords for the Affairs of Ireland to that end especially appointed The debate continuing touching this grand Instrument from the 8th of July 1661. till March following in which the Irish most insisted against the Preamble for that it seem'd to involve the whole Nation in the first designing and raising of the late Rebellion in Ireland and in the barbarous Circumstance thereof whereas they would pretend it was onely the act of a few Persons of broken fortunes followed with the rude multitude c. Praying that nothing might be contain'd in that Preamble in Derogation to his Majesties Articles of Peace or the blemish of his Majesties Loyal Catholick Subjects delivering in at the same time their Reasons against previous Reprisals the variances between the Declaration and Act of Settlement and their defence for their Articles of Peace Insisting much upon their Loyalty after the Lord Lieutenants departure the Catholicks unanimously in their Assembly joyning if you dare credit their reports with the Lord Deputy to oppose the Usurpers as the best means to divert the Parliament from preventing the Kings Designs in England and Scotland for which his Majesty as they say return'd them thanks they rejecting then many advantagious offers from Ireton though they were in a low Condition and so continued faithful till the Lord Deputy was driven to the Mountains and they at liberty to compound for themselves many of which went beyond-Sea to serve his Majesty All which they insist on as a great test of their Loyalty whereas it can never be made evident as is alledged that Proposals were made to that Assembly by the Usurpers and refused by them for the enjoyment of their Rights Priviledges and Inheritances alike with others under their Government for indeed such Proposals were never made nor offered to them in their most flourishing Condition but it is confessed such Terms were tendred and refused by them as were agreeable to a conquering Army to give as that of the Usurpers then was and to a broken scattered Party to expect as the other was being then reduced to Bogs and Woods as their best Holts and yet the Terms so offered and rejected by the Assembly together were soon after embraced by all of them divided into Parts on which they submitted and laid down Arms having by their Conditions liberty to transport themselves into Foraign Parts or to stay in the Kingdom And therefore it doth no more consist with their Honour then with Truth to say they were forced by banishment to an opportunity of serving his Majesty beyond-Seas from whence they date their Merits from him which was more then his late Majesty of blessed memory could obtain from them although obliged thereunto by Allegiance and Articles when his Distress and their Power were sublimated to the highest Pitch and his Prerogative lay at the stake as he did often complain of The Commissioners from the Lords Justices and Council besides this produced the Instructions of the Supream Council to their Agents for Rome France Spain offering the Crown to either
through the World ever equall'd it in the Circumstances that accompanied the Butcheries Massacres Cruelties yea the mercy of the Rebels in that War though in the end fatal to the Irish themselves above any thing that ever befel that Nation so as the greatness of their Sufferings may well testifie the remarkableness of their Crimes sutable to the innocent blood they had barbarously shed and the devastations they had made of a most flourishing and well setled Kingdom APPENDIX I. Fol. 10. Questions wherein the House of Commons humbly desires that the House of the Lords would be pleased to require the Judges to deliver their Resolutions INasmuch as the Subjects of this Kingdom are Free Loyal and Dutiful Subjects to his Most Excellent Majesty their Natural Leige Lord and King and to be governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of force in this Kingdom in the same manner and form as his Majesty's Subjects of the Kingdom are and ought to be governed by the said Common Laws and Statutes of force in that Kingdom which of right the Subjects of this Kingdom do Challenge and make their Protestation to be their Birthright and best Inheritance Yet inasmuch as the unlawful Actions and Proceedings of some of his Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice of late years Introduced and Practised in this Kingdom did tend to the Infringing and Violation of the Laws Liberties and Freedom of the said Subjects of this Kingdom contrary to his Majesties Royal and Pious intentions Therefore the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled not for any doubt or ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concering the Premises nor of the ensuing questions but for manifestation and declaration of a clear Truth and of the said Laws and Statutes already planted and for many Ages past setled in this Kingdom The said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do therefore pray that the House of the Lords may be pleased to command the Judges of this Kingdom forthwith to declare in Writing their Resolutions of and unto the ensuing questions and subscribe to the same 1. Whether the Judges of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of force in this Kingdom 2. Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgement or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases and whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit Judgement or Execution thereupon what punishment do they incurr for their deviation and transgression therein 3. Whether the King's Majesties Privy Councel either with the Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom or without him or them be a place of Judicature by the Common Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accounts Portions or Title of Lands or any of them and which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law and of what force are their Orders and Decree in such Cases or any of them 4. The like of the Chief Governours alone 5. Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended trangressions against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them 6. In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom and Councel may punish by Fine Imprisonment mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise and whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like Punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what Punishment do they incurr that Vote for the same 7. Of what force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberty Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether they or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by infringing any such Act of State Proclamation or both what Punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy-Councellors incurr that Vote for such Acts and Execution thereof 8. Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to Marshal Law and whether any man in time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be sentenced to Death If so by whom and in what Cases If not what Punishment do they incurr that in time of Peace execute Marshal Law 9. Whether voluntary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for affirmance or disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be Punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore 10. Why and by what Law and by what rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to reducement of Fines and other Penalty in the Castle-Chamber or Councel-Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is censured when as revera he might be innocent thereof though suborned Proofs or circumstances might induce a Censure 11. Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judge of Goal-delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny the Copies of Indictment of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to the Law 12. What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the respit of homage arbitrarily to what rate they please to what value they may raise it by what Law they may distinguish between the respit of homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are approportionable by Parliament 13. Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal unto his Majesty for redress of Injuries or for other lawful Actions if so why and in what condition of Persons and by what Law 14. Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de mero Jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so why and by what Law and whether the Confirmation of a Dean de facto of the Bishops grant be good and valid in Law or no if not by what Law 15. Whether the issuing of Quo warrantoes out of the Kings-Bench or Exchequer against Bourroughs that antiently and recently sent Burgesses to Parliament to shew cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament be legal if not what punishment ought to be inflicted upon those that are or have been the Occasioners Procurers and
Cahel mac Bryne Farrall APPENDIX VI. Fol. 65. By the Lords Justices and Councel W. Parsons Jo. Borlasse IT is well known to all men but more particularly to his Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom who have all gathered plentiful and comfortable fruits of his Majesties blessed Government how abundantly careful his Majesty hath been in the whole course of his Government of the peace and safety of this his Kingdom and how graciously he hath laboured to derive to all his Subjects therein all those benefits and comforts which from a most gracious King could be conferred on his Subjects to make them a happy people whereof he hath given many great testimonies And as at all times he endeavoured to give them due contentment and satisfaction so even then whilst the Rebels now in Arms were conspiring mischief against Him and his Crown and Kingdom he was then exercising Acts of Grace and benignity towards them granting to his Subjects here the fulness of their own desires in all things so far as with Honour or Justice he possibly could and particularly when the Committees of both Houses of Parliament here this last Summer attended his Majesty in England at which time amongst many other things graciously assented to by Him he was content even with apparent loss and disadvantage to himself to depart with sundry his Rights of very great value which lawfully and justly he might have retained And as his continual goodness to his people and his Princely care of their prosperity and preservation shall to the unspeakable joy and comfort of all his good Subjects render him glorious to all Posterity so the wicked ingratitude and treacherous disloyaltie of those Rebels shall render them infamous to all Ages and utterly inexcusable even in the judgment of those who for any respect either formerly wished well to their persons or now pity them in their transgressions And although the said persons now in Rebellion were in no degree provoked by any just cause of publique grief received from his Majesty or his Ministers to undertake such desperate wickedness neither can justly assign any severity or rigour in the execution of those Laws which are in force in this Kingdom against Papists nor indeed any cause at all other then the unnatural hatred which those persons in Rebellion do bear the Brittish and Protestants whom they desire and publickly profess to root out from amongst them The more strange in that very many of themselves are descended of English whence is the original and foundation of all their Estates and those great benefits which they have hitherto enjoyed and whence their Predecessors and others then well affected in this Kingdom have been at all times since the Conquest cherished relieved countenanced and supported against the ancient Enemies of the Kings people of England many of the Irish also having received their Estates and livelyhood from the unexampled bounty and goodness of the Kings of England Yet such is their inbred ingratitude and disloyaltie as they conspired to massacre Us the Lords Justices and Councel and all the Brittish and Protestants universally throughout this Kingdom and to seize into their hands not only his Majesties Castle of Dublin the principal Fort in this Kingdom but also all other the fortifications thereof though by the infinite goodness and mercy of God those wicked and devillish Conspiracies were brought to light and some of the Principal Conspirators imprisoned in his Majesties Castle of Dublin by Us by his Majesties Authority so as those wicked and damnable plots are disappointed in the chief parts thereof His Majesties said Castle of Dublin and City of Dublin being preserved and put into such a condition of strength as if any of them or their Adherents shall presume to make any attempt thereupon they shall God willing receive that correction shame confusion and destruction which is due to their treacherous and detestable disloyaltie And in pursuit of their bloody intentions they assembled themselves in Arms in hostile manner with Banners displayed surprised divers of his Majesties Forts and Garrisons possessed themselves thereof robbed and spoiled many thousands of his Majesties good Subjects Brittish and Protestants of all their Goods dispossessed them of their Houses and Lands murthered many of them upon the place stripped naked many others of them and so exposed them to nakedness cold and famine as they thereof died imprisoned many others some of them persons of eminent quality laid Siege to divers of his Majesties Forts and Towns yet in his Majesties hands and committed many other barbarous cruelties and execrable inhumanities upon the Persons and Estates of the Brittish and Protestant Subjects of the Kingdom without regard of quality age or sex And to cover their wickedness in those cruel Acts so to deceive the World and to make way if they could to the effecting of their mischievous ends they add yet to their wickedness a further degree of impiety pretending outwardly that what they do is for the maintenance and advancement of the King's Prerogative whereas it appears manifestly that their aims and purposes inwardly are if it were possible for them so to do to wrest from him his Royal Crown and Scepter and his just Soveraignty over this Kingdom and Nation and to deprive him and his lawful Ministers of all Authority and Power here and to place it on such persons as they think fit which can no way stand with his Majesties just Prerogative nor can any equal-minded man be seduced to believe that they can wish well to his Royal Person or any thing that is his who in their actions have expressed such unheard-of hatred malice and scorn of the Brittish Nation as they have done And such is their madness as they consider not that his Sacred Majesty disdains to have his Name or Power so boldly traduced by such wicked malefactors Rebels having never in any Age been esteemed fit supporters of the King's Prerogative much less these who under countenance thereof labour to deface and shake off his Government and extirp his most loyal and faithful Subjects of his other Kingdoms and here whose preservation above all earthly things is and always hath been his Majesties principal study and endeavour which even these Traytors themselves have abundantly found with comfort if they could have been sensible of it And whereas divers Lords and Gentlemen of the English Pale preferred petition unto Us in the behalf of themselves and the rest of the Pale and other the old English of this Kingdom shewing that whereas a late conspiracy of Treason was discovered of ill-affected persons of the old Irish and that thereupon Proclamation was published by Us wherein among other things it was declared that the said Conspiracy was perpetrated by Irish Papists without distinction of any and they doubting that by those general words of Irish Papists they might seem to be involved though they declared themselves confident that we did not intend to include them therein in regard they alleadged they were
the Mote in the County of Lonford William Farrall of Ballingtobber in the said County James mac Conell Farrall of Tenelecke in the said County Oliver Boy Fitz-Gerrald in the said County Pierse Fitz-Gerald of Ballysonan in the said County of Kildare Maurice Eustace of Castle-Martin in the said County Nicholas Sutton of Tipper in the said County Roger alias Rory O More of Ballynah in the said County William Fitz-Gerrald of Blackhall in the said County Robert Preston Brother to the Lord Viscount Gormastown James Flemen late of Slane in the County of Meath Brother to the Lord Baron of Slane Patrick Cusack of Gerrards-Town in the said County Edward Betagh of Monalty in the said County Gerrald Leins of the Knock in the said County Luke Netervill of Corballies in the County of Dublin Son to the Lord Viscount Netervill George King of Clontarfe in the said County Richard Barnewall of Lespopel in the said County Colonel Richard Plunkett late of Dunsoghlie in the said County Matthew Talbot late of Kilgobban in the said County John Stanley of Mallets-Town alias Marletts-Town in the said County of Lowth John Bellew of Willets-Town in the said County Christopher Barnewall of Rathaskett alias Rathasker in the said County and Oliver Cashell of Dundalk in the said County Instead of that Duty and Loyalty which His Majesties good and gracious Government might justly have wrought in them have returned nothing but those fruits of Treason and Rebellion to the disturbance of the publick Peace and happiness of this Kingdom and to the destruction as much as in them lay of this State and Government and of the Persons and Estates of many thousands of His Majesties good and faithful Subjects therein whereby they have shewed themselves to be most ungrateful detestable vile and unnatural Traytors and Rebells We therefore according to the custome of this Council-Board in cases of this nature though no former Rebellion can parrallel this for acts of Cruelty and horrid Crimes do by this present Proclamation in His Majesties Name and by his Majesties Authority Declare Publish and Proclaim them the said Sir Con Magenis Patric mac Cartan Art oge mac Glasny Magenis Ever mac Phelim Magenis Rory mac Brien oge Magènis Phillip mac Hugh mac Shane O Rely Phillip mac Mulmorry O Rely Mulmorry mac Edmond O Rely Hugh Boy mac Shane O Rely Owen mac Shane mac Phillip O Rely Rory Magwire Donogh Bane Magwire Brian mac Cowcannaght Magwire Sir Phelim O Neale Tirlagh Roe O Neale Tirlagh Groom O Quin Cormock mac Owin O Hagan Patrick Modder O Donnelly Art mac Tirlagh mac Henry O Neale Tirlagh mac Henry mac Tirlagh O Neale Hugh oge O Neale Donnogh oge O Murchie Collo mac Brien mac Mahowne Neale mac Kena Coolo mac Ever mac Mahowne Art Roe mac Patrick Art Moile mac Mahowne Captain Hugh mac Phelim Birne Shane mac Brien mac Phelim Birne Luke alias Feogh O Toole Luke alias Feogh mac Redmond Birne Redmond mac Feogh Birne Phelim mac Redmond Birne Dermot mac Dowlin Cavenagh Lewis alias Lisagh mac Owny Dempsie Art O Molloy Hubert Fox Owen O Molloy Florence mac Shane Fitz-Patrick Barnabie Dempsie Daniel Doine Barnabie Fitz-Patrick James mac Fergus mac Donell Francis mac Faghny O Farrall Will. Farrall James Conell Farrall Oliver Boy Fitz-Gerrald Pierse Fitz-Gerald Maurice Eustace Nich Sutton Roger alias Rory O More Will. Fiz-Gerald Robert Preston James Fleming Patrick Cusake Edw. Betagh Gerald Leins Luke Netervill George King Richard Barnewall Colonel Richard Plunkett Matthew Talbot John Stanley John Bellew Christopher Barnewall and Oliver Cashel and every of them and all their and every of their partakers aiders maintainers comforters confederates complices and associates apparent notorious ungrateful wicked vile and unnatural Traitors and Rebels against our most gracious Soveraign Lord Charles by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. His Royal Crown and Dignity of of this Realm and malitious oppugners of His Majesties Royal Soveraignty Preheminences and Prerogatives willing therefore requiring warranting and authorizing all His Majesties good and loving Subjects to pursue and plague with Fire and Sword apprehend destroy and kill by all the ways and means they may all the said persons their partakers aiders maintainers comforters confederates complices and associates as apparent notorious ungrateful wicked vile detestable and unatural Traitors and Rebels And we do hereby make known to all men as well good Subjects as all others that whatsoever he or they be that shall betwixt this and the five and twentieth day of March next kill and bring or cause to be killed and brought unto Us the Lords Justices or other chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom for the time being the head of the said Sir Phelim O Neal or of the said Sir Con Magenis or of the said Rory Magwire or of the said Phillip mac Hugh mac Shane O Rely or of the said Collo mac Brien mac Mahon who who were of the Principal Conspirators and have been the first and principal Actors in this present Rebellion he or they shall have by way of reward for every of the said last named persons so by him to be killed and his or their head or heads brought to Us the Lords Justices or other chief Governor or Governours of this Kingdom as aforesaid as followeth viz. for the head of the said Sir Phelim O Neal one thousand pounds for the head of the said Sir Con Magennis six hundred pounds for the head of the said Rory Magwire six hundred pounds for the head of the said Phillip mac Hugh mac Shane O Rely six hundred pounds for the head of the said Collo mac Brian mac Mahon six hundred pounds and Pardon for all his or their offences that shall kill and so bring in or cause to be killed and so brought in the said head or heads And whosoever shall within the mean time by any means slay or kill as aforesaid the said Sir Phelim O Neale Sir Con Magenis Rory Magwire Phillip mac Hugh mac Shane O Rely and Collo mac Brian mac Mahone or any of them though such person or persons so slaying or killing the said Traitors or any of them bring not or cause not to be brought to Us the Lords Justices or other chief Governor or Governours of this Kingdom the head or heads of the said Traitor or Traitors yet being justly proved shall forthwith upon proof so made receive the reward for the said Sir Phelim O Neal eight hundred pounds for the said Sir Con Magenis four hundred pounds for the said Rory Magwire four hundred pounds and for the said Phillip mac Hugh mac Shane O Rely four hundred pounds for the said Collo mac Brien mac Mahowne four hundred pounds and pardon for all his or their offences that shall kill the said last mentioned persons or any of them And forasmuch as the other Rebells above named have
contrary to the Liberty and Freedom of the Subject to be by any such Oath or Covenant pre-engaged And for that the setting on foot at this time in this Kingdom the said League or Covenant without His Majesties Allowance may not only beget much distraction and unquietness amongst His Majesties good Subjects but also may prove very penal to all those who shall presume to tender or take the same We therefore for prevention of such mischiefs do in His Majesties Name strictly charge and command all His Majesties good Subjects of what degree or quality soever within this Kingdom upon their Allegiance to His Majesties that they presume not to enter into or take the said League Covenant or Oath And we do likewise inhibit and forbid all His Majesties Subjects in this Kingdom to impose administer or tender the said League Oath or Covenant And if notwithstanding this our Proclamation any person shall presume to impose tender or take the said League Oath or Covenant We shall proceed against him or them with all severity according to the known Laws of the Land Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 18. day of Decemb. 1643. Ri. Bolton Canc. La. Dublin Ormonde Roscomon Edw. Brabazon Ant. Midensis Cha. Lambart Geo. Shurley Gerrard Lowther Tho. Rotherham Fra. Willoughby Tho. Lucas Ja. Ware G. Wentworth GOD SAVE THE KING APPENDIX XI Fol. 141. The Copy of a Letter written by direction of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament Assembled to several Commanders and Officers of his Majesties Army and others in the Kingdom of Ireland AFter our very hearty Commendations The Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament in this His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland have commanded us to signifie unto you that they have lately seen a Printed Paper intituled a solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and defence of Religion the honour and happiness of the King and the Peace and safety of the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which seems to have been Printed at London on the ninth day of October 1643. That they have also seen a Printed Proclamation dated the eighteenth day of December last and set out by the Right Honourable the late Lords Justices and Council expressing diverse great and Weighty Reasons against the said League and Covenant and therefore Commanding all his Majesties good Subjects of what Degree or Quality soever within this Kingdom upon their Allegiance to his Majesty That they presume not to enter into or take the said League Covenant or Oath and inhibiting and forbidding all His Majesties Subjects in this Kingdom to impose administer or tender the said League Oath or Covenant That upon serious debate and consideration taken by the Lords and Commons of the said League and Covenant and Proclamation They find the said Proclamation to have been set out with great Wisdom and Reason and do highly Commend the Judgement of the said Lords Justices and Council therein and as both Houses do fully concurr therein in all the parts thereof So they have expresly Commanded us to signifie the same unto you and in their names to let you know That it is their express Pleasure that you and all the Commanders Officers and Souldiers of His Majesties Army and all others His Majesties Subjects in this Kingdom whom it may concern do render all due Obedience and Observation to the said Proclamation in all the parts thereof And this being to no ther end We remain Your very Loving Friends Ri. Bolton Canc. Maur. Eustace Speaker of the House of Commons Dublin Castle xviii die April Anno Dom. 1644. Fol. 142. There is mention made of the Protestants Arrival at Oxford where they deliver'd to his Majesty this Petition To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of divers of your Majesties Protestant Subjects in your Kingdom of Ireland as well Commanders of Your Majesties Army here as others whose Names are subscrib'd in the behalf of themselves and other Your Protestant Subjects in this Your Kingdom Sheweth THAT this Your Highness Kingdom reduced with the vast Expence of Treasure and much effusion of British blood to the obedience of the Imperial Crown of England hath been by the Princely care of your Royal Progenitors especially of Queen Elizabeth and of Your Royal Father of ever blessed Memory and your Sacred Majesty in many parts happily planted great sums of Moneys disbursed in Buildings and Improvements Churches edified and endowed and frequented with multitudes of good Protestants and your yearly Customs and Revenues rais'd to great yearly sums by the industry of your Protestant Subjects especially and great sums of Money by way of Subsidies and Contributions chearfully paid unto your Majesty by your said Subjects In which happiness this your Kingdom hath flourished in a long-continued Peace and under your Highness most glorious and happy Government until that by the present general Conspiracy and Rebellion rais'd out of Detestation of Your blessed Government and for rooting out of the Protestant Religion and so for the dispossessing of Your Majesty of this Your said Kingdom without the least occasion offered by Your Majesty or Your Protestant Subjects And notwithstanding that Your Majesty immediately before had enlarg'd beyond president Your Royal favour and bounty to them in granting all that their and our joint Agents did desire of Your Majesty And we continuing amongst them in all Love and Amity without distrust Your Petitioners and others who labour'd to oppose those damnable Designs and Practices have been driven from their Dwellings Estates and Fortunes their Houses and Churches burnt and demolished All Monuments of Civility utterly defaced Your Majesties Forts and places of strength thrown down and the Common and Statute-Laws of this Your Kingdom utterly confounded by taking upon themselves the exercise of all manner of Authorities and Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical and Civil both by Sea and Land proper and peculiar to Your Sacred Majesty being Your just Prerogatives and the Royal Flowers of Your Imperial Diadem to the Disherison of Your Crown and Your Royal Revenues brought to nothing and the Protestant Clergy with their Revenues and support for the present destroyed This Your Kingdom in all parts formerly inhabited with Brittish Protestants now depopulated of them and many thousands of Your Protestant Subjects most barbarously used stripped naked tortur'd famish'd hang'd buried alive drown'd and otherwise by all barbarous cruel sorts of Death murther'd such as yet remain of them are reduced to that extremity that very few of them have wherewithal to maintain a Being and all of them so terrified and afflicted with those barbarous and inhuman cruelties the true report whereof being now spread abroad into the Christian World Your Suppliants conceive fears that Your Majesties Brittish Subjects will be discouraged from coming again to inhabit this Kingdom and the remnant of what is left will be forced to depart All this being done by the Conspiracy of the Papists who did publickly declare the utter extirpation of the
Protestant Religion and all the Brittish Professors thereof out of this Your Majesties Kingdom And to the end it may the better in some measure appear Your Suppliants have made choice of Captain William Ridgeway Sir Francis Hamilton Knight and Baronet Captain Michael Jones and Mr. Fenton Parsons whom they have employed and authorized as their Agents to manifest the truth thereof in such Particulars as for the present they are furnish'd withal referring the more ample manifestation thereof to the said Captain William Ridgeway Sir Francis Hamilton Captain Jones and Fenton Parsons or any three or more of them and such other Agents as shall with all convenient speed be sent as occasion shall require to attend Your Majesty from Your Protestant Subjects of the several Provinces of this Your Kingdom VVe therefore Your Majesties most humble loyal and obedient Protestant-Subjects casting down our selves at Your Royal feet and flying to You for succour and redress in these our great Calamities as our most gracious Soveraign Lord and King and next and immediately under Almighty God our Protector and Defence most humbly beseeching Your Sacred Majesty to admit into Your Royal Presence from time to time our said Agents and in Your great VVisdom to take into Your Princely Care and Consideration the distressed Estate and humble desires of Your said Subjects so that to the Glory of God Your Majesties Honour and the happiness of Your good Subjects the Protestant Religion may be restored throughout the whole Kingdom to its lustre that the losses of Your Protestant Subjects may be repaired in such manner and measure as Your Majesty in Your Princely VVisdom shall think fit and that this Your Kingdom may be setled as that Your said Protestant Subjects may hereafter live therein under the happy Government of Your Majesty and Your Royal Posterity with comfort and security whereby Your Majesty will render Your self through the whole VVorld a most just and Glorious Defender of the Protestant Religion and draw down a Blessing on all other Your Royal Undertakings for which Your Petitioners will ever pray c. Subscribed by the Earl of Kildare Lord Viscount Montgomery Lord Blany and many others To which they received this Answer by His Majesties Command At Our Court at Oxford the 25th of April 1644. His Majesty being very sensible of the Petitioners Losses and sufferings is ready to hear and relieve them as the Exigencie 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 Edw. Nicholas Upon the reading of the Petition His Majesty was pleased to say That He knew the Contents of the Petition to be Truth APPENDIX XII Fol. 142. The Propositions of the Roman Catholicks of Ireland humbly presented to His Sacred Majesty in pursuance of their Remonstrance of Grievances and to be annexed to the said Remonstrance together with the humble Answer of the Agents for the Protestants of Ireland to the said Propositions made in pursuance of Your Majesties directions of the 9th of May 1644. requiring the same 1. Pro. 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 Catholicks within the Kingdom of Ireland may be repealed and the said Catholicks to be allowed the freedom of the Roman Catholick Religion Answ. To the first we say that this hath been the pretence of almost all those who have entred into Rebellion in the Kingdom of Ireland at any time since the Reformation of Religion there which was setled by Acts of Parliament above eighty years since and hath wrought good effects ever since for the peace and welfare both of the Church and Kingdom there and of the Church and Kingdom of England and Protestant party throughout all Christendom and so hath been found wholesom and necessary by long experience and the repealing of those Laws will set up Popery again both in Jurisdiction profession and practice as that was before the said Reformation and introduce among other 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 17th year of Your Raign touching punishments to be inflicted upon those that shall introduce the Authority of the See of Rome in any Cause whatsoever 2. Pro. 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 10th year of King Hen. 7. called Poyning's Acts explaining or enlarging the same be suspended during that Parliament for the speedy settlement of the present Affairs and the repeal thereof be there further considered of Answ. VVhereas 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 present 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 dismissed 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 terrour 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
Treason done in this Rebellion may be establish'd and confirm'd by Act of Parliament to be in due form of Law transmitted and passed in Ireland and that such Traitors as for want of Protestant and indifferent Jurors to indict them in the proper County are not yet indicted nor convicted or attainted by Outlawry or otherwise may upon due proof of their offences be by like Acts of Parliament convicted and attainted and all such offenders forfeit their Estates as to Law appertaineth and Your Majesty to be adjudged and put in possession without any Office or Inquisition to be had 18. That Your Majesties Protestant Subjects may be restored to the quiet Possession of all their Castles Houses Mannors Lands Tenements Hereditaments and Leases and to the quiet possession of the Rents thereof as they had the same before and at the time of the breaking forth of this Rebellion and from whence without due Process and Judgment of Law they have since then been put or kept out and may be answer'd of and for all the Mean Profits of the same in the interim and for all the time until they shall be so restored 19. That Your Majesties said Protestant Subjects may also be restor'd to all their Moneys Plate Jewels Houshold-stuff Goods and Chattels whatsoever which without due Process or Judgment in Law have been by the said Confederates taken or detain'd from them since the contriving of the said Rebellion which may be gain'd in kind or the full value thereof if the same may not be had in kind and the like restitution to be made for all such things which during the said time have been deliver'd to any person or persons of the said Confederates in trust to be kept or preserv'd but are by colour thereof still withholden 20. That the establishment and maintenance of a compleat Protestant-Army and sufficient Protestant-Souldiers and Forces for the time to come be speedily taken into Your Majesties prudent just and gracious Consideration and such a course laid down and continued according to the Rules of good Government that Your Majesties Right and Laws the Protestant Religion and peace of that Kingdom be no more endanger'd by the like Rebellions in time to come 21. That whereas it appeareth in Print that the said Confederates amongst other things aim at the repeal of Poyning's Law thereby to open an easie and ready way in the passing of Acts of Parliament in Ireland without having them first well consider'd of in England which may produce many dangerous Consequences both to that Kingdom and to Your Majesties other Dominions Your Majesty would be pleased to resent and reject all Propositions tending to introduce so great a diminution of Your Royal and necessary Power for the confirmation of your Royal Estate and protection of Your good Protestant Subjects both there and elsewhere 22. That Your Majesty out of Your grace and favour to your Protestant Subjects of Ireland would be pleased to consider effectually of answering them that you will not give order for or allow of the transmitting into Ireland any Act of general Oblivion Release or discharge of Actions or Suits whereby Your Majesties said Protestant Subjects there may be barred or depriv'd of their Legal Remedies which by Your Majesties Laws and Statutes of that Kingdom they may have against the said Confederates or any of them or any of their party for or in respect of any wrongs done unto them or any of their Ancestors or Predecessors in or concerning their Lives Liberties Persons Lands Goods or Estates since the contriving and breaking forth of the said Rebellion 23. That some fit course may be consider'd of to prevent the filling or over-laying of the Commons House of Parliament in Ireland with Popish Recusants being ill-affected Members and that provision be duly made that none shall Vote or sit therein but such as shall first take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy 24. That the proofs and manifestations of the truth of the several matters contain'd in the Petition of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects of Ireland lately presented to Your Majesty may be duly examined discussed and in that respect the final Conclusion of things respited for a convenient time their Agents being ready to attend with Proofs in that behalf as your Majesty shall appoint In answer wereunto it was replied by the Committee of Lords and others of Irish affaires at Oxford 1. That their Lordships did not think that the Propositions presented by the Protestant Agents to his Majesty and that morning read before their Lordships were the sence of the Protestants of Ireland 2. That those Propositions were not agreeable to the Instructions given the said Agents by the Protestants of Ireland 3. That if those Propositions were drawn they would lay a prejudice on his Majesty and his Ministers to Posterity these remaining on Record if a Treaty should go on and Peace follow which the Kings necessity did enforce and that the Lords of the Committee apprehended the said Agents did flatly oppose a Peace with the Irish. 4. That it would be impossible for the King to grant the Protestants Agents desires and grant a Peace to the Irish. 5. That the Lords of the Committee desired the Protestant Agents to propose a way to effect their desires either by Force or Treaty considering the condition of his Majesties Affaires in England To the first the Protestant Agents replied that they humbly conceived that the Propositions which they had presented to his Majesty were the sence of of the Protestants of Ireland To the Second That the Propositions are agreeable to the Instructions given to the said Agents by the Protestants of Ireland and conduced to the well settlement of that Kingdom To the Third That they had no thought to draw prejudice on his Majesty or their Lordships by putting in those Propositions neither had they so soon put in Propositions had not his Majesty by his Answer to the Protestant Petition directed the same To the Fourth The said Agents humbly conceived that they were imployed to make proof of the effect of the Protestant Petition to manifest the inhumane Cruelties of the Rebels and then to offer such things as they thought fit for the Security of the Protestants in in their Religion Lives Liberties and Fortunes That the said Protestants had no disaffection to Peace so as punishment might be inflicted according to Law as in the Propositions are expressed and that the said Protestants might be repaired for their great losses out of the Estates of the Rebels not formerly by any Acts of this present Parliament in England otherwise disposed of which the said Agents desired might be represented to his Majesty and the Lords of the Committee accordingly To the Fifth That the said Protestant Agents were Strangers to his Majesties Affairs in England and conceived that part more proper for the advice of his Councils then the said Agents and therefore desired to be excused for medling in the treaty further then the
might have been offered with Respect to the Lord Lieutenant insolently published an Excommunication A malicious Declaration from the Bishops of Jamestown with Animadversions thereupon * In that Walsh is at large in his Append. of Instruments Fol. 99. The obstinate obedience of the People to the Clergy and the miserable result thereupon Upon the Excommunication People being absolved from the Lord Lieutenant think of agreeing with the Parliamentarians The Bishop of Clonfert and Dr. Kelly's Letter to the Officers of the Army giving them reasons why the Excommunication should be suspended His Majesties Declaration beingthen in Scotland against the Peace of 1648 concluded with the Rebels they being infamous August 12. The Lord Lieutenant upon the certainty of the Kings Declaration summons an Assembly at Loghreogh to clear the doubts arising on the King's Declaration The Commissioners reply to the Lord Lieutenant's preceding Letter The Commissioners of Trust go to the Committee of the Congregation at Galway but could not reduce them to reason The Bishops grew high alledging the Lord Lieutenant had suggested the grounds for his Majesties late Declaration Motions to return to their former Confederacy The Committee's Reasons why they pursued their Declaration against the Lord Lieutenant c. and his reply The Confederates violent for an Assembly that their Affairs might be ordered by them After all the Confederates agree that if compounding with the Enemy should be best for the People that should be consented to The Assembly at Loghreogh before-mention'd meets the Result thereupon Though the Lord Lieutenant had been so used as not to be confident of the Confederates obedience to his Majesty's Authority he yet at their Request deputes the Marquess of Clanrickard Deputy at the same time charging their Crimes home The Lord Lieutenant departs the Kingdom Lord Inchiquin c. The Condition the Confederates were in when the Marquess of Clanrickard accepts of the Government The Confederates notwithstanding the good Condition they were in and their Promises to the Deputy think of treating with Ireton Vide Carue Annal. Hib. p. 339. Others offer to return to their Confederacy without respect to the King Some yet seem'd affectionate to the King Ireton's Service from Kilkenny Finagh taken by Colonel Huson Sir Theophilus Jones's excellent Service 1651. Ireton sits down before Limerick The Lord Broghil routs the Lord Muskery coming to relieve Limerick The Marquess of Clanrickard thought to have engaged Sir Charles Coot but by a misfortune on the Earl of Castlehaven's men he and his Army were scattered The Lord Taaff intended to have gone to the King but being prevented enters into a Treaty with the Duke of Lorraign The Duke of Lorraign's Agent lands The Lord Deputy impowers a Committee to treat with Lorraign's Agent The Deputies honourable Reply to the Agent * Sir Nicholas Plunket Jeffrey Brown Esquires * Nicholas French Part of the Bishop of Fern's insolent Letter against the Lord Deputy * Which was part of that Letter mentioned before giving his Character of the Lord Deputy The Confederates cherish'd in a good opinion of the Independents Frier Geoghehan's carriage against the State Hugh O Neal M. G. Patrick Purcel David Roch Sir Richard Everard the Bishops of Limerick and Emly Frier Wolf Dominick Fanning Alderman Thomas Strick c. Ludlow made Commander in Chief on Ireton's death Hist. nostr Temp p. 348. .1 ☜ .2 ☜ .3 ☜ .4 ☜ .5 ☜ .6 ☜ .7 ☜ .8 ☜ .1 ☜ 1 Joh. 3. 12. Jude ver 11. Matth. 23. Heb. 11. 4. Heb. 12. 24. ☞ 2. Gen. 9. 5. ☞ 3. ☞ 4. Exod. 21. 12 24. Levit. 17. Numb 35. Numb 35. 31. Ver. 33. Deut. 19. 21. 1 Sam. 15. 32. Chap. 15. 3. 1 Sam. 11. 15. 2 Sam. 12. 9 10. 1 Kings 2. 5. 2 Sam. 20. 10. ☞ 5. Matth. 5. 18. ☞ 6. ☞ 7. ☞ 8. 1653. 1654. 1655. 1658. 1659. 1660. The Heirs of Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Sir Robert Talbot Baronet The Heirs of Sir Valentine Blake Baronet Sir Richard Blake Knight Doctor Gerrald Fennel Geffrey Brown John Brown of the Neal. John Walsh Thomas Terril Edmund Dillon John Talbot of Mallahide Francis Coghlan of Kilcolgan in the Kings County Robert Nugent of Cartlanstown Sir John Bourk of Derry Maclaghney Thomas Arthur Esquire Doctor in Physick Gerrald Flemming of Castle Flemming Luke Bath of Ackarn Burtholomew Stackpoole Esquires * At the passing of which Act his Grace the Duke of Ormond enlarg'd so well and elegantly on the Subject as his Speech cannot be ommitted without a blemish to the History Appendix 15. Declaration on the 1st Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 2d Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 3d Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 5th Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 5th Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 6th Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 7th Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 8th Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 9th Quaere Voted upon Question Declaration on the 10th Qu. Voted upon Question Declaration on the 11th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 12th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 13th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 14th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 15th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 16th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 17th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 18th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 19th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 20th Quaer Voted upon Question Declaration on the 21th Quaer Voted upon Question * mentioned sol 82. * The Rebels Remonstrance here mention'd as the Answer to it in the shuffling of Papers are unhappily lost though the one was not more insolent then the other resolute and loyal * Fol. 142. ** Since printed by Husbands 1644. entituled The false and scandalous Remonstrance c. Answered which though humbly desired and fled to upon all occasions was not read p. 114. Fol. 144. Anno Regni Car. 2di 14. die 27. Sep. 1662. * Fol. 61. * In his Declaration for the settlement of Ireland fol. 10. * Which being given in writing the Copies cannot be recovered though the main of what is there insisted on is here repeated ☞ Where by what was controverted by some as if the Reception of the English Articles abolish the Irish it was evident there was no such Intention * 30. of April 1642. mentioned fol. 77. * 342. * 344. Carul An. Hib. 314. Of which and the Consequences thereupon see Walsh f. 581. c. Where the Clergy especially Regullars opposed the Supream Authority of the Confederates Fol. 146. * Lord General Farrall vid. f. 230. putting by the Marquess of Ormond * In December 1649. in confidence of the weakness of his Forces and the wetness of the Season † August 20. 1652. * The Chief of every Sept who formerly at the beginning of each K. since the Conquest swore Allegiance
Manuscript whence I was supplied with much of the latter part of this History though a part of it was so weaved as if Justice could not have been done to some without mutchthing of others which we had reason to wave and if there be any obstinacy in that Particular we are ready to clear the truth In handling of which I have insisted on the Proceedings of the King and Parliament too long I suspect some will judge considering the diversity of the Subject but when it shall be weighed how jointly they were interessed in the prosecution of the War against the Irish and that the unfortunate difference betwixt them retarded the success in Ireland I fear not that any ingenious Person should esteem this addition Alien However the affections of the King whom some have traduced were so legible to chastise the Rebels as without injury to his Sacred Memory less could not be collected for Posterity least the Irish by their Pamphlets plentifully scattered at home and abroad should entitle the Parliament more then his Majesty to their just Correction The bleeding Iphigenia being forward to cast more upon a Malignant Part of the Council whom he would have the World believe misinform'd his Majesty then his Majesty of himself was really sensible of A Consideration so important as he abuses Posterity who delivers not the Truth intire And that we may yet further assume this Particular I must affirm That when the Confederates Agents insisted passionately why Ordinances of Parliament should be in force against them It was most judicially answer'd by the Committee then managing that Affair that the constitution of our Laws indeed receive their Essence from the Royal Assent but yet when they perus'd the Act 17. Car. 1. wherein a particular Trust is in an extraordinary and unusual manner devolv'd unto the Lords and Commons in Parliament It is possible that such Ordinance or Ordinances may equitably continue when others are justly laid aside And t is observable that during the time of the unhappy and unnatural War betwixt his late Majesty and his two Houses That his Majesty was so far from discountenancing any Ordinances or Proceedings of them in order to the War of Ireland that his Majesty in all his Condemnation of the Injustice of that War betwixt himself and them laid it as an aggravation of their Fault that by such Diversion his Protestant Subjects of Ireland the care of whom he had intrusted them withall were exposed to the Butchery and Rapine of their merciless Enemies Nor would his Majesty have charg'd them for not affording Protection to his said Subjects if the onely Mediums for effecting it viz. Their Ordinances had been unjust irregular or unreasonable as is evident in his Answer the 5. of May 1643. to a Bill brought him to Oxford by Commissioners for the Service of Ireland could they have secur'd the Ends his Majesty desir'd might be observ'd in that Bill I had thought for the fuller Illustration of the History to have inserted constantly the Articles on the delivery of each Place but finding those sometimes many I rather chose to exemplifie a few that thence the scope of the rest might be conceiv'd that which in the whole was most considerable was That none who Contrived the Rebellion or had a hand in the first years Murthers were ever to have any other Conditions then to be left to Justice It must be confessed I have missed it some times in the Synerisis as in such variety and confusion of Matter it is imposible to be exact But then considering that Relative Affairs are brought sooner under on Head The Descrepancy of the other may be better excused I shall find it a hard task to run the Gantlet for that several have in their Prints abroad vented already their venom not only as to what may skreen the Rebellion but on the proceedings of the State before So Carue in his Annals of Ireland 1603. insinuates That when King James had forgiven Tyrone he says Quidem sub specie observe the Rancour of the Author In Anglia omnia condonavit sed cum in Hiberniam rediisset ac Dublinium devenisset confestim omnis rei seriem Catastrophen in se molita percepit Then which a greater Calumny could not be cast upon a Prince imposing on the World a Belief That though in England he favour'd Tyrone yet clandestinely he took all advantages to undo him Which Tyrone perceiving Clanculò writes this Author In Ultoniam deinde desertis omnibus suis ditionibus in Galliam post vero in Flandriam demùm Romam perexit ubi ultimum diem vitae exul terminavit Whereas in truth going out again into Rebellion through his detestation of the English Government he was forced to sly being absolutely routed by the Kings Forces If I should plead for what my self apprehends amiss in this Work much more others I should too long fix the Reader here I shall therefore submit to the fate of Books liable to the Capacity of the Reader to whom I must affirm that if some of these Transactions had not been through the Providence and Integrity of a Reverend and eminent Person prevented to have fallen into his hands who if he plead not for it now was no mean Instrument of the Rebellion And that one under the Title of the bleeding Iphigenia a virulent and scurrilous Piece had not of late viz. 23. of December 1674. aspersed the State I should willingly have excused my self That Me dulcis saturet Quies Obscuro positus Loco Leni persruar Otio But considering what Glosses what Depravations of credible Witnesses and expurgation of their own what Evasions what leavings out and Insertions would have happen'd had this History in his hand proceeded I rather chose to expose my Weakness than leave Truths of this consequence nipt and sullied to Posterity not much valuing whose Teeth corrode most Truth being in its Lenith And truly when I consider how many are excellently skilled in Foraign Histories who scarce know our common occurrences at home I think their omission hardly pardonable A man as one well observes being most morally edified by reading such Men and Matters as are his own Contemporaries the Recitement of those things which come nearest to our times being of most force and efficacy to instruct and delight us A sence of which made a most Reverend and Intelligent Person some months since so apprehensive of this Story to be necessarily writ that upon Discourse he professed his observing so little of it before became his wonder having satisfied himself as most do where the Concern touches the State not their Personal Interest with the bare sound of the thing rather then enquire into the Nature Growth and Virulency thereof the Commons crying loud which throughly considered is the import of the Nation Though when such designs are blasted as the present tremendous Plot against his Sacred Majesty and the constituted Government some often undervalue them as foolishly laid
a due obedience Yet after all having attended his Majesty at York and other Places as the Court mov'd for his Dispatch he came in Novem. to Chester in expectation of an easie remove thence into Ireland but falling indispos'd at Chester was commanded back to Oxford about the beginning of Ian. 1642. so as in conclusion he ever going never went His stay was at first resented by the King then the Parliament to evidence the truth he writes a Letter from York to the Earl of Northumberland which by Order of Parliament the 26th of Septemb. 1642. was printed wherein he writes That he besought his Majesty that he might not be staid at Court for that the Affairs of Ireland requir'd his speedy repair thither or at least that some Governour if he were not thought worthy of it should be presently sent into that Kingdom And upon the 21 of Septemb. he appear'd in Parliament informing the Houses That he could never since his first going to his Majesty get his Commission Seal'd till the 18th of Septemb. referring himself to the pleasure of the Houses whether they would dispatch him for Ireland or no. Whereupon the 1st of October following his Case was again debated and it was Voted for the future That the said Earl should not put in execution any Instructions from his Majesty concerning the Affairs in Ireland until such time as they should be made known and approved by them After which many things in his Instructions were debated and it being mov'd the 4th of Novemb. in a Conference of the Houses that he was ready to set forward for that Service he had his Dismiss So as I have said he came to Chester and was remanded back to Oxford the important Affairs of Ireland being in another Channel than as yet they appear'd visibly to run in Though it was a good while after before he had his discharge from that Employment being kept in suspence till others had perfected their Design by which there accrued to him a great Arrear somewhat consider'd in the Act of Settlement though short of what he was prejudic'd thereby Upon the Earl of Straffords quitting Ireland Christopher Wendesford Esq Master of the Rolls the 3d. of April 1640. was sworn Lord Deputy He managed the Government with much Policy advantage to his Majesty and faithfulness to his intimate Friend and Ally the Earl of Strafford adjourning the Parliament in November following somewhat to the dis-satisfaction of the Members who before their Dissolution made shift to form a Remonstrance against the Earl of Strafford which he would have prevented to have been sent for England could he as he endeavour'd have staid the Committee of the Parliament in Ireland from going over the greatest part of which were Papists which the Irish took as a good Omen But he being not able to hinder them they finding conveniences from every Port grew thereupon much discontented and having quick intelligence how affairs were carried against the Earl of Strafford He died the 3d. of December following betwixt whom even from their Youth there had been an especial intimacy nor did it afterwards grow cooler but more strengthned in Judgment After his decease Robert Lord Dillon of Kilkenny-West and Sir William Parsons Knight and Baronet Master of the Court of Wards Decemb. 30. were sworn Lords Justices But it was not long before the Committee of Ireland then at Court so prevail'd as that his Majesty displac'd the Lord Dillon a Person of notable Parts and one by his Son's Marriage with the Earl of Strafford's Sister passionately concern'd in the Earl's Case Yet lest the Execution of his Majesties Graces to his Subjects of Ireland obtain'd by their late Committee's sollicitation should be deferr'd till those who were design'd to succeed the Lord Dillon were in Office his Majesty was pleas'd to direct a Letter dated the 4th of Ianuary in the 16th year of his Reign to his Privy Council of Ireland and Sir William Parsons and Sir Iohn Borlase then design'd Justices to grant amongst other things that his Subsidies there should be reduced to a lesser rate than formerly and that all Letters directed to the Lord Deputy Justices Chief Governour or Governours or to any other Officers or Ministers of that Realm either concerning the publick Affairs or private Interests of any Subject there might be entred into his Signet-Office in England to the end that they might be upon occasion found to take Copies of for the Subjects better information in such publick things as may concern them as also that all Dispatches from Ireland should safely be kept apart that like recourse may be had to them for the better satisfaction of the Subject who shall be concern'd therein And whereas in the former Governour 's time there were endeavours to hinder some Agents of Parliament to have recourse into England his Majesty taking notice That for asmuch as the Committee of the Parliament of Ireland John Bellew Esq and Oliver Cassel with others employ'd thence have repair'd into his Kingdom of England to represent their Grievances He hath manifested his gracious condescensions to them admitting them into his Royal Presence forbidding his Counsellors in Ireland or any other Officers or Ministers of that State to proceed any ways against them or any of them for the same And that his Subjects shall have Copies of Records Certificates Orders of Council Publick Letters or other Entries for the Declaration of their Grievances made In grateful acknowledgment of which the Parliament then sitting the 10th of Febr. 1640. order'd That the said Letter should be forthwith Entr'd amongst the Ordinances and Records of that House So that if there had not been a general defection long anvil'd in the minds of that People the event of so unnatural and horrid a Rebellion as few months after happen'd could not have been the issue of such remarkable Condescensions The 10th of Febr. 1640. his Majesty instituted Sir William Parsons Master of the Court of Wards before mention'd long experienc'd in the Affairs of Ireland and Sir Iohn Borlase Knight Master of the Ordnance Lords Justices One well known to his Majesty by the Eminency of his Imployments abroad and the opinion He had of his integrity and skill in Military Affairs the Discipline of the Army having been ever under his Charge since his arrival there These writes an Honourable Person appli'd themselves with all manner of gentle Lenitives to mollifie the sharp humours rais'd by the rigid passages of the former Government They declar'd themselves against all such proceedings as they found any way varying from the Common Law They gave all due encouragement to the Parliament then sitting endeavouring the reasonable ease and contentment of the People freely assenting to all such Acts as really tended to the Legal Reformation They betook themselves wholly to the advice of the Council and caus'd all matters as well of the Crown as Popular Interests to be handled in his Majesties Courts of Justice no ways admitting
rest to disobedience that they adjudged them less worthy of favour than the others whom they had misguided And therefore for those principal Persons they required them to take care not to be too forward without first consulting the Counsel-board in proffering or promising mercy to those unless they the said Commissioners saw it of great and unavoidable necessity They likewise writ to the Lords Presidents of Munster and Connaght advising them to be upon their Guards And that several of the Catholick Communion might not say but that they also were confided in the Lords Justices who were willing to continue all proofs imaginable of their confidence in them gave in November several Commissions of Government to the Lord Gormanston in Meath the Lord Mountgarret in Kilkenny Nicholas Barnewell in Dublin Walter Bagnall in Caterlagh the Lord Lowth in Lowth Sir Thomas Nugent in Westmeath Sir Robert Talbot in Wickloe the two Sir Dillon's in Longford and several others as well in Munster as Connaght and Ulster who contrary to the trust reposed in them not forbore to protect or endeavour'd to reduce any but soon after joyn'd with the Rebels and prov'd as violent if not worse against the Protestants as those who first appear'd in the Rebellion And because the Times required something extraordinary beyond the course of Common-Law the Lords Justices and Councel gave several Commissions of Martial-Law to the prime Gentlemen of the Pale all Roman Catholicks as to Henry Talbot in the County of Dublin John Bellew Esq in the County of Lowth Richard Dalton and James Tuit Esq in the County of Westmeath Valerian Wesley in the County of Meath James Talbot in the County of Cavan And understanding of Sir O-Neal's proceedings in Ulster the only person remaining of nearest alliance to the Earl of Tyrone how that he had surprized Charlemont where the Lord Caufield lay with his Foot-Company afterwards basely butcher'd by him the Lords Justices endeavour'd to reduce many to their obedience But the root of their Design being deeplier laid than on threats or encouragements to frustrate their hopes the Lords Justices hourly endeavour'd to fortifie his Majesty's Interests wih the most powerful Forces they could raise But in the interim the Magistrates of the City of Dublin perceiving great numbers of Strangers to come to Town from several Parts lingring in the Suburbs and Fields to the terror of the Inhabitants they repair'd to the Councel Board with much fear and astonishment beseeching the Lords Justices and Councel to inhibit the same lest the concourse of people promiscuously gathering in such a crowd might threaten the security of the City Whereupon their Lordships considering somewhat more than ordinary must necessarily be done in such an exigence caus'd some to be apprehended and immediately publisht a Proclamation in his Majesty's Name commanding all Persons not Dwellers in the City and Suburbs to depart within an hour after publication thereof upon pain of death in the interim and afterwards receiving all who applied themselves to the Lords Justices with singular friendship and integrity But the Magistrates growing still jealous of the concourse of people applied themselves again to their former refuge Whereupon the State that the Inhabitants might receive no dis-encouragement who were like to bear the brunt of all Taxes Levies and Supplies the 28th of October publisht a Proclamation to the same intent with the former with the penalty of death to such as wilfully harbour'd them However the Insolencies of the Rebels threatning even Dublin it self most of the prime Gentry of the County Justices of Peace looking on in all places and giving way to those hateful actions the State having intelligence from Dr. Jones a Service very remarkable that during his imprisonment amongst the Rebels at Cavan which ripen'd his integrity highly improv'd to the Service of the State they intended to besiege Tredath the Lords Justices the better to divert them from Dublin appointed Sir Henry Tichborn Col. and Governour of that Town Sir Faithfull Fortescue the former Governour finding Supplies not hastned with that speed he desir'd having resign'd up his Commission not being willing to lose his Reputation though he was forward enough to hazard his Person So the Lords Justices designing the said Sir Hen. Tichborn a Company of Foot and to compleat his Regiment order'd Sir John Borlase Junior Capt. Lt. Col. Byron Capt. Lt. Col. Wenmond Capt. Who though they had been all in former Employments Field-Officers yet out of their zeal to the present Service came as private Captains Jacob Lovell Serjeant Major who died in the Siege Capt. Chichester Fortescue Capt. William Willoughby Capt. Edward Billingsley Capt. Lewis Owens Capt. John Morris to associate him These they sent from Dublin the 3d. of November who happily arriv'd at Tredath the 4th having been enabled thereunto by 3000 l. most opportunely in the hands of the Vice-Treasurer intended before the Rebellion for the satisfaction of a publick Engagement in England Besides these there was sent Troops under Capt. John Slaughter Lt. to Sir Thomas Lucas Commissary-General Thomas Greimes Lt. to Sir Adam Loftus besides others which in their due time may be taken notice of These being gone to Tredath Sir Charles Coote had a Commission for a Regiment of the poor stripped English so likewise had the Ld. Lambert A little while after arriv'd from England Sir Thomas Lucas who commanded a Troop compleated with such Men as he found there also Capt. Armstrong rais'd a Troop Capt. Tardner soon after landed Lt. to the Ld. Lieutenant's Troop all very considerable not long after Col. Crafford came over also and bringing with him Letters from the Prince Elector then attending his Majesty in Scotland also rais'd a Regiment of the Townsmen and the poor dispoil'd English The State at that time had store of Arms and Ammunition by which these Souldiers and the rest were seasonably furnisht though as I have took notice what in confidence of the Loyalty of the Pale the Lords Justices had furnish'd many of the Lords and Gentlemen of Quality with were either slenderly if ever restor'd or made serviceable against his Majesty Yet for all this the Outrages of the Rebels still increasing adding to their Cruelties a pretended Commission under the Great Seal of Scotland from the King bearing date at Edinburgh the first of October 1641. though in his Majesty's Declaration to the Parliament's Resolution of no further Addresses it appears That the Scot's Great Seal which is said thus to be made use of had for many months before and after that date never seal'd any thing of which notwithstanding Sir Phelim O Neal and Rorie Mac-Guire from the Camp at Newry the 4th of November following gave notice to their Confederates within the Kingdom of Ireland incloseing in their Letters a Copy of the Commission a Copy of which is extant but so improbable as it needs an expiation to mention it the Lord Mac-Guire equally privy to all Transactions
of the Lords seated in the House of Commons in an extraordinary manner undertook the charge and management thereof ordering at that time 500 l. in present for Owen O-Conally and 200 l. per annum till Lands of greater value could be order'd for him designing for the present Supplies of Ireland the sum of 50000 l. and had taken order for all Provisions necessary thereunto as by the Order of Parliament it appears An Order of the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament in England concerning Ireland THE Lords and Commons in this present Parliament being advertis'd of the dangerous Conspiracy and Rebellion in Ireland by the treacherous and wicked Instigations of Romish Priests and Jesuits for the bloody massacre and destruction of all Protestants living there and other his Majesty's loyal Subjects of English blood though of the Romish Religion being ancient Inhabitants within several Counties and Parts of that Realm who have always in former Rebellions given testimony of their fidelity to this Crown And for the utter depriving of his Royal Majesty and the Crown of England from the Government of that Kingdom under pretence of setting up the Popish Religion have thereupon taken into their serious Considerations how those mischievous Attempts might be most speedily and effectually prevented wherein the Honour Safety and Interest of this Kingdom are most nearly and fully concern'd Wherefore they do hereby declare That they do intend to serve his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes for the suppressing of this wicked Rebellion in such way as shall be thought most effectual by the Wisdom and Authority of the Parliament And thereupon have order'd and provided for a present Supply of Money and raising the number of 6000 Foot and 2000 Horse to be sent from England being the full proportion desired by the Lords Justices and his Majesty's Council resident in that Kingdom with a resolution to add such further Succours as the necessity of those Affairs shall require They have also resolv'd for providing Arms and Ammunition not only for those Men but likewise for his Majesty's faithful Subjects of that Kingdom with store of Victuals and other Necessaries as there shall be occasion And that these Provisions may more conveniently be transported thither they have appointed three several Ports of this Kingdom that is to say Bristol West-Chester and another in Cumberland where the Magazines and Store-houses shall be kept for the supply of the several Parts of Ireland They have likewise resolv'd to be humble Mediators to his most Excellent Majesty for the encouragement of the English or Irish who shall upon their own charges raise any number of Horse or Foot for his Service against the Rebels that they shall be honourably rewarded with Lands of Inheritance in Ireland according to their merit And for the better inducing of the Rebels to repent of their wicked Attempts they do hereby commend it to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or in his absence to the Deputy or Lords Justices there according to the power of the Commission granted to them in that behalf to bestow his Majesty's gracious Pardon to all such as within a convenient time to be declar'd by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or in his absence by the Lord Deputy or Lords Justices there according to the power of the Commission shall return to their due obedience the greatest part whereof they conceive to have been seduced on false grounds by the cunning and subtil practices of some of the most malignant Rebels enemies to this State and to the Reformed Religion and likewise to bestow such rewards as shall be thought fit and publisht by the said Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or Lords Justices and Council there upon all those who shall arrest the Persons or bring in the heads of such Traitors as shall be personally nam'd in any Proclamation publisht by the State there And they do hereby exhort and require all his Majesty's loving Subjects both in this and in that Kingdom to remember their duty and conscience to God and his Religion and the great and eminent danger which will befal this whole Kingdom in general and themselves in particular if this abominable Treason be not timely supprest and therefore with all readiness bounty and chearfulness to confer their assistance in their Persons or Estates to this so important and necessary Service for the common Good of all Jo. Browne Cleric Parliament And that the Army might be led by an honourable and promising Person the Lord Lieutenant being not permitted to come over speedily himself made the Earl of Ormond Lieutenant-General of the Army approved of afterwards by the King as one who by his Relation Integrity and Quality was pitch'd on as the fittest Person for that imployment of whose affection to the Protestant Religion and his Majesty's Service his Majesty had great cause to be assured Soon after his settlement in that Place he had notice from Sir Hen. Tichborn that the Rebels with 1300 Foot had sate down before Mellifont the 24th of November intending to surprize it but the Lord Moor whose House it was having plac'd 24 Musketeers and 15 Horsemen therein defended it with much resolution as long as their Powder lasted and at last the Foot yielded on Quarter the same day never observ'd by the Rebels but the Horse charged vigorously through the Enemy and came safe to Tredath This Siege of Mellifont somewhat retarded the Rebels unanimous approach to Tredath upon which the Lords Justices forthwith design'd 600 Foot and a Troop of Horse for the further strengthning of that Garrison They march'd from Dublin the 27th of November but under such a Conduct being newly rais'd and unexperienc'd that most unfortunately the Lord Gormanston's Groom giving intelligence of their approach to the Rebels not without his Lord's privity they were defeated the 29th of November near Julians-Towns at Gellingston-Bridge not above an hundred of the Men besides the Major that led them and two Foot-Captains escaping to Tredath This unhappy Defeat put such a disheartning on the State as it begat sad Suspicions who being surrounded with Rebels Sir Charles Coote the same day was commanded into Wickloe with such Forces as the State could then raise to relieve the Castle of Wickloe then besieged by the Rebels who some days before had with miserable slaughter and cruelty surpriz'd his Majesty's Forts of Cairis Fort Arkloe Fort Chichester Fort and all the Houses of the English in that County the Lord Esmond's House and the adjacent Parts of Wexford threatning to assault Dublin approaching within two miles thereof in actual Hostility Upon which Service Sir Charles Coote vigorously advanced and fought with the Rebels under the Command of Luke Toole conceiv'd to be a thousand strong himself not being many hundreds yet defeated them so shamefully as the terrour thereof rais'd a fear in the Rebels ever after of Sir Charles Coote who thenceforwards so well attended his Commands as to the Government of the City and
those who shall hereafter joyn with them or commit the like acts on any of our good Subjects in that Kingdom to be Rebels and Traitors against our Royal Person and Enemies to our Royal Crown of England and Ireland And we do hereby strictly Charge and Command all those Persons who have so presumed to rise in Arms against us and our Royal Authority which we cannot otherwise interpret than acts of high Rebellion and detestable Disloyalty when therein they spoil and destroy our good and loyal Subjects of the British Nation and Protestants that they immediately lay down their Arms and forbear any further acts of Hostility Wherein if they fail we do let them know that we have authorised our Justices of Ireland and other our Chief Governour or Governours and General or Lieutenant-General of our Army there and do hereby accordingly require and authorise them and every of them to prosecute the said Rebels and Traitors with Fire and Sword as Persons who by their high Disloyalty against us their lawful and undoubted King and Soveraign have made themselves unworthy of any Mercy or Favour Wherein our said Justices or other chief Governour or Governours and General or Lieutenant-General of our said Army shall be countenanc'd and supported by us and by our powerful Succours of our good Subjects of England and Scotland that so they may reduce to obedience those wicked disturbers of that Peace which by the blessing of God that Kingdom hath so long and so happily enjoy'd under the Government of our Royal Father and us And this our Royal pleasure we do hereby require our Justices or other chief Governour or Governours of that our Kingdom of Ireland to cause to be published and proclaim'd in and throughout our said Kingdom of Ireland Given under our Signet at our Palace at Westminster the 1st of January in the 17th year of our Reign 1641. Which coming forth so late and but 40 of them onely ordered to be Printed was by the Parliament in their Declaration of the 19th of May 1642. interpreted as a countenance to that Rebellion in answer whereunto his Majesty in his reply to that Declaration shews That the Proclamation not issuing out sooner was because the Lords Justices of that Kingdom desired them no sooner and when they did the number they desired was but twenty which they advised might be Signed by us which we for the expedition of that service commanded to be Printed a Circumstance not required by them thereupon we Sign'd more of them then our Justices desired And that it might further appear how deep a sense his Majesty had of the Rebellion which called upon Him and his People of England for a general Humiliation of all Estates before Almighty God in Prayer and Fasting for drawing down his Mercy and Blessing upon Ireland His Majesty was pleased by a Proclamation dated at Whitehall the 8th of January 1641. Straightly to Charge and Command That the last Wednesday of every Month during the troubles in Ireland a Solemn Fast should be observ'd through his Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales shewing in his own Person and the Court and example thereof which accordingly for some years was observ'd and considerable Collections were gathered at most Churches that day for the miserable People of Ireland Several but especially Sir Benjamin Rudyard excellently speaking on that Subject which being much in a little accept of in his own Words Mr. Speaker THis Day is appointed for a charitable Work a Work of Bowels and Compassion I pray God we may never have the like occasion to move to stir up our Charity These miserable People are made so because of their Religion He that will not suffer for his Religion is unworthy to be saved by it and he is unworthy to enjoy it that will not relieve those that suffer for it I did know but the last year here in England some and they no Papists who were resolv'd to make Ireland their Retreat as the safer Kingdom of the two We do now see a great a dismal Change God knows whose Turn shall be next it is wrapp'd up in his Providence that which happens to one Country may happen to any Time and Chance comes upon all though guided by a certain Hand The right way to make a Man truely sensible of another's Calamity is to think himself in the same case and condition and then to do as he would be done unto Wherefore Mr. Speaker let our Gift be a matter of Bounty not of Covetousness that it may abound to our Account in the Day of Reckoning He that sowes plentifully shall reap plentifully I am sure he that lends to the Lord hath the best Security and cannot be a loser The first President of the Fast before-mention'd which usher'd in the Charity that succeeded was before it came to be Monthly by the Lords House kept in the Abbey of Westminster where the Archbishop of York and the Lord Primate of Ireland preach'd to the Lords as in St. Margrets Westminster Mr. Calamy and Mr. Marshall to the House of Commons Though when his Majesty afterwards found by the ill use made thereof that the Lecturers in their Sermons and Prayers stir'd up and continued the War rais'd against Him in England the great Promoters too thereof deserting the Care of Ireland He the 6th of October 1643. forbad it to be kept and instead thereof expresly commanded a solemn Fast to be observ'd every second Friday of the Month through England and Wales But to return to the King's Proclamation against the Rebels which the bleeding Iphigenia and others of that lying Spirit would have to be grounded on the information of a malignant Part of the Council informing his Majesty that the Catholicks of Ireland without discrimination had enter'd into a Rebellion whereas there was never any such general Information Nay in all the Accounts they gave to his Majesty they still intimated that they hoped the Pale and other Parts would continue their Loyalty affording the Lords of the Pale as other Towns which afterwards shamefully revolted Arms Ammunition Commands informing his Majesty only of what they had discovered in the North with the suspicions that they had learnt on Examinations from others which would have been Treachery in them to have conceal'd and grand Disloyalty Nor doth his Majesty take notice in his Proclamation of any other than that divers lewd and wicked Persons had of late risen in Rebellion in his Kingdom of Ireland not so much therein as naming Papists or Catholicks that thence any of that profession should take Umbrage Nay so circumspect were the Lords Justices and Council at that time that they avoided all expressions which might any ways encourage the Irish to apprehend the English intended to make it a War of Religion However the Rebels were so far from paying obedience to his Majesty's Proclamation afore-mention'd saying it was counterfeit or done by Coertion as they acted now not as before apart but united in
hereby unanimously make this following Protestation and Oath and do enjoyn it to be taken by every Soldier and Inhabitant of this Town as the evidence of their Faith and Truth to the Kings Crown and Dignity which we shall maintain with our Lives and Estates and that such as shall refuse it be put out of the Gates The Oath I Shall to my uttermost endeavour the defence of this Town against all outward and inward Attempts whatsoever for his Majesties Service I shall forthwith discover any Plot Conspiracy or Combination which may or shall come to my knowledge from without or within which may any ways be intended to the prejudice of the whole Town or to the Person of the Mayor Governour Aldermen or any of the Captains or Officers Garrison'd in it I shall not attempt or consent that the Town shall be given upon any pretence or cause whatsoever without consent of the Governour Mayor and greater part of the Captains and Aldermen in it or without special Command from his Majesty or Chief Governour or Governours of the Kingdom All which I do hereby swear truly and faithfully to observe and keep without any fraud deceit or mental reservation whatsoever Notwithstanding which some who took it were afterwards perjur'd not without example and the Mayor and Aldermen refus'd it On St. Thomas Eve the Rebels being encourag'd from the Popish Inhabitants within about one of the Clock at night after a Watch-word approach'd the Walls with a terrible shout which the Governour answer'd from the Mount with a Canon continuing the same for some hours the Towns-men in the interim being upon pain of death commanded to keep within doors Towards morning the Rebels fled being pursued by our Bullets from all Quarters so that many dropt the numbers of their slain is not certain certainly many fell by that attempt of ours not one notwithstanding at St. John's Gate which was most naked and where Captain Morris excellently well perform'd his Command was the hottest work This deliverance was no sooner over but new Conspiracies were hatch'd in the Town a clandestine Oath being impos'd on some to seize on the Soldiers Arms as they were asleep and kill others in their beds happily discovered by a Priest not so bloody as the rest Yet necessities of all sorts as well for Beasts as Men grew so urgent that within few days no Enemy but those need to do execution In which extremity God was particularly flown to and even in the midst of their Devotion the 11th of January there came in from the State vigilant in whatsomever might concern them a Pinnace a Frigat a Gabbard with two Shalloops and a Vessel loaden with Bisket Powder and Ammunition whereby the Garrison was seasonably reliev'd in the midst of great extremities which at the first appearance the Towns-men well-wishers to the Rebels would needs have perswaded the Soldiers that they had been Ships from Spain in favour of the Rebels and appear'd chearful But the mercy proving otherwise the Soldiers grew hearty which without an especial providence might have prov'd their ruine for contrary to the Command of the Governour and his vigilance which was never more remarkable than then the Soldiers carous'd it too liberally being by the Friers themselves made to drink inasmuch as Sentinels from their Guards were drawn in So as the Rebels Jan. 12. by the help and treacherous intimation of their own within made a breach in the Wall about four in the morning at which many of their best Soldiers and Chief Commanders to the number of 500 enter'd unheard till having march'd as far as the Key they gave a shout which the Governour hearing instantly ran down unarm'd onely with his Pistols in his hands and was the first that caus'd a Drum to beat at which all was soon alarm'd and finding their Pikes to be short of ours by a yard we charg'd home and forc'd them to a retreat though they had o'r-turn'd a Drake of ours that lay there off its Carriage Soon came in my Lord Moor with 15 Horse all that could of a sudden be got ready with which and the rest that were now got together they quickly repuls'd them Sir John Borlase hasting so speedily undrest and with that courage to the Breach made by the Nunnery that his service there in falling upon the Enemy who fought it stoutly was very remarkable Here the Besieg'd kill'd many of the Rebels as well those as came near the Walls for the succour of those that first entred as they that Invaded it and great was the deliverance the Rebels Party within very considerable having their Doors mark'd with Chalk as a token to the Rebels should they have prevail'd The Besieged lost few if any Though the Pinnace on its return ran a ground upon which the Rebels plaid thick upon her from both sides the River desperately approaching her very Stern with Pick-axes and Crows of Iron at which Captain Stutfield Comptroler of the Ordnance an excellent Engineer a stout and daring Person presently threw some Granado's amongst them which did such execution as throughly frighted them yet chas'd them not away till the seventh was flung after which they parted but were so pursued by our Musket and Canon that many were slain After this Relief for some time Tredath enjoy'd reasonable Peace though at distance they had often alarms and within a fortnight what quantity of Bisket and Meal was brought to the Garrison was easily spent Famine Fluxes with other diseases return again in as much as diverse of the English Inhabitants especially such as had flown thither for relief died daily and now the Town was narrowly search'd for Provisions in which scrutiny the Friars against their vow of Poverty were found full of Trunks of Plate Money and other Treasure which they not owning being the Goods of the Rebels were equally distributed amongst the Garrison but could not supply the want of food which rais'd Mutinies speedily allayed by the Vigilance of the Governour However many English as well as Irish fled to the Rebels out of meer necessity In as much as Sir Phelim O-Neal writ into the North and gave it out amongst his Souldiers that he was certain of the sudden surrender of Tredath so as the Town being now driven to great streights the best expedient that could be thought of was to Man out a Boat for Dublin that the State might be rightly inform'd of its Condition in endeavouring which the Aldermen and Mariners of the Town seem'd very backwards till the Governour threatned to make some of the Aldermen themselves prove Mariners in that service whereupon at last men were found and Commissioners sent to the Lords Justices to inform them of the misery of the Town in which service Sir John Borlase Junior and others were imployed who having obtained some men and two Peeces of Battery return'd with a very satisfactory supply The same day they weighed Anchor for Dublin a part of the Garrison made a sally
any Levies he should make to that purpose Being loath saith his Majesty in his Solitudes to shoot at any mark here less than himself or that any should have the glory of his destruction but themselves Whilst at the same time his Majesties Subjects of Scotland in an Act of Council at Edinburgh the 22d of April following upon this occasion takes notice That there could be no greater demonstration of Care and Princely Courage than this his Majesties intention to go in Person into Ireland against the Rebels Upon the signification of which Royal Intent to the State there the Lords Justices and Council in a Letter to his Majesty the 23d of April 1642. taking notice of his Princely Purpose to take just vengeance on the perfidious Rebels humbly besought him to come so provided as to appear in that Kingdom suitable to the Greatness and Wisdom of so mighty a King Which Letter how finely soever it was covered went not in some mens opinion without a discouragement forasmuch as that though some at Court might conceive by his Majesties coming over a Peace might be made with the Irish when his Majesty pleas'd yet by taking in so base perfidious and barbarous a People who in so execrable a manner had cut off such multitudes of the English the event as was privately signifi'd by some could not redound to his Majesties Honour Besides the Soldiers were then grown so implacable to the Irish as they would scarce endure any ordinary Papist much less suffer a Rebel to be admitted amongst them After all his Majesties resolutions for Ireland were prevented not without several constructions as each Party apprehended the Scene Though his Majesty express'd that he would never refuse or be unwilling to venture his Person for the good and safety of his People yet he was not so weary of his life as to hazard it impertinently and therefore at present should desist However as yet the Protestant Army in Ireland being competently supplied the Rebels were frequently chastized To say truth after the raising of the Siege of Tredath and the consequences thereupon his Majesties Forces so enlarged their Quarters as no considerable Enemy save some Castles lay nearer Dublin than twenty miles on any side that now the Lords Justices thought it high time to provide for the safety of such places as lay more remote in the Countrey the English having in many Places upon the first rising of the Irish possess'd themselves of some Forces Strong Holds Towns and Castles which though very ill provided they did for many months yea some for years after the first breaking out of the Rebellion defend notwithstanding long Sieges multitudes of Rebels encompassing them and all means by Treachery Force or Famine experienc'd to draw them into their possession It will here take up too large a space in this Story where many considerable things may fall besides the Pen to recite the gallant actions perform'd by several private Persons in some inconsiderable in respect of Strength Places many Women shewing more courage constancy and resolution in the defence of what they were necessitated to than the Men without did in their undertakings against them Great were the Straits many of them were put unto enduring all manner of extremities subjecting themselves to all kind of dangers not daunted with the multitudes of Rebels that lay about them they in many places issued out and lived onely on the Spoils they took from them fighting continually for their daily bread which they never wanted as long as their Enemies had it The Rebels were so undextrous in the management of their Sieges as they took very few Places by force in all their Attempts whether by Mine Battery Assault they seldom prosper'd The great Engine whereby they master'd any Fort of the English was Treachery Offers of safe Conduct and other Conditions of Honour and Advantage which might induce the Besieged sometimes reduc'd to the utmost extremities to surrender their Places into their hand which though solemnly sworn and sign'd they yet seldom or never kept but left several Places as Monuments of their Treachery and Infidelity using those who surrender'd them as they did the poor Protestants in the Town and Castle of Longford whom they having besieged and drawn to yield up into their hands upon condition of Quarters and safety for their Persons they as soon as they issued out fell upon with their Skenes their Priest as a signal for the rest to fall on first ripping open the belly of the Minister amongst the English then his followers soon kill'd and hang'd the rest After this manner used they the 150 Protestants who yielded up upon fair Quarter the Castle of Tullagh and the Church of Newtown in the County of Fermanagh And the 1400 or 1500 at Belturbet and the Inhabitants of Ardmagh and Loughgell and those under the conduct of the Lord Mayo and those 120 murther'd by the Mac-Swynes as those who yielded the strong Castle of Cloghleigh situate upon the Manningwater to Richard Condon who promised Quarter and a safe Convoy to Castelions contrary to which they were all of them either hang'd kill'd wounded or kept Prisoners by him and his Company In the same manner also he used a Party of the Earl of Barrimore's Troop who having bravely maintain'd themselves in a House in Coole against his Forces were by his Promise on the Faith of a Soldier and a Christian of a safe Conveyance to Castelions contented to yield it up but were immediately upon their coming forth murther'd As some English Families and the Garrison Soldiers at Sligo were used by O Connor Slygah who upon the quitting of their Holds promis'd them Quarter and to convey them over the Curlew Mountains in safety to Abbeyboyle or Roscommon but he first imprison'd them in a most nasty Goal allowing them onely Grains for their food and afterwards when the Rebels were merry with Company that came to congratulate their Victory over these poor Creatures those which survived were brought forth by a Frier Connor's Brother and others and kill'd or precipitated over the Bridge into a swift Water where they were presently destroy'd And at Teagh-Temple after the English and Scots who retired thither were not able longer to resist the Enemy had yielded the Place on Conditions to be brought in safe Conduct to Abbeyboil were murther'd hang'd or buri'd alive At which terrible sight Mrs. Olyfant a Ministers Wife being great with Child fell in Labour but was still beat forward till at last the Child slipt from her and what was horrible she was forced to draw that poor Infant and the Concomitants of such an accident after her till she died with sport to them The Story would be too long should we mention those 140 taken forth to be sent for England and drown'd at Portadown or those numbers drawn to Florence Fitz-Patricks house and there slain Or those 60 and odd persons gathered together on pretence of sending them to Clanhughboyes drown'd by them
Or their perfidious breach of Quarter as that of Captain Sanders which we rather remit to future Story not touching what they do in open War but their putting the blood of War in their Girdles in the time of Peace Though we must say that when the Instructions for the Protestant Agents of Ireland came afterwards to be consider'd great artifice there was that the cruelties committed against the Protestants after Quarter given Promises and Oaths for security or safe Convoy should be struck out But no more of this The State considering these sad truths and that none but a considerable Army was to appear abroad they provided 4000 Foot and 1500 Horse to be sent out under the Command of the Earl of Ormond Lieutenant General of the Army While Preparations were making for this Expedition Sir Simon Harcourt who loved always to be in action the 26th of March 1642. took a small Party of men and went out towards the County of Wickloe where he found the Rebels had possessed themselves of a Castle called Carrickmain within four miles of Dublin and seeing him draw near to it with those small Forces and finding him to have no Artillery so as their Walls were of sufficient strength to bear them out against any attempts he could make they began to brave him from within and to use reproachful signs from the top of the Castle thereby to express their contempt and scorn of him This his spirit was not well able to brook and considering the Castle was not invincible and that it would be very great advantage to the City of Dublin to remove so ill a Neighbour and that with two Pieces of Battery he could take it in some few hours he sent presently away to the Lords Justices to acquaint them with his Design and to desire them to send unto him the two Great Guns for the effecting of it They very well approv'd his Design and gave present order for the carrying them out together with all necessaries and provisions fitting for the service In the mean time he took special care for the surrounding of the Castle and disposing of his Men so as they might prevent the Rebels issuing out In which Service Serjeant Major Berry with 200 Fire-locks viewing the Castle was shot in his side though he died not till eight days after of a Feaver All things being put in order whilst they attended the coming of the Great Peeces now on their way Sir Simon Harcourt with some of the Commanders laid themselves down under the side of a little thatch'd house standing near the Castle which they took as a shelter to keep off the Enemies bullets from whence he suddainly rose up to call to the Souldiers to stand carefully to their Arms and to their Duties in their several Stations Which one of the Rebels from within perceiving discharged his Piece at him and shot him into his right breast under the neck bone and being so wounded he was carried off expressing his submission to the good hand of God and much joy'd to pour out his last blood in that Cause The pain of his Wound was so great as they could not bring him to Dublin but carried him to Mirian a house of the Lord Fitz-Williams where the next day he died to the great grief of the English and the prejudice of the Service His Lieutenant Colonel Gibson took the Command of that Party and the great Guns being come within the space of very few hours made a breach sufficient for the Souldiers to enter who being mightily enraged with the loss of their most beloved Colonel entred with great fury putting all to the Sword sparing neither Man Woman or Child The first Officer that led them on in the breach was Robert Hammond Brother to Doctor Hammond that famous and excellent Divine Ensign to Sir Simon Harcourt who carried himself very gallantly in this Service and from thence return'd into England where in the ensuing War by the several exploits he perform'd in the Reduction of the West of England under the Command of the Parliament he attain'd unto a very great Reputation and one of the chief Commanders in their Army And at the King 's coming to the Isle of Wight was Governour of Carisbrook Castle and of the Isle and upon his notice to the Parliament that the King was arriv'd there had Command to attend his Majesty with Respect and Honour with a promise that nothing should be wanting to defray the Kings expences in which service a ticklish task at that time I do not find that he forfeited his trust or otherwise demean'd himsélf then was well accepted At the time that Sir Simon Harcourt went forth the Lords Justices and Council finding what ill Instruments the Priests continued to be in kindling and fomenting the Rebellion caused as many of them as were in Town to be seized on who being put into French bottoms were shipt into France By this time the intended preparations to march forth under the Lieutenant General the Earl of Ormond were ready The Design was to relieve several Places of strength some besieged others much distressed by their wants and necessities but which way the Army was to march or what Place they were first to go to was kept as a secret However the Army Saturday the second of April 1642. marched from Dublin towards the Naas with 8000 Foot and 500 Horse arriving at Athy the 5th being 27 miles from Dublin from whence they sent out several Parties to relieve Carlow Marryburrough Balinokill the Burr Caterlagh Clogh-grevan Ballylivan and several other Castles and Towns then in distress which they did without much opposition releasing many Women Children and other unprofitable People much incommoding those Places Sir Patrick Weams Captain of the Lieutenant Generals Troop Captain Armstrong Captain Yarner Captain Harman Captain Schout Colonel Crafford Sir Richard Greenvile Sir Thomas Lucas and Sir Charles Coote in their several Commands doing excellent service in their Relief of these Castles and strong Holds The last passing with no little danger through Mountrath Woods whence Sir Charles Coote's Heir had his title worthy his and his Fathers merits to Marryburrough a Place of great consequence seated amongst ill Neighbours Whilst these things were acting the Rebels having gathered their Forces from Wickloe Wexford Caterlagh Kildare Queen's County Kilkenny Tipperary and West-Meath on Easter Sunday the 10th of April they displayed 40 Colours within two miles of Athy near the Barrow of which Colonel Crafford gave speedy intelligence under the Command of the Lord Viscount Mountgarret the Lieutenant General 's great Unkle making of the old English and Irish near 10000 men Horse and Foot which the Lieutenant General perceiving on the other side of the River of the Barrow to have sent out some Horse near Tankardstown over against Grangemellain His Lordship return'd to Athy giving out he would fight them the next day but their numbers vastly exceeding his and he having done the
remisly attended leaving their Provisions of all sorts behind them The Lord Lisle after this success better much then he could expect with so small Forces having put a Garrison in the Place returned to Dublin About one month after my Lord Lisle's return to Dublin the State was inform'd by the Lord Moore that Carrickmacross was besieged by near 2000 Rebels and that if it were not suddainly relieved not onely the Place would be taken but our men lost whereupon it was resolv'd to send away presently 1000 Foot with some Troops of Horse under the Command of Sir Henry Tichborn and my Lord Moore to raise the Siege And it fell into debate what should be done with the Place and upon a due consideration of all Circumstances and an impossibility on our part to Man and Victual the Place from hence an Act of Council was made for the demolishing of the house and bringing of our men back before this was put in execution Letters came from Captain Vaughan from Dundalk to acquaint the State that with 100 Foot and 50 Horse he had been to see in what state Carrick was that he found the men well Victualled for 14 days and that the Siege was raised that there came upon him in his return 2000 of the Rebels who charged him and as Captain Martin said shot near 5000 shot at his men who thereupon began to be somewhat in disorder so as he saw they could not well retire Whereupon he charged them with his Horse routed them killing 30 or 40 of them and got some Arms Yet the resolution taken to demolish Carick was not alter'd The Summer being thus spent the Winter apace drew on and the Provisions of the County failing where the Souldiers lay in Garrison in the Custodiums the greatest part of them return'd to Dublin where they took up their Quarters to the great grievance of the Inhabitants And now the differences between the King and his Parliament in England were grown so high and their preparations to encounter one another in a set Battle so considerable as upon that fatal day the 23. of October 1642. They came to an Engagement at Edge-Hill where the encounter was so fiercely maintain'd on both sides with so much courage and resolution headed by the Earl of Lindsey for the King and the Earl of Essex for the Parliament manfully discharging the parts both of Generals and Souldiers as the loss being in a manner equal both reported themselves Conquerors but neither were thenceforth in a condition to administer sufficient relief to the distressed Estate of the poor Protestants in Ireland whereby the Army though but lately sent over out of England was wholly neglected which made many of the Commanders take up thoughts of quitting that service and repairing to the King at Oxford having as it was said secret invitations thereunto which being understood by the Parliament and finding that from the Battle of Kilrush which was fought in April 1642. till October following the Army in Leimster had not been so active as reasonably might have been expected The Parliament to quicken the War to inform themselves of the wants and defects of the Army and of all other things that might enable them the better to send thither and dispose of there such Forces Moneys Ammunition and necessaries for that service according to the Statute which enabled the Lords and Commons in Parliament from time to time to direct thought it very expedient though by Secretary Nicholas from his Majesty expresly commanded to the contrary to send into Ireland a Committy for that purpose in the depth of Winter Members of the House of Commons Mr. Robert Goodwin and Mr. Robert Reynolds authorized from both Houses called by his Majesty their Ambassadors to which the Citizens of London joyn'd one Captain Tucker who carried with them 20000 l. in ready money besides 300 Barrels of Powder ten Tun of Match and other Ammunition They arriv'd at Dublin the 29th of October by long Sea and upon the 2d of November presented them to the State producing the Ordinance of Parliament together with their instructions to be read The Lords Justices and Council ordered their Reception with respect which they improv'd to the voluntary putting on of their Hats sitting behind the Council on a Form nor could this their carriage be reproved though resented Affairs at that time having brought on those Exigencies which their coming could onely relieve during whose abode there having Votes onely in Military Affairs they saw that Parties were continually sent forth to encounter the Rebels and when there was a failing either in Money or Provisions they engaged their own particular Credits to make up the defect Yet in respect of their being admitted as they were consequently were thought to be spies on his Majesties Ministers there His Majesty much disliked their Address and in a Letter deliver'd to the Lords Justices and Council the 10th of February Order'd their removal which was done with much content by the Board but some regreets to the Commissioners who resolv'd presently to quit Ireland and to speak truth it soon appear'd by the Index of some mens spirits what hazard they might have run should they have been obstinate therein though many suspected as it fell out their return would certainly slacken the relief of the Protestant Army against the Irish. There were three main things principally intended by this Committee during their stay in Ireland 1. They used their utmost endeavours to satisfie the Officers of the Army of the great care the Parliament took to provide their Pay and to send over money and in the mean time to furnish the Army with all manner of Provisions and Ammunitions that should be thought necessary for the carrying on the War against the Rebels 2. They made a Book wherein they desired that all the Officers of the Civil List as well as the Army should subscribe and declare their free consent that some part of their Pay and Arrear due to them for their service there should be satisfied out of the Rebels Lands when they were declared to be subdued Upon which many great sums were under-written but upon information of his Majesties dislike thereof the Commissioners being sharply threatned returned the Book so that most struck out their Names frustrating thereby a Design which would infinitely have obliged others to have subscribed In reference to which the Kings Commissioners at Uxbridge ascertain'd That his Majesty never sent any such Letter to divert the course of the Officers subscribing but the Souldiers were meerly discouraged from the same by discerning that for want of Supplies they should not be able to go on with that War 3. They finding that most of the Officers of the Army had lodg'd their Troops and Companies in their Custodiums which were most of them Places of strength enough at least to keep them from being surprized suddainly by the Rebels and that there were 7 or 8000 of the Army quartered
high and eminent trust of your Affairs here deposited with us by your Sacred Majesty we may not forbear in discharge of our Duty thus freely and plainly to declare our humble apprehensions to the end your Majesty thus truly understanding the terribleness of our Condition may find out some such means of support to preserve to your Majesty and your Royal Posterity this your ancient and rightful Crown and Kingdom and derive deliverance and safety to the Remnant of your good Subjects yet left here as in your excellent Judgment you shall find to be most to your Honour and Advantage And so praying to the King of Kings to guide and direct you for the best in this high and important Cause and in all other your Councels and Actions we humbly remain From your Majesties Castle at Dublin the 11th of May 1643. Your Majesties most Loyal and most Faithful Subjects and Servants The 12th of May the Lord Taaffe Roch and Fitzwilliams arrived out of England and that morning Major Warren and Sir Francis Butler came to the Council the Lords sitting and presented a Petition to the Lords Justices accusing the Lord Parsons of high Misdemeanors and other Treasonable Matters requesting that his Person and Goods might be secur'd though in conclusion nothing was ever filed against him an Evidence to most that there was more of a Design then Crime in the Accusation And having as before presented you with the Lords Justices Letter to his Majesty we should now give you the Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament the 16th of June 1643. concerning the present lamentable estate and miserable condition of Ireland In answer to what the Lords Justices and Council had faithfully acquainted them withall that it may appear how sensible they were of the information they had receiv'd of the straights and exigencies of the Protestant Forces in Ireland which certainly is very Emphatical resenting with a just aggravation the miserable condition of that Kingdom but being legible in Husbands Collections we shall refer you thither not busing our selves how far it prevail'd Certainly the Exigencies of the Souldiers and State of Ireland were then very considerable in as much as his Majesty not being able by any other expedient to remedy as he was perswaded their complaints then by a Cessation he to that end sends this Letter to the Lords Justices C. R. RIght trusty and well beloved Counsellors and right trusty and intirely well beloved Cousen and Counsellor we greet you well The present Distractions here have rendred us as unable as by experience we find the remaining part of the two Houses are unwilling to supply or relieve our Army in Ireland and if the Money we consented should be rais'd in this our Kingdom for the Relief of Ireland had not been diverted by them and Rebelliously imployed against us here in England we should not have been constrain'd to have hearkned to a Cessation of Arms now on that side But since we see no other hope during the unhappy distempers here to settle the Peace of that our Kingdom but by a Cessation of Arms between us and the Irish now in Arms there and doubt very much how our Forces now in that our Kingdom will be there maintain'd if we shall admit of a Cessation We have thought it expedient by these our Letters to recommend it to your care and industry to consider seriously how our Forces on that side may be enabled to subsist during the Cessation and if there may be means found for that we do then hereby Authorise and require you to agree to a Cessation of Arms there for a year and in our Names to assure the said Irish that we are graciously inclin'd to dissolve the present Parliament and call a new one between this and the 10th of November next and to take a course to put all those that shall be chosen Members of the said Parliament into such a condition as they shall not be prejudiced of their Liberty of Assisting Sitting and Voting in the said Parliament for better effecting whereof we do hereby further authorise and require you to give License to such Commissioners as the said Irish shall appoint to come over hither to us to treat of that Business and such other Particulars to be proposed by way of Petition as shall necessarily conduce not onely to the satisfying of the said Cessation but to a preparation of what shall be requisite for the setling of a just honourable and perfect Peace in that our Kingdom And we further require in case the said Irish now in Arms shall agree to such a Cessation and Treaty to advertise us of some such able and fitting Ministers or Servants of ours on that side as you conceive fit to be sent over hither to assist in the Treaty here when Commissioners shall come over from the said Irish. In which Business we require you to use all convenient expedition and to give us a speedy Account for which these our Letters shall be your Warrant Given under our Signet at our Court at Oxford the second day of July in the 19th year of Our Reign 1643. To our right trusty and well-beloved Counsellors Sir John Borlase and Sir Henry Tichborn Kts. Lords Justices of our Kingdom of Ireland and to our right trusty and intirely beloved Cosen and Counsellor James Marquiss of Ormond Lieutenant-General of our Army there But before this Letter came to the Lords Justices the means to a Cessation were thought of Yet the day before the Marquiss of Ormond proceeded to the Treaty which was the 22. of June the chief Protestants of the City of Dublin were called before the Council to know if they would give 10000 l. or have a Cessation the latter they were very unwilling to and the former they could not advance indeed it was well known though it serv'd as an Argument to evidence the necessity the State was put to And the Irish Commissioners the 23. of June presented themselves unto the Marquiss of Ormond in his Tent near Castle Martin in the County of Kildare in the presence of divers Colonels Captains and Officers in his Majesties Army his Lordship sitting in his Chair covered and the Irish Commissioners standing bare after several passages betwixt them all tendred in writing the Irish Commissioners gave his Lordship a Copy of the Authority they had receiv'd from the supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland at Kilkenny in these words WHereas his Majesty's most faithful Subjects the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland were inforced to take Arms for the preservation of their Religion for the defence of his Majesty's just Prerogatives and Rights and the maintenance of the Rights and Liberties of their Countrey labour'd to be destroyed by the Malignant Party And whereas his Majesty in his high Wisdom and Princely Care of his said Subjects Welfare and Safety and at their humble Suit That his Majesty might be graciously pleas'd to hear
press for Supplies out of England without the least intention in them of inducing a Cessation which is granted But as the necessities were there laid open so they were considered by his Majesty and no other Expedient remaining for the Protestants safety save a Cessation thereupon it was concluded though to this day some will have it that his Majesties expectation to be supplied thence and the preservation of the Irish almost swallowed up by his Forces were the principal Motives to that Cessation And it must be acknowledged from the series of Affairs since that the Irish in concluding the Cessation had a respect to their greater security and designs those being thereby withdrawn to his Majesties service in England which otherwise would certainly have oppos'd them And here I cannot but observe that the Irish afterwards acquired much confidence by a Bull of Urban's the 8th dated at Rome the 25th of May 1643. commending their forwardness against the Protestant Hereticks which they publish'd even after the Cessation of Arms was agreed on to what intent may be easily conceiv'd considering their subsequent frequent violation of Compacts and Agreements with the State Though the bleeding Iphigenia who in pleading their Cause grosly betrays it would not have it thought that this charitable Bull cherish'd the Catholicks in Rebellion but was onely an Indulgence to so good and just a Quarrel not any dis-respect to the King to whom saith he his Holiness advised them by their Agents to be Loyal as if that and the breach of his Majesties Commands to lay down Arms could rationally agree Before which Bull an Indulgence had been sent Dilecto filio Eugenio Onello the 8th of October 1642 in the 20th year of his Papacy The Cessation now concluded Obedience was expected from all parts but instead of an absolute compliance from the Scots in Ulster their Officer in Chief return'd this Letter Right Honourable YOur Lordships of the 21. I received at Ardmagh the 29 together with the Printed Cessation which was very displeasing unto this Army who being sent Auxiliary for supply of the British Forces in distress were promis'd by his Majesty and the Parliament of England Pay and Entertainment from three months to three months nevertheless in eighteen months time they have endured both Officers and Soldiers unparallel'd miseries And now a great part of the Service being done they are rewarded with the conclusion of a Cessation without assurance of entertainment for the time or any certainty of the payment of their Arrears and they must conform to the Treaty This kind of usage and contempt would constrain good Servants though his Majesties Loyal Subjects to think upon some course which may be satisfactory to them being driven almost to despair and threaten'd to be persecuted by the Roman Catholick Subjects as they are now called Nevertheless of the foresaid Contempt for obedience to his Majesties Command I have mov'd the Army for the time to cease any hostile Act against our Enemies till such time as your Lordships will be pleased to consider better of our present condition and grant us time to acquaint the General who has onely Commission over the Army to advise us how to behave our selves in this Exigency since I as Governour of Carigfergus can give your Lordships no positive Answer to this Cessation in the name of our Army having not absolute Power over them And immediately after receiving the General 's resolution your Lordships shall be acquainted therewith which is the least favour your Lordships can vouchsafe upon us in recompence of our Bygan Service And so I remain Ardmagh 29 Sept. 1643. Receiv'd the 2d of Octob. Your Lordships humble and obedient Servitor Robert Monro To the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and Council Upon this Answer of Monro's the Supreme Council at Kilkenny maintaining their Umpire in the Empire visits the Lords Justices and Council with this Letter Our very good Lords WE whom his Majesties Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom did intrust in the management of their Affairs have by their publick Act ratified and confirmed the Articles of Cessation concluded upon by our Commissioners willingly and cheerfully hoping in the quiet of that time assign'd for it by the benefit of the access which his Majesty is graciously pleas'd to afford us to free our selves from those odious Calumnies wherewith we have been branded and to render our selves worthy of Favour by some acceptable service suiting the expression we have often made and the real affections and zeal we have to serve his Majesty and in as much as we are given to understand that the Scots who not long since in great numbers came over into this Kingdom and by the slaughter of many Innocents without distinction of Age or Sex have possessed themselves of very large Territories in the North and since the notice given them of the Cessation have not onely continued their former cruelties upon the Persons of weak and unarmed Multitudes but have added thereunto the burning of the Corn belonging to the Natives within that Province of Ulster Notwithstanding which outrages we hear that they have although but faintly and with relation unto the consent of their General after some days consultation whether it were convenient for their Affairs desired to partake in the Cessation intending as is evident by their proceedings so far onely to admit thereof as it may be beneficial for their Patrons the Malignant Party now in Arms against his Majesty in England by diverting us from assisting his Majesty or of advantage to their desire of eating further into the bowels of our Countrey We who can accuse our selves of no one hollow thought and detest all subtile Practices cannot think of serving two Masters or standing Neuters where our King is Party And we desirous none should reside in this Kingdom but his Majesties good Subjects we beseech your Lordships therefore that these who have other ends then his Majesties Service and Interest and are so far from permitting the Natives to enjoy three parts of what they have sown as they may with no security look upon their former habitations and do absolutely deny to restore their Prisoners contrary to the Articles of Cessation may by the joynt power of all his Majesties good Subjects within this Kingdom of what Nation soever be prosecuted and that while these Succours are in preparation our Proceedings against them may no way be imputed unto us a desire any way to violate this Cessation And we do further pray your Lordships that for our justification therein you will be pleas'd to transmit unto his Majesty these our Letters and to send unto us the Copy of those directed unto your Lordships from Serjeant Major Monro concerning this Matter Thus with the remembrance of our heartiest wishes unto your Lordships we rest Kilkenny 15. Octob. 1643. Received 25. Your Lordships loving Friends Mountgarret Castlehaven Audley H. Armach Jo. Clonfert Th. Fr. Dublin R. Beling N. Plunket Gerrard Fennell To
the Right Honourable the Lords Justices and Council And now many of those Officers who had served his Majesty most signally in Ireland were treated with to recruit his Forces in and about Chester to which end all the encouragement that his Majesty had given in his Letters of the 4th and 7th of September were faithfully imparted to them and what could possibly be rais'd for their Transportation was effectually done Whereupon several Regiments as Sir Mich. Earnely's Sir Rich. Fleetwoods Colonel Gibson Colonel Monk Colonel Warren and others hasted over but with such Reluctancy of the Common Souldiers as the sharpest Proclamations of which there were several hardly restrain'd them from flying their Colours both before and after their arrival in England To prevent which and that the Souldiers might be secur'd in their Loyalty to his Majesty the Lieutenant General compos'd this Oath I Resting fully assured of his Majesties most Princely Truth and Goodness do freely and from my heart promise vow and protest in the presence of Almighty God that I will to the utmost of my Power and with the hazard of my Life maintain and defend the true Protestant Religion establish'd in the Church of England his Majesties sacred Person his Heirs and lawful Successors and his Majesties just Powers and Prerogatives against the Forces now under the Conduct of the Earl of Essex and against all other Forces whatsoever that are or shall be rais'd contrary to his Majesties Commands and Authority And I will do my best endeavour to procure and re-establish the Peace and Quietness of the Kingdom of England And I will neither directly or indirectly divulge or communicate any thing to the said Earl of Essex his Officers or any other to hinder or prejudice the Designs of his Majesty in the Conduct or Imployment of his Army Which that it may be taken by every Souldier follows the Precept By the Lieutenant General of his Majesties Army WHereas his Majesty hath been pleas'd to command the present transportation of a part of his Army here into England I do think fit and hereby Order that every Officer and Souldier to be transported hence do take the Oath above-written before they depart this Harbour Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin 13. of Octob. 1643. Ormond And in respect that upon their going many Souldiers listed themselves under other Officers the Lord Lieutenant besides other Courses publisht the 13. of November an Edict that no Souldiers under penalty of death should depart from their former Commanders and Officers and that no Commanders and Officers on pain of displeasure should dare to entertain any Souldiers so offending And the 4th of Feb. 1643. the Lord General publisht a Proclamation That if any Souldier should stay behind that was commanded to go over or should after he was transported over into England run away from his Colours he being afterwards apprehended should presently suffer death without mercy Upon which as you see many came over into England and at Hawerden Castle Beeston Castle Bartomley Church Dedington House Acton Church and Durtwich improved their time but the main body the 25. of January 1643. was utterly defeated by Sir Thomas Fairfax raising the Siege of Namptwich 1500 common Souldiers besides Officers being there taken Prisoners besides those that were slain so that what advantage accrewed to the Regal Army by their coming over many believ'd was not very considerable unless those who came out of Munster were more successful The general if not all those who came to his Majesties assistance out of Ireland were his own Forces which he had sent against the Rebels from whom I cannot yet learn after all their professions of having no one hollow thought or subtile practice to serve two Masters or standing Neuters whilst their King was Party that any formed Regiment or considerable Party reach'd England no! it will hereafter appear how shamefully they deserted his Majesties Affairs even in Ireland it self when their Interest might have united them in Loyalty and Obedience Some months after the arrival of these and other Forces out of Ireland the Parliament of England made an Ordinance against the giving of any Quarter to any Irish man or to any Papist born in Ireland taken in Hostility against the Parliament by Sea or Land which his Majesty thought very severe they being called to the service of their Natural Prince The coming over of the English made several that were not so forward suspected in their Loyalty though in truth never any Prince had an Army more intirely affecting his Person then the generality of his Militia of Ireland who being sent thither or rais'd there were not yet wean'd from the Justice of that Cause hardly matchable in any example the War being said long since a great Instrument of State not an ambitious War of Foraigns but a recovery of Subjects and that after Lenity of Conditions often tried not onely to obedience but to Humanity and Policy from more then Indian Barbarism whereas the Affairs of England imbrued Relations in one anothers blood and the Concerns of Ireland were as much his Majesties as the other and the Cause undoubtedly Gods The Lords Justices and Council this while had a great task and not so much as straw to the Work the Confederates paying in the Money viz. 30800 l. they promised the 16th of September towards the maintenance of his Majesties Army this Cessation very uncertain as their Cows and Cattle of the worst taking within three days after the Cessation near 369 head of choice English Cattle from the suburbs of Dublin acting besides many other violencies on divers Castles Forts and Houses so as this agreement with the Rebels seemed rather a Protection then a Cessation of Acts of Hostility That in this extremity the Lords Justices Providence and Care how great soever could remedy little being their business now was to proceed in another course then formerly they had the Election of which grew hourly the heavier upon them by reason of the discontents which constantly arose from the Inhabitants and the Protestants now more then ever sensible of their Condition the Irish Agents making all the speed they could to repair with their Propositions to his Majesty then at Oxford according to an Article in the Cessation and his Majesties Proclamation thereupon by which they were allowed to send Agents to his Majesty of which the Protestants in and about Dublin being very apprehensive lest his Majesty should be pre-possessed of the Rebels sence they thought it most convenient to dispatch Agents presently to his Majesty and to that end about the 6th of October 1643. they meeting at the Earl of Kildare's house fram'd a Petition to the Lords Justices and Council humbly beseeching their Lordships for their License unto such as they should appoint to attend his Majesty in their behalf whereunto the Lords Justices and Council the 12. of the same month expressed their forwardness declaring how his
Majesty had been graciously pleas'd to put them in mind that thence they should send some of his Majesties Ministers to assist in the Treaty when the Irish should repair to him and when they had acquainted his Majesty with the Petitioners request they should be certified of his Pleasure with convenient speed But the Petitioners not conceiving this a satisfactory answer again Petitioned the Lords Justices and Council the 14. of the same month sending them therewithall a Copy of their Petition they had agreed on to his Majesty whereunto the Lord Justices and Council the 19th of October returned an Answer That such was their care of the Petitioners that the same day they had given them an Answer to their former Petition they inclosed in their Letters to Secretary Nicholas their first Petition to them requesting his Majesties gracious Pleasure thereupon and further they could not now proceed though if they would repair to his Majesty they would not hinder them but could not accompany them with their recommendation till they knew his Majesties Pleasure to have them come over much artifice there was used to have had some protested against the Petition they had framed to his Majesty but none of those who had signed it save Major Morris was wrought upon and the 17. of Febr. 1643. the Petition was so well approved of in the House of Commons in Ireland as it had their concurrence And about the beginning of January a Letter of his Majesties to the Lords Justices and Lieutenant-General of the Army dated the 6th of November 1643. arrived at Dublin Licencing the Protestant Agents to repair to Oxford of whose further Proceedings with the management of that business you shall have speedily Not long after the Cessation one mov'd at the Council Board by way of Petition That such of the Irish as would constantly pay contribution to the Army might have freedom to return to their Castles and the motion took with some but was strongly oppos'd by others considering how many gallant men as Sir Simon Harcourt and others had been lost in the regaining of those Castles and that it being uncertain on what terms there might be Peace it might be taken ill by the King that those Castles the price of so much blood should be surrendred without his Privity upon which the motion was laid aside I will not say all Reflections afterwards on them that oppos'd it Nor indeed was the event of this motion so supprest but that in a short time after some through the Importunity of the Irish Agents were restored to their Estates who had from the beginning been in Rebellion notwithstanding their Estates had been given in Custodium and those who had them not accepting of mean and sinister proffers had little else to subsist by or pay the Arrears of their Service So as Affairs of different natures hourly encreasing subject to constructions beyond the management of the Prudentest and most Loyal thoughts it could not but be a great ease to be free'd of that Government which an Illustrious Person whose Interest was Principally involv'd in the present Intrigues had a Regal Call thereunto whereupon these Lords Justices were remov'd not without considerable Repose difficulties daily flowing in upon them remediless by any but his Excellency James Marquiss of Ormond who the 21. of January 1643. was solemnly in Christchurch Dublin sworn Lord Lieutenant with general acceptance At which time Robert Sibthorp Bishop of Limerick chose for his Text the 77. Psalm and the last verse Thou leadest thy People like a Flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron upon which he paraphras'd exceeding elegantly But as Sir James Ware observes in his Life never receiv'd a Farthing of his Bishoprick The Marquiss of Ormond being now seated in the Government one of the first things he began to regulate after he had sent the designed Army into England was the standing Army at that time much straightned through want of Pay and other Extremities he therefore reduced the Troops about Dublin to Five and twenty apiece besides Officers all but his own which was continued 40. and Sir Lucas's and Armestrong's 30. besides Officers and to pay these which made up 150 Horse besides 2000 Foot he rais'd money by an Excise Taxes on the Town and 3d. an Acre inhabited within the English Pale besides enquiry what was owing by Debts unto the Londoners so as thence with what Tabacco they had a considerable sum was weekly rais'd and accordingly disbursed for the Relief of the Souldiers and other necessaries which he having retrench't according to the Exigence he kept to due Musters and observance And by reason of divers Robberies and Murthers daily committed by the Souldiers on such as brought Provision for the Relief of the City the Lord-General the 16th of March 1643. strictly prohibited all such outrages under the utmost Peril of the Martial Laws And the Parliament there meeting at Dublin the 17th of April the Speakers of both Houses the 18th of the same 1644. by a Letter prohibited the Commanders Officers of his Majesties Armies and others in the Kingdom of Ireland to take the Solemn League and Covenant according to a Proclamation by the Lords Justices and Council the 18th of December 1643. set out with great Wisdom and Reason highly commending their deep Judgment therein which his Excellency then also commanded to be re-Printed at the request of the Commons House of Parliament 1644 In pursuance of which an Oath afterwards was hammer'd but some of the Judges dis-agreeing it was never form'd Great were his Excellency's Affairs indeed the contrary Parties he was necessarily obliged to deal with would in any but one so resolute and intire have betrayed to Effeminacy and Disorder The Irish on one hand confident in their Address to his Majesty and the Protestants oppress'd with their sufferings and straights both he quitted to his Majesties Justice after that he had had his Majesties Licence for their Repair to him The Confederate Catholicks thereupon sent their Agents authorised by them to attend his Majesty at Oxford but indeed with such Desires and Propositions as weighed but in an indifferent Ballance make too lively a Representation how in-competent Considerers they were of the way to their own Repose and Happiness and how unlikely they were to prevent the destroying Calamities which hung over their heads and so closely pursued them At the same time and so long as the Treaty lasted the King was likewise attended by a Committee from the Council Board of Ireland in pursuance of his Commands to inform his Majesty of all matters of Fact which had passed and of all the Laws and Customs there necessary to be weighed upon what the Catholicks should demand or propose And by the Parliament then sitting in Dublin several were authorized to present to his Majesty the Grievances of his Protestant Subjects in Ireland that nothing might be granted in that Treaty to the prejudice
his Majesty the 18th of April 1644. did agree with their sence in order to the present condition of the Kingdom Whereby it 's thought that if it had been said that the 24 Propositions had been agreed to by the Protestants in general there would have been an Endeavour to have got some to have signed an Instrument against the Agent 's Proceedings and therefore their Proceeding was acknowledged to be according to their Instructions and their Correspondent's Advice in Town As in the Answer May it please your Lordships IN Obedience to your Lordship's Commands signified in your Order of the 5th of June 1644. directed to us the Persons under-named requiring us to certifie your Lordships Whether the 24 Propositions of his Majesty's Protestant Agents of Ireland presented to his Majesty do agree with our sence in order to the present condition of this Kingdom We the said Persons do humbly certifie That we have perused the Propositions in the said Order mention'd and do humbly conceive them to be in substance pursuant to the humble Petition of his Majesty's Protestant Subjects as well Commanders of his Majesty's Army here as others a Copy of which Petition hath been formerly presented to your Lordships and from that Honourable Board transmitted to his Sacred Majesty and by him graciously receiv'd as may appear by his Majesty's Letters of the 6th of November last whereof your Lordships were pleas'd to grant the Petitioners a Copy And that the said Propositions are as we humbly conceive in substance pursuant unto certain Instructions entituled Instructions for the Agents who are to attend his most Sacred Majesty on the behalf of his Majesty's Protestant Subjects of Ireland Which Instructions were also presented at that Honourable Board and there upon serious Debate according to the Pleasure of your Lordships in some things altered and so a Copy thereof was delivered to your Lordships And we humbly conceive that the said Propositions are such in substance as if way may be found whereby his Majesty may bring to pass the Particulars therein conceiv'd they would conduce to the Establishment of the true Protestant Religion the Honour and Advantage of his Majesty and the future Security of his Highness his Royal Posterity this his Kingdom and the Protestant Subjects therein But how these Propositions stand in order to the present condition of this Kingdom is a thing far above us to resolve All which we humbly leave to your Lordship's Grave Considerations Signed Will. Cooley Will. Usher Hen. Jones Anth. Dopping Will. Plunket Theod. Schoute Peter Wybrants When the Irish Confederates Agents return'd into Ireland most of them as far as acted in view perform'd their Promise and Engagements to the King so as many of the Nobility and Gentry and most of the Persons of considerable Fortune together with the moderate Clergy who are easie to be number'd were convinc'd of the necessity of submitting themselves entirely to the King till he was able to grant them more that they might not be glad to accept of less But the evil Genius of that People condemn'd to wilful ruine and misfortune soon evidenc'd how unripe they were for mercy and that it was not so easie to allay the Spirits they had conjur'd up as to foment and irritate them The Nobility and Men of known Fortune whom self-Interest by this time had taught Loyalty found that they had lost their Power and the Reverence they had parted with to the Clergy had much Influence on he common People who devoting themselves solely to their Clergy's Dictate oppos'd all Conclusions which according to Wisdom and true Policy were to be the Ingredients of a happy and lasting Peace And so above 2 years were spent after these Agent 's departure from the King in fruitless and in-effectual Treaties the Earl of Glamorgan in the interim treating in that wilde order with the Rebels as under a pretended sufficient Authority from the King utterly disown'd he blew them up to such a pernicious Expectation by the feigned Articles he sign'd to them the 25th of August 1645. so destructive both to Church and State and so repugnant to his Majesty's publick Professions and known Resolutions as the Treaty of Peace proceeding on more agreeable Terms by the Lord Lieutenant found many rubbs and impediments Whilst the Strength and Power of the Parliament's Forces in England exceedingly increased and his Majesty's Forces were defeated and himself for want of Succours promis'd out of Ireland was compelled to deliver up himself to his Scottish Subjects and was shortly after by them given into the hands of the Parliament of England who being at last split into several Factions so varied Councils as in conclusion he was betrayed and suffer'd to the astonishment of the World But that I may not o're-slip the Series of this Story which through a conflux of Matter will sometimes unavoidably be disturbed I must take notice that the first Cessation being near determin'd the 5th of Sept. 1644. there was a new Cessation agreed on by the Lord Lieutenant and the Irish Commissioners to begin on the 15th of September and continue till the 1st of December following And in respect that the Treaty of Peace had several Matters of weight and consequence which necessarily required further time to be prepared and drawn into writing it was agreed on at the Castle of Dublin the 2d of Octob. anno praedict that the Treaty should be adjourn'd to the 4th of November ensuing the Irish Agents in the interim to have liberty to continue in or come to Dublin as often as they should think fit which time they improved and Affairs were so managed as there was never any other Cessation till the Peace About which time the Earls of Thomond Clanrickard and St. Albans the Lord Rannelagh Fitz-williams Taaff and Dillon who had never receded from his Majesty's Commands writ to him That betwixt two Parties one if they were disposed to make Invasion upon them and the other who sticking to the Covenant dis-obey'd the Cessation they were like to be ruin'd and therefore implor'd his Majesty to reconcile the Difference betwixt those who were too high either of the Confederates or Protestants in their Demands and declare against the Scots who would make little distinction were it in their power between them and those whom they now assaulted In treating of Peace we must not forget that the Lord Inchequin having been easily wrought on to agree to the Cessation carried over many of his Munster Forces to the King who in memory of his service bestowed on him a noble Wardship and would have made him an Earl But the Presidency of Munster pre-dispos'd of to the Earl of Portland being his aim he returns again into Ireland and from Cork the 17th of July 1644. he and other Officers there writes to his Majesty That no Peace could be concluded with the Irish Rebels which would not bring unto his Majesty and the English in general a far greater prejudice than
remainder of English but by a Peace We find his Majesty being deluded by the first and believing the last to be conducing to the preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects is concluding of a Peace which will again admit those Irish Rebels to be Members of Parliament so that that Court which should afford relief for our Grievances will by their over-swaying Votes be our greatest Grievance Moreover we are too truly informed by divers of their own Party whose names if we should publish would be as great an ingratitude as folly the first in betraying those that obliged us the last in depriving our selves of all future Intelligence by them that they have vowed never to submit to an English or Protestant Government except they have liberty to exercise their Religion in Churches That the Forces of the Kingdom may be Train'd-Bands of their Men and that likewise those of their own Religion may be admitted to Places of Trust in the Common-wealth which they call modest and moderate demands though we hope they cannot seem so to any but themselves and their Clergy who we find do not think them enough being they may not have all their Church-Livings For we have certain intelligence that they have made a strong Faction as well among my Lord of Castlehaven's Soldiers as in all other parts of the Kingdom so that they are five parts of six who will fly out into a new action when they see a convenient time to execute their design which as yet they determine to forbear until they see a Peace concluded supposing that then the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland will intermix Irish and English without distinction to oppose the Scots and that by that means there will be a sufficient number of their Party in our Garrisons to master them which when they find an opportunity for they will certainly seize into their own hands upon notice whereof the Faction abroad will with all expedition apprehend the English in all parts and having accomplished this part of their design they will manifest that they are weary of the King of England's Government and that they will trust none of his Protestant Subjects among them for we are certainly informed that they will invite a Forreign Prince to take them into his protection unto whom they will deliver possession of what he pleases and will become his Subjects And lest that Princes Treasure should be exhausted by Wars in other places the Clergy have with the Pope's assistance raised amongst those of their own Calling and divers of the Gentry in Italy one hundred thousand pounds in money and a quantity of Arms and Ammunition that are now ready to be sent hither and they have employed one Doctor Duyer to go forthwith thither for it as also to get his Holiness to settle a course for the raising of more Money to be employed for the advancement of that which they call the Catholick Cause Therefore out of a true sense of our injuries already suffered and un-redressed with a right apprehension of inevitable ruine not onely to our Lives and Estates but likewise to the English Nation and Protestant Religion we have re-assum'd our Arms according to our Duty to God our King and Countrey with inviolable resolution to die or frustrate this devillish design And since those that die acting for the Gospel are as perfect Martyrs as those that die suffering for it we cannot but with joy embrace any effect that proceeds from so glorious a Cause Neither can this act be esteemed a crime in us since his Majesty upon the Rebels first Insurrection his Treasure being exhausted gave his Royal assent for the passing of an Act of Parliament wherein he granted to all his Subjects that would adventure money towards reducing of the Rebels Lands proportionable to the sum adventured which would fall to the Crown when the Conquest should be finished And the better to secure the Adventurers his Majesty obliged himself to make no Peace with the Rebels but with the advice and approbation of the Parliament of England and by that Act communicated to the Parliament that Power which before was solely in himself So that they not condescending to this Peace our imploying of their Aids and re-assuming of those Arms put into our hands by King and Parliament joyntly cannot be esteemed contradictory to his Majesty in regard that their joynt Act is so absolutely binding that neither of them severally can annull it as is evident in the Laws of the Realm Therefore if this War were onely Offensive yet even slander it self must acknowledge us innocent having so just a Cause so pious an Intention and so lawful an Authority much more it being Defensive and the Law both of God and Nature allowing every one to defend himself from violence and wrong Moreover the King must never expect any obedience from the Irish but what proceeds either from their Interest or Fear Through the first of these neither his Majesty or we can hope for assurance for not granting them all their desires their Interest which is more powerful with them than their Loyalty will make them throw off their subjection and to become absolute not scruple to destroy us Then to expect any security by their fears were frivolous for though we have found their Hearts as ill as their Cause yet they cannot be apprehensive of 2 or 3000 ill armed and unprovided men having all things necessary and so numerous a People at their devotion And lest our Enemies should scandalize us with breach of Faith in violating the pretended Cessation or with Cruelty in expelling the Irish Papists from our Garrisons who hitherto seemed adhering to us Concerning the first we declare That although our necessities did induce us to submit supposing the Cessation would have produced other effects as is before mentioned yet we had no power without Authority from King and Parliament joyntly to treat or yield to it or if it had been in our powers yet by the Rebels daily breaches of it we are disengaged from it Concerning the second we declare That our Garrison cannot be secured whilst so powerful and perfidious Enemies are in our bosomes Powerful being four to one in number more than the English Perfidious in their constant designs to betray us some whereof we will instance to convince their own Consciences and satisfie the World of our just proceedings One Francis Matthews a Franciscan Frier being wonderfully discovered in an Enigmatical Letter and as justly executed before his death confessed that he had agreed to betray the City of Cork to the Lord of Muskery which must necessarily infer that the chiefest and greatest part of that City were engaged in this Conspiracy for otherwise he could not so much as hope the accomplishment And if this had taken effect it had consequently ruin'd all the Protestants in the Province of Munster that being our chief Magazine and greatest Garrison Besides upon this occasion other Friers being examin'd upon Oath confessed that in
implorant demisse benedictionem obsecrantes Kilkenniae 7. Jan. 1645. Vestrae Sanctitatis ad Pedum Oscula But to proceed to the Peace in which all the Particulars which might concern the Interest and Security of either Party being maturely weighed and considered and then every Article being first read debated and approved in the general Assembly without one dissenting voice the whole was concluded and the Confederate Catholicks obliged to transport within a very short time an Army of 10000 Men into England for the Service and Relief of the King as by the succeeding Propositions with Colonel Fitz-Williams is fuller evident Fitz-Williams's Propositions about the Treaty with the Queen to bring Irish into England Col. Fitz-Williams humbly prays and propounds as followeth THat your Sacred Majesty will vouchsafe to prevail with his Majesty to condescend to the just Demands of his Irish Subjects the Confederate Catholicks in Ireland at least in private That upon the consideration thereof Colonel Fitz-Williams humbly propounds and undertakes with approbation of Mr. Hertogen now imployed Agent for the said Confederate Catholicks in Ireland to bring an Army of 10000 Men or more of the King's Subjects in his Kingdom of Ireland for the King's Service into England That Colonel Fitz-Williams undertakes for the sum of 10000 l. sterling to levy Ships and arm the 10000 Men and so proportionably for more or less and that the said Moneys may be paid into such hands as may be safe for your Majesty as well as ready for the said Colonel when it shall appear the said Army shall be in readiness to be transported into England That upon the Landing of the said Men there shall be advanced to the Colonel one months Pay for all the Army according to the Muster for the present support of the Army That Colonel Fitz-Williams may be Commander in Chief thereof and dispose of all the Officers and only be commanded by the King Prince and and qualified with such Benefits as have been formerly granted unto your Majesty's Generals that have commanded Bodies apart from the King 's own Army as the Earl of Kingston and others whereby the better to enable him in the Levies as well as in the general Conduct of the Business And in respect the Order gives no Power to the Irish therefore that the said Forces shall not by any Order whatsoever be divided at least that the Colonel may be supplied with a Body of 2000. to be ready at the Place of Landing That the Colonel may be provided with Arms and Ammunition or with Money requisite for himself to provide necessary Proportions for to bring with him That the Army shall be paid as other Armies of the King Having taken these Propositions into Consideration We have thought fit to testifie our Approbation and Agreement thereunto under our Sign Manual assuring what hath been desired of us therein shall be forthwith effectually endeavour'd and not doubting to the satisfaction of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland and of the said Colonel so that we may justly expect an agreeable compliance and performance accordingly from all Parties in their several Concernments Henriette Marie All things thus stated and setled the Commissioners who had treated in the Peace were sent by and in the Name of the Assembly to Dublin where the Lord Lieutenant resided to sign the said Articles and to receive his Lordship's Confirmation of them And accordingly the Articles were the 30th of July 1646. interchangeably signed and perfected with all formality requisite notwithstanding his Majesty's Letter from Newcastle the 11th of June 1646. to treat no farther with the Rebels and shortly after they were with great Solemnity and Ceremony published and proclaimed by the King at Arms at Dublin and at Kilkenny where the Supream Council and the Assemblies of all the Confederate Catholicks were held and then Printed by their Authority The Arch-Bishop of Firmo manifesting his approbation of all that had been done giving his blessing to the Commissioners when they were sent to Dublin to conclude the Treaty and other Ministers from Foraign Princes being present consenting to and witnessing the Conclusion By the Lord Lieutenant and Council Ormond WHereas Articles of Peace are made concluded accorded and agréed upon by and between Us James Lord Marquiss of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland his Majesties Commissioner to Treat and Conclude a Peace with his Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects of the said Kingdom by vertue of his Majesties Commission under the Great Seal of England bearing Date at Buckingham on the 24th day of June in the Twentieth year of his Reign for and on the behalf of his Most Excellent Majesty of the one part and Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery and others appointed and Authorized by his Majesties said Roman Catholick Subjects by vertue of an Authority of the said Roman Catholick Subjects bearing Date the sixth day of March 1645. and in the 21. year of his Majesties Reign of the other part a true Copy of which Articles of Peace is hereunto annexed We the Lord Lieutenant and Council do by this Proclamation in his Majesties Name Publish the same And do in his Majesties Name strictly charge and command all his Majesties Subjects and all others Inhabiting or Residing within his Majesties said Kingdom of Ireland to take notice thereof and to render due Obedience to the same in all the parts thereof And as his Majesty hath been induced to this Peace out of a deep sense of the Miseries and Calamities brought upon this his Kingdom and People and out of a hope conceived by his Majesty that it may prevent the further effusion of his Subjects blood redeem them out of all the miseries and calamities under which they now suffer restore them to all quietness and happiness under his Majesties most gracious Government deliver the Kingdom in general from those slaughters deprecations rapines and spoils which always accompany a War encourage the Subjects and others with comfort to betake themselves to Trade Traffick Commerce Manufacture and all other things which un-interrupted may increase the wealth and strength of the Kingdom beget in all his Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom a perfect Unity amongst themselves after the too long continued Division amongst them So his Majesty assures himself that all his Subjects of this his Kingdom duly considering the great and inestimable benefits which they may find in this Peace will with all duty render due obedience thereunto And We in his Majesties Name do hereby Declare That all Persons so rendring due Obedience to the said Peace shall be protected cherished countenanced and supported by his Majesty and his Royal Authority according to the true intent and meaning of the said Articles of Peace Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin the Thirtieth day of July 1646. Ri. Bolton Canc. Roscomon Dillon Cha. Lambart Gerrard Lowther Fr. Willoughby Robert Forth La. Dublin Geo. Cloyne Arthur Chichester Hen. Tichborn Tho. Lucas
and Commanding as well in Secular as Ecclesiastical Matters to the Popes Nuncio who began his Empire with committing to Prison the Commissioners who had been Instrumental in the Treaty and making of the Peace by order of the general Assembly and issued out an Excommunication against all those who had or should submit to the Peace which comprehended all the Nobility and almost all the Gentry and some of the Clergy which Excommunication wrought so universally upon the minds of the People that albeit all Persons of Honour and Quality received infinite scandal and well foresaw the irreparable damage Religion it self would undergo by that unwarrantable Proceeding and used their utmost Power to draw the People to obedience and submission to the said Agreement and to that purpose prevail'd so far with General Preston that he gave them reason to hope that he would joyn with them for the vindication of the publick Faith and the Honour of the Nation and compel those that oppos'd it to submit to the Peace Yet all these endeavours produced no effect but concluded in unprofitable Resentments and Lamentation In the mean time Owen O Neil when he found himself disappointed of his Design to have cut off the Lord-Lieutenant before he should reach Dublin enter'd into the Queens-County and committed all Acts of Cruelty and Outrage that could be imagined took many Castles and Forts which belong'd to the King and put all who resisted to the Sword and his Officers in cold blood caus'd others to be murther'd to whom they had promised Quarter as Major Pigot and others of his Family About the latter end of June this year Major General Monro received a severe defeat from Owen Roe O-Neil at Benburgh alias Benburge near Charlemont in the County of Ardmagh whereby the whole Province was exposed to the Rebels fury in as much as if they had had the Courage or Policy to have prosecuted it they might have destroyed all the Scotch Quarters and endanger'd their Towns but Owen Roe instead of prosecuting the Victory went presently with the Prisoners and Colours in Triumph to Kilkenny so gave our Forces a breathing whilst the Parliament suspecting his union with Preston immediately ordered 50000 l. out of the Excise for the raising of more men for Ireland and some Horse besides Foot were presently sent over with Ammunition and other necessaries these called at Dublin but the Design being not then fit for their Reception they were otherwise disposed of And shortly after the Nuncio prevail'd so much that he united General Preston to his Army at which time he took this Oath I A. B. Swear and Protest that I will adhere to the present union of the Confederate Roman Catholicks that reject the Peace lately agreed and proclaimed at Dublin and do nothing by Word Deed Writing Advice or otherwise to the Prejudice of that Union and will to the uttermost of my Power advance and further the Good and Preservation of it and of his Majesties Rights and the Priviledges of free-born Subjects to the Natives of this Kingdom And then the Nuncio as Generalissimo lead both Armies towards Dublin where the Lord Lieutenant was so surprized with their Perfidiousness that he found himself in no less straights and distresses from his Friends within then from his Enemies without who totally neglected those Forces which being under the obedience of the Parliament of England had always waged a sharp and bloody War with them and at present made inroads into their Quarters to their great damage and intirely ingaged themselves to suppress the Kings Authority to which they had so lately submitted Lest so prodigious an alteration as is now set forth may seem to be wrapt up in too short a discourse and it may appear almost incredible that an Agreement so deliberately and solemnly entred into by the whole Nobility and Gentry of the Nation in a Matter that so intirely concern'd their own Interest should in such an instant be blasted and anihilated by a Congregation of Clergy assembled onely by their own authority And therefore without the vice of curiosity all men may desire to be inform'd by what Degrees and Method that Congregation proceeded and what specious Pretences and Insinuations they us'd towards the People for the better perswading them to depart from that Peace they were even again restored to the Possession of It will not be impertinent therefore to set down some important particulars of their Proceedings and the very forms of some Instruments publish'd by them that the World may see the Logick and Rhetorick that was used to impose upon and delude that unhappy People and to intangle them more in that Labyrinth of Confusion wherein they were long involved They were not content not to suffer the Peace not to be proclaimed in Waterford and to disswade the People from submitting to it But by a Decree dated the 12 day of August 1646. which they commanded to be published in all places in the English and Irish Tongue they declared by the unanimous consent and votes of all even none contradicting as they say That all and singular the Confederate Catholicks who should adhere or consent to the Peace or to the Fautors thereof or otherwise embrace the same should be held absolute perjur'd especially for this cause that in those Articles there is no mention made of the Catholick Religion or the security thereof or any care taken for the Conservation of the Priviledges of the Country as had been promised in an Oath formerly taken by them but rather all things referred to the Pleasure of the most renowned King from whom in his present state they said nothing of certainty could be had And in the Interim the Armies and Arms and Fortunes even the Supream Council it self of the Confederate Catholicks were subjected to the Authority and Rule of the Council of State and Protestant Officers of his Majesty from whom that they might be secured they had taken that Oath And the next day being informed that the Lord Viscount Mountgarret and Lord Viscount Muskery were appointed by the Supream Council at Kilkenny to go to Dublin to confer with the Lord Lieutenant upon the best way to be pursued for the execution and observation of the Peace they made an Order in Writing in which were these words We admonish in our Lord and require the Persons who are departed to Dublin that they forbear and abstain from going thither for the said end or if they be gone that they return and this under pain of Excommunication commanding the Right Honourable the Bishop of Ossory and other Bishops as well assembled as not assembled here and their Vicars General as also Vicars Apostolical and all Priests even Irregulars that they intimate these Presents or cause to be intimated even by affixing them in publick places and that they proceed against the disobedient in denouncing of Excommunication as it should seem expedient in our Lord. When the Supream Council notwithstanding these new
be looked on as a Dream more than a Truth considering the shortness of the Expedition though none could more prudently have acted whilst he was upon the Place nor was there any whom the Soldiers would more readily obey such was his Courage so great his Integrity The Lord Broghil and Sir Arthur Loftus at the same time preferr'd Articles against the Lord Inchequin But the Parliament was so imbroil'd about the Disbanding the Independent Army then mutinous and Inchequin had so many to favour themselves countenanc'd him as little if any thing became of the Impeachment But to return to the Confederates who when they saw the Ships return'd from England with Supplies of Soldiers Money and great store of Provisions and the Commissioners to treat with the Marquis for putting all into the Parliaments hands rais'd the Siege seeming less united amongst themselves and desirous to make Conditions with the Lord Lieutenant whilst General Preston and his Officers frankly entred into a Treaty with the Marquis of Clanrickard whom the Lord Lieutenant authoriz'd to that end and with deep and solemn Oaths undertook and promised to stand to the Peace and from thenceforth to be obedient to his Majesties Authority and to joyn with the Marquis of Ormond against all those who should refuse to submit unto them On the other side the Commissioners from the two Houses of Parliament who were admitted into Dublin to treat with the Lord Lieutenant observing the very ill condition the Town was in besieged by two strong Armies by whom they within expected every hour to be assaulted concluded that the want of Food and all necessaries for defence would compel the Marquis with the importunity and clamour of the Inhabitants and Soldiers to receive Supplies of Men Money and Victuals which they had brought upon any terms and therefore stifly insisted on their Propositions refusing to consent that the Marquis should send any Messenger to the King that upon information how the case stood he might receive his Majesties direction what to do And how the Parliament in Ireland then in being might be continued which by the delivering of the Sword without his Majesties pleasure imparted could not be secured from being dissolved and without which he then resolved not to proceed to any conjunction with them and so had privately dispatched several Expresses to the King as soon as he discerned clearly that the Irish were so terrifi'd by the Nuncio and his Excommunication that there was little hope of good from them with full information of the state of Affairs and expected every day a return of some of the said Messengers with signification of his Majesties Pleasure Thus the Treaty with the Marquis not succeeding the Commissioners from the Two Houses of Parliament return'd again to their Ships about the end of November and carried all the Supplies they had brought to the Parliaments Garrisons in the Province of Ulster being much incens'd against the Lord Lieutenant for declining an entire union with them and inclining as they said he did to a new confidence in the Irish Yet they found but cold entertainment amongst the Scots At which time Dr. John Maxwel formerly Bishop of Ross in Scotland now Archbishop of Tuam in Ireland hearing of Commissioners from the Parliament of England grew so envenom'd thereat suspecting the Covenant which he had ever abhorr'd should be imposed as sicercely imprecating it and being broken with the calamities of the Times he di'd the 14th of Febr. 1646. and was buried in Trinity Church Dublin at the munificence of the Marquis of Ormond By this time the Marquis of Clanrickard had an entire trust answerable to what he had begun to treat of with General Preston from the Lord Lieutenant as a Person superiour to all temptations which might endeavour to lessen or divert his Affection and Integrity to the King or his Zeal to the Romish Catholick Religion in which he had been bred and to which he had most constantly adher'd he had taken great pains to render the Peace which had been so long in consultation effectual to the Nation and had both by Discourse and Writing endeavour'd to disswade the Nuncio from prosecuting those rough ways which he foresaw were like to undo the Nation and dishonour the Catholick Religion He found General Preston and the Officers of his Army less transported with passion and a blind submission to the Authority of the Nuncio than the other and that they professed greater duty and obedience to the King and that they seem'd to be wrought on by two Conclusions which had been speciously infus'd into them The first was that the Lord Lieutenant was so great an Enemy to their Religion that though they should obtain any Conditions from the King to their advantage in that particular he would oppose and not consent unto the same The other that the King was now in the hand of the Scots who were not like to approve that Peace had been made all that Nation in Ulster refusing to submit to it And if they should be able to procure any Order from his Majesty to disavow it the Lord Lieutenant would undoubtedly obey it These specious infusions the Marquis of Clanrickard endeavour'd to remove and undertook upon his Honour to use all the Power and Interest which he had in the King Queen and Prince on behalf of the Romish Catholicks and to procure them such Priviledges and Liberty for the free exercise of their Religion as they could reasonably expect And undertook that the Lord Lieutenant would acquiesce with such directions as he should receive therein without contradiction or endeavour to do ill Offices to the Catholicks He further promised that if any Order should be procured from the King during the restraint he was then in to the disadvantage of the Catholicks then He would suspend any obedience thereunto until such time as his Majesty should be at liberty and might receive full information on their behalf And upon the Marquis of Clanrickard's positive undertaking these particulars and the Lord Lieutenant having ratifi'd and confirm'd all that the Marquis had engag'd himself for General Preston with all the Principal Officers under his Command signed this ensuing Engagement WE the Generals Nobility and Officers of the Confederate Catholick Forces do solemnly bind and engage our selves by the Honour and Reputation of Gentlemen and Soldiers and by the Sacred Protestation upon the Faith of Catholicks in the presence of Almighty God both for our selves and as much as in us lies for all Persons that are or shall be under our Command that we will from the Date hereof forward submit and conform our selves entirely and sincerely to the Peace concluded and proclaimed by his Majesties Lieutenant with such additional Concessions and Securities as the Right Honourable Ulick Lord Marquis of Clanrickard hath undertaken to procure and secure to us in such manner and upon such terms as is expressed in his Lordships Undertakings and Protestation of
Toleration of the Romish Catholick Religion had in truth prov'd for the extirpation of the Protestant when they should think fit to put the same in execution Nor was the only Argument and Excuse which they published for these Proceedings more reasonable than the Proceedings themselves which was That the Concessions and Promises made unto them by the Earl of Glamorgan were much larger and greater security for their Religion than those consented to by the Marquess Whereas in truth those Concessions and Promises made by the Earl as we have took notice were dis-avowed and dis-own'd by the Lord Lieutenant before the Peace was concluded and the Earl committed to Prison for his Presumption which though it produced some interruption in the Treaty yet was the same after resumed and the Peace concluded and proclaimed upon the Articles formerly mention'd so that the Allegation of what had been undertaken by the Earl of Glamorgan can be no excuse for their violating the Agreement afterwards concluded with the Marquess Whereby it appears let the most favourable Fucus imaginable be put upon it that though they released the Commissioners for the Treaty as justifiable yet Herod and Pilate were then made Friends each Party consenting to dam the Peace This last wonderful Act put a period to all Hopes of the Marquess of Ormond which Charity and Compassion to the Kingdom and Nation and his discerning Spirit would fain have cherisht in that in-evitable ruine and destruction both must undergo from that distemper of mind that possessed them and had so long boy'd them up against his experience and judgement And now those whose Natures Dispositions and Interest made them most averse to the Parliament of England grew more affrighted at the thoughts of falling under the Power of the Irish so that all Persons of all humours and inclinations who lived under his Government and had dislikes and jealousies enough against each other were yet united and reconciled in their opinions against the Irish. The Council of State besought the Lord Lieutenant to consider whether it were possible to have any better security from them for the performance of any other Agreement he should make than he had for the performance of that which they now receded from and disclaimed And since the Spring was now coming on whereby the number power and strength of their Enemy would be increas'd on all sides and their hopes of Succours was desperate and so it would be only in his election into whose power he would put those who had deserved as well from his Majesty by doing and suffering as Subjects could do whether into the hands of the English who could not deny them protection and justice or of the Irish who had not only dispoil'd them of all their Fortunes and prosecuted them with all animosity and cruelty but declared by their late carriage that they were not capable of security under them they therefore entreated him to send again to the two Houses of Parliament and make some agreement with them which would probably be for their preservation whereas with the other what-ever could be done it was evident it would be for their destruction That which amongst other things of importance made a deep impression in the Marquess was the knowledge that there had been from the beginning of these Troubles a Design in the principal Contrivers of them entirely to alienate the Kingdom of Ireland from the Crown of England to extirpate not only the Protestant but all the Catholicks who were descended from the English and who in truth are no less odious to the old Irish than the other and to put themselves into the protection of some foreign Prince if they should find it impossible to erect some of the old Families And how impossible and extravagant soever this Attempt might reasonably be thought in regard not only all the Catholicks of the English Extraction who were in Quality and Fortune much superiour to the other but many Noble and much the best and greatest Families of the ancient Irish perfectly abhorred and abominated the same writ some Yet it was apparent that the violent Part of the Clergy that now govern'd had really that intention and never intended more to submit to the King's Authority whosoever should be intrusted with it And it had been proposed in the last Assembly by Mr. Anthony Martin and others That they should call in some forreign Prince for protection from whom they had receiv'd Agents as from his most Christian Majesty Monsieur de Monry and Monsieur de Molin from his Catholick Majesty Don Diego de Torres his Secretary from the Duke of Lorrain Monsieur St. Katherine and from Rome they had Petrus Franciscus Scarampi and afterwards Rinuccini Archbishop and Prince of Fermo Nuncio Apostolick for Ireland whose exorbitant Power was Earnest enough how little more they meant to have to do with the King and as it would be thought gave no less an umbrage offence and scandal to the Catholicks of Honour and Discretion than it incensed those who bore no kind of Reverence to the Bishop of Rome to whom as their publick Ministers they sent their Bishop of Ferns and Sir Nicholas Plunket as before Mr. Richard Bealing to Spain they sent Fa. Hugh Bourk to Paris Fa. Matthew Hartegan and to the Duke of Lorrain by general Commission Theobald Lord Viscount Taaff Sir Nich. Plunket and Mr. Geoffry Brown some of whose Instructions we shall here give you that the Temper of that Council and the Affections of those Men what pretence soever veils their Designs may appear from the Instruments themselves Kilkenny 18. Jan. 1647. By the Supream Council and others the Lords Spiritual and Temporal here under-Signing and the Commons of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland Instructions to be observed and by the Lord Bishop of Fernes and Nicholas Plunket Esq Commissioners appointed and authorized by and in the behalf of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland in the Court of Rome 1 Imprimis YOu are to represent unto his Holiness the deplorable Condition wherein the Confederate Catholicks are and for your better information to take with you the Draught of the Representation of the present Condition of the Countrey which you are to enlarge and second by your own Expressions according to your knowledge and therefore desire in regard Ireland and Religion in it is humanely speaking like to be lost that his Holiness in his great Wisdom and Piety will be pleased to make the Preservation of a People so constantly and unanimously Catholick his and the Consistory of the Cardinals their Work And you are to pray his Holiness to afford such present effectual Aids for the preservation of the Nation and the Roman Catholick Religion therein as shall be necessary 2. You are to let his Holiness know That Application is to be made to our Queen and Prince for a settlement of Peace and Tranquillity in the Kingdom of Ireland And that for the effecting thereof the Confederate Catholicks
their Quarters In the interim the Parliament of Ireland then sitting at Dublin finding into what straights the Kingdom was brought and how his Excellency had strugled with the greatest difficulties imaginable for his Majesties and their Interest they the 17th of March sent this Remonstrance in acknowledgment of great Care and Indulgence The Remonstrance of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled declaring the Acknowledgment of their hearty thankfulness to the most Honourable James Marquis of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General of Ireland his Excellency WE the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament in our whole Body do present our selves before your Lordship acknowledging with great sense and feeling your Lordships singular goodness to us the Protestant Party and those who have faithfully and constantly adhered unto them who have been preserved to this day under God by your Excellencies providence and pious care which hath not been done without a vast expence out of your own Estate as also to the hazarding of your Person in great and dangerous difficulties And when your Lordship found your self with the strength remaining with you to be too weak to resist an insolent and upon all advantages a perfidious and bloody Enemy rather than we should perish you have in your care transferred us into their hands that are both able and willing to preserve us and that not by a bare casting us off but by complying so far with us that you have not denied our desires of Hostages and amongst them of one of your most dear Sons All which being such a free Earnest of your Excellencies love to our Religion Nation and both Houses do incite us here to come unto you with Hearts fill'd with your love and Tongues declaring how much we are oblig'd to your Excellency professing our resolutions are with all real service to the utmost of our power to manifest the sincerity of our acknowledgment and affections unto you and to perpetuate to posterity the memory of your Excellencies merits and our thankfulness We have appointed this Instrument to be entred into both Houses and under the hands of both Speakers to be presented to your Lordship Rich. Bolton Canc. 17 die Martii 1676. intr per Val. Savage Dep. Cler. Parl. Maurice Eustace Speaker Int. 17. die Martii 1676. per Philip Fernely Cler. Dom. Com. What effect this made upon his Excellency you will here see My Lords and Gentlemen WHat you have now read and deliver'd hath much surpriz'd me and contains matter of higher obligation laid upon me by you than thus suddenly to be answer'd yet I may not suffer you to depart hence without saying somewhat to you And first I assure you that this Acknowledgment of yours is unto me a Jewel of very great value which I shall lay up amongst my choicest Treasures it being not onely a full confutation of those Calumnies that have been cast upon my actions during the time I have had the Honour to serve his Majesty here but likewise an Antidote against the virulency and poison of those Tongues and Pens that I am well assur'd will be busily set on work to traduce and blast the Integrity of my present Proceedings for your preservation And now my Lords and Gentlemen since this may perhaps be the last time that I shall have the Honour to speak to you from this Place and since that next to the words of a dying man those of one ready to banish himself from his Country for the good of it challenge credit give me leave before God and you here to protest That in all the time I had the Honour to serve the King my Master I never receiv'd any Command from him but such as spake him a Wise Pious Protestant Prince zealous of the Religion he professeth the welfare of his Subjects and industrious to promote and settle Peace and Tranquility in all his Kingdoms and I shall beseech you to look no otherwise upon me than upon a ready Instrument set on work by the Kings wisdom and goodness for your preservation wherein if I have discharg'd my self to his Approbation and Tours it will be the greatest satisfaction and comfort I shall take with me where-ever it shall please God to direct my steps And now that I may dismiss you I beseech God long long to preserve my Gracious Master and to restore Peace Rest to this afflicted Church and Kingdom But to return In conclusion the Commissioners from the two Houses of Parliament having performed all that on their part was expected the Marquis of Ormond delivered up Dublin and the other Garrisons into their hands the 17th some write the 18th of June 1647. on condition to enjoy his Estate and not to be subject to any Debts contracted for the support of his Majesties Army under his Command or for any Debts contracted before the Rebellion That he and all such Noblemen and Officers as desir'd to pass into any part of that Kingdom should have travelling Arms and free Passes with Servants for their respective Qualities That he should have 5000 l. in hand and 2000 l. per Annum for five years till he could receive so much a year out of his own Estate And that he should have liberty to live in England without taking any Oaths for a year he engaging his Honour to do nothing in the interim to the prejudice of the Parliament However he delivered not up the Regalia till the 25th of July at which time he was transported with his Family into England where they admitted him to wait on the King and to give his Majesty an account of his Transactions who received him most graciously as a Servant who had merited highly from him and fully approved all that he had done The straits his Excellency was then put to were great and in consideration into whose hands the Government might fall his surrender of Dublin to the Parliament seem'd extreme hazardous yet Providence so steer'd his Resolution in that act as doubtless the ground of his Majesties Sovereignty and the English preservation how many Channels soever it past through first proceeded thence Before He came away the Soldiers had receiv'd such a tincture of Mutiny as Mr. Annesly and Sir Robert King for fear of violence privately quitted the Kingdom before which they with Sir Robert Meredith Colonel Michael Jones and Colonel John Moore took notice of the insolency of the Soldiers to exact Contribution and free Quarters at their pleasure forbidding them so to do c. by a Proclamation at Dublin the 20th of June 1647. Soon after the Parliaments Commissioners were warm in the Government having regulated their Militia they put their Sickle into the Service of the Church where they found many so ten●cious to the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy and their Vows to their Ordinaries as they could not be wean'd from the Liturgy of the Church of England in which Ministery they desir'd to finish their Course with joy and the 9th of July
1647. they unanimously publish'd a Declaration to that end exactly drawn up with great Reason Perspicuity and Eloquence The time that the Marquis of Ormond agreed with the Parliaments Commissioners was near the time that the Army had gotten the King into their hands having taken him from Holmbey out of the custody of the Commissioners to whom the Scots had delivered him And the Marquis of Ormond at his arrival in England found so many specious pretences and professions publish'd by that Party which then had the whole Power of the Army and consequently of the Kingdom that very many believ'd his Majesties Affairs to be in no ill condition more seeming respect was paid to his Person and less restraint upon the resort of his faithful Servants to him than had been from the time that he first put himself into the Scots power The Army took upon them the Government of the Kingdom having solemnly declared That there could be no reasonable hope of a firm and lasting Peace if there were not an equal care to preserve the Interest of the King Queen and Prince as of the Liberties of the People and that both should be with equal care provided for together In this time of freedom and hypocritical compliance the Marquis had free liberty of repairing to the King where he gave him an account of all his actions and of the course he had taken for the reviving and preserving his Majesties Interest in Ireland by setling a Correspondence with many Persons of Honour there who would keep the two Houses of Parliament how great an advantage soever he had given them by the delivery up of Dublin c. into their power if they refus'd to return to his Majesties obedience from obtaining any absolute Dominion in that Countrey and who were most like to reduce the Nation from the Distemper with which they were transported and to incline them to that submission that was due from them to the King with all which his Majesty was very graciously and abundantly satisfied and gave the Marquis direction in case the Independent Army should proceed otherwise than they pretended how he should behave himself and comply with the Irish if he could reduce and dispose them to be instrumental towards his or their own delivery And when his Majesty discovered by the double dealing and hypocritical demeanour of the Officers of the Army of whom he had earlier jealousie than other men as seeing farther into their dark Design the little good they meant him he found it fit to receive some Overtures from the Scottish Commissioners who were still admitted to reside at London and to bear a part in the Managery of the Publick Affairs and now plainly saw that the Independent Army which they had so much despised was grown superiour to them and meant to perform nothing less than what they had so Religiously promised before the King was delivered up at Newcastle The King hereupon commands the Marquis of Ormond to confer with the principal Persons of that Commission who seem'd very sensible of the dishonour their Nation had incurr'd and resolved by uniting the power of that Kingdom for his Majesties Service to undo some of the mischief they had wrought And desired that the Marquis of Ormond would likewise transport himself into Ireland to try once more if he could compose the humours of that People to his Majesties obedience that so those two Kingdoms being entirely reduc'd to their duty might with that assistance they were like to find in England perswade the violent Party to comply with those moderate and just Conclusions which would establish the Peace and Tranquility of the whole in a full happiness to Prince and People And from hence was that first Engagement design'd which was afterwards so unfortunately conducted by the elder Duke Hamilton and concluded with the ruine of himself and of many Worthy and Noble Persons When the Army had by their civil and specious carriage and professions disposed the Kings Party to wish well to them at least better than to the Presbyterians who seem'd to have erected a Model of a more formid and insupportable Tyranny and were less endu'd with the appearances of Humanity and good Nature and had by shuffling themselves into new shapes of Government and admitting Persons of all Conditions to assemble and make Propositions to them in order to the publick Peace given encouragement to most men to believe that all Interests would in some degree be provided for and so had brought themselves into an absolute Power over all Interests they began to lessen their outward Respects and Reverence to the King to inhibit some of his Servants absolutely to resort to him and more to restain the frequent access of the People who out of their innate Duty and Affection delighted to see his Majesty they caused reports to be raised and scattered abroad of some intentions in desperate persons of violence upon his Majesties Person and upon this pretence doubled their Guards and put Officers of stricter vigilance and more surly disposition about him so that whatsoever he said or did or was said unto him was more punctually observed The Marquis of Ormond was look'd upon with a very jealous eye and was forbid to continue his attendance on him or to come within 25 miles of London and that Article in the Agreement at the delivery of Dublin viz. That he should engage his Honour not to act any thing to the prejudice of the Parliament in a twelvemonth there was an intention to put him in mind of by a Letter from the Committee at Derby-house but before the Messenger came where he had been near Bristol he knowing of the King 's being close Prisoner in Carisbrook-Castle and that it would be to little purpose to contest his Articles with the Parliament privately shipt himself away for France where he arrived safely about the end of the year 1647. having spent in England little more than six months For a time we must leave the Marquis in France and return to Colonel Jones in Dublin who with those Forces that were left there by the Marquis of Ormond and such as he brought and received out of England amounting in all to 3000 marched against Colonel Preston approaching with his Leimster Forces to infest Dublin and met him about 12 miles from Dublin who having gotten great advantage of ground routed Jones killed many of his men and took not a few Prisoners Jones himself escaping with much difficulty to Dublin Whether upon this accident or otherwise I cannot determine but great divisions then arose betwixt the old English who had Preston for their General and the old Irish who had Owen Roe O Neal for theirs The old English had a gallant Army consisting of near 10000 Foot and Horse well Arm'd and well Disciplin'd who thought that if they would offer themselves Instruments to destroy the old Irish they might at any time have good Conditions from England therefore under
Churches and Church-Livings they have in present possession and the Exercise of Jurisdiction therein 2. That a Parliament be had within 6 months or when after the Roman Catholicks shall desire 3. That all Laws made in the Parliament of England since 1641. in blemish of the Catholicks are at the next Parliament to be vacated 4. All Indictments against any Catholicks since 1641. be vacated 5. All Impediments to be taken away that Catholicks be elected in Parliament 6. All Debts to remain as they were Feb. 8. 1641. notwithstanding any Attainder 7. The Estates of the Knights Gentlemen and Freeholders of Connaght Clare Thomond Limerick and Tipperary be secured by an Act. 8. All Incapacities of the Natives in Ireland be taken away by Act. 9. All Honours Trusts Imployments or such like be conferred as well upon Catholicks as Protestants 10. That the King take 12000 l. per annum in lieu of the Court of Wards 11. No Noblemen to have more Proxies than two in Parliament and all Blanks to be null 12. That the depending of the Parliament of Ireland upon England shall be as both shall agree and stand with the Laws of Ireland 13. That the Council-Table meddle only with Matters of State 14. That all Acts forbidding the Transport of Wooll be null'd by the next Parliament 15. That if any have been wrong'd by Grants from King James or since they may Petition and have Relief in Parliament 16. That divers particular Lords Knights and Gentlemen who have been as they conceiv'd wrong'd shall now be righted 17. That all who had their Estates taken from them in Cork Toughall and Dungarvan have restoration or Rent 18. That in the next Parliament an Act of Oblivion pass to all in Ireland and that adhered to them 19. That no Officer of Eminency in Ireland farm the Customs 20. An Act to pass against Monopolists 21. That the Court of Castle-Chamber be regulated 22. That the Acts for prohibiting plowing with Horses by the Tayls and burning Oats in the Straw be null 23. An Act for taking off the Grievances of the Kingdom 24. That Maritime Causes be determin'd in Ireland 25. That no Rents be rais'd upon the Subjects under pretence of defective Titles 26. That Interest-Money be forgiven from 1641. 27. That all this be acted and be of force till a Parliament agree the same 28. The Commissioners for the Catholicks that treated agree upon such as shall be Commissioners of the Peace and hear all Causes under 10 l. 29. That all Governours of Towns Castles and Places made by the King be with the Approbation of the Catholick Commissioners 30. That none of his Majesty's Rents be paid until a full Settlement in Parliament 31. That the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer do try Murthers Stealing and all inferiour Trespasses of that nature 32. That hereafter such Differencies as shall arise between Subjects be determin'd by a Court in Ireland not transfer'd to England 33. That the Roman Clergy that behave themselves according to the Agreement be not molested Lastly That his Majesty please to grant what-ever else is necessary for the Roman Catholicks Upon which Peace the Marquess of Ormond the Lord Taaff and that Party engag'd to raise for Munster 4000 Foot and 800 Horse the supream Council and Preston for Leimster 4000 Foot and 800 Horse Inchiquin 3000 Foot and 600 Horse the Lord of Clanrickard for Connaght proportionable to the first In all 15000 Foot and 3000 Horse besides what Owen Roe upon his uniting afterwards might bring in computed to be 5000 Foot and 500 Horse that in the whole a gallanter Army had they been unanimous could scarce have been marshall'd With what Consent and Unity soever this Peace was made by those who had any pretence to Trust or to whom there was the least Deputation of Authority and Power by the Nation yet Owen O Neal with whom the Earl of Antrim joyn'd had the greatest Influence upon the Humours and Inclinations of the old Irish who had given themselves up to the Nuncio and who indeed had a better disciplin'd and consequently a stronger Army at his Command than the Confederates thought he could have gain'd to his Devotion still refused to submit to it So that the Lord Lieutenant as soon as the Peace was concluded was as well to provide against him to remove some Garrisons he held which infested those who obeyed the Acts of the Assembly and to prevent his Incursion as to raise an Army against the Spring to march against the English who were possessed of Dublin and all the Countrey and important Places of that Circuit and who he was sure would be supplied with all assistance of Shipping Men Money Victuals and Ammunition which the Parliament of England who had now murthered their Sovereign and incorporated themselves under the Name and Title of a Common-wealth could send them And he was in a worse condition to prevail against both these by the unhappy Temper and Constitution of the Scots in Ulster who being very numerous and possessed of the strong Towns though in profession they abhorred the Regicides and were not reconcilable to Owen O Neal and his Party were as yet as un-inclined to the Peace made with the Confederates and far from paying an obedience and full submission to the Orders and Government of the Lord Lieutenant maintaining at the same time the Presbyterian Form in their Church and an utter Independency in the State and out of those contradictory Ingredients compounding such a peevish and wayward Affection and Duty to the King as could not be applied to the bearing any part in the great Work the Marquess was incumbent to As soon as he heard of the Murther of the King he proclaim'd our present Sovereign Charles the 2d King of England Scotland France and Ireland at Carrick the 16th of Feb. 1648. And being by a Clause in his late Commission from his Majesty qualified with special Power and Authority to make no distinction in difference of Judgement betwixt any who should subject their Assistance to his Majesty's Service he soon won the Scots to a compliance though under the shackles of their Covenant who immediately us'd the most favourable Arguments they could to win Sir Charles Coot to their Party And to that end from the Congregation of the Presbytery at Belfast the 15th of Feb. 1648. they tempt him by several Representations with their Sence To which the 7th of March ensuing Sir Charles Coot and the Council of War held at London-derry return'd these Reasons for their Dis-agreement First We find no part of God's Word authorizing us being but a Branch of a subordinate Kingdom to declare against the Parliament of England under whom we serve who are the visible Authority of both Kingdoms and against an Army acting by their Power before we receive from themselves a Declaration and Grounds of those Proceedings wherewith they are aspers'd Secondly For the Covenant we have taken on which your Representations seem to
Lieutenant-General of the Army with a strong Party of Horse to pursue Jones his Horse which were sent for Tredagh which he did so successfully that he surprized one whole Troop and afterwards encountred Colonel Chidley Coot in the head of 300 Horse whereof he slew many and routed the rest who in great disorder fled to Tredagh The Lord Inchequin presently sent advertisement of this success and that he had reason to believe that if he pursued this advantage and attempt the Town while this terror possessed that Party he should make himself Master of it whereupon in respect of the great importance of the Place the reduction whereof would produce a secure correspondence with and give encouragement to the Scots in Ulster who made great professions in which they were ever free of Duty to the King and had now under the conduct of the Lord Viscount Montgomery of Ards driven Sir Charles Coot into the City of London-derry and upon the matter beleagu'd him there the Lord Lieutenant by the advice of the Council of War approved the Lord Inchequin's Design and to that purpose sent him two Regiments of Foot and two Pieces of Artillery and such Ammunition and Materials as could be spared wherewith he proceeded so vigorously that within 7 days he compelled the besieged to yield to honourable Conditions so reduced Tredagh to the Kings Obedience after he had been twice beaten off the Town having not above 600 Men who had spent all their Ammunition left to defend so large a circuit some of which afterwards revolted to the Marquess and Colonel Coot with 150 Horse and near 400 Foot march'd to Dublin There was now very reasonable ground for hope that the Parliaments Party would quickly find themselves in notable streights and distresses when it was on a suddain discover'd how very active and dexterous the spirit of Rebellion is to reconcile and unite those who were possessed by it and how contrary soever their Principles and Ends seem to be and contribute jointly to the opposing and oppressing that Lawful Power they had both equally injured and provoked The Parliament Party who had heap'd so many Reproaches and Calumnies upon the King for his Clemency to the Irish who had founded their own Authority and Strength upon such foundations as were inconsistent with any toleration of the Roman Catholick Religion and some write so bitter are their Pens even with Humanity to the Irish Nation and more especially to those of the old Native Extraction the whole Race whereof they had upon the matter sworn to an utter extirpation And Owen O Neal himself was of the most antient Sept and whose Army consisted onely of such who avowed no other cause for their first entrance into Rebellion but Matter of Religion and that the Power of the Parliament was like to be so great and prevalent that the King himself would not be able to extend his Favours and Mercy towards them which they seem'd to be confident he was in his gracious disposition inclined to express and therefore professed to take up Arms against the exorbitant Power onely of them and to retain hearts full of Devotion and Duty to his Majesty and who at present by the under-hand and secret Treaties with the Lord Lieutenant seem'd more irreconcilable to the Proceedings of the General Assembly and to the Persons of those whom he thought govern'd there then to make any scruple of submitting to the Kings Authority in the Person of the Marquess to which and to whom he protested all Duty and Reverence These two so contrary and dis-agreeing Elements had I say by the subtile and volatile spirit of Hypocrisy and Rebellion the Arts of the time found a way to incorporate together and Owen O Neal had promised and contracted with the other that he would compel the Lord Lieutenant to retire and draw off his Army from about Dublin by his invading those Parts of Leimster and Munster with his Army which yielded most yea all the Provisions and subsistance to the Marquess and which he presumed the Marquess would not suffer to be spoil'd and desolated by his Incursions for the better doing whereof and enabling him for this Expedition Colonel Monk Governor of Dundalk who was the second Person in Command amongst the Parliaments Forces had promised to deliver to him out of the stores of that Garrison a good quantity of Powder Bullet and Match proportionable for the fetching whereof Owen O Neal had sent Farral Lieutenant General of his Army with a Party of 500 Foot and 300 Horse At that time Tredagh was taken by the Lord Inchequin who being there advertised of that new contracted friendship resolved to give some interruption to it and made so good hast that within few hours after Farral had receiv'd the Ammunition at Dundalk he fell upon him routed all his Horse and of the 500 Foot there were not 40 escaped but were either slain or taken Prisoners and got all the Ammunition and with it so good an Account of the present state of Dundalk that he immediately engaged before it and assisted by the Lord of Ards who a little before had been chosen by the Presbyterian Ministers their Commander in Chief thereby possessing himself of Carrigfergus and Belfast in two days compelled Monk who would else have been delivered up by his own Souldiers to surrender the Place where was a good Magazeen of Ammunition Cloath and other Necessaries for War most of the Officers and Souldiers with all alacrity engaging themselves in his Majesties service though the Governor Shipt himself for England and landing shortly after at Chester he went immediately to Bristol where Cromwel the Parliaments Lord Lieutenant was then to come for Ireland who receiv'd him very courteously but after he had remain'd some days there advised him to go up to the Parliament to give them satisfaction in the Cessation he had made with Owen Roe O-Neal the 8th of May 1649. which he did And the business of that Cessation being brought into the House it was much resented and after some debate more then ordinarily had on other occasions several severe Votes passed against it onely Colonel Monk being conceived to have made it out of a good intent for preserving the Interest of the Parliament was held to be clear and not thought fit hereafter to be question'd But this was taken as a fair way of laying him aside whereupon Colonel Monk retir'd to his own Estate unhappy onely in being the Instrument of their preservation who were not sensible of his Merits And now that all Parties might be kept entire the Marquess of Ormond publishes a Declaration upon Instructions from the King design'd purposely for Ulster AFter my hearty Commendations upon some Representations that have been lately made unto us we have thought fit to send you down the ensuing Instructions First That so far as your Power extends you cause every Person without distinction who have submitted to his Majesties Authority
company which attended the Marquess was too few to encounter the Enemy's Horse with any considerable hope yet he drew them up in that manner on the side of an Hill that the Enemy imagining their number to be more considerable thought fit to lessen their pace and to send small Parties to discover them which being again entertain'd by the like number in like skirmishes the Foot as much improving their March they were in the end by the Marquess's frequent opposing of his own Person to retard the Enemy's pursuit preserv'd and so brought back with him into the Town about half of those who had march'd thence the rest being killed or taken Prisoners by Colonel Zanckey which also had been infallibly destroyed if the Marquess had not taken that desperate course to redeem them as he might in hope have recovered all the others who were made Prisoners and defeated all that Body of the Enemy and consequently have taken Passage if the City would have permitted his Horse to have been transported over the River and to have march'd through it His Excellency's Forces had not better success in their Attempt to re-take Carrick governed by Colonel Reynolds meerly through the want of Pick-axes and Spaces though his confidence of the Design built on the brittle assurance of his Commanders had brought him almost thither where if it had not been for Colonel Milo Power who acquainted him of his Armies being baffled and of its removal thence he had been surprized by the Enemy And the Lord Inchiquin's Lieutenant Colonel Trevor's Sir Armstrong's Expeditions against Wexford and Ross ended in the like loss and misfortune The Marquess however leaves nothing un-attempted to fortifie Waterford what dis-couragements soever he had received by the Insolency of some Men instigated by the Violence and Opiniastrise of the Clergy In as much as he knew Passage or the other Places could not be regain'd without he might bring his Army over the River which they would not admit of nay desiring that his Army might for a little time be but hutted under their Walls where they should receive their Provisions and Pay duely out of the Countrey and so should be a Security and Benefit to the Town without the least damage in any Degree This Proposition also found no more regard then the former and instead of consulting with what Circumstances to comply with so just and necessary a Demand of the Kings Lieutenant it was proposed in the Council of the Town To seize on his Person and to fall on all who belonged to him as an Enemy Which Advice met with no other Reprehension then that for the present the major part did not consent unto it Of all which when the Marquess was fully informed he thought it time to depart thence and to leave them to their own Imaginations and so marched away with his Army which after this Indignity it was a thing impossible to keep them together And because the Principal Towns refused to admit them in he was fain in the depth of Winter to scatter them over all the Kingdom The greatest part of the Ulster Forces were sent into their own Province there to chuse a new General according as their Conditions allowed them for Owen O Neal was dead And Luke Taaff with his Men were sent back into Connaght to my Lord of Clanrickard The Lord Inchequin with the remainder of such as belonged unto him went over into the County of Clare The Lord Dillon with his into Meath and towards Athlone all the rest were scattered several ways Onely Major General Hugh O Neal was admitted with 1600 Ulster Men into Clonmel as Governor whilst the Marquess went to his Castle of Kilkenny From thence he dispatch'd the 24th of December an Account to the King who was then in the Isle of Jersey of the true Estate of his Affairs in that Kingdom By which his Majesty might see how much Cromwel's Forces who disclaimed any Subjection to him prevail'd against his Authority And how it was equally contemned deluded or dis-regarded by his Subjects who made all the Professions of Obedience and Duty to him which was a Method these ill times had made his Majesty too well acquainted with And from this time which was towards the end of December 1649. the Marquess never did or could draw together into one Body a number of 500. what endeavours he used to do it will be mention'd in order hereafter Assoon as the Lord Lieutenant came to Kilkenny he consulted with the Commissioners of Trust without whose approbation and consent he could do no act that was of importance what remedy to apply to the disorder and confusion which spread it self over all their Affairs they had been still Witnesses of all his actions of his unwearied pains and industry and of the little fruit that was reaped by it how his Orders and Commands and their own had been neglected and dis-obeyed in all those Particulars without which an Army could not be brought or kept together how those places which the Rebels had possessed themselves of had been for the most part lost by their own obstinate refusal to receive such assistance from him as was absolutely necessary for their preservation and yet that they had rais'd most unreasonable Imputations and Reproaches on him as if he had fail'd in their Defence and Relief They had seen the wonderful and even insupportable wants and necessities the Army had always undergone and knew very well how all Warrants had been disobeyed for the bringing in of Money and Provisions for the supply thereof And yet their Countrey was full of clamour and discontent for the payment of Taxes and being exhausted with Contribution He desired them therefore to examine where any mis-demeanors had in truth been and that they might be punished and from whence the Scandal and Calumnies proceeded that the minds of the People might be informed and composed The Commissioners for the most part had discharged the Trust reposed in them yet there were some amongst them too able and dexterous in Business who alway malign'd the Person of the Marquess or rather his Religion and the Authority he represented And what professions soever they made of respect to him still maintain'd a close Intelligence and Correspondence with those of the Clergy who were the most dis-affected to his Majesties Interest and who from the misfortune at Rathmines had under-hand fomented and cherish'd all the ill humours and jealousies of the People The Commissioners advised the Marquess as the best expedient to satisfie the Countrey that Orders might be sent to them to elect some few Persons amongst themselves to send to Kilkenny as Agents to represent those Grievances which were most heavy upon them and to offer any desires which might promote their security alledging that they could by this means be clearly inform'd how groundless those jealousies were and the Artifices would be discover'd which had been used to corrupt their affections though the
that it proceeded not from the Spirit that was included and confined within the Walls but that it was the same that was generally working in other places He was well enough satisfied that they who were most passionately possessed with it had no correspondence with the Parliament nor had a mind to be subjected to their Power he was willing therefore to believe that they had fancied and imagined to themselves some expedient for their own preservation which could not fall within his comprehension and that they might have contracted a prejudice to his Person or to his Religion which might keep them from such an union and confidence as they might be reduc'd unto under some Catholick who might be as zealous to preserve his Majesties Interest and recover the Kingdom to his obedience and he was the more confirmed in this his apprehension by revolving the several passages which had hapned at his being at Limerick during the time that they seem'd to pay him all respect when the Lord Inchiquin had been then with him towards whom they had observed the Marquis had a great confidence and friendship as he well deserved at which time some principal Persons of the City and with them some of the Bishops had under a shew of great confidence and trust repaired to the Lord. Lieutenant and declared unto him That all that indisposition and waywardness of the People proceeded from the prejudice they had against the Lord Inchequin who had always they said prosecuted the War against them with the most rigour and animosity and the Places and Persons which had been most at his devotion having treacherously revolted to the Parliament the People were not confident of him and jealous that the Marquis had too great a confidence in him so that if he would dismiss that Lord and discharge the Troops that yet remained under his Command of which some frequently ran away to the Parliament not onely that City but the whole Nation would as one man be at his disposal While these insinuations were thus proposed to the Lord Lieutenant other Persons and those as leading men with an equal number of Bishops applied themselves to the Lord Inchequin and told him That whilst the affairs were conducted by the Marquis of Ormond they expected no good fortune that they looked upon him as not of their Nation and one so solicitous for the English Interest and all English-men that he was nothing regardful of them and theirs But that his Lordship was of the most antient Extraction of Ireland and under that notion look'd upon with great affection and reverence by the Irish and if the Government and Command were exercis'd by him there would be such an Obedience paid to him that he would in short time grow strong enough to oppose the Enemy and recover his Countrey When these two Lords had communicated each to other as they quickly did the excellent Addresses which had been made to them and agreed together how to draw on and encourage the Proposers that they might discover as much of their purposes as was possible they easily found their design was to be rid of them both And when they perceived by the continuance of the same Friendship that they had communicated with each other they less dissembled towards both but proceeded with those disrespects which are mention'd before The Marquis having sadly considered all this and that nothing might remain unattempted by him that he could possibly imagine might tend in any degree to the recovery or preservation of the Kingdom he appointed another meeting to be at Loghreogh the 25th of April and summon'd thither all the Catholick Bishops as many of the Nobility as could with any security come thither the chief Gentlemen of Quality of the Parts adjacent and several Officers of the Army where being met together he gave them in the first place an Answer in writing to a Paper he had received from the Archbishop of Tuam the first of April intituled The Grievances presented by the Congregation of Prelates assembled propria motu at Cloanmacnoise in which he made it evident how much they were mistaken in the matter of Fact and that which was really amiss proceeded from themselves and their not observing the Orders and Rules they were bound by and could not be prevented by him and consented to all the good and practicable ways proposed by themselves for remedying the like for the future He remembred them of the pains he had taken of the Propositions he had made of the Orders he had given and of the Neglects Disobedience and Affronts he had received by which alone the Enemy made that progress in their Successes He shewed them a Letter he had received lately from his Master the King bearing date on the 2d of February from Castle Elizabeth in the Isle of Jersey in answer to one writ from Kilkenny in December in which his Majesty signified his gracious pleasure to him That in case of the continuance of that disobedience in the People and contempt of his Authority he should withdraw himself and his Majesties Authority out of that Kingdom Whereupon he told them having received so little effect of all the pains he had taken and so ill returns for all the affection he had shewed to them he was resolved to make use speedily of the liberty the King had given him as to his own Person which he found was rendred so unacceptable to the People yet if they could propose to him any way how he might deposite the Kings Authority in such manner as it might not be exposed to the same affronts it had received in him and might be applied to the preservation of the People and recovery of the Nation he would gladly gratifie them and would heartily wish that they might receive that happiness by his absence which they could not receive in his presence and to that purpose desired them to consult seriously and maturely among themselves Upon this all the Bishops Nobility and Commissioners of Trust with the principal Gentlemen expressed very much trouble at the resolution the Marquis had taken and on the last day of April from Loghreogh 1650 made an Address to him in writing under their several hands in which amongst other things they told him That they conceiv'd themselves in duty bound for his better information of the inclination of that Nation humbly to present to him That however his Excellency might not have met with a ready concurrence to some Proposals made for the advancing his Majesties Service occasion'd through some misunderstanding in some few Persons and Places yet the Country generally and the Nation in it as they had already by expending their Substance in an extraordinary measure and their Lives upon all occasions abundantly testifi'd their sincere and irremovable affections to preserve his Majesties Rights and Interests intire to him so they would for the future and with like cheerfulness endeavour to overcome all difficulties which the Enemies
Rapotensis Nico. Fernensis Procurator Arch. Dublin Eug. Kilmore Walt. Clonfert Procurator Leghlin c. Jamestown 10. Aug. 1650. When viz. the 12. of the same the two Persons had delivered their Credential Letter to the Lord Lieutenant he wished them in regard of the importance of the Matter they were instructed with to set down what they had in Command in Writing whereupon they presented him the 13th with this following Letter May it please your Excellency WE being intrusted by the Clergy met at Jamestown to deliver a Message unto your Excellency importing their advice what the onely means is as they conceive that may serve to free the Nation from the sad Condition whereunto it is reduced at present do in obedience to your Excellencies Commands signified for giving in the Substance of the said Message in Writing humbly present the same as followeth That whereas they doubt not your Excellency hath labour'd by other hands to bring the best Aids that possibly could be had from abroad for the Relief of this gasping Nation yet finding now in their Consciencies no other expedient Remedy for the preservation thereof and of his Majesties Interests therein more prevalent then your Excellencies speedy repair to his Majesty for preventing the Ruine and Dissolution of all and leaving the Kings Authority in the hands of some Person or Persons faithful to his Majesty and trusty to the Nation and such as the affection and confidence of the People will follow by which the Rage and Fury of the Enemy may receive Interruption They humbly offer this important Matter of the Safety or Destruction of this Nation and the Kings Interest to your Wisdom and Consideration hoping the Kingdom by your Excellencies Presence with his Majesty and intrusting safely the Kings Authority as above may with Gods blessing hold out until reliev'd with Supplies from his Majesty The Prelates will in the mean time do what lies in their Power to assist the Person or Persons so intrusted The great Trust his Majesty doth repose in your Excellency the vast Interest in Fortune Alliance and Kindred you have in this Nation and your experience in the management of Affairs of greatest Consequence will we doubt not added to other the Reasons proposed by us induce you to embrace this Advice as proceeding from our pious Intentions that look onely on the preservation of the Catholick Religion the support of his Majesties Authority and the Estates Liberties and Fortunes of his Subjects of this Kingdom which we humbly offer as Your Excellencies most humble Servants Fr. Oliver Dromore Charles Kelly Aug. 13th 1650. Though the Marquess did not expect that the Meeting of the Bishops and Clergy in that manner at Jamestown would have produced any better effect than their former Meetings in other Places had done yet he could not imagine that their Presumption would have been so great as it appear'd by this Message to be And when he communicated it to the Commissioners of Trust they were no less seemingly scandalized at it and believ'd that upon serious Conference with the Bishops they should be able to reform their Understandings and their Wills and therefore desired the Marquess that instead of sending a particular Answer to the Matter of the Message he would write to them To give him a Meeting at Loghreogh on the 26th of the same month to the end that upon a free Conference they might be induced to understand how pernicious a thing they had advised in order to their own security And the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Kelly return'd with this Proposition and the Marquess making no doubt of their Compliance so far as to meet at the Place appointed went thither at the day assigned but they instead of meeting him themselves sent their Bishops of Cork and Clonfert no otherwise intrusted then to receive his Answer to the Proposition they had made for his leaving the Kingdom To which when he saw he could not draw them to a Conference he the 31. of August return'd That they might well remember that upon the Disobediences he had formerly met with he had obtain'd leave from his Majesty to have departed the Kingdom and that if themselves the Bishops Nobility and Gentry met together had not in April last in Writing and Discourse given him assurance that they not only desired his stay but would endeavour to procure such obedience to him as might enable him with hope of success to have gone on in the War he would have made use of the liberty given unto him by his Majesty to have freed himself from the vexation which he had since endured and the dishonour which he fore-saw he should be subject to for want of Power without which as he then told them he should be able to do nothing considerable for the King or the Nation That he had transmitted those Assurances to his Majesty with his own resolution to attend the Effects That he plainly observed that the Division was great in the Nation under his Government yet it would be greater upon his removal of which in a free Conference he would have given them such pregnant Evidence as he held it not fit to declare to them by writing For these and other Reasons he told them That unless he was forced by in-evitable necessity he was not willing to remove out of the Kingdom and desired them to use all means within their Power to dispose the People to that Dutifulness and Obedience that became them This wrought nothing on the Temper of those Men who were resolved not to be satisfied with any thing the Marquess could say unto them Insomuch that within few days after they had receiv'd his Answer from Loghreogh at the time when the Parliamentarians were strong in the Field and had then passed the Shannon if they had not been restrained by the few Troops the Marquess still kept on foot they published an Excommunication against all those of what Quality soever who should feed help or adhere unto the Lord Lieutenant in which this Circumstance is observable That though they did not publish this Excommunication until the 15th of September it was enacted in their Assembly at Jamestown the 12th of August which was within two days after they had sent the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Kelly to perswade the Marquess to leave the Kingdom and the day before they delivered their Message So that they thought any thing that the Lord Lieutenant should return to them would be impertinent to the Matter in hand or if they were not so delighted with their own Proceedings that they have themselves carefully published to the World in Print would it be believ'd that Persons who in the least degree pretended the care of the Peoples welfare and security could at such a time when a potent Enemy was in the Field set all Men loose from all Government Civil and Martial and not direct them whom they should follow and obey For if it be said That
Expedition at Kilkenny Nor was it possible for the Marquis of Ormond to procure Justice to be inflicted in a Civil or Martial way upon an Ecclesiastical Person let his crime be what it would since even they whose zeal and affection to his Majesties Service was unquestionable and who were as highly offended at the intolerable carriage and proceedings of the Bishops and Clergy as they ought to be and whose duty was not in the least degree shaken by their Declaration and Excommunication were yet so tender of those Immunities and Priviledges which were said to belong to the Church and so jealous of the behaviour of the People in any case which should be declared a violation of those Priviledges that they would by no means have an hand in inflicting capital punishment upon any Church-men without the approbation and co-operation of the Bishops who were not like to be so hard-hearted as to consent unto any judgment upon the Accessories in those crimes in which themselves were the Principal So that he must not onely have determined by his own single will and judgment what was to be done in those Cases but he must have executed those determinations with his own hand And this consideration obliged the Marquis to all those condescensions and sufferings and upon all occasions to endeavour to dispose and perswade those Prelates from any obstinate and ruinous resolutions rather than to declare them to be enemies whom he could neither reform or punish The Excommunication was no sooner published by the Congregation and consented and approved by the other part of the Bishops and Clergy sitting at Galway but they quickly discerned how imprudently as well as unwarrantably they had proceeded in order to their own ends and that they had taken care onely to dissolve and disband all their Forces without making any kind of provision for the opposition of the Parliaments Forces who had quickly notice of their ridiculous madness and were thereupon advancing with their whole Power upon them the people generally who foresaw what must be the issue of that confusion thought of nothing but compounding with the Enemy upon any condition the Nobility prime Gentry and the Commissioners of Trust who saw their whole Power and Jurisdiction wrested from them and assumed and exercised by the Congregation continued their application to the Lord Lieutenant and desired him not to leave them exposed to the confusion which must attend his departure The gravest and most pious Clergy lamented the unskilful spirit of the rest and even some of the Bishops and others who were present at the Congregation and subscrib'd to the Excommunication disclaim'd their having consented to it though they were oblig'd to sign it for conformity So that they found it necessary within less than three days after the publishing it to suspend that dreadful Sentence and yet that it might appear how unwillingly they did those acts of sobriety and gentleness it will not be amiss to set down the Letter it self which the Titular Bishop of Clonfert and Doctor Charles Kelly writ to the Officers of the Army under the Command of the Lord Marquis of Clanrickard to that purpose which was in these words SIRS YEster day we received an Express from the rest of our Congregation at Galway bearing their sense to suspend the effect of the Excommunication proclaimed by their Orders till the service at Athlone be performed fearing on the one side a dispersion of the Army and on the other side have received certain intelligence of the Enemies approach unto that Place with their full force and number of fighting men and thereupon would have us concur with them in suspending the said Excommunication As for our part we do judge that suspension to be unnecessary and full of inconveniencies which we apprehend may ensue because the Excommunication may be obeyed and the service not neglected if the People were pleased to undertake the service in the Clergies name without relation to the Lord of Ormond Yet fearing the censure of singularity in a matter of so high a strain against us or to be deem'd more forward in Excommunicating then others also fearing the weakness of some which we believ'd the Congregation fear'd we are pleas'd to follow the major Vote and against our own opinion concur with them and do hereby suspend the said Censure as above provided always that after the Service perform'd or the Service be thought unnecessary by the Clergy or when the said Clergy shall renew it it shall be presently incurred as if the said Suspension had never been interposed And so we remain Your assured loving Friends in Christ Walter Bish. of Clonfert Charles Kelly Corbeg Sept. 16. 1650. If this Authentick Truth of which there is not room for the least doubt were not inserted who could believe it possible that men endu'd with common understanding and professing the Doctrine of Christianity and Allegiance of Subjects could upon deliberation publish such Decrees And who can wonder that a People enslaved to and conducted by such Spiritual Leaders should become a Prey to any Enemy though supplied with less power vigilance and dexterity than the Parliaments Forces always were who have prevailed against them and who by all kind of reproaches rigour and tyranny have made that froward and unhappy Congregation pay dear Interest for the contempt and indignity with which they prosecuted their Sovereign and his Authority His Majesty that now is being about this time in Scotland in prosecution of the recovery of his Kingdoms was by the Kirk Party which possess'd the Power of that Kingdom forced to sign a Declaration By which the Peace concluded with the Irish Catholicks in 1648. by Authority of the late King of ever glorious memory and confirmed by himself was pronounced and adjudged void and that his Majesty was absolved from any observation of it And this not grounded upon those particular Breaches Violations and Affronts which had been offered to his Majesties Authority and contrary to the express Articles Proviso's and Promises of that Treaty but upon the supposed unlawfulness of concluding any Peace with those Persons who were branded with many ignominious reproaches And though this Declaration in point of time issued after the Excommunication at James-town yet the notice of it came so near the time of the publication of the other that the Clergy inserted it in their Declaration as if it had been one of the principal Causes of their Excommunication thereby deluding the People as if that expedient of their Excommunication had been the onely foundation of security to the Nation and their particular Fortunes When the Marquis first heard of that Declaration in Scotland he did really believe it a Forgery contrived either by the Parliament or the Irish Congregation to seduce the People from their Affection and Loyalty to the King but soon after viz. the 13th of October being assured of its authentickness he immediately with the advice of the Commissioners
called the removing of all Divisions as the best way to their Preservation They the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Gentry met in that Assembly conceiv'd That there was not a better Foundation or Ground for their Union than the holding to and obeying his Majesty's Authority to which they owed and ought to pay all dutiful Obedience And they did thereby declare and protest That their Allegiance unto his Majesty's Authority was such and so inherent in them that they would not be withdrawn from the same nor was there any Power in the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Gentry or People Clergy or Laity of the Kingdom that could alter change or take away his Majesty's Authority they holding that to be the chief Flower of the Crown and the support of the Peoples Liberty which they did thereby protest declare and avow and that they did esteem the same and obedience thereunto essentially inviolably and justly due from them and the chiefest means under God to uphold their Union and Preservation And they said They did unanimously beseech his Excellency in his great affection to the advancement of his Majesty's Service and his hearty desires of the Nations Preservation to which they said he had Relations of the highest Concernment in Blood Alliance and Interest to leave that Authority with them in some Person faithful to his Majesty and acceptable to the Nation To which Person when he should be made known to them they would not only afford all due obedience but would also offer and propose the best ways and means that God would please to direct them to for the preservation of his Majesties Rights and the Peoples Interests and Liberties and for the begetting a ready obedience in all Places and Persons unto his Majesty's Authority This Advice though it carried with it a particular Respect from the Assembly unto the Lord Lieutenant and an acknowledgement of the faithful and hearty Affections he had always had for his Majesty's Interest and Service in that Kingdom contrary to the scandalous Declaration gave not the Marquess the least confidence that his Majesty's Authority could find more respect in the Person of another than it had met with in him Therefore he writ to them by the same Messengers That he had sent the Authority to the Lord Marquess of Clanrickard to govern that his Majesty's Kingdom and People provided that their Declaration might be so far explain'd 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 directed the Marquess of Clanrickard who submitted to that Charge out of pure obedience and only that he might not decline the Service which they would say would have preserv'd the Nation not to assume the Charge except the Assembly gave him full satisfaction in the Particulars required by him the Lord Lieutenant followed by the Lord Inchiquin Colonel Vaughan Colonel Wogan Colonel Warren and some 20 more Persons of Honour about the middle of December embarqued himself at Galway in a small Frigat called the Elizabeth of 28 Tuns and 4 Guns for France after he had refused to receive a Pass from Ireton who offer'd it choosing rather the Seas and Winds in that rough and blusterous season of the year than to receive an obligation from him having upon the most abstracted Considerations of Honour and Conscience faithfully adhered to his Majesty and the Crown of England without any regard had to his own Estate and Fortune as in the Act of Settlement fol. 99. is at large exprest And after being tossed at Sea for the space of some weeks and his other Ships in which his Servants and Goods and many other Passengers were lost he arrived in January at St. Malos in Britany from whence he went to Paris and soon after into Flanders thence he was imployed in a Service answerable to his Fidelity touching the Duke of Gloucester then in the Talons of the Jesuits whom with singular Prudence and Success he recovered Afterwards he was imbarqued in many Concerns of the Crown to the hazard of his Person whilst the Lord Inchiquin who had run the Gantlet on all sides retired into Holland a Person certainly of much Valour and good Conduct shewing both in an exemplary manner whilst he engaged for either Party Nor can his change of Sides to which some say he was too mutable be so properly imputed to any defect of Judgement as the unhappy Crisis of the Times his own expressions making it clear That had all things been the same they were pretended to be he would have continued as he was but Impostures being discovered he thought it ill to persist in their Fellowship Afterwards indeed he chang'd his Religion and thereby gave a suspicion that though he fought against his Countreymen he had a reverence for their Idea Certain it is he affected much to be President of Munster nor could any thing have barr'd him of it since his Majesty's happy Return wherein his Servants had the fruits of their Fidelity but his change of Religion which equally prejudiced the Lord Dillon in the Presidency of Connaght truely observable in them both We have before spoken of four Commissioners sent from the Parliament who as soon as they arrived in Ireland it is necessary to tell you presently applied themselves to the Work afore-mention'd they set out some Proclamations and travelled into the several Provinces of the Kingdom using the best means they could to raise Moneys by Sequestrations and other ways but by reason of the multitudes of Rebels which infested all the Garrisons and came up so continually about them little was to be done in that way The Lord Lieutenant was no sooner under sail than the Assembly applied themselves to the Marquess of Clanrickard who was then at his House at Loghreogh 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 that was left 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
towards Castleliskin one of the fastest Places in Ireland and directly in the way to Limerick upon which the Lord Broghil hastned towards them and about midnight in a horrid storm of rain and wind fell upon their Horse-Guards and beat them in upon which their Camp took so hot an alarm as he drove them soon to the Place from whence they came thereby securing the Army before Limerick The Enemy in the interim getting over the Blackwater and afterwards were pursued by the Lord Broghil till finding a convenient ground to draw up their Battle in they were faced by him who kept the Right Wing Major Wally the Command of the Left and Major Cuppage the Foot so happily on each part secured that though indeed the Irish never more resolutely and in better order maintain'd their Station they were at last wholly routed Bogs and Woods usually their safety being not near them The chief Prisoners that day taken were Lieutenant Colonel Mac Gillacuddy Commanding young Muskeries Regiment a man more Popular then Muskery himself Major Mac-Gillariagh an old Spanish Souldier Major Mac-Finine and some considerable Commanders of Horse But to return to the Marquess of Clanrickard who notwithstanding all the fore-mention'd Discouragements some whereof he expected not hearing of Sir Charles Coot's intentions of entring Connaght issued out his Orders to all the Forces which for conveniency of Quarter and the more to infest the Enemy were scattered over the Provinces that they should meet at the General Rendezvous at the time and place appointed Resolving with as much expedition as he could to engage the Enemy where hearing that Sir Charles Coot to whom Ireton had left the Care of that Province was marched towards Athlone he made all possible haste to fall in his Rear or to wait his Motion but after he had gone two days march towards that Place he received certain Intelligence that Sir Charles had taken Athlone and being furnished with all necessary Guides was marched towards Gallway to block it up whereupon he made what haste he could back the same way he came and sent Orders to the Earl of Castlehaven General of the Horse to meet him with the Forces under his Command at a certain Village where the Deputy would expect him The Enemy being then within less then a Mile with their main Body and onely a narrow Pass between them which the Lord Deputy doubted not to defend until all his Forces should come up and then resolved to sight them which was the onely thing he desired and thought himself to be in a very good posture to do it But the Earl of Castlehaven before he would advance to the Lord Deputy thought it convenient to secure a single Pass over the River Shannon whereby the Enemy might possibly get over that so the Enemy might be entirely engaged where the Lord Deputy was without any danger in the Rear But by the time the Earl had marched some miles he heard the report of Muskets and looking back he saw the two Troops of Horse he had left to secure that Pass and the 60 Foot running and dispersing without being pursued for the Enemy having Intelligence of the Earl's march sent over 2 or 3 Boats with Musketiers from the other side of the River and landed without opposition at the Castle scituate on the Pass Upon which news notwithstanding the Earl's Commands or Intreaties his Army in that Consternation without the sight of an Enemy fled and disbanded insomuch that of 4000 which in the morning the Body consisted of the Earl brought not with him to the Place where the Lord Deputy was above 40 Horse whereupon the Lord Deputy saw he was in no case to engage the Enemy that he should be quickly attacked in the Rear by that part of the Army which had already and speedily would pass the River and that the same fright possessed his men who had hitherto kept the Bridge and who now began to yield ground and that in truth very many of his Souldiers had that night run away And thereupon he drew off and marched away both Horse and Foot when they were gotten out of danger of the Enemies pursuit And from this time the Lord Deputy could never draw any considerable and firm Body into the Field nor make any opposition to the Enemies Progress The Irish in all Places submitting to and compounding with them murmuring as much now against the Lord Deputy as they had before against the Lord Lieutenant Before the Lord Lieutenant had left the Kingdom he had sent the Lord Viscount Taaff who had been an Eye-Witness of all his Proceedings and had in vain labour'd to compose and dispose the minds of the Clergy to the Kings Service to give the King an Account of the Affairs of Ireland and how impossible it would be to preserve his Authority in that Kingdom without some more then ordinary Supplies from abroad which joyning with the most considerable and Loyal Part of the Irish might have kept the Refractory in awe His Lordship landed in Flanders the King being then in Scotland and quickly understood how unlikely his Journey into that Kingdom was to advance the Business upon which he came or indeed that he should be admitted to the Presence of the King from whom most were remov'd that attended him thither and thereupon he staid in Flanders and found an opportunity to present the Condition of the Papists of Ireland in such manner to the Duke of Lorrain who being nearly Allied to the King always professed singular affection to his Majesty and his Interest as in the end he prevail'd with him to send them some Relief And assoon as it was known that the Lord Lieutenant was landed in France the Duke sent a Person of Principal Trust about him the Abbot of St. Katharines into Ireland with a Credential as his Ambassador to the Clergy and Catholick Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom to treat with them in order to their receiving Aid and Supplies from the Duke and to the end that his Highness might in truth understand in what Capacity they were to be relieved and how much they could themselves contribute thereunto it being not then known that the Marquess of Ormond had left the Kings Authority behind him but rather conceiv'd that upon those many Provocations and Affronts which had been offered to him he had withdrawn with his Person the Countenance and Authority they had so much undervalued and so little deserved When the Abbot landed in Ireland which was about the end of February and within little more then 2 months after the Lord Lieutenant departed thence he heard that the Marquess of Clanrickard was the Kings Deputy and thereupon he gave him presently notice of his arrival addressed himself to him shewed his Commission and Credentials and assured him That the Duke his Master had so entire an Affection to the King of England the preservation of whose Interest in that Kingdom was the chief Motive to him
your Highness pious intentions for the preservation of the Catholick Religion your great and Princely care to recover his Majesties Rights and Interests from his Rebel Subjects of England and the high obligation you put upon this Nation by your tender regard of them and desire to redeem them from the great miseries and afflictions they have endured and the eminent dangers they are in And it shall be a principal part of my ambition to be an useful instrument to serve your Highness in so famous and glorious an enterprize And that I may be the more capable to contribute somewhat to so religious and just ends First in discharge of my conscience toward God my duty to the King my Master and to dis-abuse your Highness and give a clear and perfect information so far as comes to my knowledge I am obliged to represent unto your Highness that by the title of the Agreement and Articles therein contained made by those Commissioners I imployed to your Highness and but lately come into my hands They have violated the trust reposed in them by having cast off and declined the Commission and Instructions they had from me in the King my Masters behalf and all other Powers that could by any other means be derived from him and pretend to make an agreement with your Highness in the name of the Kingdom and People of Ireland for which they had not nor could have any warrantable Authority and have abused your Highness by a counterfeit shew of a private Instrument fraudulently procured and signed as I am informed by some inconsiderable and factious Persons ill-affected to his Majesties Authority without any knowledge or consent of the generality of the Nation or Persons of greatest Quality or Interest therein and who under a seeming zeal and pretence of service to your Highness labour more to satisfie their private ambitions then the advantage of Religion or the Nation or the prosperous success of your Highness generous undertakings And to manifest the clearness of mine own proceeding and make such deceitful Practices more apparent I send your Highness herewith an authentick Copy of my Instructions which accompanied their Commission when I imployed them to your Highness as a sufficient evidence to convince them And having thus fully manifested their breach of publick Trust I am obliged in the King my Masters name to protest against their unwarrantable proceedings and to declare all the Agreements and Acts whatsoever concluded by those Commissioners to be void and illegal being not derived from or consonant to his Majesties Authority being in duty bound thus far to vindicate the King my Masters Honour and Authority and to preserve his just and undoubted Rights from such deceitful and rebellious Practices as likewise with an humble and respective care to prevent those prejudices that might befal your Highness in being deluded by counterfeit shews in doing you greater Honour where it is apparent that any undertaking laid upon such false and ill-grounded Principles as have been smoothly digested and fixed upon that Nation as their desire and request must overthrow all those Heroick and Prince-like Acts your Highness hath proposed to your self for Gods glory and service the restauration of oppressed Majesty and the relief of his distressed Kingdom which would at length fall into intestine broils and divivisions if not forceably driven into desperation I shall now with a hopeful and chearful importunity upon a clear score free from those deceits propose to your Highness that for the advancement of all those great ends you aim at and in the King my Masters behalf and in the name of all the Loyal Catholick Subjects of this Nation and for the preservation of those important cautionary Places that are security for your Highness past and present disbursements you will be pleased to quicken and hasten those aids and assistances you intended for the relief of Ireland and I have with my whole power and through the greatest hazards striven to defend them for you and to preserve all other Ports that may be at all times of advantage and safeguard to your Fleets and Men of War having yet many good Harbours left but also engage in the King my Masters name that whatsoever may prove to your satisfaction that is any way consistent with his Honour and Authority and have made my humble applications to the Queens Majesty and my Lord Lieutenant the King being in Scotland further to agree confirm and secure whatsoever may be of advantage to your Highness and if the last Galliot had but brought 10000 l. for this instant time it would have contributed more to the recovery of this Kingdom then far greater sums delayed by enabling our Forces to meet together for the relief of Limerick which cannot but be in great distress after so long a Siege and which if lost although I shall endeavour to prevent it will cost much treasure to be regained And if your Highness will be pleased to go on chearfully freely and seasonably with this great work I make no question but God will give so great a blessing thereto as that my self and all the Loyal Subjects of this Kingdom may soon and justly proclaim and leave recorded to posterity that your Highness was the great and glorious restorer of our Religion Monarch and Nation and that your Highness may not be discouraged or diverted from this generous enterprize by the malice or invectives of any ill affected it is a necessary duty in me to represent unto your Highness that the Bishop of Ferns who as I am informed hath gained some interest in your favour is a Person that hath ever been violent against and malicious to his Majesty's Authority and Government and a fatal Instrument in contriving and fomenting all those divisions and differences that have rent asunder this Kingdom the introduction to our present miseries and weak condition And that your Highness may clearly know his disposition I send herewithal a Copy of part of a Letter written by him directed to the Lord Taaffe Sir Nicholas Plunket and Jeffery Brown and humbly submitted to your judgment whether those expressions be agreeable to the temper of the Apostolical Spirit and considering whose Person and Authority I represent what ought to be the reward of such a crime I must therefore desire your Highness in the King my Masters behalf that he may not be countenanc'd or intrusted in any Affairs that have relation to his Majesties Interest in this Kingdom where I have constantly endeavoured by all possible service to deserve your Highness good opinion and obtaining that favour to be a most faithful acknowledger of it in the capacity and under the title of Your Highness most humble and obliged Servant CLANRICKARD Athenree 20th Octob. 1651. Thus the Lord Deputy very faithfully discharged his duty and great cause there was to protest against such proceedings of the Confederates they putting his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland into the hands of a Foreign Prince and in that
Citizens or others it is intended they shall be freed from any Suit or Censure in the Civil Judicature for things done in relation to the War during the time limited Memorandum as to the fourth Article aforegoing it is intended That the Citizens not excepted against within a month may tarry without particular application and have four months after warning given to remove themselves and Families and six months to carry away their Goods Memorandum also That all Soldiers or other persons not excepted in the second Article who through sickness are disabled to remove themselves at present shall have liberty to march away when they shall recover and have equal benefit with others in their conditions respectively And that from twelve of the clock this day there shall be Cessation of all acts of Hostility on either part But the Persons besieged not to come without the Walls except into the Island and the way leading to it nor the Besiegers to come within the Walls or Island saving into St. John's Gate until the time limited for surrender without license from the other Party respectively And lastly it is agreed That no Person shall be understood to forfeit the benefit of any the Articles for another mans breach thereof unless he be found to be consenting thereto or privy to it without discovering or endeavouring to prevent it Provided this extend not to indempnifie the Hostages in case of fail or of surrender In testimony whereof the Parties first above-mentioned have interchangeably set their Hands and Seals to the day and year first above mentioned Bar. Stackpoll Don. O Brien Dom. White Pierce Lacy. Nich. Haly. John Baggot It cannot be believ'd that these unequal and severe Conditions would have been accepted from any Army not strong enough to have imposed upon a People unwilling to submit to them and in a season of the year that alone would have secured a Place less provided for resistance but that Colonel Fennel the same night these hard demands were sent into the Town received in St. Johns Gate Tower 200 men from Ireton and the other were removed into another Fort called Price's Mill where after they had continued two days and the People of the Town not yet agreeing what they would do a Drum was sent through the City commanding all manner of Soldiers in pay within the Town to repair to our Ladies Church and there to lay down their Arms which was presently obeyed and the Soldiers being bid forthwith to leave the Town Ireton the 29th of October marched in and receiving the Keys was without any contradiction quietly possessed thereof causing as many of the excepted Persons as could be found to be committed to Prison and made Sir Hardress Waller Governour of the City In this manner was Limerick defended by the Catholick Irish and this obedience did the Prelates and Clergy in their need receive from those over whom they had power enough to seduce from the Duty they owed to the King and from submitting to his Authority and now was the Harvest that they gathered the fruit of all their labours The Instances of severity and blood which Ireton gave upon his being possess'd of this Place were very remarkable Edmund O Duyr the Bishop of Limerick had the dexterity and good Fortune that either by marching out amongst the Common Soldiers or by concealing himself with some faithful Friend in the Town which is not so probable to escape their hands and afterwards died at Brussels pursued with the malice of the Nuncionist Zealots whilst Ireton manifested what his portion would have been by the treatment they gave to Terlagh O Brien the Bishop of Emly whom they took and without any formality of Justice and with all reproaches imaginable caused him to be publickly hanged This unhappy Prelate had from the beginning opposed with great passion the Kings Authority and most obstinately adhered to the Nuncio and to that Party still which was most averse from returning to their Allegiance and was thus miserably and ignominiously put to death even in that City whence he had been a principal Instrument to shut out his Majesties Authority It may be remembred in the former part of this Discourse that when the King at Arms proclaim'd the Peace at Limerick in 1646. one Dominick Fanning a Citizen of the Town rais'd a Mutiny which Rabble affronted the Herald and wounded the Mayor and was himself by the Nuncio for that good service made Mayor in the former's place This man continuing the same bitterness of spirit against the King's Authority always opposed the receiving of a Garrison from the Lord Lieutenant This Dominick Fanning being one of those 24 which Ireton had excepted found a way amongst the Common Soldiers to get out of the Town notwithstanding all the diligence that was used to discover him When he was free and in safety he returned to the Town to fetch some Money that he had privately hid and to make some provision for his subsistance which he had not time to do before But going to his own house his Wife refused to receive him or to assist him in any thing whereupon he departed and after he had walked up and down the streets some time the weather being extreme cold he went to the Main-guard where was a good Fire and being discovered to be a Stranger and asked who he was voluntarily confessed that he was Dominick Fanning for whom such strict search had been made he was thereupon apprehended and the next morning carried before the Governour and immediately hanged The same Fate had Frier Wolf and Alderman Thomas Strich who when the Lord Lieutenant would have entred that Town in 1650. for its preservation rais'd a Tumult and shut the Gates against him And this very Colonel Fennel who by possessing himself of the Port and turning the Cannon upon the Town betray'd it to the Enemy though he had for the present the benefit of the Articles was within few months after taken by them and without any consideration of his last merit hanged as the rest had been In a word All those who had been the first causers and raisers of the Rebellion or who with most malice and obstinacy opposed their return to the Kings obedience and had the misfortune to fall into the Enemies hands as the Bishop of Ross whose Fate we have before told you Jeffery Baron who kept Waterford from receiving the Lord Lieutenant taken afterwards at Limerick and there hanged and many others were made examples of the like nature About the same time that Limerick was surrendred Sir Charles Coot defeated a Party of the Fitz-Patricks and Duyr's Forces who had regain'd Meleke Island after the taking of it by Colonel Axtel undergoing a resolute defence thereof to the baffling of his Foot which were worsted two or three times together but the Gallantry of his Horse recovered the Honour making 300 resolute Irish accept of Quarter for their Lives some 300 being slain and drown'd This business of Limerick
the Rebellion all found guilty thereof were excepted from Pardon their Estates confiscated and the others who had only assisted in the War were to forfeit two parts of their Estates and be banished And accordingly great numbers of them were transported into Spain the latter end of this Summer Yet the Marquess of Clanrickard did not leave the Kingdom in many months after the Surrender of Galway but endeavour'd by all means possible to draw the scattered Forces together that he might prosecute the War afresh according to his Majesty's Letters in the years 1650 and 1651. encouraging him to his continuance in Arms as advantagious by way of Diversion to his then intended progress of promoting his Design in Scotland and coming into England And to that end the 16th of May the Marquess of Clanrickard with the Connaght Forces marched to Ballishannon which he took by storm and presently after Dungal-Castle where the Ulster Forces under Sir Phelim O Neal the Relie's and Mahon's joyned with him but upon intelligence that Sir Charles Coot and Colonel Venables were marched against him he retired to Armagh intending for Raphoe Whilst Sir Charles Coot in his pursuit of him retook Ballishanon and Dungal-Castle gaining also Sligo Ballymote and many other Garrisons so as the Marquess was forced to shelter himself in the Isle of Carrick And having receiv'd his Majesty's Command to take care of his own security that he fell not into the Enemy's hands he having no Port to friend where he might choose a Vessel and being so betrayed by the Irish as not securely to stay 24 hours in a Place was compelled to have a Pass from the Parliaments Forces not excepting any other Conditions for himself than that he might for some time remain secure in their Quarters without taking the Oath usually imposed by them and have liberty to transport himself and 3000 Irish more into any Prince's Countrey and Service then in Amity with England which was granted and in March 1652. he was transported into England in a Vessel belonging to the Parliament after he had born the Title of the King's Deputy in Ireland little more than two years not with greater submission from the Catholick Irish than had before been paid to the Lord Lieutenant and so retired to London where not long after he died and was thence carried to Summerhill a pleasant Seat of his own which Bradshaw had in Custodium near Tunbridge in Kent and was buried in the Parish-Church He was a Person much respected for his Integrity and though of a contrary opinion to those then in Usurpation looked on as a Favourer of the English and one that no ways indulged the Cruelties and Pretensions of the Irish. This was the Fate of that unhappy Nation both under Protestant and Roman Catholick Governours neither having had the credit to be Masters of the Irish Temper fomented by the Insolencies of the Priests and whatever might instigate them against the English Government Soon after the Marquess of Clanrickard's Departure the lesser Concerns of that Nation were with little trouble and charge brought in obedience to the Parliament who declared the 26th of September 1653. That the Rebels were subdued and the Rebellion appeased and ended and thereupon proceeded to the Distribution of their Lands in pursuance of the Act for Subscriptions 17 Carol. 1. Some time before which a High Court of Justice was setled in Ireland a Name we have reason not to mention without horrour and astonishment considering who was summoned to such a Tribunal which certainly would never have been how vain how ambitious how prodigious soever some mens Success was a Strumpet often leading one to Attempts above their first thoughts had not the Rebels of Ireland for carrying on their pernicious Practices avouched the sacred Authority for their pretence and colour that though these with Pilate washed their hands from the Blood of this Righteous One yet they have as the shame so the guilt of that Royal Blood on themselves who originally gave the occasion of such a Discourse which afterwards was made one of the pretended Causes for the most barbarous and inhumane Act ever perpretated Inter tragicoe Fortunoe Exempla omnibus retro seculis memorandus Upon which eloquent Du Moulin one of the clearest Lights of the French Church honouring me with a Letter on that Subject thus passionately discovers his Resentment La Morte de vostre bon Roy d'une facon si indigne si horrible par les Maims des Independans M'outre le Coeur de Douleur C'est une action sans Example un opprobre ineffacable a nostre Religion vostre Nation tant Genereuse a elle perdu tout Courage Les Escossoes se taisent ils la dessue Mais quoy Il faut Mettre le doigt sur la bouche adorer les Conseils de Dieu qui sont Inscrutables It is observable let some foam as they please that there were none who so much as pretended to have a Reverence for the Church of England that ever had the least hand in this foul and ugly Business An instance of that is in what the Lord Chancellor Hide acquainted the Parliament with in express words from his Majesty when he was imployed in an Embassy to Spain That the Horrid Murther of his Royal Father was not the Act of the Parliament or People of England but of a very wretched and little Company of Miscreants in the Kingdom fol. 41. Upon which Monsieur Moses Amiraldus the Excellent French Divine hearing of the Protestant Religion aspersed as seditious and treasonable writ a Piece in French in vindication of the Protestant Religion and dedicated it to our King Charles the 2d in the time of his Exile when Militiere and others would have inforced the barbarous Martyrdom of his Royal Father as a just Motive to his apostatizing and not trusting his safety to the Protestant Religion whereas all these blustering Storms as the Bishop of Derry observes in his excellent Tract against Militiere radicated him deeper in his Religion that what these intended for his evil proved his good And certainly whatsoever conspired to compleat so execrable a Design as the Murther of the King nothing contributed more than the Irish deluding his Sacred Majesty so long with their Promises of a competent Army whereby he relying on them too confidently assured of their Ability and Power to perform it deferred those Agreements which else he might have seasonably composed at home And could there ever be an equaller Distribution of God's Vengeance than that they by a parallel Court should suffer the loss of their Estates Lives and Fortunes Which though un-usual was the only Expedient sufficiently set forth in the ensuing Speech of the Lord Lowther's a Person of that Gravity and Worth as whatsoever may be said by others can never reach the State of the Question more fully with less animosity and greater truth than he hath done at the Trial of Sir Phelim O Neal in February
Person who openly shewed himself against the Anabaptists then raging and countenanced the University then in a low Ebb bestowing upon it Bishop Usher's Library composed of the choicest and best picked Books extant carrying himself so as some of the Rigour of his Father was thereby taken off and that disordered Nation brought into the Condition of a flourishing State Yet afterwards when he might have had many to have seconded him he tamely yielded in 1659. the Government to Steel the Parliaments Lord Chancellor and Miles Corbet their Chief Baron of the Exchequer his Brother Richard having surrendred the Protectorship in England very meanly with a submission as he termed it to Providence So that Family expired And the Affairs of England growing every day full of change Ireland understanding what Sir George Booth had nobly attempted in England grew thence early in its dutiful Address to his Majesty And Sir Theophilus Jones further'd by his Reverend Brother Colonel Warren Bridges Thompson Lisle Warder and Temple seized Dublin Castle Sir Charles Coot about the same time preferring an Impeachment of Treason against Ludlow Tomlinson Corbet and John Jones and weighing the Consequences of the present Distempers he together with the Council of the Officers of the Army present at Dublin the 16th of February 1659. made a Memorable Declaration concerning the Re-admission of the Secluded Members about the same time sending Captain Cuffe to attend Colonel Monk into England a General Convention being the 7th of February before Summon'd by the Vigilance and excellent Contrivance and Industry of Doctor Dudley Loftus in which Sir James Barry afterwards Lord Baron of Santry was Chairman Several Affairs of greatest Consequence came there to be considered First the Arrears of the Souldiers they were to be fastned to the Design by their Interest and by the discharge of what was due to them then what was most popular and look'd least to the mark they aim'd at came under consideration in as much as they continued till May 1660. having readily accepted of the Kings Declaration from Breda of the 14th of April 1660. laying hold by their Declaration of the 14th of May of his Condescentions as the fittest expedient to cement the divided Interests in his three Kingdoms which his Majesty in his Printed Declaration for the settlement of Ireland takes especial notice of in these words That our good Subjects the Protestants not Usurpers as the Irish in their Case entitle them in our Kingdom of Ireland have born a very good part in the Blessing of our Restitution and that they were early in their dutiful Addresses unto Us and made the same Professions of a Resolution to return to their Duty and Obedience to Us during the time of Our being beyond the Seas which they have since so eminently made good and put in practice And here I cannot pass over that when the Irish Brigade came to assist Lambert against Sir George Booth now Lord Delameere and were in the North with him at that time advancing to know what General Monk intended they under Redman and Bret first drew back though some of their Officers in their canting mood thought to have wheedled General Monk into a Compliance The Convention gave his Majesty 20000 l. the Duke of York 4000 l. and the Duke of Glocester 2000 l. and in May adjourned to the first of November a standing Committee remaining in the interim And the 18th of December 1660. his Majesty by his Letter approved of this Convention which met again the 22. of January and Sir William Dumvell was appointed Chairman it continued till May 1661. Before they determined they had by a Committee very sensible and gallantly defended at Court the English Interest against the Irish who by reason of the Peace which had been made with them in 1646. and 48. thought they had very much to plead for his Majesties favour when upon the whole it was proved that if any of them were afterwards Loyal the generality disobeyed whatever had been indulged them and the Contract was not to be understood to be made with a Party but the Community of which more in its due place His Majesty was no sooner setled in England but upon both Houses of Parliaments apprehension of the late Rebellion and the Irish flocking at his Return into England he within few days published his sence of that horrible Conspiracy in the ensuing Proclamation By the King A PROCLAMATION Against the Rebels in Ireland C. R. CHarles by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all Our loving Subjects of England and Ireland Greeting We taking notice by the Information of the Lords and Commons now Assembled in Parliament That after the vast expence of Blood and Treasure for the suppressing of the late horrid Rebellion in Ireland begun in October 1641. There are yet many of the Natives of that Our Kingdom deeply guilty of that Rebellion who have of late broke out into new Acts of Force and Violence some Murthering Robbing and Despoiling several of Our English Protestant Subjects there planted and others of them by force Entring upon and Disquieting the Possessions of several Adventurers and Souldiers there to the great and manifest disturbance and hinderance of Our English Plantation And being very sensible of the innocent bloud of so many thousands of Our English Protestant Subjects formerly slain by the hands of those barbarous Rebels and of new mischiefs of the same kind likely to fall out as the sad issue and consequents of so unhappy beginnings Do therefore by the advice of the said Lords and Commons now assembled as well to testifie Our utter abhorring of the said late Rebellion as to prevent the like for the future and for the present establishment of the Peace of that Our Kingdom hold it Our duty to God and the whole Protestant Interest to Command Publish and Declare and do by this Our Proclamation accordingly Command Publish and Declare That all Irish Rebels other than such as by Articles have liberty to reside in these Our Dominions and have not since forfeited the benefit thereof now remaining in or which hereafter shall resort to England or Ireland be forthwith apprehended and proceeded against as Rebels and Traitors according to Law And that the Adventurers and Souldiers and other Our Subjects in Ireland their Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns who on the first day of January last past were in the Possession of any of the Mannors Castles Houses Lands Tenements or Hereditaments of any the said Irish Rebels shall not be disturbed in such their Possessions until We by the advice of the Lords and Commons now assembled as aforesaid or such Parliament as We shall call in England or Ireland shall take further Order or that they be Legally evicted by due course of Law And all Our Justices of Peace Mayors Sheriffs and other Officers both Civil and Military both in England and Ireland are hereby
of them that would accept of it together with the Excommunication of the Marquess now Duke of Ormond and the order of Publication thereof whereupon Sir Nicholas Plunket who subscribed the said Instructions and principally insisted on the forementioned Particulars was sent for by the Committee of Lords who had the Examination of that Affair and acknowledging his hand-writing Report thereof was made to his Majesty and Council by whom it was ordered about the 14th of March 1661. That no more Petitions or Addresses should be received by the Irish to the obstruction of the Settlement of that Kingdom and that Sir Nicholas Plunket should thence-forward no more presume to come into his Majesties Presence nor to Court Likewise there was produced an Oath previously taken by several of the Popish Nobility Clergy and others of the Gentry of Ireland before the Articles of Peace made in 1648. which they so much insist upon wherein they swear and engage That if those Articles of Peace were not in every particular for their advantage performed they would not be concluded by any thing therein Which appear'd to be so damnable a Piece of Treachery as it was highly resented in Council and the rather for that his Grace stood up and justified that to his knowledge it was a Truth And lest the memory of so great a Deliverance should slip out of our thoughts I shall in the next place present you with the Anniversary Act for its observance that this may be to us not less then the Passover to the Israelites for a Memorial and a Feast to the Lord throughout our Generations by an Ordinance for ever AN ACT FOR Keeping and Celebrating the three and twentieth day of October as an Anniversary Thanksgiving in this Kingdom WHereas many Malignant and Rebellious Papists and Jesuits Friers Seminary Priests and other Superstitious Orders of the Popish pretended Clergy most disloyally treacherously and wickedly conspired to surprize His Majesties Castle of Dublin His Majesties principal Fort of this Kingdom of Ireland the City of Dublin and all other Cities and Fortifications of this Realm and that all the Protestants and English throughout the whole Kingdom that would not joyn with them should be cut off and finally by a general Rebellion to deprive our late Sovereign Lord of ever blessed memory King Charles the First of this his ancient and rightful Crown and Sovereignty of this Kingdom and to possess themselves thereof all which was by the said Conspirators plotted and intended to be acted on the three and twentieth day of October in the year of our Lord God One thousand six hundred forty and one a Conspiracy so generally inhumane barbarous and cruel as the like was never before heard of in any Age or Kingdom and if it had taken effect in that fulness which was intended by the Conspirators it had occasioned the utter ruine of this whole Kingdom and the Government thereof And however it pleased Almighty God in his unsearchable Wisdom and Justice as a just punishment and deserved correction to his People for their sins and the sins of this Kingdom to permit then and afterwards the effecting of a great part of that Destruction complotted by those wicked Conspirators whereby many thousand British and Protestants have been massacred many thousands of others of them have been afflicted and tormented with the most exquisite torments that malice could suggest and all Mens Estates as well those whom they barbarously murthered as all other good Subjects were wasted ruined and destroyed yet as his Divine Majesty hath in all Ages shown his Power and Mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of his Church and in the protection of Religious Kings and States so even in the midst of his Justice he was graciously pleased to extend Mercy to his Majesty and to this his Kingdom and good Subjects therein not only in mercifully discovering to the then Lords Justices by one Owen O Connelly a meer Irish Man but trained up in the Protestant Religion who out of a sense of his Duty and Loyalty to his Majesty and for the preservation of his good People and as an effect of that Religion he was trained up in revealed that hideous and bloody Treason not many hours before the appointed time for the Execution thereof but also in preserving the said Castle and City of Dublin and some other Cities Towns and Castles in the Kingdom from the bloody hands of the barbarous Conspirators as also in thereby rendring deliverance of the Lives of the said Lords Justices and Council and of all the British and Protestants in Dublin and in the said other Cities Towns and Castles preserved and of sundry other British and Protestants faln into the hands of those rebellious Conspirators and likewise in sending us Succours out of England hither by the Piety Care and Wisdom of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles the First whereby with Gods blessing the good Subjects of this Kingdom have hitherto continued safe under his mighty Protection notwithstanding the unexampled rage and implacable malice of those merciless Rebels Wherefore as we do most humbly and justly acknowledge Gods Justice in our deserved punishments in those Calamities which from the Councils and Actions of those Conspirators and their Adherents have faln upon us in this Kingdom in general so we do in like manner acknowledge that even in exercising of that his Justice he remembred Mercy also and magnified his Mercies to us in those great Blessings which we humbly confess to have proceeded meerly from his infinite Goodness and Mercy and therefore to his most holy Name we do ascribe all Honour Glory and Praise And to the end this unfeigned Thankfulness may never be forgotten but may be had in a perpetual Remembrance that all Ages to come may yield Praises to his Divine Majesty for the same and have in memory that joyful Day of Deliverance Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty with the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same that the three and twentieth day of October shall be kept and celebrated as an Anniversary holy day in this Kingdom for ever and that all Persons do at that day forbear all bodily Labour and the exercise of their Trades and that all and singular Ministers in every Cathedral and Parish Church or other usual place for Common-Prayer within this Realm of Ireland shall always upon the three and twentieth day of October say Morning Prayer and give thanks to Almighty God for that most happy and miraculous Deliverance and Preservation far above the expectations of those wretched Conspirators And that all and every Person and Persons inhabiting within this Realm of Ireland shall yearly upon the three and twentieth day of October diligently and faithfully resort to the Parish Church or Chappel accustomed or to some usual Church or Chappel where the said Morning Prayer Preaching or other Service of God
Judges of and in such Quo warrantoes 16. By what Law are Jurors that give Verdict according to their Conscience and are the sole Judges of the fact Censured in the Castle Chamber in great Fines and sometimes Pillored with loss of Eares and boared through the Tongue and sometimes marked in the forehead with a hot Iron and other like infamous Punishment 17. By what Law are men Censurable in the Castle-Chamber with the mutilation of Members or any other brand of Infamy and in what Causes and what punishment in each Case there is due without respit of the quality of the Person or Persons 18. Whether in the Censures in the Castle-Chamber regard be to be had to the words of the great Charter viz. Salvo continemento 19. Whether one that steals a Sheep or commits any other Felony and after flieth the Course of Justice or lyeth in Woods or Mountains upon his keeping be a Traitor if not whether a Proclamation can make him so 20. VVhether the Testimony or Evidence of Rebells Traitors protected Thieves or other infamous Persons be good Evidence in Law to be pressed upon the Trials of men for their lives or whether the Judge or Jurors ought to be Judge of the matter in fact 21. By what Law are Faires and Markets to be held in Capite when no other express Tenure is mentioned by his Majesties Letters Patents or Grants of the same Faires and Markets although the Rent or yearly summe be reserved thereout Declarations of the Law made in Parliament upon the Questions propounded to the Judges in a Sessions this present Parliament 1. THE Subjects of this his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland are a free People and to be governed only according to the Common Law of England and Statutes made and established by Parliament in this Kingdom of Ireland and according to the lawful Customs used in the same 2. That Judges in Ireland ought to take the Oath of the Justices or Judges declared and established in several Parliaments of force in this Kingdom and the said Judges or any of them by colour or under pretext of any Act of State or Proclamation or under colour or pretext of any Writ Letter or direction under the Great-Seal Privy-Seal or Privy-Signet from the King 's most Excellent Majesty or by colour or pretext of any Letter or Commandment from the chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom ought not to hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon And if any Letters Writs or Commands from his Majesty or any other or for any other cause to the Justices or other deputed to do the law and right according to the usage of the Realm in disturbance of the Law or of the execution of the same or of right to the parties the Justices and others aforesaid ought to proceed and hold their Courts and process where the Pleas and matters be depending before them as if no such Letters Writs or Commandments were come to them And in case any Judge or Judges Justice or Justices be found in default therein he or they so found in default ought to incur and undergo due punishment according to the Law and the former Declarations and Propositions in Parliament in that Case made and of force in this Kingdom or as shall be ordered adjudged or declared in Parliament and the Barons of the Exchequer Justices of Assize and Goal-delivery if they be found in default as aforesaid It is hereby declared that they ought to undergo the punishment aforesaid 3. The Councel-Table of this Realm either with the chief Governour or Governours or without the chief Governour or Governours is no Judicature wherein any Actions real personal popular or mixt or any Suit in the nature of the said Actions or any of them can or ought to be Commenced heard or determined And all proceedings at the Councel-Table in any Suit in the nature of the said Actions are void especially Causes particularly provided for by express Acts of Parliament of force in this Kingdom only excepted 4. The proceedings before the Chief Governour or Governours alone in any Action real personal popular or mixt or in any Suit in the nature of any of the said Actions are voted upon Question coram non Judice and void 5. All grants of Monopolies are contrary to the Laws of this Realm and therefore void And no Subject of the said Realm ought to be fined imprisoned or otherwise punished for exercising or using the lawful liberty of a Subject contrary to such Grants 6. The Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governour or Governours and Councel of this Realm or any of them ought not to imprison any of his Majesties Subjects but only in Cases where the Common Laws or Statutes of the Realm do inable and warrant them so to do and they ought not to Fine or to Censure any subject in mutilation of Members standing on the Pillory or other shameful punishment in any Case at the Councel-Table and no Subject ought to be Imprisoned Fined or otherwise punished for infringing any Commands or Proclamations for the support or countenance of Monopolies And if in any Case any person or persons shall be committed by the Command or Warrant of the Chief Governour or Governours and Privy Councel of this Realm or any of them That in any such Case any person or persons so committed or restrained of his or their liberty or suffering imprisonment upon demand or motion made by his or their Councel or other imployed by him or them for that purpose unto the Judges of that Court of King's Bench or Common Pleas in open Court shall without delay upon any pretence whatsoever for the ordinary Fees usually payed for the same have forthwith granted unto him or them a Writ or Writs of habeas Corpus to be directed generally unto all and every Sheriff Gaol-Minister Officer or other person in whose custody the party or parties so committed or restrained shall be at their retorn of the said Writ or VVrits and according to the Command thereof upon due and convenient notice thereof given unto him at the charge of the party or parties who requireth or procureth such VVrit or VVrits and upon security by his or their own Bond or Bonds given to pay the charge of carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners if he or they shall be remanded by the Court to which he or they shall be brought as in like Case hath been used such charges of bringing up and carrying back the Prisoner or Prisoners to be always ordered by the Court if any difference shall arise thereabouts bring or cause to be brought the bodies of the said party or parties so committed and restrained unto and before the Judges and Justices of the said Court from whence the said VVrit or VVrits shall issue in open Court and shall then likewise Certify the true cause of such his or their detainor or imprisonment and
thereupon the Court after such retorn made and delivered in open Court shall proceed to examine and determine whether the cause of such Commitment appearing upon the said Retorn be just or legal or not and shall thereupon do what to Justice shall appertain either by delivering bayling or remanding the Prisoner or Prisoners 7. An Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom cannot bind the liberty Inheritance possession or goods of the Subjects of the said Kingdom nor alter the Common Law and the Infringers of any such Act or Proclamation ought not to forfeit Lands Leases Goods or Chattels for the infringing of any such Act of State or Proclamation and the Judges of the Law who do vote for such Acts of State or Proclamation are punishable as breakers and violaters of their Oaths of Judges 8. No Subject of this Kingdom ought to be sentenced to death or Executed by Martial Law in time of peace and if any Subject be so sentenced or executed by Martial Law in time of peace the Authors and Actors of any such Sentence or Execution are punishable by the law of the Land for their so doing as doers of their own wrong and contrary to the said law of the Land 9. No Man ought to be punished in the Castle-Chamber or in any other Court for taking a voluntary Oath before Arbitrators for affirmance or disaffirmance of any thing or the true performance of any thing in Civil Causes Nor are the Arbitrators before whom such voluntary Oaths shall be taken punishable 10. By the Laws and Statutes of the Realm no Man is bound or ought to be compelled to acknowledge the offence layed to his charge or the justness of any Censure past against him in the Castle-Chamber or at the Councel-Table nor ought to be detained in Prison or abridged of his liberty or the reducement of his Fine stayed or delayed until he do acknowledg such offence or the justness of such Censure And it is further declared That no such inforced or wrested confession or acknowledgment can or ought to debar or hinder any Subject from his Bill of Reversal or review of any Sentence or Decree past or conceived against him in the Castle-Chamber or in any other Court 11. The Judges of the Kings Bench or Justices of Gaol-delivery or the Judges of any other Court ought not to deny Copies of Indictments of Felony or Treason to the parties indicted 12. The Barons of the Exchequer ought not to raise the respit of Homage above the usual rates appertaining in and by the course and presidents of that Court continued until the year of our Lord God 1637. And the raising thereof since that time was Arbitrary and against the Law And the Barons of the Exchequer ought not to distinguish between the respit of Homage upon any diversity of the true values of the Knight's Fees 13. The Subjects of this Kingdom may lawfully repair into England to repeal to his Majesty for redress of Injuries or for other their lawful occasions And for their so doing ought not to be punished or questioned upon the Statute of 5. of King Richard the second nor by any other Law or Statute of force in this Kingdom eminent Officers or Ministers of State Commanders and Souldiers of his Majesties Army The Judges and Ministers of his Majesties Courts of Justice and of his Highness Revenues and Customes whose attendance is necessary requisite by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm only excepted 14. Deaneries or other Ecclesiastical Dignities of this Realm are not de mero Jure Donative but some are Donative and some Elective and some are Collative according to their respective foundations And the confirmation of the Bishops grants by a Dean de facto having actually stallum in Choro vocem in Capitulo togegether with the Chapter is good in Law 15. The issuing of Quo warrantoes out of the Court of Kings Bench Court of Exchequer or any other Court against Borroughs that antiently or recently sent Burgesses to the Parliament to shew cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament and the proceedings thereupon are Coram non Judice illegal and void And the right of sending Burgesses to the Parliament is questionable in Parliament only And the occasioners procurers and Judges in such Quowarrantoes and proceedings are punishable as in Parliament shall be thought consonant to Law and Justice 16. Jurors are the sole Judges of the matter in fact and they ought not for giving their Verdict to be bound over to the Court of Castle-Chamber by the Judge or Judges before whom the Verdict was or shall be given 17. No man ought to be censured in the Castle-Chamber in the mutilation of Members or any other Brand of Infamy otherwise or in other Cases then is expresly limited by the Statutes of this Realm in such cases provided 18. In the Censures of the Castle-Chamber especially regard ought to be had to the words of the great Charter viz. Salvo contenemento c. 19. A Felon who flies the course of Justice and lieth in VVoods Mountains or elsewhere upon his keeping is no Traytor and a Proclamation cannot make him a Traytor 20. The Testimony of convicted or protected Rebels Traytors Felons is no sufficient evidence in Law upon the Trial of any person for his life And the credit of the Testimonie of persons accused or impeached and not convicted of Felony or Treason ought to be left to the Jury who are sole Judges of the truth and validity of the said Testimony 21. The King grants Lands to be held in free and Common Soccage as of a Castle or Mannor by Letters Patents under the great Seal and by the same Letters Patents or by other Letters Patents grants a Fair and Market reserving a yearly Rent or sum without expressing any Tenure as to the said Fair or Market the said Fair or Market is not held by Knights-Service in Capite or otherwise in Capite FITZ GERALD's Edict manifesting the Cause of his Rebellion relating to fol 15. Edictum Illustrissimi Domini Jacobi Geraldini de Justitia ejus Belli quod Hibernia pro fide gerit SI ut bellum aliquod justè geratur tria requiruntur Causa Justa Potestas Legitima Legitimus belli administrandi Modus Haec tria in hoc Bello concurrere jam planum fiet Causa enim hujus belli est dei Gloria Cui externum Sacrificii cultum visibilem Sancti Altaris honorem ab Haereticis impiè ablatum nos restituendum curamus Gloria item Christi Cujus Sacramenta gratiam conferre cum Haeretici blasphemè negent Christi Evangelium ejusdem infirmitatis accusant ob quam lex reprobata fuit Gloria item Ecclesiae Catholicae quam contra Scripturarum veritatem Haeretici aliquot saeculis obscuram mundo ignotam fuisse mentiuntur At in Dei Nomine per Christi Sacramenta sanctificando
every stranger and strangers so received or entertained And We do hereby in his Majesties name and under the pains and punishments here after mentioned command all Aldermen of Wards to transmit all Returns and Certificates made by the Citizens Inhabitants and Residents afore-mentioned to the Major or Recorder of the City of Dublin within twelve hours after receipt thereof or sooner if they conceive any sinister suspition of the persons returned together with the names of such of the said Citizens Inhabitants and Residents as shall not within the time afore limited make such Returns unto them And We do further in his Majesties name and under the pains and punishments hereafter mentioned command the said Major and Recorder of the said City of Dublin and also the Seneschalls or other chief Officers afore-mentioned to cause all Returns and Certificates that shall come to their hands to be delivered to the said James Earl of Ormond and Ossory within twelve hours after receipt thereof or sooner upon suspition as aforesaid together with the names of such Aldermen of Wards Inhabitants and Residents as shall not make such Returns and deliveries of Certificates as aforesaid respectively And if the said Major or Recorder or any Seneschall chief Officer Alderman of any Ward or any Citizen Inhabitant or Resident of or within this City the Suburbs thereof or two miles about the same or any other person or persons whatsoever shall offend contrary to the tenour of this Proclamation in not repairing to their dwellings in keeping any unnecessary retinues in not making any Return or Certificate in making any false or partial Return or Certificate in not returning the names of those who shall not in not making delivery of the said Returns and Certificates to the persons aforesaid in manner and within the times afore limited respectively they and every of them shall respectively incur and suffer such pains of death or such other severe pains and punishments as the said Earl and the Councel of War for the time being shall think fit to inflict and impose and as the danger of the persons and times shall require Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 11. day of Novemb. 1641. Ormond Ossory R. Dillon Cha. Lambert J. Temple Cha. Coote P. Crosbie God save the King APPENDIX V. Fol. 35. A Copy of a Letter directed to the Lord Viceco Cossilough from the Rebels of the County of Longford in Ireland which he presented to the State in their behalf Novemb. 10. 1641. Our very Good Lord OUR Alliance unto your Lordships Ancestors and your self and the Tryal of your and their performance of Trust unto their Friends in their greatest Adversity encourageth us and engageth your Honour to our fruition of your future favours The fixion of our Confidence in you before any other of the Peers and privy Councellors of the Kingdom doubleth this Obligation Your Lordship may therefore be pleased to acquaint the Lords Justices and Councel to be impanted unto his Sacred Majesty with our Grievances and the causes thereof the reading of which we most humbly pray and the manner of it First The Papists in the neighbouring Counties are severely punished and their miseries might serve as Beacons unto us to look unto our own when our Neighbours Houses are on fire And we and other Papists are and ever will be as loyal Subjects as any in the King's Dominions For manifestation whereof we send herein inclosed an Oath solemnly taken by us which as it received indeleble Impression in our hearts shall be sign'd with our hand and seal'd with our Blood Secondly There is an incapacity in the Papists of Honour and the Immunities of true Subjects the royal Marks of distributive Justice and a dis-favour in the Commutative which rais'd Strangers and Foreigners whose valour and vertue was invincble when the old Families of the English and the major part of us the meer Irish did swim in blood to serve the Crown of England and when Offices should call Men of worth Men without worth and merit obtain them Thirdly The Statute of the 2. Eliz of force in this Kingdom against us and they of our Religion doth not a little disanimate us and the rest Fourthly The avoidance of Grants of our Lands and Liberties by Quirks and Quiddities of the Law without reflecting upon the King 's Royal and real Intention for confirming our Estates his Broad Seal being the pawn betwixt his Majesty and his people Fifthly The restraint of purchase in the meer Irish of Lands in the Escheated Counties and the taint and blemish of them and their posterities doth more discontent them than that plantation Rule for they are brought to that Exigent of povertie in these late times that they must be sellers and not buyers of Land And we conceive and humbly offer to your Lordships consideration Principiis obsta that in the beginning of this Commotion Your Lordship as it is hereditary for you will be a Physitian to cure this Disease in us and by our Examples it will doubtless beget the like auspicious success in all other parts of the Kingdom For we are of opinion it is one sickness and one pharmach will suffice Sublatâ causâ tollitur Effectus And it will be recorded that you will do service unto God King and Countrey And for salving every the aforesaid Soars Your Lordship is to be an humble Suitor in our behalf and of the rest of the Papists that out of the abundance of his Majesties Clemency there may be an Act of Oblivion and general pardon without restitution or Account of Goods taken in the time of this Commotion a liberty of our Religion a repeal of all Statutes formerly made to the contrary and not by Proclamation but Parliamentary way A Charter free Denizen in ample manner for meer Irish All which in succeeding Ages will prove an Union in all his Majesties Dominions instead of Division a Comfort in Desolation and a Happiness in perpetuity for an imminent Calamitie And this being granted there will be all things Quae sunt Caesaris Caesari and Quae sunt Dei Deo And it was by the Poet written though he be prophane in other matters yet in this prophetically Divisum Imperium cum Jove Caesar habet All which for this present we leave to your Honourable Care And we will as we ever did and do remain Your very humble and assured ever to be Commanded Hugh mac Gillernow Farrall James Farrall Bryan Farrall Readagh Farrall Edmond mac Cael Farrall John Farrall in Carbuy Garret Farral Lisagh mac Conel Farrall Bryan mac William Farrall John mac Edmund Farrall John Farrall Roger mac Bryne Farrall Barnaby Farrall James mac Trig Farrall his Mark. Morgan mac Carbry Farrall Donnagh mac Carbry Farrall Richard mac Conel Farral William mac James Farrall James Farrall Taghna mac Rory Farrall Cormack mac Rory Farrall Conock mac Bryne Farrall Readagh mac Lisagh Farrall Connor Oge mac Connor Farrall Ed mond mac Connor Farrall
feed the Souldiers with from hand to mouth is spent I know no way to prevent their sudden disbanding and therefore I do again beseech your Lordship to endeavour that I may not be exposed to the dishonour and misery of being abandoned by the King's Forces and left my self single to the mercy of the Enemy but that Moneys may be speedily transmitted unto me with directions what pay to allow the Horsemen and Officers of the Foot with an overplus of Money as I have always desired for extraordinary and emergent occasions about either the Ordinance or Forts whereas yet nothing is in a right posture but things only shuffled together for a shift by reason we had not wherewithal to the work as it ought Your Lordships most humble Servant W. Saintleger Cork April 2. 1642 APPENDIX VII Fol. 95. In the Name of the holy Trinity the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen Acts agreed upon ordained and concluded in the General Congregation held at Kilkanny the 10 11 and 13 days of May 1642. by those Prelates whose Names are subscrib'd the Proctors of such other Prelates as then were absent being present together with the Superiours of the Regulars and many other Dignitaries and learn'd Men as well in Divine as also in Common Law with divers Pastors and others of the Catholick Clergy of all Ireland whose Names are likewise hereafter set down 1. WHereas the VVar which now in Ireland the Catholicks do maintain against Sectaries and chiefly against Puritans for the Defence of the Catholick Religion for the maintenance of the Prerogative and the Royal Rights of our gracious King Charles for our gracious Queen so unworthily abus'd by the Puritans for the Honour safety and Health of their Royal Issue for to avert and refrain the Injuries done unto them for the Conservation of the just and lawful Safeguard Liberties and Rights of Ireland and lastly for the defence of their own Lives Fortunes Lands and Possessions VVhereas I said this VVar is by the Catholiques undertaken for the aforesaid causes against unlawful Usurpers Oppressors and their Enemies chiefly Puritans And that hereof we are enformed aswel by divers and true Remonstrances of divers Provinces Counties and Noblemen as also by the unanimous consent and agreement of almost the whole Kingdom in this VVar and Union VVe therefore declare that VVar openly Catholick to be lawful and just in which VVar if some of the Catholicks be found to proceed out of some particular and unjust Title covetousness cruelty revenge or hatred or any such unlawful private intentions VVe declare them therein grievously to sin and therefore worthy to be punished and refrained with Ecclesiastical Censures if advised thereof they do not amend 2. VVhereas the Adversaries do spread divers rumours do write divers Letters and under the King's Name do print Proclamations which are not the King 's by which means divers plots and dangers may ensue unto our Nation VVe therefore to stop the way of untruth and forgeries of the Political Adversaries do will and command That no such rumours Letters or Proclamations may have place or belief until it be known in a National Councel whether they truly proceed from the King left to his own freedom and until the Agents of this Kingdom hereafter to be appointed by a National Councel have free passage to his Majesty whereby the Kingdom may be certainly enformed of his Majesties intention and will 3. VVhereas no Family City Common-wealth much less any Kingdom may stand without union and concord without which this Kingdom for the present standeth in most danger VVe think it therefore necessary that all Irish Peers Magistrates Noblemen Cities and Provinces may be tied together with the holy bond of Union and Concord and that they frame an Oath of Union and agreement which they shall devoutly and Christianly take and faithfully observe And for the conservation and exercise of this Union VVe have thought fit to ordain the ensuing Points 4. VVe straightly command all our inferiours aswell Churchmen as Laymen to make no distinction at all between the old and ancient Irish and no Alienation comparison or differences between Provinces Cities Towns or Families and lastly not to begin or forward any emulations or comparisons whatsoever 5. That in every Province of Ireland there be a Councel made up both of Clergy and Nobility in which Councel shall be so many persons at least as are Counties in the Province and out of every City or notable Town two persons 6. Let one general Councel of the whole Kingdom be made both of the Clergy Nobility Cities and notable Towns in which Councel there shall be three out of every Province and out of every City one or where Cities are not out of the chiefest Towns To this Councel the Provincial Councels shall have subordination and from thence to it may be appealed until this National Councel have opportunity to sit together Again if any thing of great importance do occur or be conceived in one Province which by a negative Vote is rejected in the Councel of one Province let it be sent to the Councels of other Provinces except it be such a matter as cannot be delayed and which doth not pertain to the Weal-publick of the other Provinces 7. Embassage sent from one Province to forraign Nations shall be held as made from the rest of the Provinces and the fruit or benefit thereof shall be imparted and divided between the Provinces and Cities which have more need thereof chiefly such helps and fruits as proceed from the bountiful liberality of forreign Princes States Prelates or others whatsoever provided always that the charge and damage be proportionably recompenced 8. If there be any Province which may not conveniently send Embassage from it self unto forraign Nations let it signifie it to another Province which may conveniently supply it and ought in regard of their Union to supply it according to the instructions sent from the other Provinces concerning the place and Princes to which they would have their Embassage employed 9. Let a faithful Inventory be made in every Province of the Murthers Burnings and other Cruelties which are committed by the Puritan Enemies with a Quotation of the place day cause manner and persons and other circumstances subscribed by one of publick Authority 10. In every Parish let a faithful and sworn Messenger be appointed whereby such Cruelties and other affaires may be written and sent to the neighbouring places and likewise from one Province to another Let such things be written for the comfort instruction and carefulness of the People 11. Great men taken prisoners in one Province may not be set at liberty for any price prayers or exchange without the consent of the Prelates and Nobility of the other Province united and let every Province be careful of the Liberties of such Prisoners as are from the other Provinces as far as it conveniently may 12. If any one stubborn or dangerous be found in one Province County or
other Church Goods pertaing unto their respective Titles with obligations to pay proportionable Rent unto the Souldiers as aforesaid or his payment of their own competent maintenance and lett the Houses Tenements and other Church goods be taken from the Catholicks who heretofore had them as Tenements or otherwise 26. It is committed to the will and disposition of the Ordinary whether and when to enter into the Churches and celebrate Masses therein we command all and every the general Colonels Captains and other Officers of our Catholick Army to whom it appertaineth that they severally punish all transgressors of our aforesaid Command touching Murtherers Maimers Strikers Thieves Robbers and if they fail therein we Command the Parish Priests Curats or Chaplains respectively to declare them interdicted and that they shall be Excommunicated if they cause not due satisfaction to be made unto the Common-wealth and the party offended And this the Parish Priests or Chaplains shall observe under pain of Excommunication of sentence given ipso facto 27. To the end that these Acts Propositions and Ordinances may have more happy success We thought it fitting to have recourse unto God Almighty by Prayers Fastings and Alms We therefore will pray and as far as it is needful do command that every Priest as well Secular as Regular do celebrate one Mass a week and that all Lay-men do fast upon Wednesday Friday and Saturday in one week and thence forward one day a week and upon that Wednesday or Saturday as long as the Ordinary shall please and that they pray heartily unto God for the prosperous success of this our Catholick War for which they shall gain so many days indulgences as every Prelate shall publish in their several Diocesses respectively after the Fast of the aforesaid three days in one Week having first confessed and received the blessed Sacrament and bestowed some Alms to this effect 28. In every Regiment of Souldiers let there be appointed at least two Confessors and one Preacher to be named by the Ordinaries and by the Superiors of the Regulars whose competent maintenance we commend and command to every Colonel in their respective Regiments And to the end that all those Ordinances and Statutes may effectually be put in Execution We will and decree that all Arch-bishops Bishops Apostolical Vicars and Regular Superiours as well here present as absent may be very serious and careful of the Execution of the aforesaid as they tender not to incur displeasure wrath and revenge and herewith we charge their Consciences 29. Moreover VVe pray and require all Noblemen Magistrates and all other Marshal Commanders that with their helps and Secular forces they assist and set forward in Execution the aforesaid Statutes in their several Precincts respectively as often as it shall be needful If in any of the aforesaid Statutes any doubt or difficulty may by chance arise the explication thereof we reserve to the Metropolitans in every Province respectively and to the Bishops in every their Diocesses such of them as are no way contrary to this Cause no other person may presume to expound the aforesaid difficulties Haec dicta acta ordinata statuta subscripta erant nominibus sequentium Praelatorum All those Judgments Sayings Acts and Covenants VVe submit to the Judgment of the See Apostolick Hugo Archiepiscopus Armachanus Thomas Archiepiscopus Casselensis Malachius Archiepiscopus Guamenum David Episcopus Osoren Frater Boetius Episcopus Elphinensis Frater Patricius Episcopus Waterforden Lysmoren Frater Rochus Episcopus Kildaren Johannis Electus Claunfarten Emerus Electus Dunen Conoren Frater Josephus Everard Procurator Archiepiscopi Dublinens Doctor Johannes Creagh Procurator Episcopus Lymeriten David Bourck Willielmus O Connell Procurator Episcopi Imolacen Donatus O Tearnan Procurator Episcopi Laonen Doctor Dionysius Harty Decanus Laonensis Doctor Michael Hacket Vicar gener Waterforden Gulielmus Devocer Vic. gener Fernesen Thomas Roch Vicar Generalis Ossoren Frater Lucas Archer Abbas Sanctae Crucis Frater Anthonius de Rosario Ord. praed Vicar Provincial Robertus Nugent Societat Jesu in Heb. Frater Thadeus Connoldus Ang. pro Provinc Johannes Wareinge Decanus Lymericen Frater Patricius Darcye Guardian Dublin Frater Thomas Strange Guardian Waterford Frater Joseph Lancton Prior Kilkenny Frater Tho. Tearnon Guard de Dundalk Frater Johannes Reyly Guard Kilkenny Frater Boetius Egnanus Guard Buttevant Jordanus Boork Archidiaconus Lymericensis APPENDIX VIII Fol. 98. Orders made and established by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the rest of the general Assembly for the Kingdom of Ireland met at the City of Kilkenny the 24th day of October Anno Dom. 1642. and in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord the King Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland c. 1. IMprimis That the Roman Catholick Church in Ireland shall and may have and enjoy the Priviledges and Immunities according to the great Charter made and declared within the Realm of England in the ninth year of King H. 3. sometime King of England and the Lord of Ireland and afterwards enacted and confirmed in this Realm of Ireland and that the Common Law of England and all the Statutes of force in this Kingdom which are not against the Catholick Roman Religion on the Liberties of the Natives and other Liberties of this Kingdom shall be observed throughout the whole Kingdom and that all Proceedings in Civil and Criminal Cases shall be according to the said Laws 2. Item That all and every person and persons within this Realm shall bear Faith and true Allegiance unto our Soveraign Lord King Charles by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland His Heirs and Successors and shall uphold and maintain his and their Rights and lawful Prerogatives with the utmost skill and power of such person or persons against all manner of persons whatsoever 3. Item That the Common Laws of England and Ireland and the said Statutes called the great Charter and every Clause Branch and Article thereof and all other Statutes confirming expounding or declaring the same shall be punctually observed within this Kingdom so far forth as the Condition of the present times during these times can by possibilities give way thereunto and after the War is ended the same to be observed without any Limitation or Restriction whatsoever 4. Inasmuch as the City of Dublin is the usual and principal Seat of Justice in this Kingdom where the Parliament and ordinary Courts were held and some other places where principal Councils were sometimes kept and as yet possessed and commanded by the malignant party who are Enemies to God and their King and his Majesties well-affected Subjects The Assembly is necessitated during this VVar in some formalities and circumstances to deviate from the proceedings prescrib'd by the said Laws and Statutes nevertheless retaineth the substance and Essence thereof so far-forth as the endless malice and cruelty of their Enemies the said malignant party doth permit
October either by himself or his Under-tenants or by receiving the Rents Issues or profits thereof shall immediately restore upon demand the said possession to the party or parties so put out with such reasonable damages as the Council-provincial shall think fit And if the party do refuse to restore the said possession as aforesaid upon the Demand of the party so put out his Heirs or Assigns made to the said possessor his Servants and Adherents in the Premisses or publication of this Order in the Parish where such Land lieth that upon his or their denial thereof or default therein he his Heirs and Assigns shall be for ever after debarr'd and secluded from all and every Right Title Interest or Demand which he or they make or pretend to all or any the said Lands Tenements Hereditaments And if after such Denial or Default made the said party his Heirs or Assigns shall not immediately restore the possession of the said Lands Tenements or Hereditaments so gain'd to the party griev'd his Heirs or Assigns That he they or his Adherents in the premises shall be declared and proceeded with as Enemies provided and so it is meant That if any of the parties so put out be declar'd a Neuter or Enemy by the Supream or Provincial-councel then the party who gain'd the possession as aforesaid shall give up the possession to such person or persons as shall be nam'd either by the said Council-provincial or Supream Council to be dispos'd of towards the maintenance of the general Cause upon the pain and penalty aforesaid And as for the Rents and mean profits of the said Lands Tenements and Hereditaments and all kind of Rents and the Goods or Chattels taken or detain'd from any Catholick as aforesaid due satisfaction is to be made for the same to the parties from whom the Rents Goods or Chattles were or shall be detain'd since these troubles begun as the Provincial and County-council shall respectively order 13. Item It is further ordered and established for the removal of evil disorder and enmity and to the end all Men may bend their thoughts and actions to the common Cause that all possessions of Lands and Hereditaments shall continue and remain unto such as have already join'd in this Union as they have been for three years past next before the beginning of these Troubles And that no Title of Lands shall be drawn into any Debate or Question until the next Assembly other than in case of Mortgages Leases and particular Estates de facto determin'd or determinable by Effluxion or other determination thereof 14. Item For the avoiding of National distinction between the Subjects of his Majesties Dominions which this Assembly doth utterly detest and abhor and which ought not to be endured in a well-govern'd Commonwealth It is ordered and established that upon pain of the highest punishment which may be inflicted by Authority of this Assembly that every Roman Catholick as well English Welsh as Scotch who was of that profession before the troubles and who will come and please to reside in this Kingdom and join in the present Union shall be preserv'd and cherish'd in his Life Goods and Estates by the Power Authority and force if need require of all the Catholicks of Ireland as fully and freely as any Native born therein and shall be acquitted and eas'd of one third part in three parts to be divided of publick Charges or Levies rais'd or to be rais'd for the maintenance of this holy VVar. 15. Item And it is further ordered and establish'd that there shall be no distinction or comparison made betwixt old Irish and old and new English or between Septs or Families or between Citizens and Townsmen and Countreymen joyning in union upon pain of the highest punishment that can be inflicted by any of the Councils aforesaid according to the nature and quality of the Offences and Division like to spring thence 16. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that all new Converts born in any of his Majesties Dominions or elsewhere without occasion given by the persons converted to the contrary and joyning in this Cause shall be accounted Catholick Natives to all intents and purposes 17. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that all Artificers Artizans Navigators and Mariners not being Denizens who shall please to reside in this Kingdom shall during their Residence in this Kingdom after such time as they and their Families shall be here setled have and enjoy the free liberty and priviledges of Natives in all respects 18. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that in regard of of the present Estate and condition of this Kingdom if any Catholick or Catholicks are admitted of or permitted to continue in the Inns of Court and to the end the laudable Laws of England may not die amidst the Disasters of these times one Inn of Court shall be erected in such a place of this Kingdom as to the Supream Council shall be thought fit for the training of the Gentry of this Kingdom to the knowledg of these Laws 19. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that no Lord Gentleman or any other person shall raise or keep any Company of Souldiers but such as shall be authoriz'd by the Supream Council Provincial-council or County-council or Magistrate within their own Corporate Towns And that the Statute against Sesse and Coin or Livery be duly put in execution And that no Company or Souldiers whatsoever shall be paid or reliev'd by the Countrey except such as are and shall be inrolled in the Marshal List And none shall be billeted but by the Constable 20. Item It is further ordered and establish'd for the advancement of Learning that in every Province of the Kingdom Free-Schools shall be erected and maintain'd so many and in such places and in such manner and form as by the Metropolitan of the Diocess in their respective Provinces shall be thought fit 21. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that the King's Customs Rents Revenues Arrears and Debts And the Rents Estates and profits of the Lands Hereditaments Goods and Chattels of the Enemies which are or shall be declared by the Provincial or Supream Council or by the General Council to be receiv'd and collected and be dispos'd for his Majesties use and service 22. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that Church-lands and Tithes impropriate in the Catholick-owners before these troubles and joyning in this Cause may be left to them according to their several Estates until the same be disposed of by Parliament they in the interim answering the Rents as accustomed 23. Item It is further ordered and establish'd that in every County there be Collectors and Receivers to be approved in the County-council for the same And that they be accountable to the County-council for the same which County-council shall be accountable to the Provincial-council therein half-yearly and the Provincial-council to the Supream-Council yearly to the end the same may not be conceal'd or
former rebellious courses not so much as having to this time offered any assistance to this State or any the Governors or Commanders of the Army and have murdered many English and other Subjects in several parts it being observed that if any of his Majesties good Subjects Souldiers or others pass by not strongly guarded they are set upon and murthered in the High-ways and passages as they travel the very Plowmen and those that keep Cattle having continually Arms lying by them in the Fields to murther those his Majesties good Subjects when they find them weakly guarded and on the other side when they find them strongly guarded they seem to go on in their Plowing and Husbandry shewing those Warrants for their safety and seeming to be poor innocent and harmless Labourers And although the aforesaid open Rebels were frequently in some of their Houses and continually round about them they never gave us any intelligence concerning the proceedings of those open Rebels nor of the places where they had often meetings and where they might be found to be fallen on by his Majesties Army which they might easily have done if their affections to his Majesty and his Government had been such as by the Laws of God they ought to be or if they desired to live humbly in obedience to the Laws as some of them pretend And albeit in many of the said VVarrants there were conditions expressed and in all of them Conditions implyed that the parties taking benefit thereby should behave themselves as becomes dutiful and Loyal Subjects whereby We might justly proceed to their deserved Correction without any violation on Our parts of the said VVarrants or the word thereby given And albeit also that most of those VVarrants were not in themselves Protections to the parties further than in giving them leave to bring or send Corn and other provisions to the Markets whereby their Servants or Horses or Provisions should not be seized on by the Souldiers when they came to the Markets which admittance fell out as well for their benefit as intended for the furnishing of the Market Yet because We find that the further continuing of those VVarrants do now appear inevitably to induce a great inconvenience to his Majesties General Service and many of those people do either ignorantly or perhaps purposely mistake the true sense and meaning of those VVarrants and do give out to interpret them to be Protections granted to them for the safety of their Lives and Estates how foul soever they are in their crimes which is an interpretation that cannot justly be made out of the letter or meaning of those VVarrants yet in regard We who are entrusted here by His Majesty for the government of this His Kingdom and People are so tender of His Majesties Honour as VVe neither have done nor will do anything that by any construction can be interpreted a Breach of any word given by Us neither have desired or willingly permitted any violence or hurt to be done to any Inhabitant or any prejudice other than for the necessary Defence and safety of this State and other His Majesties good Subjects against those that tookup Arms against His Majesty And for that we are now necessitated to resolve not to suffer this State to be any longer deluded and abused and His Majesties good Subjects murthered even as it were in our own view in scorn and affront of the State and some of the actors passing with impunity under countenance of these VVarrants VVe think fit before we proceed to the just Correction of those who have so declared themselves Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom hereby to publish and declare that the said VVarrants so granted by Us the Lords Justices or either of Us or by Us the Lords Justices and Councel or by the said Lieutenant General of the Army or by the said late or present Commanders of the Forces of this City or by any His Majesties Commanders in Drogheda or other places to any person or persons within the Baronies of Castle-knock Nethercrois Balrothery or Coolock in the County of Dublin or within the Baronies of Duleeke Skryne Moyfenragh Ratoath Deece and Dunboyne in the County of Meath shall from and after the four and twentieth day of this Month stand void and be annulled repealed and revoked and we do hereby accordingly from and after the said day revoke repeal make void and annul them and every of them to all intents and purposes as if they had never been granted and do order that from and after the said day they be of no force nor derive any benefit Protection or Security in the parties to whom they were granted And this Proclamation we hereby require the Major and Sheriffs of the City of Dublin to cause to be proclaimed and published on two Market-days in and throughout the said City and Suburbs and to be publickly fixed up in the Market-place and other publick places in the said City and Suburbs that so all men may take notice thereof and that hereafter when by the power and strength of his Majesties Army Offenders receive due punishment they may appear inexcusable and not have any colour to pretend the least Breach of word in this State Given at his Majesties Castle of Dublin the 10. of June 1642. Ormond Ossory Roscomon Ad. Loftus J. Temple Tho. Rotherham Fra. Willoughby Tho. Lucas Ja. Ware Geo. Wentworth Rob. Meredith God save the King This relates to what is mentioned in the end of the second Paragraph Fol 102. Justifying the State in the revoking of Protections given contrary to their Order and the Abuse the Protected made thereof By the Lords Justices and Council W. Parsons Jo. Borlase WHereas in the beginning of this hideous and detestable Rebellion We the Lords Justices and Council desirous if it might be to give some sudden stop thereunto so to prevent the spreading thereof and the growth of it to that height to which it hath sithence risen and conceiving that at that time the multitude were by evil Council or false rumors seduced to partake in that Rebellion who not knowing the truth and depth of the Combination We did think could not so wretchedly fail in their Duty and Loyalty to their most Gracious King and Soveraign as so universally to persist in their course of Disobedience to his Majesties Authority but would with treatable and fair admonitions laying before them their great danger and the iniquity of their enterprise have returned to their obedience We therefore on the 27th of October last authorised divers persons of quality and trust for the several Counties of Down Antrim Armagh Monaghan Cavan Tirone and Fermanagh amongst other Powers then entrusted with them to parly with the Rebels or any of them and by Proclamation or otherwise to proffer his Majesties Grace and Mercy to them or any of them and to receive such of them into his Majesties Grace and Mercy as should submit themselves and desire the same Yet We held fit
that in all likelihood he shall not live to come to that place the second time which we humbly conceive will be a great discouragement to any person of Honour and Fortune to serve your Majesty in that high Trust and for their purchasing Lands in that Kingdom your Majesty may be pleased to leave them to the Laws and punish them severely if they commit any offence or exercise any oppressions under colour of purchasing of any Lands or Estates whatsoever 15. Pro. That an Act may be passed in the next Parliament for the raising and setling of Trained-bands within the several Counties of that Kingdom as well to prevent foraign Invasion as to render them the more serviceable and ready for your Majesties service as cause shall require Answ. The having of Trained-bands in Ireland for the present cannot under favour be for your Majesties service or the safety of that Kingdom for that the Protestants by the said sad effects of the late Rebellion are so much destroyed that the said Bands must consist in effect altogether of the Confederates Catholicks and to continue them in Arms stored with Ammunition and made ready for service by Mustring and often Training will prove under colour of advancing your Majesties service against foraign Invasions a meer Guard and Power of the Popish Confederates and by force of Arms according to their late Oaths and Protestations to execute all their cruel designs for extirpation of the Protestant Religion and English Government both which they mortally hate however in cunning they dissemble it and to prevent the setling an Army of good Protestants without which your Maiesties good Subjects cannot live securely there 16. Pro. That an Act of Oblivion be passed in the next free Parliament to extend to all your Majesties said Catholick Subjects and their Adherents for all manner of Offences Capital Criminal and Personal and the said Act to extend to all Goods and Chattels Customs Mesne Profits Prizes Arrears of Rents taken received or incurred since these troubles Answ. We humbly pray that the Laws of force be taken into consideration and do humbly conceive that your Majesty in Honour and Justice may forbear to discharge or release any Actions Suits Debts or Interests whereby your Majesties Protestant Subjects who have committed no offence against your Majesty or your Laws should be barred or deprived of any of their legal remedies or just demands which by any of your Majesties Laws and Statutes they may have against the Popish Confederates who are the only Delinquents or any of their party for or in respect of any wrongs done unto them or any of their Ancestors or Predecessors in or concerning their Lands Goods or Estates since the contriving or breaking forth of the Rebellion the said Confederates having without provocation shed so much innocent Blood and acted so many Cruelties as cannot be parallel'd in any Story and we conceive it to be high presumption in them upon so weak grounds to propound an Act of Oblivion in such general terms some of the Confederates having been Contrivers or Actors of such cruel Murthers and other Acts of Inhumanity as cry to God and your Sacred Majesty for Justice and they having of your Majesties Revenues Customs Subsidies and other Rights of your Crown in their hands are disbursed by them to the value of two hundred thousand pounds and more 17. Pro. For as much as your Majesties said Catholick Subjects have been taxed with many inhumane Cruelties which they never committed your Majesties said Suppliants therefore for their vindication and to manifest to all the the world their desire to have all such hanious Offenders punished and the Offenders brought to Justice do desire that in the next Parliament all notorious Murthers breaches of Quarter and inhumane Cruelties committed of either side may be questioned in the said Parliament if your Majesty think fit and such as shall appear to be guilty to be excepted out of the said Act of Oblivion and punished according to their deserts Answ. We conceive this Proposition is made but for a Florish 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 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-Councillors Judges and Officers of that Kingdom are now in Town sent for over and here attending by your Majesties Command who by their long observations and experience of the affaires and State of Ireland are better able to give your Majesty more full and satisfactory Answers touching the premises then we can and conceiving that the Collection in Answer to the said Confederates Remonstrance which we humbly presented to your Majesty the 17th of the last Month of April may in many things give your Majesty more light then 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 After reading of which Propositions and Answers thereunto the King asked the Protestant Agents whether they had Answered unto the Rebels Propositions as they were to be granted by Him in Law and Justice and fit for the Security of the Protestants of Ireland or prudentially as the times were who humbly made Answer to his Majesty That they looked upon the Rebels Propositions as they appeared to them destructive to his Majesties Laws Government and Protestant Subjects of Ireland Then the Earl of Bristol said That if they asked what by Law and Justice was due from the Rebels their Answers were full But now the King expected from the said Agents what prudentially was fit for his Majesty to do seeing the Protestants were not in a Condition to defend themselves And that the King would not admit the Protestants to joyn with the new Scots or any other that had the Covenant To which the Agents conceived not fit to Answer more then what before in their Propositions and
as near as I can suitable to what their necessities may require and the Condition and State of Affairs under my charge can admit as either by continuing them or so many of them in Town as shall be thought fit or for those of that condition that do go out by allotting for them some places near hand such as may by industry and care of any Friends in their behalfs be in most respects equal to what benefits they have in Town or at least contribute competently towards their livelihood and subsistence at present until either the state of our Affairs or frame of their Spirits be known to be altered as may admit their return or a further provision for them Given at Waterford March 1650. H. IRETON Fol. 316. l. 23. Consideration No mention yet of the King He was not to be named though there were but few that saw Him not at a distance improving each Gale to further his Return in as much as they continued till May 1660. then readily accepting of the Kings Declaration from Breda Fol. 319. l. 34. Eminent Sufferings for regulating of whose Interests a Court of Claims was afterwards instituted wherein if the exact Method and Institution ordered by his Majesties Commission grounded on the Act of Settlement were not regularly persued It 's agreed on by All that the Commissioners were no losers by their Imployment And that the house of Commons who knew best their own sense of so important an Act might have no excentrical proceedings thereupon they presented to his Grace an Instrument with Rules and Directions for the Commissioners proceedings That discovering a Cloud through the Interposition of some Malevolent Planet it might remain whether persued or no as a Record of their Endeavours That the hard Fate and Ruine of an English Interest in Ireland might not bear date under the best of Kings under so vigilant a Lord Lieutenant under the first and if not prevented like to be the last Protestant Parliament there Which Instrument hath since magnified that house justly sensible of intervening Evils TO THE READER Reader IN the Preceding History we cursorily mention'd the execrable Barbarisms the Irish committed in their Insurrection briefly reflected on in The Remonstrance of the Clergy to the House of Commons in England 1642. out of which other Examinations and Authentick Proofs in the Archives at Dublin we have collected the ensuing Murthers reducing them to Counties readier for every ones view Not mentioning the Rebels Mercy Plundering Stripping or Exposing the English to Cruelties worse than Death All being short of that Number which had we time would soon compleat a Volume especially could we have recover'd Archdeacon Bisse his Examinations taken in Munster with greater Artifice than Justice smother'd who as an Eminent and Worthy Person on the same Account the 12th of October 1678. was most inhumanly Murther'd by the Irish as He by the late Conspirators expressing that to be the Cause viz. The Examinations that were then taken Yet what we have here Collected with Dr. Robert Maxwell's Examination whose Integrity and Candor None ever yet dar'd Question I am confident exceeds the Martyrologie of former Ages and as a solid Divine ingeniously as well as truly observ'd on the Fast-day Wednesday the 13th of November 1678. is a Wonder even to Amazement That more Arts of Cruelty have been found out by the Romish Clergy propagating their Religion than the Heathen Persecutors ever reach'd to A Collection of Murthers in several Counties of Ireland committed since the 23d of October 1641. abstracted out of certain Examinations taken by Virtue of Commissions under the Great Seal of Ireland which said Particulars are singled amongst infinite others of that kind pointing to the Circumstances and the Names of the Persons or some of them murthering or murthered The fuller Evidence of which may be found according to the Quotations in the Archives of Dublin now in Possession of the Clerk of the Council The County of Antrim THE Rebels confessed to this Deponent that they killed in one Morning 954 in this County And that besides them they supposed they had killed 1100 or 1200 more in that County The County of Armagh Protestants in Multitudes forced over the Bridge of Portnedown whereby at several times there were drown'd in the River of Banne above 1000. Great Numbers of Protestants drown'd at Corbridge and Kynard in the County of Armagh Mr. Fullerton Clerk Mr. Aubrey Mr Gladwich murthered in the way towards Portnedown Many others Murther'd 5 murther'd soon after the beginning of the Rebellion 50 murther'd at Blackwater-Church 20 drown'd near the Water of Callon and several others murther'd Mr. William Blundell drawn by the Neck in a Rope up and down Blackwater at Charlemont to confess money and three weeks after He with his Wife and seven Children drown'd Four and fourty at several times murther'd A Wife compell'd to hang her own Husband with several other notorious murthers Mr. Robinson the Minister his Wife and three Children and seven more murther'd Two and twenty Protestants put into a thatch'd house in the Parish of Kilmore and there burned alive The Lord Caufield murther'd Dr. Hodges with 43 more murther'd within a quarter of a mile of Charlemont The Wife of Arnold Taylor great with Child had her belly ripp'd up then drown'd Thomas Mason buried alive Seventeen Men Women and Children cast into a Bogg-pit in the Parish of Dumcrees Many more murther'd Fifteen hundred murther'd in three Parishes 27 more murther'd Mr. Cambell drown'd Three hundred Protestants stripped naked and put into the Church of Loghgall whereof about 100 murther'd within the Church amongst whom John Gregg was quarter'd alive his Quarters thrown into the face of Richard Gregg his Father The said Richard was after there murther'd having received seventeen or eighteen wounds after cut into Quarters in this Deponents his Wife's Presence Such as were not murther'd were turn'd out a begging amongst the Irish naked and into the cold most of which were killed by Irish Cripples their Trulls and Children One hundred and eighty drown'd at twice at the Bridge of Callon One hundred some say two hundred more in a Lough near Ballimackilmorrogh Mr. Gabriel Constable and his Mother 80 years old murther'd Five hundred murther'd at Armagh besides 48 Families murther'd in the Parish of Killaman Three had their Brains knock'd out with a Hatchet within the Church of Benburb 8 Women drown'd in a River under the same Church Christopher Glover murther'd Lieutenant James Maxwell by order from Sir Phelim O Neil was dragg'd out of his Bed raving in the height of a burning Fever driven two miles and murther'd his Wife great with Child stripp'd stark naked and drown'd in the Blackwater the Child half born Mr. Starkey about 100 years old and his two daughters strip'd naked the Daughters forced to support and lead their Father he being not able to go
ibid. A Proclamation calling in Protections fol. 99 for the Peace 1646. fol. 156 Propositions from the Rebels by Sir Thomas Cary and Dr. Cale fol. 45 by Fitz-Williams about the Peace with the Queens consent fol. 154 Protections granted by Commissioners revoked fol. 102 The Protestants Petition for Agents to go to Oxford fol. 140 to the King App. 62 allow'd by his Masty fol. 140 Agents to go to Oxford fol. 142 receive a gracious promise from his Majesty fol. 143 Agency question'd by the Councel-board fol. 144 of Ireland acknowledg'd by the King to bear a great part in his Restauration fol. 316 How Protestant Hereticks are to be buried fol. 171 Q QUarter not to be given to any in arms especially Priests fol. 264 The Queen Regent of France thought a convenient Person to procure the Peace fol. 152 of England her Answer to to the Irish Agents fol. 199 Querie whether the Protestant Agents at Oxford acted by the Protestant Committee of the Parliament of Ireland at Dublin fol. 144 Queries expounded by several Members in a Committee of the House of Commons against the sense of the Judges fol. 12 R RAconnel Battle fol. 105 The Lord Rannelagh pent up in Athlone till reliev'd by the Lieutenant General fol. 44 Rathmines Disaster fol. 221 Reasons why O Neil consulted not with the Councel at Kilkenny fol. 254 The Irish Rebellion discovered fol. 19 its success in Ulster fol. 27 60 progress in Lemster fol. 38 breaks out in Munster fol. 49 Connaght ibid. Remonstrance presented at Trim fol. 114 The Rebels tear the Order of Parliament fol. 35 55 Mercy was cruelty fol. 50 51 slanders cast on the English profligated fol. 57 endeavour to make themselves Masters of Lemster fol. 59 of Longford Letter by Costilough App. 25 Unskilful in Sieges fol. 71 Cruelties ibid. send Agents to forreign Princes fol. 98 receive Ministers from them ibid. are declared Subdued fol. 303 Several Rebellions fol. 14 c. Five Regiments arrive at Dublin fol. 52 Not the Defence of Religion Prerogative or Liberty but the Extirpation of the English Interest principally aim'd at by the Rebels fol. 10 c. The Officers Remonstrance threatning much danger fol. 111 Col. Reynold's takes Carrick fol. 227 Ross Battle fol. 109 Sir Benjamin Rydiard's Speech in defence of Religion fol. 35 touching Collections for Ireland fol. 27 S SIr William Saintleger President of Munster fol. 49 83 his good Service there ibid. at Talloe fol. 85 his Letter to the Lord Lieutenant App. 35 takes Dungarran fol. 85 his vigilance and faithfulness fol. 88 death ibid. Upon the recalling the King's Ships principal Commanders land in Ireland fol. 83 The Scots thought the King's Offer to go for Ireland a great Demonstration of his Care fol. 70 Yet the Scotch Councel as well as the two Houses interceded earnestly against this design pretending the hazard his Sacred Person would be in Burnet fol. 163 The meer Scots did little in Ireland the English Scots did good Service fol. 101 152 The Scots beaten at Benburgh fol. 162 in Ulster join with Hamilton to invade England fol. 195 Declaration against the standing Army in Ireland fol. 210 Souldiers sent into England fol. 138 receive an Oath ibid. disobey what Preston engaged for fol. 171 The Spaniard prevails with the Irish to send no men into England fol. 160 Stafford betrays Wexford-Castle to Cromwell fol. 225 The States first dispatch to the King at Edenburgh fol. 27 second dispatch to the King fol. 30 his Warrant to the Earl of Ormond and Ossory to fight the Rebels fol. 42 Letter to the Lord Lieutenant expressing the sad Condition they were in fol. 43 Captain Stutfield's good Service in the relief of Tredagh fol. 63 64 Colonel Synnot's Propositions for the delivery of Wexford fol. 226 T THe Lord Taaff goes for England fol. 34 returns to Ireland fol. 123 beaten by Inchequin fol. 187 is at Rathmines Battle fol. 190 helps to expel the Nuncio fol. 221 goes to the D. of Lorrain fol. 285 Tecroghan delivered to the Parliamentarians fol. 255 Sir Hen. Titchbourn sent Governour of Tredagh fol. 29 certifies the Lord Lieutenant that Mellifont was besieged fol. 37 his excellent Service at Tredagh fol. 61 62 c. Lord Justice fol. 121 at Dungan Hill fol. 186 Sir Arthur Tirringham gives the State notice of the Rebellion fol. 27 his Conduct at Lisnegarvy fol. 38 Tool of Wickloe accused by Relie fol. 315 Tredagh forewarn'd to be besieg'd by the Reverend and Vigilant Dr. Jones fol. 28 besieged by the Rebels fol. 59 relieved with Provisions fol. 63 64 Col. Trevor beaten by Captain VVilliam Meredith fol. 224 New Troubles meditated in Ireland fol. 226 V SIr Charles Vavasor lands at Youghall fol. 85 his excellent Service at the Comroe fol. 116 takes Cloghleigh fol. 117 is taken Prisonner fol. 118 Captain William Vaughan's resolution in relieving Carrickmacros fol. 102 Knighted fol. 105 his Service at Ross Battle fol. 110 slain at Rathmines fol. 220 The pious and learned Primate Usher's Prophecy of the Rebellion fol. 24 agreement with Bishop Bramhall fol. 3 goes for England fol. 25 Col. Venables lands at Dublin fol. 218 appearing at Rathmines Defeat a few days after with exemplary Vertue he goes with Cromwell to the siege of Tredagh where the Assailants having been twice beaten off he the third time forced his entrance into the Town over the bodies of the slain Cromwell following At the Bridge in the midst of the Town he found some considerable opposition which would have been more could they within have drawn up the Draw-bridge which his Capt. Lieut. Thomas Chetam and Ensign Done hinder'd with a set of Pikes so the Town being taken he was sent to oppose George Monro in the North fol. 224 he is set upon in his March by Col. Trevor ibid. has Belfast surrendred to him fol. 225 takes in Charlemont and other Garisons fol. 255 VV LIeut Col. Waineman goes to Tredagh fol. 29 his Service at Marlington fol. 66 Dundalk fol. 67 An Abbreviate of the War in Munster 1642. from 83 to 89 1643. from 115 to 119 Connaght 1642. from 80 to 83 1643. from 119 to 120 Waterford content at last to receive a Supply of Souldiers so they might be old Irish of Ulster under Lieutenant General Farrall fol. 229 230 VVendesford Lord Deputy fol. 6 his Affection to the Earl of Strafford dies ibid. Viscount VVentworth Lord Deputy fol. 2 his Government fol. 2 3 made Earl of Strafford fol. 4 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland fol. 3 his Trial fol. 5 Death ibid. Sir Francis VVilloughby Governour of Dublin Castle fol. 27 is sent from the Marq. of Ormond Commissioner to the Parliament fol. 167 his eldest Son Capt. VVilloughby Governour of Wallway-Fort fol. 82 his Son Col. Francis Willoughby's Regiment reduced fol. 180 disbanded fol. 225 is sent Prisoner to Chester by Jones fol. 195 Colonel VVogan Governour of the Fort of Duncannon fol. 230 Major VVoodhouse returns unsatisfied from England fol. 105
into Ireland out of Scotland * Fol. 290. * Nicholas Dowdall * The Author of the English and Scotch Bresbytery p. 222. The States Manifest in Answer to Nettervile and his Accomplices fears The Lords Justices Vindication of Sir Charles Coote See Sir J. Temple part 2. p. 30. as the Answer to the 9th Article of the Rebels Remonstrance at Trym p. 78. His Majesty's Works fol. 393 About the midst of December the Rebellion breaks forth in Munster The Rebellion appears in Connaght The Reasons why each Province burst not at once into a flame * The Author of the English and Scotch Presbytery p. 222. Scobels Acts fol. 197. Sir Simon Harcourt arriv'd out of England with the first Forces Sir Charles Coote goes to Swoards Five Regiments more arriv'd out of England His Majesties Proclamation against the Rebels the first of January His Majesties Reasons why his Proclamation came out so late The Rebels notwithstanding his Majesty's Proclamation grew more united * The Insolencies of the Polititian's Catech. briefly reflected on and what the English are charged with The Rebels endeavour principally to make themselves Masters of Leimster The Rebels begirt Tredath The Situation of Tredath The Siege of Tredath and its strength * Sir John Netterviles Sir Hen Tichborn enters the 4th of Novemb. Governour of Tredath * This Captain John Morris was Page to the Countess of Strafford one of singular courage through the whole War and a Colonel in England and Governour of Pontfract Castle for which Service having past many Fortunes he was Condemn'd and Executed at York the eight of August 1649. The first Relief of Tredath the xi of January The second Relief Febr. the 14th Appendix 6th * In his Speech the 13th of Febr. 1662. p. 17. 38. Tredath being freed several of the Lords of the Pale offer upon Conditions to come in The Earl of Ormond visits Tredath with 3000 Foot and 500 Horse Dundalk assaulted and gain'd Sir Phelim Oneal being disappointed at Tredath revenges himself on the British in other Parts The Irish taunt the Lords of the Pale with old Miscarriages The King offers to go for Ireland Sir Harcourt's Expedition into Wicklow Lieutenant Colonel Gibson pursues the Design and took Carrickmain May in his Hist. 8. p. 174. The Marquiss of Ormonds Expedition The Battle of Kilrush Some Transactions in Connaght The Lord Lisle lands at Dublin * This Lady Offalia was the only Daughter of Gerald eldest Son of Gerald Earl of Kildare who died before his Father Brother of Thomas beheaded the 28. of H. 8. She was Entituled Lady Offalia by the special Favour of King James in an Award betwixt her and George late Earl of Kildare else she could not have had that Title properly belonging to the eldest Son of the Earls of Kildare The Lord Lisle and Sir Charles Coot relieve the Lady Offalia They take in Trym The Rebels resolve to surprize Sir Charles Coot in Trym Sir Charles Coot slain at Trym The Battle of Balintober fought at a Place called now Na Nart the mid-way betwixt Oran and Balintober The account of some Affairs in the North. See the Article 6. of Aug. 1642. Kings Works fol. 534. The Affairs in Munster Mountgarret lodges at Moyallo The Lord Muskery contrary to his promises takes part with the Rebels A contest upon Mountgarret's leaving Moyallo who should be Chief Barry chosen General Muskery c. styled The Council of War Bealing's vain Summons of the Castle of Lismore The Lord President 's advance to Talloe Dungarvan taken by the Lord President The Battel near Cappaquin the first in Muster well fought and managed The Earl of Barrymore took in Cloghleagh Ardmore Castle taken in The Fort of Dunganon Limerick C. Archerstown Rathbarry Castle Dundede and Dunowen Castle Asketon Castle Matrix Castle of Loegar Castle Kilfinny An Abbreviate of Sir Cole's Services in his Fort of Eniskillin Sir Hamilton's Enterprises The Rebels under Garret Barry beaten before Cork Sir William St. Leger Lord President of Munster vigilant and faithful The Lord President of Munster dies The Lord Inchequin chosen in his Place The Lord Inchequin's excellent service at the Battel of Liscarrol Carickfergus delivered to the Scots The Bill of Loan passed at Westminster Several Sums prescrib'd * In a Declaration to all his loving Subjects in Answer to the Remonstrance of the Commons the 15th of Decemb 1641. The King expresses his deep Resentment for Ireland His Majesty's sense of Ireland and the Parliament's Return Ireland neglected The Parliament makes use of part of the Money collected for Ireland * In his Answer to the Parliament's Petition the 28th of April 1642. * Appendix 7th * In his Collection of Acts and Ordinances of Parliament fol. 197. * Fol. 740. The General Assembly at Kilkenny As also Mahone in his Disput. Apologet. p. 101. The Preamble to the Oath of Association The Oath of Association The Propositions Their Seal The Confederates Commission to a Privateer * Appendix 8. Custodiums allotted to the Soldiers Appendix 9. The Lord Mac-Guire and Mac-Mahon sent into England Their Trial at Westminster Mac-Mahon's Execution The Lord Mac-Guire's end * The 20th of August 1642. Causes why Affairs prospered no better The Lord Lisle's Expedition into Westmeath c. Cap. Vaughan's Resolution * October 14th * In Declar. 22. Octob. 1642. Goodwin and Reynolds arrive in Ireland See H●●b Collect fol. 248. They leave Ireland Colonel Monk relieves Balanokil Necessity of all things in Dublin upon the withdrawing of the Parliaments Committee Sir Richard Greenvile relieves Athlone The Battle at Raconnel The Lords Justices coin Plate with his Majesty's Stamp The Lords Justices Letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons in England touching Ross c. The Marquess of Ormond's Expedition against Ross. Ross Battle The Army from Ross return and quarter in Dublin to the further burthen of that City The Armies Remonstrance The Confederates Petition sent to his Majesty The Protestant Committe's Petition to his Majesty His Majesties Answer The Irish Remonstrance The Parl. Declaration concerning the Rise of the Rebels Husb. Collect. fol. 248. * Sir J. T. Hist. Irel. the Pref. * Printed by Edw. Husb. 1644. His Majesties first Letter of the 23d of April touching the Cessation An Abbreviate of the War in Munster The English Army routed The Irish worsted before Cappaquin * Colonel Myn after the Cessation went into England with his Regiment oftentimes encountring Massy who joyntly exprest much valour And in a conflict near Hartpury-fields in Glocestershire was slain by Massies Forces 1644. and by reason of his Gallantry buried at Glocester with the loss of the English Regiment he brought from Ireland Sanders H. C. 1. Fol. 731. The transactions in Connaght Galloway Fort taken by the Irish. Castle Coot Besieged The Irish break the Cessation Sir Jo. Borlase Sir Hen. Tichborn Lords Justices His Majesties second Letter about the Cessation See Husbands Collect. Fol. 160. The Lords Justices Letter to his Majesty of
the Marquis Whereupon his Majesty signifi'd That in case other things were compos'd by the Treaty the Concerns of Ireland should be left wholely to the management of the Houses And in the interim writes to the Marquis of Ormond this Letter C. R. RIght Trusty and Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor We greet you well Whereas We have received several Informations from Our two Houses of Parliament concerning your proceedings with the Confederate Roman Catholicks in the Kingdom of Ireland the several Votes and Extracts whereof We do herewith transmit unto you and forasmuch as We are now engaged in a Treaty of Peace with Our two Houses wherein We have made such large Concessions as We hope will prove the foundation of a blessed Peace And We having consented by one Article if the said Treaty take effect to entrust the Prosecution and Management of the War in Ireland to the Guidance and Advice of Our two Houses We have therefore thought fit hereby to require you to desert from any further Proceedings upon the Matters contained in the said Papers And We expect such Obedience unto this Our Command that Our Houses desires may be fully satisfi'd Given at Newport in the Isle of Wight the 25th of November in the 24th Year of Our Reign To Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor James Marquis of Ormond As soon as the Parliament received this Letter some were of opinion that it should be immediately sent to the Marquis of Ormond yet others aiming at what afterwards was brought upon the Stage laid it as it 's said aside We find by the event it produced nothing for the Treaty proceeded a Peace ensuing though as yet Owen Roe was so far from being reconcil'd to the Supreme Council or any that adher'd thereunto as he fell most violently in the end of November upon the Earl of Clanrickard's Party gaining Jamestown by Composition and Drumrusk by the Sword Rory Mac-Guire the prime Instrument herein with several other Officers and Common Soldiers to the number of 4 or 500 being there slain Roe's Party afterwards putting all to the Sword save Major Bourk his Wife and Children cruelly harassing the whole County of Roscommon The 19th of October the Confederate Catholick's Commissioners came to Carrick an House of the Marquis's where he continued about twenty days which they spent principally in matters of Religion in treating whereof they were so bound and limited by their Instructions and could make so little progress of themselves being still to give an account to the Assembly of whatsoever was propos'd or offer'd by the Lord Lieutenant and to expect its Direction or Determination before they proceed that for the husbanding of time which was now very precious the prevailing Party in England every day more discovering their bloody purposes towards the King the Assembly thought it fit to desire the Marquis to repair to his own Castle at Kilkenny which they offered to deliver into his hands and that for his Honour and Security he should bring his own Guards who should have the reception due to them And upon this invitation about the middle of November he went to Kilkenny before the entry into which he was met by the whole Body of the Assembly and all the Nobility Clergy and Gentry and in the same Town was receiv'd with all those requisite Ceremonies by the Mayor and Aldermen as such a Corporation use to pay to the Supreme Authority of the Kingdom so that greater evidence could not be given of an entire union in the desire of the People of returning to the Kings obedience or of more affection and respect to the Person of the Lord Lieutenant who by his steady pursuing those professions he had always made by his neglect and contempt of the Parliamentarians and their prodigious Power whilst he was in England by his refusing all Overtures made by them unto him for his particular benefit if he would live in the Kingdom and by their declared manifest hatred and malice towards him was now superiour to all those Calumnies they had aspersed him with and confessed to be worthy of a joynt trust from the most different and divided Interests and Designs However there were so many Passions and Humours and Interests to be compli'd with and all Conclusions to pass the Approbations of so many Votes that it was the middle of January before all Opinions could be so reconciled as to produce a perfect and entire Contract and Agreement which about that time passed with that miraculous consent and unity that in the whole Assembly in which there were Catholick Bishops there was not one dissenting Voice So that on the 17th of January 1648. the whole Assembly repair'd to the Lord Lieutenant in his Castle at Kilkenny and there with all solemnity imaginable presented him by the hand of their Chair-man or Speaker the Articles of Peace as concluded assented and submitted unto by the whole Body of the Catholick Nation of Ireland which he receiv'd and solemnly confirm'd on his Majesties behalf and caus'd the same that day to be Proclaim'd in that Town to the great joy of all who were present and it was with all speed accordingly Proclaim'd and as joyfully receiv'd in all the Cities and Incorporate Towns which professed any Allegiance to the King throughout the Kingdom and for the better reception thereof amongst the People and to manifest the satisfaction and joy they took in it the Catholick Bishops sent out their Declarations and Letters that they were abundantly satisfi'd in whatsoever concern'd Religion and the secure practice thereof Certainly well they might for unless it had been at such a time that his Majesty had been reduc'd to the utmost extremity a Prince could be compell'd to such disingenious and hard terms could never have been stood upon with a free and generous Prince in as much as his present Majesty in his Declaration for the settlement of Ireland there takes notice That no body could wonder that he was desirous though upon difficult conditions to get such an united Power of his own Subjects as might have been able with Gods blessing to have prevented the infamous and horrid Parricide intended But how ineffectual this his Indulgence after prov'd will appear by these Wretches foolishly forfeiting all the Grace which they might have expected from him But to proceed When the Articles of Peace were presented in that solemn manner to him by the Assembly after a Speech made by the Chair-man The Lord Lieutenant express'd himself in these words My Lords and Gentlemen I Shall not speak to those expressions of Duty and Loyalty so eloquently digested into a Discourse by the Gentleman appointed by you to deliver your sence you will presently have in your hands greater and more solid Arguments of his Majesties Gracious acceptance than I can enumerate or perhaps you your selves discern For besides the provision made against the remotest fears fear of severity of certain Laws and besides
Hereupon the Assembly unanimously professed all obedience to his Majesty's Authority as it was vested in him and petition'd him to assume it without which they said the Nation would be expos'd to utter ruine And the Bishop of Ferns hitherto averse to the Royal Authority more particularly importuned him in the Name of the Clergy not to decline a Charge which could only preserve the King's Power in that Kingdom and the Nation from destruction promising so entire a submission and co-operation from the whole Clergy that his Authority should not be disputed In further assurance of which the General Assembly issue forth this Declaration By the General Assembly of the Kingdom of Ireland ALthough this Assembly hath endeavour'd 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 and 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 yielding 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 led thereby but by their disobedience on any such grounds are liable and subject to the heavy censures and penalties of the Laws of the Land in force and practis'd in the Reign of Henry the 7th and other Catholick Times Nevertheless it is further declared That it is not meant or intended by any thing herein contained that this Nation will not insist upon the performances of the Articles of Peace and by all just ways and means provide against the breach and violation of the same And inasmuch as his Majesty is at present as we are informed in the hands of a Presbyterian Party of the Scots who declared themselves Enemies to this Nation and vowed the extirpation of our Religion we declare That it is not hereby intended to oblige our selves to deceive obey or observe any Governours that shall come and duely nominated or procured from his Majesty by reason of or during his being in an un-free condition that may raise a disturbance in the present Government established by his Majesty's Authority or the violation of the Articles of Peace Loghreogh 23d of Decemb. 1650. Copia vera Joh. Comyn Dep. Cler. There was then in the possession of the Roman Catholicks the entire Province of Connaght in which they had the strong Castle of Athlone the strong and important Town and Harbour of Gallway Sligo and many other lesser Forts and Places of strength They had also a good part of the Province of Munster and in it the City of Limerick which by the strong situation of it and the advantages it might have from Sea could alone with the help of Gallway have maintain'd War against all the Parliaments Forces in Ireland They had many Parties of Horse and Foot in Leimster Munster and Ulster under Clanrickard Castlehaven Dillon Muskery the Earl of Westmeath Hugh O Neal Dungan Moor Preston and others which being drawn together would have constituted a greater Army than the Enemies were Masters of And the Marquess of Clanrickard had argument enough of hope if he could have been confident of the union of the Nation and that he might reasonably have promised himself if he could have been confident of the Affection and Integrity of the Clergy which at length they promised with that solemnity that if he had not confided therein the fault would have been imputed to him for they could do no more on their part to create a belief in him He was therefore content to take the Charge upon him and obliged them presently to consider of the way to keep all the Forces together when he should have drawn them together and to secure the two Towns of Gallway and Limerick with strong Garrisons which was the first Work concluded on all hands necessary to be performed Very few days had passed after the Lord Deputy had upon such their Importtunity and Professions taken the Government upon him when it was proposed in the Assembly before their Condition was impaired by any other progress or new success of the Enemy That they might send to the Enemy to treat with them upon surrendring of all that was left into their hands an Inclination the Nuncio was long before inclin'd to perswading the supream Council when there was but so much as a speech of Truce to joyn rather with the Parliamentary Scots than the Royalists and pray'd for the success thereof in hopes that thence much good might accrue to the Catholick Religion And when the same was opposed with indignation by the major part of the Assembly the Bishop of Ferns himself who had so lately importuned the Marquess of Clanrickard to assume the Charge of Lord Deputy and made such ample promises in the Name of the Clergy seem'd to concur with those who were against treating with the Enemy but instead of it very earnestly pressed That they might in order to their better defence return to their ancient Confederacy and so proceed in their Preservation without any respect to the King's Authority And this Motion found such concurrence in the Assembly from the Bishops Clergy and many others that many of the Officers of the Army and some of the principalest of the Nobility and Gentry found it necessary to express more than ordinary passion in their contradiction They told them They now manifested that it was not their Prejudice to the Marquess of Ormond nor their Zeal to Religion that had transported them but their dislike of the King's Authority and their resolution to withdraw themselves from it That they themselves would constantly submit to it and defend it with their utmost hazard as long as they should be able and when they should be reduced to Extremity that treating with the Enemy could no longer be deferred they would in that Treaty make no provision for them but be contented that they should be excluded from any benefit thereof who were so forward to exclude the King's Authority Upon these bold though necessary Menaces to which they had not been accustomed the Clergy and their Party seem'd to acquiesce and promised all concurrence inasmuch as from this very time all the Factions and Jealousies which had been before amongst them seem'd outwardly quieted though the Irish in all Quarters of which the Enemy were possessed not only submitted and compounded but very many of them enter'd into their Service and marched with them in their Armies and the Lord Deputy grew as much into their dis-favour as the Lord Lieutenant had been and his being a Friend to the Marquess of Ormond destroyed all that Confidence which his being
to offer his Assistance that if he had known any Person had been intrusted there with his Majesties Authority he would have addressed himself unto him and no other And that he finding his Lordship invested with that Power did what he knew his Master expected at his hands apply himself unto him with and by whose Direction he would alone steer himself through that Negotiation He told him the Duke had already disbursed 6000 Pistols for the supplying them with those things he heard they stood most in need of which were brought over by a Religious Parson who came with him and that he was ready to be informed of what they would desire from his Highness that might enable them to resist their Enemy and that he would consent to any thing that was reasonable for him to undertake Hereupon the Lord Deputy appointed a Committee of the Commissioners of Trust together with some Prelates to confer with the Ambassador to receive any Overtures from him and to present them with their Advice thereupon unto him They met accordingly and receiv'd the Propositions from the Ambassador but they were so disagreeable to the professions he had made of respect to the King and indeed so inconsistent with the Kings Honour and Interest as there was great reason to suspect that they proceeded rather from the Encouragement and Contrivance of the Irish then from his own temper and disposition and this was the more believ'd when instead of returning the Propositions to the Lord Deputy they kept the same in their own hands put out some of those who were appointed by him to be of the Committee and chose others in their Places and proceeded in the Treaty without giving the Deputy an Account of what was demanded by the Ambassador or what they thought fit to offer unto him Of all which the Deputy took notice and thereupon forbade them to proceed any further in that way and restrain'd them unto certain Articles which he sent them which contain'd what he thought fit to offer to the Ambassador and gave them Power onely to Treat Notwithstanding his positive Direction they proceeded in that Treaty with the Ambassador and sent an Advice to the Lord Deputy to consent unto the Articles propos'd by him since they said he would not recede from what he had proposed and that it was much better to submit to the same then that the Treaty should be broken off The Lord Deputy as positively declared that what was demanded was so derogatory to the Honour of the King his Master and destructive to his Interest as he would never agree to it and resolved presently to leave the Town And when the Ambassador sent to him to desire to see him and take his leave of him he absolutely refused and sent him word That he would never pay his Civility to or receive it from a Person who had so much swarv'd from the Propositions made by himself and who had presumed to make Propositions so dishonourable to the King his Master and he believ'd so contrary to the good Pleasure of the Duke of Lorraign And that he would send away an Express to the Duke to inform him of his Miscarriage and he presumed he would do Justice unto the King upon him When the Prelates saw that no obstinacy in the Ambassador nor Importunity from them could prevail with the Lord Deputy to shew what influence they had upon that Treaty they perswaded the Ambassador to consent to the same Propositions he had formerly no doubt by the same Advice rejected and thereupon to make the sum formerly disbursed by the Duke at his coming out of Flanders full 20000 l. and the Lord Deputy sent a couple of Gentlemen into Flanders to Treat further with the Duke of Lorraign according to such Commissions and Instructions as he gave them The Bishop of Ferns about the same time left Ireland and came likewise to Bruxels and having without the Privity of the Lord Deputy receiv'd some secret Trust and Delegation from the Prelates of Ireland and Credit from them to the Duke of Lorraign he quickly interessed himself in that Treaty and took upon him the greatest part in it and that which he said was the sence of the Nation He reproach'd the Persons imployed and trusted by the Lord Deputy with all the Proceedings which had been in Ireland by the consent of the Confederate Catholicks inveighed against their opposing the Nuncio and appealing against the Excommunication issued out by him he told them and all this by a Letter under his hand that he was clearly of opinion That the Excommunication was just and lawful and that the greatest Statesmen Souldiers Citizens and People disobeying and now obstinate are and were delivered to Satan and therefore forsaken of God and unworthy of Victory and of his Holy Blessing And thereupon he said he did with all sincerity and charity offer his own humble opinion what was to be done by them which was to the end the Agreement they were making with his Highness the Duke of Lorraign might become profitable to the Nation and acceptable in the eyes of God that they would immediately with humble hearts make a Submission unto his Holiness in the name of the Nation and beg the Apostolical Benediction that the light of Wisdom the Spirit of Fortitude Vertue Grace Success and the Blessing of God might return again to them He told them the necessity of doing this was the greater for that the Person from whom they came with Authority the Marquess of Clanrickard the Lord Deputy was for several causes Excommunicated a jure Homine and that he was at Rome reputed the great Contemner of the Authority and Dignity of Churchmen and a Persecutor of the Lord Nuncio and some Bishops and other Churchmen And after many rude and bitter reproaches against the Deputy he used these words Do you think God will prosper a Contract grounded upon the Authority of such a man and shortly after he said that if the Duke of Lorraign were rightly informed of the Business he would never enter upon a Bargain to preserve or rather restore Holy-Religion in the Kingdom with Agents bringing their Authority from a withered cursed Hand And then concluded for my part upon the denial to hear my humble Prayers which I hope will not happen I will withdraw my self as a man dispairing of any fruit to come from an unfound Trunk where there is no Sap of Grace And am resolved to communicate no more with you in that Affair but rather to let the Prince know he was building his Resolutions of doing good upon an unhallowed foundation and that God therefore unless himself will undertake to obtain an Absolution for the Nation will not give him the Grace to lay down the Lapis Angularis of his own house again in that Kingdom This Letter bare date at Bruxels the 20th of July 1651. the Persons to whom it was directed being then in the same Town What