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
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 Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church Yard MDCLXXXIX THE ANSWER OF A Protestant Gentleman in Ireland c. SIR SINCE you cannot help it but are pusht on by a fatal Necessity I will not wonder that you add so scurrilous a Letter to so insipid a Discourse If the Notions that have troubled your Head had evaporated in that Noddle that first conceived them I apprehend no Damage could have accrued to me by the Disappointment and you might with safety have appeased the Twinges of your tender Conscience without discovering so little regard to common Honesty I am obliged to you for the Liberty you give me to make what use of them I please the Choice is easily determin'd I know what use to make of waste Paper But I crave leave to disagree with your Judgment since I cannot understand your Arguments so cogent or your Design so ingenious To put me in the right way te keep my Estate in Ireland however you cajole me with a complemental Acknowledgment of a former Welcome there As you need not tell me the Danger it is in so there is no necessity to delude me with improper Directions how to escape it wishing that the way were plainly seen and yet plainly wishing that I may not take it When you pretend to be plainer you appear to me to be most intricate for what can you mean by the two pretending Kings to Ireland Certainly it must be James and Lewis and I am fully satisfied that which soever of those two sides I take I take the unjust side and really deserve to lose my Estate Your Conviction has no more Influence on me than your Conversion and tho with a Jesuitical Equivocation you flatter the Protestant Interest yet secretly and slâ—ly you promote the Popish Intrigue I might turn the Point upon you and retort your own Words I do not ingage in the Point of Right and Wrong between King James and King William which of those has the best Title to this Crown or rather which has a Title and which has not but your Language is so foul so malapert so impudent that it cannot be repeated without the danger of Infection For who but a profligate Wretch case-hardned with a Popish Zeal and Superstition durst belch out so uncharitable a Censure on those glorious Adventurers who contributed to the miraculous restitution and re-establishment of the Protestant Religion under a Protestant King and Queen But now the Vizor is off it is no longer Popery in masquerade the Jesuit is bare-faced no man but one trained in that diabolical Discipline would presume to asperse the happy Actors in the late Settlement with those odious Terms of Falseness Weakness and Baseness and so profanely scoff at a Reformation of the Lord 's doing Were there any other Advantage to be gain'd by the Wager than your yielding that whole Proceeding to be lawful and just I could as positively lay my Bett That the first Contrivers and Promoters of it were principally guided by a Care and Concernment for the Established Religion and not animated to it by those dis-ingenious Motives of Revenge Advantage or Ambition But so bold and base an Assertion so contrary to Truth Sense and Experience that Religion is in a worse condition than it could have been put by King James as long as he could have lived deserves no Reply but a Whip and a Scourge so sawcy and virulent an Expression that the whole Proceeding is the blackest and foulest that ever shewed its Face in the World not excepting that against King Charles the First is not to be answered with Patience Nevertheless I will for once play the Stoick and calmly reason the Case with you Either you grosly equivocate or you speak nothing to the Purpose if by Religion you mean your own and the Popish Persuasion it is very palpable that it is in a worse condition than King James would have put it if you mean the Protestant Religion how can you with that Confidence aver it to be in a worse condition Are the Bishops imprison'd indicted and try'd for Actions merely moral and consciencious Are the Heads and Members of Colleges arbitrarily turn'd out and the Fountains of Learning tainted by Romish Poyson Are any Sort or Party of Protestants discountenanced Are Imployments Civil and Military taken from men because they will not truckle to the Determinations of a Popish Council or stisle the Inspirations of a good Conscience by the prospect of a good Place Are there any Popish Chappels open or Jesuitical Schools and Seminaries permitted in the Land Does the King brow-beat his Dependents for not following him to the Mass or the Ministers of State make the Roman Catholick Profession the End and Pledge of your Advancement Do the Court-Agitators put a Muzzle upon your Reason or infringe your natural Priviledge of Free-will Or have you been Closeted and obliged to give your Vote against the Dictates of your Judgment Is there a Mass openly celebrated in the Kingdom a Jesuit to be found or a Fryer to be seen If not how ridiculous is the Comparison How senseless the Presage The Protestant Religion is now become the National and Universal Profession cherished by the King encouraged by the Parliament in the late Reign it was clouded despised and rendred altogether unfashionable and in all probability would have been quite extinguished if James your King had long lived so And now let us consider the Circumstances of King Charles the Martyr and his Apostate Son and look into the Parallel of their several Sufferings The one of an Angelick Life the Pattern of Goodness and Mirror of Virtue who lived a Saint and dyed a Confessor it will be undecent to reflect upon the Immoralities of a Prince turn the end of the Perspective and all considerate Men will agree in the Character of the other The one indeed was accused openly Things laid to his Charge that he knew not persecuted and deserted by the predominant Party of his Subjects and cut off by a Form of Law and Justice the other had his Accusation legibly stampt on all his Actions by the Breach of Promises the eluding of Oaths and the Infraction or Suspension of the Municipal Laws of the Kingdom he affronted and cast off his best and truest Subjects he deserted the Throne and by a spontaneous Act Abdicated the Government he was neither imprisoned nor restrained but by his Flight he justly incurs the Guilt of those Crimes which an inward Witness confronted him with and which the Modesty as well as Prudence of the Government has forborn to make publick since it is not the Custom of England to try and condemn the absent or to
withdrawn himself and without compulsion abdicated the Government when the Legislative Power hath excluded and dethroned him and have actually placed the Crown of England and its dependant Ireland upon the head of another he that will own James to be still the King deserves to be exploded at Newgate and confuted at Tyburn But if King James should prevail and keep the possession of Ireland whereof by the treacherous dissimulation of his Deputy Tyrconnel and the assistance of his French Myrmidons he has already too great a share it is easie to see how it is likely to fare with those who pretend to set up King William and if they must claim no better Title or Security for their Lives and Estates than what they must be obliged to his mercy and kindness for the consequence is obvious it will prove the Transcript of the horrible Persecutions in France far transcending all those of the Heathen Emperors put together the Dragoons will tread the Stage and react those Tragical Barbarities on the Scene of Ireland Can we expect any other Answer or Usage than the Protestants of Suffolk received from Queen Mary whom they placed on the Throne when the Papists had set up the Lady Jane Grey Or any other return than the French Tyrant hath made to his Subjects of the Reformed Religion for establishing his Title against all other Pretenders Consider the Proceedings of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second and then tell me if any man in his senses ought to relie on the Word and Promise of a Popish Prince made to his Heretical Subjects He was famous under the advantageous Characters of Piety Probity Vertue a zealous Son of the Holy Church His Protestant Subjects continued faithful to him and did not adhere to King Frederick tho a Protestant Prince and chosen King by the States of Bohemia yet when he became Master of the Country by his Victory at Prague he handled them with equal cruelty and severity as those who had sided with Frederick only he allow'd them this hard choice either to change their Religion within three Months or to depart the Kingdom Nay when he had solemnly promised and sworn to observe the Articles agreed between him and the Elector of Saxony in favour of the Lutherans many of whom had served in that Army which reduced Bohemia to his Obedience yet so soon as he saw himself in a condition to need no more of their service he was absolved from the obligation of his Promises by the Bishop of Aversa and thereupon they were all banish'd as well as the most obnoxious And by the way observe the Protestant profession was the established Religion of Bohemia as firmly settled as Imperial Edicts could make it no less publickly profest and generally settled in that Kingdom than it was in Ireland notwithstanding within a few years the Protestant Religion was wholly extinguish'd by the Violations made on their Laws Liberty and Property by this pious Emperor Ferdinand the Second contrary to all solemn Engagements Promises and publick Faith. The rest of your Argument will prove a trifle if the matter be stated right you insist upon the Dispute between King William and King James but take no notice of him that sits behind the Curtain that when the Gamesters have try'd their luck intends to sweep away the Stakes If King James retain his Usurped Dominion it is but to be Tributary to the French King and what must the Protestants expect under his Protection but Rapes Robberies Murders and utter desolation and destruction If King William prevail and recover Ireland as well we may hope since God is on his side Reason and Justice will incline him to call them to account who have abetted the Irish French Interest and then perhaps your Terra firma will be shaken and you may look for a Reprisal in Vtopia or New Atlantis It is not to be wonder'd at that you who were wont to ridicule the Popish Plot should pretend a disbelief of the intended Massacre in Ireland Those whom you call timerous and unthinking people had more wit than to believe themselves in safety under a Popish Government they withdrew their persons and their effects in time while many thousands of credulous men cheated by the specious pretences and horrible Imprecations of Tyrconnel never true to his word but in his appointed days to Assault and ruin the Prorestants and amused by the mistaken policy of the through paced professors of Religion continued there till they were driven to the pinching Dilemma of Complying or Starving And now in the Name of God why shou'd any considerate Man doubt the design of the Papists to inslave the British to destroy the Religion and utterly to exterminate the Protestants either gradually or by an universal Massacre Why were Arms secretly bought up and an unusual Furniture of Chain-Bridles provided by some of the Irish Clergy Why was London-Derry to be possessed by a multitude of Highlanders and Papists on the 7th of December last but in order to that bloody Design to be perpetrated on the 9th Did not Tyrconnel about that time give Commissions only upon a bare Letter from his Master to raise 40000 Men and distributed above 50000 Arms Were not the New Officers to maintain their Troops and Companies by such a proportion of Beef Mutton and Meal for Three Months and did they not raise that supply by Robbing the British Were not the Protestants in Munster plunder'd The whole Province of Canaght pillaged All Arms and Horses forcibly taken from the Inhabitants of Dublin and forty Miles round it Is not Vlster who upon the News of the Barbarous proceedings in the other Provinces Arm'd and got together for their self Defence almost totally over-run by the insulting Enemy their Houses and Estates taken from them their Tenants begger'd and themselves forced to seek a Refuge in England and Scotland Have not many Protestants been Murther'd some by Rage and some by a Form of Law Have not others been cheated by the Trick of Protections while the Officers defend them from the Rapine of the Army but expose them to the Fury of the Rabble May not any Man of common sense the most Ignorant in all Ireland plainly see to retort your own Words the Massacring the English would make Room for the French and unite all Papists under the Obedience of King Lewis And if so can any Man with Reason condemn those that have escaped from Ireland or advise those that remain there to justifie and support the Brace of Usurpers Hitherto you have vented your Spleen and utter'd many undecent Reflections on the King and Parliament but now you Attacque us with an ungentile Exprobation of our present Necessities Tho' our Rents do not come out of Ireland after us but are intercepted by such as have no Right to them yet we may live the generous people of England will not let us starve we are not in the least doubt but King William will provide handsom subsistence for