fate of that renowned and happy Country yet the ruin and desolation that would have attended the Impressions of a rejected Prince seconded by the remorseless Troops of barbarous Irish and French who have sufficiently testified the delight they take in Burning and Devastation is not lyable to the description of any Pen. If the obstinate standing out of that single City of London Derry gave so wonderful a Diversion to the Enemies Progress how swiftly had he moved and without controll to the reinstating himself in the Thrones of Scotland and England if the Gates of that place had not been shut and the Irish Garrison had been admitted in it If the Courage of those gallant Refugees in Eniskillin had been allay'd by a Compliance and Submission on Terms of the greatest Advantage the forlorn party that invaded Scotland had swell'd to a vast Army miserably embroil'd that Kingdom and done irreparable damage to this 4. The Proof and Confirmation of the next Assertion is couch'd and comprehended in the former If some of the Protestants of Ireland had not considerately removed themselves with their Plate Money and Effects by a lucky foresight of the Tragical Consequences of their stay If others out of an abhorrence of Popery and concurring with the Resolutions of England had not voluntatily renounced their Allegiance to a deposed King broken up House retrenched their Families disbanded their Followers and with much difficulty and hazard transplanted their Persons into England and Scotland it is apparent how considerable an Accession this had brought to the present Possessor whereas by the substraction of their wealth and the withdrawing their Persons the Irish Interest has been in a great measure impaired tho to the unspeakable detriment of them that escaped To this let me add that if the confident assurance of the intire possession of Ireland and thereby securing a Retreat and Harbour for the French Fleet had not amused that unfortunate Prince and prorogued the Invasion of England which beyond doubt can never be safe while Ireland is subjected to its Enemy he had long since disputed his Title upon the spot and endeavoured to retaliate that vengeance upon the English which has been intail'd on the Irish Families and transmitted from one Generation to another since the time of their Conquest 5. To evince the Truth of what is next asserted I must appeal to the Gentlemen of the several Provinces in Ireland whether they were not continually flatter'd with promises of Commissions Men Money and Arms from England whether every puff of wind that arose from any point of the East or South did not infuse fresh life into their drooping Spirits Whether they did not hourly expect the Landing of some English or Dutch Forces to cover and conduct them while the same methods practised in England for the restitution and establishment of Religion might be reacted there It was this that animated and inspired the Inhabitants of London-Derry the last stake and pledg of the Protestant Interest in Ireland with so much precipitation to shut their Gates and keep out a Popish Regiment just approaching to enter the City upon the seventh day of December 1688 and stoutly to maintain it till by Capitulation it was made a Proetstant Garrison This encouraged the People of Eniskillin in imitation of them to shut their Gates on the 11th of December following and to refuse the Entrance of two Irish Companies appointed to have their Quarters there This made the Protestants in Munster assemble with what Horse and Foot they could call together to avoid a Massacre and to joyn with such Forces from England as might rescue them from the Tyranny and Slavery under which they lay prostrate This occasion'd the Assòciation publish'd in Conaght by the Lord Kingston and the Protestants who had been plunder'd of their Goods and Stock and were forced for safety of their Lives to retreat to Sligo no way doubting of immediate succour and relief from England This brought forth that Declaration of the Gentlemen in the Counties of Down and Antrim who having imploy'd Agents into England and received repeated Assurances of a speedy and vigorous Assistance began to form themselves into Regiments and to prepare for their Defence against a vast Irish Army then formed and threatning to break in upon them Thus in all Parts the Protestants stood upon their Guard longing and languishing for Help and Relief from England but miserably failing in their expectation and the Irish Army pressing into their Frontiers while they were utterly destituté of Arms and Ammunition the Men raw and undisciplin'd and no experienced Commanders among them they were constrain'd to fly before their bloody and inraged Enemies leaving their Houses furnish'd and their Goods and Stock as a Prey to them which in all humane Probability had easily been prevented if they had not depended on the promised Aid from England 6. I have no intent to lessen or extenuate the noble Undertaking and prudent Conduct of the Lords and Gentlemen of England in their Invitation and Conjunction with the Prince of Orange to redeem the Nation from the Tyranny of Popeâ—y Slavery and Arbitrary Government and placing the present King in the vacant Throne of Him who spontaneously Abdicated the Government It was a glorious and a grateful Action all the Protestants in Europe rejoyce at it and Posterity will praise their Doings Nevertheless I am bold to say that the publick appearance of the Protestants in England to abet the Design of King William and to follow His Fortune was neither so important at the Time of acting nor of such Advantage in the Consequences to incourage the Protestant Party and to dis-animate the Popish as the early and universal Defection of the Protestants in Ireland from the Command and Government of the late King James This will appear evidently if we consider the State and Circumstances of the two Kingdoms and setting both in a true Light pass an impartial Judgment on each of them When the Prince of Orange arrived in England He came into a Country where Popery was an uneasie Nusance obtruded by Craft and diffused in Corners where there was a Royal Army on Foot of Principles quite contrary to it and the Number of Protestants exceeded that of the Papists in the Proportion of Two hundred to one Whereas when King James Landed in Ireland He found Popery predominant and established by Force tho' against Law an Army of Forty thousand desperate Papists under the Command of bigotted and inexorable Leaders with a Rabble of as many arm'd tho' not for Fighting yet for Rapine and Plunder and which served as a Seminary for the furnishing of Recruits the Papists exceeding the Protestants in Number more than three to one In England tho' the Militia was discountenanced and disused from Exercise yet they retain'd their Arms and the Protestants through the Kingdom kept what they had without Inspection or Prohibition and they continued Masters of their own Horses whereas in Ireland the
Protestants were utterly disarm'd those of the Church of England by a strict Proclamation requiring all Officers of the Militia to deliver in the Arms of their Troops and Companies into the next Store under a severe Penalty and the Dissenters by a positive Order from the Government to take away all Arms from such as did not go to Church their Horses taken from them not leaving a pad Nag to ride on and prosecuted as Rebels upon Refusal It is true in England there was an Invasion made upon their Charters and Men were here and there thrust in of loose and Atheistical Principles some injurious and illegal Attempts were made on the Universities and the Reverend Bishops the Pillars of the Church and Champions of our Religion were affronted and impeached the Magistracy was closetted threatned and some arbitrarily superseded at the Helm of Government some were prickt in who being actuated by no Instinct of Conscience or Honour joyn'd in a Conspiracy against the Laws and Liberty of the Country and like inanimate Tools were imploy'd in the Propagation of the Catholick Cause but in Ireland the Corporations were stuff'd with Irish Papists with Rebels and the Sons of those Murdering Rebels in 1641 tho' Priests were not actually instituted and inducted into the Church Livings yet they were placed in every Parish and the Mass-House confronted the Church tho' Popish Bishops were not actually inaugurated in the Sees yet they received the Profits of vacant Bishopricks the Revenue was managed by Papists the Commission of the Peace entrusted to them and generally to them only the Sword of State placed in the hands of the Earl of Tyrconnel and the Majority of the Privy-Council made up of sworn Enemies to the Protestant Religion So that to work a Change in England was neither so difficult nor hazardous in the Attempt nor so remarkable in the Revolution as the bold Adventure of the Protestants in Ireland under all Moral and Political Disabilities to capacitate them for such an Undertaking And whereas the Acclamations of the People in England the Desertion of the Army and the general adherence of the Nobility and Gentry to the Prince of Orange at His Landing prevented a Civil War and the Effusion of Blood and the present King became quietly vested in the Throne and Government the universal Defection of the Protestants in Ireland assured and established Him in the Possession since by these means King James was not onely deprived of the Aid and Strength of Two hundred thousand Men but by the stout opposition made in London-Derry Eniskillin and other Places His Affairs were wholly embroyl'd His Designs frustrated and his determin'd Invasion of Scotland and an uninterrupted Progress into England absolutely prevented and defeated It is altogether superfluous in me to offer these Things to your Consideration who have so great a Sense and Knowledge of Affairs and are better furnished with useful Notions and Remarks upon all Publick Transactions But I have done it to comply with your Commands and if you will give your Self the Trouble to supervise and correct this hasty and imperfect Essay and render it fit for the View of others possibly they may be convinced that the Protestants in Ireland have super-errogated in their Zeal to Religion and the present Government tho' they have been Self Homicides of their own Fortunes and Estates and that they do unquestionably deserve rather to be reputed Living Martyrs for their Religion and their King than to be traduced with a needless Removal of their Persons hither and an unaccountable Reason of their stay here And I am no less confident that when it shall please His Majesty to suffer Himself to be undeceived He will find it requisite to countenance and smile upon a great Number of Men who to their own certain Ruin and without the least prospect of future Advantage have abandon'd all and run into a voluntary Exile to serve Him or to avoid the Necessity of serving His Enemy and that he will judge it expedient if not necessary to put Armies into their Hands who best know how to deal with the Irish whom Self-Interest corroborated by immovable Fidelity and Loyalty will inspire with an Opportunity to promote the speedy and effectual Reduction of the miserably harassed Kingdom I am SIR Your most Humble Servant G. P. Licens'd Jan. 27. 1689 90. J. F. LONDON Printed for Tim. Goodwin at the Maiden-head in Fleet-street 1690.
THE Second Apology FOR THE PROTESTANTS OF IRELAND By the Author of the First SHEWING The Necessity of their Flight and Desertion And that the present Destruction of Ireland hath conduced to the Safety and Preservation of England In a Letter to Sir O. S. SIR YOU have done me that Injury which you never intended me you have deprived me of a Nightssleep For while I revolved in my mind your Discourse concerning the Protestants of Ireland the most uncharitable judgment past upon their Afflictions and the too visible disregard of their Persons and slight esteem of their service I could gain no rest to my thoughts nor slumber to my eyes That the Protestants of Ireland prompted by an ill-tim'd aversion to the Popish Religion and precipitated by an over-hasty zeal for their own have abandon'd their Habitations and Properties and become Sojourners in other Lands and thereby are exposed to the charity and compassion of some and to the scorn and contempt of others is so notoriously evident that it needs no Arguments to enforce the proof of it but that their Retreat into England and Scotland and a prudential Endeavour for self-preservation should be so unkindly interpreted and their Behaviour subjected to a Censure so groundless and so unequal is no way consonant to the calm dictates of Reason nor reconcileable to the common sentiments of Humanity To hear them stigmatized by their Enemies with the ugly Character of Rebels and Traytors proscribed by Proclamation their Estates confiscated their Goods plunder'd and their Houses and Plantations burnt and destroy'd is supportable from the Glory and Satisfaction of suffering in a good Cause to hear them condemn'd and curs'd by their implacable Enemies the Papists â—r lamented by the invidious pity of lukewarm and male-contented Protestants who under a pretence of a nice and undispensible Allegiance do grumble at the present Government yet from their Hearts dare not wish it in the hands of another is neither the subject of their wonder nor trouble But that any Protestants of England whom the Ligaments of the same Religion and Blood have inseparably conjoyn'd in one Interest should discover not only an insensibility of our miseries but aggravate them by Misprision and contempt not only arraign our Actions but mis-judge our Sufferings is a contemplation so abstruse and so grievous that it would require the wisdom of Solomon to understand it and the Patience of Job to bear it Yet all this is out done by a meer sensible stroke of misfortune we are upbraided with the King's Indifferency toward us to give it no worse a name And because for Reasons and Considerations best known to himself he hath thought it fit to command the Service of Strangers and Foreigners while the Gentlemen of Ireland walk the Streets neglected and unimploy'd it is maliciously imputed to his dislike of their Proceedings as if unconstrain'd and out of pure wantonness they had left their own Country to take the Air in this deserted the conveniency of a cheap dwelling at Home to pay dear for Lodgings in London given up their Stock and Wealth to the lust of their Enemies only to make Experiment of the mercy of their Friends cast off the Homage of their Tenants and trifled away their own Revenue only to become Pensioners to the Poor-mans Box and the Brief-money To undeceive that sort of men who are misled by Information and whose judgments are not distorted by prejudice design or passion I offer the merit of the following Considerations First That Ireland was actually under the Dominion and Exercise of Popery when England was only perplexed with the prospect and apprehension of it 2ly That there lay a necessity upon the Protestants of Ireland to relinquish and fly or to comply and submit 3ly That the Submission and Compliance of the Protestants in Ireland had unavoidably tended to the ruin of England 4ly That the Ruin and Destruction of Ireland has proved the means and occasion of saving and preserving England 5ly That the Protestants of Ireland had begun later or persever'd longer in their Opposition to the Popish Government if they had not been assured of Succours and Supplies from England and disappointed in their expectation 6ly That the general adherence of the Protestants in England to King William at his Landing was not so important in the Enterprize nor so advantageous in the Event as the Universal Defection of the Protestants in Ireland from King James before and after his Arrival there But that I may not proceed Dogmatically or be suspected of so much Arrogance as to look for an implicite Assent to these Assertions without a more satisfactory Explication of them I shall endeavour to illustrate the Particulars very faithfully and very briefly 1. To demonstrate the first there needs little pains to be taken he that will read the Apology for the Protestants of Ireland and that exquisite Treatise call'd Mephiboseth and Ziba and other Papers written since the late Revolution will easily be convinced of the Truth of one part of that Proposition the other part is so fresh in every mans memory that it were a vanity to insist upon the proof of it The Protestants in Ireland were not only disarm'd and their Arms put into the hands of the Papists the Military and Civil List compounded of furious and inveterate Bigots the Act of Settlement eluded and the Corporations poyson'd with a Crew of Landless Lawless senseless Intruders but in despight and scorn of the Law the Fopperies of the Mass were openly represented the Properties of the Church invaded and the Land infested with Swarms of Jesuits Friers and all sorts and Orders of Regulars while England was only alarm'd with the humming noise of the approaching danger and awakened to a timely Preparation against the secret Mines to overthrow her Charters and the frequent Attacks made upon the Test and Penal Laws 2. Now when by the permission of Divine Providence and the subtil contrivance of those in Authority the poor Protestants of Ireland were rendred defenceless and utterly uncapable to make Resistance they must indubitably be reduced to that fatal Dilemma of complying with the Government or withdrawing from the malevolent influence and tyranny of it 3. But had they been besotted with a supine submission to such exorbitant Incroachments had they continued in their Possessions and truckled to the Arbitrary Commands of those insolent Popish Bashaws how had the Hands of the late King been strengthened his Army readily maintain'd by plentiful Contributions and continually supported by fresh Recruits nay had they been indulged to remain in a cold Neutrality and permitted only to be Lookers on as in all probability the dread of their Number and Strength would have induced the other chearfully and gladly to consent what visible Impediment can there appear to have hindred the Invasion of England by a numerous and potent Army the success whereof tho it had not terminated in a plenary Conquest which God grant may never be the