not believe him till he shewed the Copy which much surpriz'd Sir Richard he began to enquire how his Lordship came by it and intimated that the Keepers of the Rolls were Treacherous in letting any one see it much more in letting a Copy of it go abroad His Lordship with good reason express'd his Admiration that an Act of Parliament should be made a Secret and the Laws upon the Observation of which the Lives and Fortunes of so many Men depended should be conceal'd with so much care from them At last the Attorny told him That he himself would draw up a Warrant for Sir Thomas Southwell's Pardon that should do his Business and get the King to Sign it But the Earl refused to accept his offer unless his Lawyer might first peruse it which being granted the Lawyer upon perusal found it to be such as would not hold in Law and intended only to delude him The Earl made new Application to King James and Sir Richard being sent for the King ask'd him why he did not prepare a Fiant for Sir Thomas Southwell's Pardon according to the Warrant sent to him He answered That his Majesty could not grant such a Pardon That his Majesty was only a Trustee for Forfeited Estates and could not Dispense with the Act that by an express Clause in it all Pardons that should be granted were declar'd void The King in some Passion told him That he hoped they did not intend to retrench his Prerogative Sir Richard replied That his Majesty had read the Act before he pass'd it The King answered He had betray'd him that he depended on him for drawing the Act and if he had drawn it so that there was no room for Dispensing and Pardoning he had been false to him or words to that effect Thus the Matter ended and Sir Thomas went into Scotland with my Lord Seaforth without being able to obtain his Pardon for Estate or Life the Act voiding any Pardon granted to any attainted by it after Nov. 1. 1689. or not enrolled before the last day of that Month. 18. And now I doubt not but the Reader from this Story which is literally true will observe first the Juggling of the Popish Lawyers with King James and will pity a Prince who gave himself up to such False and Double-dealing Counsellors when an Act of Parliament is made against a Papist then it is no less than Treason to question the King 's Pardoning and Dispensing Power but when an Act bears hard on a Protestant and the King has a mind to ease him then the King has no power to Dispense he cannot grant a Pardon tho he earnestly desire it From whence we may see that the Dispensing Power was only set up to shelter Papists from the Law and ruin Protestants and that Papists in their Hearts are as much against it as Protestants 2. We may observe what fair Justice was design'd for Protestants a Law was made to turn near 3000 out of their Estates and to take away their Lives if they did not come in against a certain day and yet the Law that subjected them to this Penalty was made a Secret and they not suffer'd to know one word of it till the time allow'd them to come in was past at least three Months but there was an Intrigue in this they knew they had a Party in England who were to face down the World that there were no such Acts made a Party that were to represent it as a Sham and Contrivance of King James's Enemies to make him Odious and the great Argument they were to urge to prove it must be to alledge Where is the Act Why doth it not appear If there were any such Act would not the People that came so often from Ireland and tell such Frightful Stories have brought it with them This is the part the Favourers of King James were to act in England and Scotland and this is the reason the Act was so long kept Secret 3. We may observe the Folly of those Men who were attainted in this Act themselves and yet Flatter themselves with the hopes of living Happily and enjoying their Estates nay and getting Preferment under K. James when restor'd to his Kingdoms these Men do not consider that this Act would be restor'd together with him and that then it is not in his power to do this for them that if they expect any such thing they must be oblig'd to an Irish Popish Parliament for it and he is much a Stranger to Ireland that knows not what Mercy an English-man and a Protestant is to exspect from them especially when they can give him nothing but what is taken from one of themselves Till therefore the Papists of Ireland become so good natur'd as to give away by their own voluntary act their Estates of which they were in actual Possession to Protestants it is the greatest Folly in the World for any Protestant to think of enjoying any Estate in Ireland 4. For 't is observable that the Protestants Estates were not only given away by this Act of Attainder but the Papists were likewise in Possession of them by the following means The Act of Repeal was to be executed by Commissioners appointed by the King who were to determine the Claims of the Proprietors or Heirs to the Proprietors of the respective Estates October 22. 1641. and give Injunctions to the Sheriff to put them in Possession In the mean time the Protestants were to keep their Possessions till the First of May 1690. and to pay Rent to the Popish Proprietors The same Commissioners were to set out Reprizals to reprizable Persons But notwithstanding this no such Commissioners ever sate the Protestants were generally outed and the Papists possess'd both of their old Estates and likewise of the Estates of Protestants they compass'd this by several Stratagems 19. Wherever the Protestants had set their Lands to Papist Tenants those Tenants forsook their Protestant Landlords and became Tenants to the pretended Popish Proprietors Several Protestants complained in Chancery of this as contrary to the Act which allowed them to keep Possession till May 1690. which not being yet come nor any Commissioners being yet appointed to execute the Act they mov'd for an Injunction to quite their Possessions but the Chancellor answer'd That this did not concern Landlords that set their Lands but only such as occupied Farms themselves and that the Parliament had granted that indulgence to them only that they might have time to dispose of their Stocks which not being their Case who had Tenants they must go to Common Law and try their Titles by this means most of the old Popish Proprietors got into their Estates Nay they not only outed the Landlords of their Estates but even the Protestant Tenants of their Leases made in consideration of a valuable reserv'd Rent though this was positively against the intent of the Act which confirm'd such Leases and only gave the reserved Rent to the restor'd Proprietor 2.
at all at least without any given in their Warrants it was time enough to invent some against the next Assizes There never wanted Evidence enough to accuse a Man the very Priests being forward to encourage such Perjuries as were to the prejudice of Protestants Of this there are several Instances on Record in the Courts of Justice where we find them sometimes swearing Falshoods themselves and sometimes encouraging others to do it Of which the Courts even in spite of all their partiality were satisfied I gave one Example before in Sir William Petty's Case There is another of Mr. Balfours in the County of Fermanagh where the false Affidavit of one Hultaghan a Priest had almost destroyed his Cause and lost him a considerable Estate 2. Upon this account Perjuries became so common that if a Tenant owed his Protestant Landlord his Rent he payed him by swearing him into a Plot or by fixing on him some Treasonable or Seditious Words If a Papist had any former Quarrel with his Protestant Neigbor or owed him Money he paid him in the same Coin Many were indicted by these Contrivances many found guilty and excessively fin'd some were imprisoned for their Fines not being able to satisfie the King who seised both their Bodies and Estates Hardly any County in Ireland was free from numerous Indictments of this kind and very few Country Gentlemen escaped being accused Great numbers were indicted and found guilty in the Counties of Wexford and Wicklow to the number at least of sixty the most considerable Gentlemen in the County of Meath were indicted but had better luck the Perjury of their Accusers being made so manifest that even a Popish Bench had not the confidence to countenance it nor a Popish Jury to find it Thus Mr. Meredith Mr. Parry Mr. Chetwin a Minister and several others escaped having discovered the very bottom of a wicked Contrivance to carry on a Trade of Swearing against all the Gentlemen in the Country but though they discovered it yet they durst not prosecute it by reason of some Priests being concerned in it and of the Discountenance of the Courts a great many in the County of Tipperary were likewise brought into Trouble but escaped the first time by a kind of Miracle one of the Jurors was so maliciously bent against them that he swore he would die before he would acquit them It happened to him according to his own desire he fell dead in the place whilst they were disputing about returning the Verdict which saved the Gentlemen for that time Yet this did not discourage their Prosecutors they caused them to be indicted anew and upon their second Tryal Justin Macarty afterwards made Lord Mountcashell by King James came into the Court threatened and hectored Sir John Mead who then sate as Judge for the Duke of Ormond it being within his Graces Palatinate because he would not direct the Jury to find them guilty but Sir John stood his Ground and declared that there was no sufficient Evidence against them upon which they were acquitted It vexed them that they could not bring their Popish Judges and Sheriffs into that County as they did into the rest of Ireland by reason that the nomination of them was in his Grace as Lord of the Regalities and therefore in their pretended Parliament they not only Attainted him but likewise by a particular Act dissolved his Principality Their First Plot against the Gentlemen of the County having miscarried they began a second and got Depositions against several but they were as unlucky in this as in the first They laid the Scheme of their Affairs so unskilfully that the Witnesses swore that the Gentlemen met to carry on their Plot at Nenagh a place above sixty Miles from Dublin on the same day that some of them had been examined before the Council Board on the first Informations This appearing to the Council by an entry made in their own Books quashed the Design against them and saved them a third time It would make a Volume to enumerate all the Particulars of this Nature 3. The new Mayors and Justices of the Peace were no less troublesome to Protestants in their Employments they made no scruple to send their Tokens and Warrants for Persons of the best Quality And wherever a Papist and Protestant had any difference there needed no more but a complaint to procure a Committal and to be sure it was done with all the indignity and affronting Circumstances imaginable Sir Thomas Hackett whilst Lord Mayor of Dublin did so many brutish and barbarous things of this nature that it were endless to recount them taking example from the Lord Tyrconnel who made him Mayor he treated every body with Oaths Curses ill Names and barbarous Language The Lord Primate Boyles Family could not escape his Warrants he or his Clerk as he afterwards pretended sent one for Mr. Francis Cuff and Mr. Jephson who lived in my Lords Family being his Son in Law and Nephew their Crime was refusing to Contribute to the maintenance of two begging Fryars one of them was one Magee a Debauchee and Renegado who had the impudence to have demanded it from my Lord Primate if he had been permitted access The Fryars vexed that they should be repulsed procured a Warrant for the two Gentlemen that refused them and attempted the Execution of it in my Lord Primates House with a Rabble of near two hundred Sir Thomas was not content to Execute his Authority within his own Precincts but extended it where the Mayors Power was never owned He sent his Warrant and committed the Officers of Christs Church Dublin to the Stocks because he fancied they did not make the Bells ring merrily enough for the Birth of the Prince of Wales It was in vain for the Officers to tell him that their Church and Persons were not subject to his Jurisdiction that if the Bells did not ring merrily enough as he alledged it was the Ringers fault not theirs That no body besides his Lordship could observe any such thing in their Ringing His brutish Passion would not give him leave to hearken to Reason but upon all occasions he proceeded in the same method which made every body that valued his Liberty get out of his Power and prevailed with a great many to leave their Estates and Concerns and Transport themselves and what Effects they could carry with them into England It was unsafe and uneasie living both in the City and in the Country and he reckoned himself happy that could get out of them at any rate 4. But when the Descent was made by his present Majesty into England things grew yet more troublesome The Protestants were every where Robbed and Plundered The new Commissioned Officers and their Souldiers under the new name of Rapperies committed many Outrages and Devastations on their Protestant Neighbours insomuch that they could not be safe in their Houses If any endeavoured to keep their Houses though merely to secure themselves from the
your Revenue to boot And tho no King can well avoid being impos'd on by his Servants I believe it in my Conscience that the present Managers of your Revenues in Ireland think it no Sin to rob a Popish King of his Due Hence it is that there is an universal Agreement and Combination betwixt the ..... Merchants ..... we will by way of Retaliation take care that no Catholick be admitted into the Civil This Combination makes your Letters for Civil Places the Reversion of Outlawries and for Catholicks being admitted free of Corporations so little regarded in Ireland by those that past for Tories here c. yet publickly espouse the whiggish Quarrel the other side the Water I beseech you Sir consider that however your Kingly Prudence may prevail with You to dissemble Your Resentments of the Non-compliance and Disobedience of Your stiff-neck'd English Protestant Subjects You ought to exert Your Regal Authority in Ireland a Kingdom more peculiarly Your own where ..... month before or at least not outlive Your Majesty a month for if that poor Nation be not made considerable during Your Reign his Lordship must not hope for the Favour my Lord Stafford had of being legally Murdered by a formal Trial but may well expect all Formality laid aside to be sacrificed to the unbridled Fury of the lawless Rabble and dissected into little Morsels as the De-Wits were in Holland And truly the Fanaticks threaten no less and it were to be wished they cried out upon more of Your Ministers than they do at present for You may take it for granted they will never speak well of Your real Friends ..... other will endeavour to marr and the Work will go on like that of Babel confusedly for want of good Intelligence among the Workmen Sir You are under God the great Architect that will with the Blessing of Jesus live to see the glorious Structure fully finish'd In order to which 't is requisite You lose no time in making Ireland intirely Your own that England and Scotland may follow You are gone too far if You do not go farther not to advance is to lose Ground Delays are dangerous and all the World allow Expedition and Resolution to ..... if this were once compassed France could no more hope upon a falling out with England to take advantage of the diversity of our Sects and what may spring thence Domestick Jars and Divisions Sir Notwithstanding the Doubts and Fears of Trimming Courtiers and some Cow-hearted Catholicks You may live long enough to undertake and crown this great Work with the Grace and Assistance of the same Almighty God that defeated the Rebels in the West and made them instrumental in settling You in Your Throne and that permitted this Country to be lately sprinkled with the Blood of Martyrs which must infallibly contribute to the Conversion of Souls in this Kingdom for the Blood of Martyrs is and ever was the fruitful Seed of the Church The Seed is sown in many parts of England and the Harvest will without doubt be great and plentiful but the Workmen too too few if You do not provide your self with Catholick Privy-Counsellors Ministers Judges Officers Civil and Military and Servants As to the Choice of which I will mind Your Majesty of the Advice given Moses by Jethro his Father-in-Law in the following words Provide out of all the People able Men such as fear God Men of Truth hating Covetousness When Your Counsellors and Ministers are thus qualified and not till then You may hope to do what becomes a James the Second And to furnish Your self with able Men You must follow Your Royal Father's Advice to the Prince of Wales that is With an equal Eye and impartial Hand distribute Favours and Rewards to all Men as You find them for their real Goodness both in Ability and Fidelity worthy and capable of them Such as fear God as the truly Wisest will advise You to the best Measure for promoting God's Glory Men of Truth will like Tyrconnel serve You faithfully without trimming tho with never so apparent Hazard to their Fortunes and Lives And Men hating Covetousness will not betray Your Interest be corrupted nor sell Places to such Undermanagers of Your Revenue as buying them for a Spill in gross will be sure to retail them at Your Cost a Practice much in use here and in Ireland at present where few or no Places can be had without Bribes by which means You are cheated in both Kingdoms of an Hundred thousand Pounds a Year in the opinion of understanding honest and indifferent Judges for no Man will give a Shilling surreptitiously for an Office but with a design to cheat You of Twenty To prevent which there is no Remedy but that of employing smart Men of known Integrity to be chosen without Favour or Affection that will be content with their respective Salleries and imploy their utmost Industry to improve not imbezel Your Revenues the Ornaments of Peace and Sinews of War SIR These Kingdoms are of Opinion Popery will break in upon them and it were a pity to disappoint them and when You take effectual Measures Your trimming Courtiers will unmask and come over nay half the Kingdom will be converted of it self What I have here presumed to write is the effect of my unfeigned Zeal for the Good of Religion and Your Majesties Interest which I hope will induce You to pardon a plain-dealing and loving Subject that daily beseeches God to bless Your Majesty and these Kingdoms with a long and prosperous Reign and with numerous long-liv'd Male Issues and to inspire You with wholsom Thoughts that may direct You to the performance of such Heroick Actions as may gain You immortal Fame in this World and eternal Glory in the next Lord Clarendon's Speech in Council on his leaving the Government of Ireland My Lords IT has been sometimes used to make Speeches upon these Occasions but I know my insufficiency for that Task and therefore shall trouble your Lordships with very few words In the first place my Lords I give your Lordships many thanks for the Civilities I have received from every one of you and for the great Assistance I have had from you in the discharge of my Duty here I know your Lordships can witness for me that I never desir'd your concurrence in any thing that was not for the King's Service I do again beg your Lordships to accept of my Thanks with this assurance that I shall give the King an account when I have the honour to kiss his Hand of your Lordships great readiness and diligence to advance his Service My Lord Deputy I shall not long detain your Lordship The King hath placed your Excellency in a very great Station has committed to your Care the Government of a great and flourishing Kingdom of a Dutiful Loyal and Obedient People It is extreamly to be lamented that there are such Feuds and Animosities among them which I hope your Excellency's Prudence with