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A25501
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The answer of a Protestant gentleman in Ireland to a late letter from N. N. upon a late discourse between them concerning the present posture of that countrey, and the part fit for those concerned there, to act in it.
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Protestant gentleman in Ireland.
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1639
(1639)
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Wing A3284; ESTC R176289
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10,587
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20
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execute men in Effigie and if such men whom he hath raised from nothing and done such singular kindness to preferred their Religion and the Salvation of their Souls before the servile Compliance with an Idolatrous Worship and supporting the Tyranny of a Bigotted Zealot and Inflexible Votary to the Church of Rome in my Opinion they deserve to be placed in the first Rank of good Patriots and Champions for the Liberty and Prosperity of their Countrey And if the Government be so tender of the Honour of an Abdicated Prince as not to publish what they know concerning the suspected Birth of the Prince of Wales the Secret League with France c. let it not be imputed to sham or Defect of Evidence do not dare or defy them to do such a thing lest that may fall out which has often hapned to an insulting and unprovoked Challenger Your Similies about setting Fire to a Part of the House may pass for very Elegant but let me retort the Allegory and ask you what say you to him that sets Fire to the whole House and runs away by the Light of it For such Papers as are writ on this Subject I willingly remit you to hug your self in the Delight you take in them and intreat you at the next Edition to affix to them your Imprimatur And now let us joyn Issue let us to use your Metaphor open the Tables and try the several Games that are to be Play'd or to humour your Conceit let us take out the Dice and either play at In and In with one of the Kings or at Hazard if the contrary side should prevail Most Judicious Sir I do admire your Logical Head which way you could find out such extraordinary Remarks as have escaped the Curiosity of others You begin Hypothetically you conclude Dogmatically and you proceed all the way Fallaciously If the Protestants of Ireland side with King James and King William prevail how can you be certain that King William cannot make them suffer with any face of Law Equity Conscience or Policy To me it appears quite otherwise for tho you beg the question in your Parenthesis and positively pronounce that King James has not Abdicated the Government of Ireland all Men that know the Constitution of that Kingdom and its subordinate Dependance upon England will spit Contradictions in your face and inform the World that when the Parliament of England have declared the Throne vacant and placed the Regal Diadem on King William it will neither be against Law nor Equity to punish such persons as voluntarily and wittingly adhere to King James with loss of life and Confiscation of their Estates Neither is the case the same as was in England so long as King James was actually King no man was blamed for serving under his Command nor obnoxious to Punishment for being faithful to him but when he is actually deprived of his Regality and had abandon'd the Government when King William is in Possession of the Throne and publickly proclaimed both in England and Ireland according to your Position Law Equity and Conscience are of the side of the lawful King i. e. of him whom the Legislative Power of the Land has constituted King at least as long as he is possessed In the next Paragraph you have conjured up a Spirit which with all your skill you cannot exorcise you have started an Objection which with all your Sophistry you cannot answer The Right and Power of England in and over the Kingdom of Ireland is unquestionable no King of England since the Conquest of it ever went into Ireland to be Crowned but by the assumption of the Crown here he is ipso facto become King there Certainly if you were conversant in the History and Laws of Ireland you would never amuse the World with such frivolous questions You would know that the Parliament of England can oblige Ireland by an Act inclusive that by special words the Parliament of England may bind the Subjects of Ireland vid. Cook. 4. Institut 350. That Appeals are made from thence to the Parliament here that the Privy Council can summon Offenders before them that the Judges of the Kings Bench can remand the Hearing of Causes by Writs of Error Nay the Parliament of Ireland are so subjected to the Power of England by Poyning's Law made in the Tenth of Henry the Seventh that they have not the power of an ordinary Grand-Jury in making Presentments a Bill cannot be brought into the House before it is approved by the Council in England and Inrolled in the Chancery there so that if the Parliament in England cannot lay a Tax upon the Estates in Ireland which for the Honour of my Country I will neither determine nor dispute yet it is apparent by all Histories and Records they may do things of a higher nature and settle the Throne of Ireland by an Authority paramount to theirs tho it has been usual to make a Recognition of the Regal Title in that Kingdom in their proper Parliament in imitation and concurrence with what is done in this and the same indubitably will be practiced whensoever King William shall be established in the Possession of that forlorn Country You cavil and banter when you set the Convention against the Parliament and the Prince of Orange against King William The Lord Keeper has the same Authority as the Lord Chancellor tho not so great a Title the Convention and the Parliament are different terms one Latin the other French but their Power and Jurisdiction the same When we say the Three Estates convened in Parliament is not the Convention in the Parliament and the Parliament consisting of the Convention of the Three Estates There must be no long Vacancy in the Throne the King never dies but upon the Natural or Civil Death or departure of the Regnant Prince the Throne must be immediately fill'd and when the Prince of Orange is solemnly proclaimed and placed in the Throne and Crowned King he is a Rebel and a Traytor that questions his Right or opposeth his Government You reer the Fabrick of your Discourse upon a false foundation you gull the people by a subdolous Supposition That King James is lawfully possest of the Kingdom of Ireland You may as well be an Advocate for the French King and assert his Right to Alsatia Lorrain and many Towns in Flanders because he is possest of them by force you may as well plead for his Brother the Great Turk and justifie his Usurpation of all the Christian Territories About November last you might have said such things without controul He was then the Regnant King and tho by his Religion he was uncapable to hold the Reins of Government yet before Conviction and Sentence no man taxed his Disability tho by his Violation of Oaths Subversion of the Laws and Arbitrary Intrusion on the Subjects Properties be justly forfeited his right to rule yet no man resisted him But now when out of a secret Guilt he hath
us according to our several Capacities We are proud that so Illustrious a person as my Lord Hallyfax will vouchsafe to solicite for us and hope it will be to better purpose than the Negotiation of Father Peters or my Lord Powis Sollicitation for you If Lieutenant General Hamilton has neglected his Honour and Engagement and contributed to the destruction of his Country-men I hope Monsieur d'Avaux will Reward him according to his merits For my part I do intend to spend my time in London till the Kings Commands oblige me to be elsewhere and I do not fear that it shall ever be in the power of King James to punish me for it And however you reproach and upbraid us with Hunger and Want I can assure you your Friends in Ireland are in no great plenty of Meat and Drink Hunger and Poverty are the concomitants of King James his Court tho' it may be better endured by his French Controllers and his Irish Followers who never were accustomed to fuller Feeding Your next is a meer Wheadle but be not deceived the Protestants here have no mind to return into Ireland while either French or Irish are Predominant neither will they seek a License from King James to staâ— here or his Pardon for their Absence But when King William shall imploy them they hope to return and call them to account who have occasion'd their Exile I come now to consider the Case which you have stated with all possible Art Malice and false Insinuations Your design is to instill a Jealousie into the minds of the Protestants to foment a mistrust between the English and Dutch and by a side-blow to wound the Honour of our Gracious King. It is not impossible but King James may for some time keep the possession of Ireland for the use of King Lewis and may Seize and Possess himself but not fairly of my Estate It is no less possible that King William may after some time beat out King James and his French Accomplices and settle himself intirely in that Dominion Well what then Must my Estate be liable to Forfeiture because it was Seized and Usurped by proclaimed Rebels Is there any Colour of Sense or Reason to start a comparison in the Case between British Protestants forced to forsake the Country and abandon their Estates for safety of their Lives in the Reign of King William and Irish Papists who unprovoked in the time of Peace and Quiet took up Arms and Murther'd so many Thousands of their Fellow-Subjects who by King Charles the First and his Parliament were declared Traytors attainted by the Law their Estates Forfeited by Rebellion and vested in King Charles the Second at his Restauration Such an Argument is to be urged only by that sort of Men who with a seared Conscience and a brazen Impudence deny the Gun-Powder Treason make a mock of the Horrid Popish Plot and justifie the former damnable Rebellion in Ireland as an undertaking for Self-defence And what if the King have an Inclination to gratifie Monsieur B g and those other Worthy Persons who have faithfully served him and assisted in the Expulsion of Tyranny Popery and Arbitrary Government and securing the Peace and Religion of the Kingdom Is there any necessity to make the Protestant Estates the Reward of their Service No there are Lands in Ireland to the value of 300000. l. per annum belonging to Irish Papists now in Actual Rebellion against the Crown of England with which the King may amply Recompense his Servants and distribute his Favours according to their respective Merits In the mean time King William being a Man of exemplary Piety exalted Virtue universal Probity and the Champion of the Protestant Religion I neither mistrust his Justice nor doubt his Generosity I rest secure and satisfi'd that he will in time restore me to my former Estate and give me more if by my Service I can deserve it The Question which you Propose and pretend to Answer carrys the Confutation in the very Terms of stating it you say in case we should return to that which perhaps is justly enough called our Duty so as to restore King J. to his Right and Crown again how shall we be assured we shall not fall under the same dangers we apprehended our selves before both in our Religion and Properties He can give no better nor other assurance than publick and solemn Promises added to such Acts of Parliament as we shall contrive and frame for our own Security Have we not had all these already and has He not broke them all Does not his pretended Dispensing Power at once set aside all Promises Laws and every thing but his Will and Pleasure And though He should now disclaim That to get in again will it not be very easie when He is in to lay hold on that common and indeed many times justifiable come off of Kings that He was then under a force and could not bind himself to His own wrong or to the diminution of His Prerogative I confess here is a hard question and that which makes it harder yet I am afraid the Charge against us is most of it true therefore I shall shorten my Reply and only Remonstrate in Brief If a Prince placed in the Throne by the dint of Loyalty Fidelity and Love to his Family rescued from the Bill of Exclusion Established in his Government by the Generous and Unanimous adherence of his Parliament and the Destruction of the Duke of Monmouth Caress'd with dutiful Addresses and joyful Acclamations enriched with Considerable Additions to his Revenue Complemented with a Connivance at the Private Exercise of his Religion and adventuring the Security of ours on the bare Assurance of his Word If such a Prince under such Circumstances of Glory and Felicity beloved by his Subjects and dreaded by Foreigners would tamely suffer himself to be imposed on by Priests and Jesuits dishonour himself by an Embassy to Rome Provoke his People by setting up Mass-houses and Popish Seminaries Invade Mens Properties overthrow some Laws and Dispence with others deprive the Heads of Colleges Imprison the Bishops discard all Men from Civil and Military Imployments that refused to Worship the Image which he had set up endeavour by Threats and Promises to Debauch his Servants and by ungenerous Arts to Predispose his Subjects to break down the Bars that secure the Protestant Profession What must we expect if by the Indignation of God he be Re-establisht on the Throne certainly he can never ascend those Steps but supported by the Papists and trampling on the Necks of Protestants Rage Revenge blind Zeal Ignorant Devotion Meritorious Service the Purchase of Heaven the escape of Purgatory the Popes Bulls the Jesuits Tricks the Priests Prayers and the pernicious Advice of Popish Councellors will transport him beyond all Sense of Honour and precipitate him into Actions Correspondent to the Days of Queen Mary and imitating if not exceeding the Inhumane Cannibals in France I grow weary now of this Expostulation and I am amazed to see any Man obtrude such Chimerical crude Notions such fallacious Equivocating Argumentations such thred-bare Repetitions upon Men that can Read Observe and Understand If King James have not a mind to get upon his Throne again by the Power of his Irish Army What made him go there Why has he raised so many Men carryed over so many Arms disarm'd and destroy'd the Protestants and Summon'd a Parliament and though the Vnited Strength of England and Scotland by the mercy of God shall ever be too hard for them yet it is not impossible but the Popish Party seconded by the Atheistical Crue and such as being alway disgusted with the present Government are gaping for an Alteration they know not to what may ruffle and discompose the Calm Serenity Great Britain is blest with and become the Setters and Fore-runners of a French Invasion And that surely we have great Reason to expect notwithstanding the many Difficulties you seem to object but do not believe since the French King has been at so great Charge and Hazard to Comfort and Reinforce his inconsiderable Allies there for whosoever knows the Monarch of France will not suspect him to be so mean Spirited as to be Compassionate or so Impolitick to wast his Treasure and expose his Forces to Re-establish an exil'd and forlorn Prince I am more than confident he will not dissemble so gross a Self-denial but intends to turn the Mortgage of Ireland into a Fee-simple and by the Livery and Seisin already given him in part to claim and seize the whole And than as you say King Lewis would get more by the Victory than King James and it would do King James little Service to have the Kingdom so recovered Your Prophetick Supposition that the People of England may bring themselves to be Conquer'd by France shall be no more regarded than your slye Insinuations to induce them to so servile a Subjection or your tacite Commination that such a Conquest is approaching or your Pernicious Prospect of so unpracticable an Accommodation that the People of England should consent to receive King James without any fear of suffering by him either in their Religion Laws or Properties Your Conclusion is agreeable to the Premises a disingenious Reflection on the People of England who in all Ages have manifested a Prudential care of themselves and at this Juncture will do it maugre your Crafty Insinuation to the contrary Upon the Word of a Gentleman I do assure you I do not take it ill that you have offer'd your Thoughts which how wild and Incongruous soever can have no other Influence upon me than to dispose me to Continue SIR Your humble Servant