removed yet now he heard that he should and wish'd that he had given Five Thousand Pounds to have known it a Month sooner which expression was much wondered at Sheridon now comes upon his Tryal having four year 1688 Counsels all Protestants or at least who pretended to be such for two of them have since by their actions given cause of suspicion viz. Whiched and Donohan two intire Friends the first now with King James in Ireland and employed a Judge of Oyer and Terminer to try Protestants for their Rebellion Donohan is here and makes as fair a shew for King William as his Brother Whiched for King James but had the misfortune of being discovered to procure a Pass for his Brothers Son that was here employed by King James and one of his Converts who 't is said has since returned hither from Ireland with Intelligence from King James Two as good Protestants as Brethren but both in Iniquity One acts by a Commission from King James against those of his own Church and Profession and not only so but interprets that to be Rebellion which was grounded upon no other design than an absolute preservation of their Lives from the bloody Massacres of the Irish who having robb'd and pillaged them of their substance at the next step would have broke into their Houses and have cut their Throats from which they were bound by the Law of Nature and consequently by that of Religion to which the last carries no opposition but is derived from it as its prime and original foundation to defend themselves But is it possible for any one that stiles himself a Protestant so shamefully to temporize and prevaricate as against the Laws of Nature and Humanity thus as it were to prey upon his own kind The other promotes King James's interest though not publickly and upon the open stage yet by private and secret machinations though at the same time he seems a zealous adherer to the present Government An Hypocrisie which I pray may be as much beyond a Parallel as t is without excuse But I come to Sheridon The Charge that was brought against him was for selling of Placâ— and receiving extravagant Fees in his Office. To prove which there were Witnesses of all sorts brought from all parts of the Kingdom to which Sheridon and his Counsel made defence only by criminating the Evidence or making them interessed as Parties that swore to get money if they could fix it upon him The chief Evidence produc'd against him was a Priest that he had employed to bring in Grist to his Mill. This Priest he brought Evidence to prove he was a Man of a lewd and infamous Character guilty of several vile actions as of Bastardy c. Much time was consumed in hearing impertinent stuff not worth my filling Paper with or the trouble of the Reader 's perusal but in the end he was dismist of his Employments and so went off the Stage the worst of men had he not left an Ellis behind him a Miscreant of all Shapes that hath since been the Engine of Murthers and Rapins in that Countrey But now comes into Ireland one Captain Bridges year 1688 who rid Post to bring the happy News of the Birth of the supposed Prince of Wales For which he received the Honour of Knighthood by the Name of Sir Matthew Bridges What Tongue can express or man describe the extravagancy of those Joys which possessed the Irish at the arrival of this News Their former apprehensions of the shortness of their triumph by reason of King James's declension in Age and the prospect of a Protestant Successor had extreamly imbittered their greatest Comforts and caus'd an intermixture of hopes and fears But now that they had got a Young Prince that would become a Patron to the Holy Church this soon dissipated all their troubles They now considered that their Religion would be perpetuated to future Ages and that upon this fund they might not only extirpate Heresie but so establish the Holy Catholick Religion as to remain to all Posterity For now in the Scripture Phrase which they usurpingly monopolize and improperly apply to themselves The Gates of Hell was never like to prevail against their Church These were such sweet Reflections as they never before had a perfect relish of and which such narrow Breasts and earthy Souls were not capable to contain or to contemplate upon without making a violent eruption into all the outward demonstrations of an inconceivable satisfaction 'T would require a Volume to describe the particularities of those various Scenes of Joy which they shew'd upon this occasion Let this suffice That no Arts of Extravagancy were omitted whereby to represent their boundless Complacencies This News gave them so victorious an ascendant over the English that they were now become the scorn and contempt of those individual persons who had been their Slaves and Vassals insomuch that the meanest Labourer would now upon the least provocation threaten to hang his Master One pleasant instant to this purpose I cannot omit the Author being an Ear-witness of it A Labourer came to his Master very soberly and told him he owed him a Cow and bid him give it him presently the Gentleman laughed at him for he owed him not a Penney upon which the Fellow growing angry the Gentleman called him Rascal and offered to beat him but the Servant was not only too quick but too strong for the Master whom he was very fairly about to Cudgel but Company interposing diverted him from his intention But the Jest still remains which he spake in Irish but being interpreted runs in English thus You English Churse with an Oath by his Maker and St. Patrick I will Hang thee with these hands as well as ever thou waste Hanged in thy life But the poor Gentleman was afraid that he would have given him such an Hanging as is never used but once The News of the Bishops being committed to the Tower came some few days before that of the Prince of Wales's Birth either of which gave them abundantly more joy than they could possibly bear but being united put them into strange Convulsions Their Passions were now outragious having both these at once upon their hearts and now that they must vent themselves 't was a most difficult thing to restrain their hands from cutting of throats it being natural to them in their drink and reveling Debaucheries for want of Enemies to stab one another and contrary to other Brutes for they deserve no better Name they are most mischievous when best pleased Then is revived an old Quarrel of the Grandfathers commenced an hundred years ago and the revenge must be executed if any of the Clan as they call them be in the Company Before I take leave of our supposed Prince of Wales's Birth I must not omit to acquaint the Reader of the universal confidence of all the Irish in the Kingdom that the Queen as soon as 't was said she had Conceiv'd was
Lands said to be in the possession of divers of the English but in truth much more in that of the Irish Now to insure the Titles of the English from any future Discoveries as was pretended a Court of Grace was to be erected year 1683 where all that would had the opportunity of putting in their Claims and upon proving their possession and compounding with the Commissioners for payment of such a sum as they thought fit to impose on them they were to pass new Patents It was also given out that it was safe for all new Interests to pass that Court and that it would strengthen their Titles This Policy had its intended effect for many persons came in and considerable Sums of Money were paid But under what plausible pretext soever this Court was set up 't was soon perceived as a snare to the English For its design was to make a narrow inspection into all Mens Titles and thereby to discover what advantage might be derived from it For by the Act of Settlement all the forfeited Lands in Ireland were only invested in the King as a Royal Trustee for the use of the Soldiers and Adventurers and could be no way disposed of but according to the intent of that Act. Now whereas there were several Irish out of their Lands decreed them by the Act for want of Reprisals the King's Patent could not give any Land away but in pursuance to the intent of the Act. By which it appears that this Court was erected to prepare Pretences for the Irish when opportunity should invite and though all this was negotiated through the Duke's Interest yet none of that party appeared in it but the whole of it was transacted by the Dutchess of Portsmouth who had the Money got by Fines out of it Because there will be occasion in the farther discovery of this Treachery to name a principal Actor in the Catastrophe of Ireland I shall now nominate him that was the Abettor and Contriver of this mischief 't was one W. who sometime year W before bought a Judge's place in the Exchequer for Eight Hundred Pounds This Judge was found a fit Tool to make use of and being a Cunning ambo-dexter formed this Intriegue which had proved fatal to the Protestant Interest of Ireland if affairs had succeeded in the same Current they had now put them But I must not forget to add that to make this poison go down the more easie the Pill was gilded over Most of the Judges were made Commissioners and had part of the Fines the Lawyers and Attorneys got Money by the Court so that consequently all that were capable of understanding the Cheat were interessed as Parties in the Intriegue and by this means some of the Lawyers and Attorneys purchased Estates to the ruine of the former Possessors And 't is to be observed that in the several Designs of the Papists Protestants were the Tools whereby they acted by which they appeared to have nothing of Catholick in them And now to force men into this Tonnel another Oppression was impos'd upon the Subject and that was that no man should pass Patent for Fairs Markets Mannors c. without passing his Estate through this Court whereas by the Act of Settlement all persons had liberty for the improvement of the Countrey to pass Patent for them so that they were not within three Miles of one another Here you may perceive a most black design speciously represented as a fit occasion to lay hold on whereby to corroborate the English Interest though in truth nothing could more effectually weaken the Protestants Titles to their Estates and strengthen or improve those of the Irish and this not only managed but at first set up by a Protestant And indeed this gave a more plausible colour to it and made it the more easily gain belief with the English that the true Reasons of its erection were the same with those that were pretended because first advanced by one of their own Party A sad thing indeed that Englishmen and Protestants should by base and unworthy Compliances become such Servile Instruments to the advancement of the Popish Cause A Calamity which as it had made some steps before so did it improve to an infinite Progress when the late King James was in possession of the Throne In which time too many men who were reputed Protestants through a mean and pusillanimous Disposition were not seldom Co-adjutors with the Papists in such violent Proceedings as carried a direct opposition to the Laws and their Religion But to proceed where I left off The Duke of Ormond perceiving by the tendency of these Affairs that the Romish design was agitated with greater earnestness than ever with great difficulty obtains leave to go for England and pursuant to that comes over leaving his Son the Earl of Arran Lord Deputy Upon his Arrival at year 1683 Court he a second time attempts a Parliament but ineffectually upon which disappointment he returns again for Ireland with an heavy heart as he himself declared to a Great Man of that Kingdom He had Instructions to Regiment the Army and some other things that were Preparatives to what followed soon after But now the Fatal Stroke was come the Death of the King a Mystery not to be inquired into though one can hardly omit remarking that the Irish year 1684 Papists could for some time before fix upon the utmost Period of that Reign and the Duke was sent for in haste from Scotland three years before without any apparent reason for it besides that the King's permission was obtained with some difficulty From this time we may Commence the Date of the Irish greatness Fate now smil'd upon 'em and that which they had long expected with so much impatience and importunity which had cost them so much pains and had involved them in such great Perplexities That which had exposed them to so many dangers and been so frequently blasted with cross Accidents and various Disappointments was now fallen into their Lap. Now their long-look'd for day was come and their Game which had been play'd with so much difficulty and loss did now assure them of better success These Apprehensions so transported them with such pleasant Raptures as were eminently visible in all their actions especially in Publick Days of Rejoycing as the day of the King 's Proclaiming that of his Coronation the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales and the like in all which they demonstrated the most extravagant Symptoms of a Superlative Joy which they express'd in making of Bonfires Beating of Drums playing upon the Bag-pipes and other Musical Instruments in Drinking and Serenading in the night time forcing the English out of their Beds and breaking open their Doors and drinking Confusion to the Kings Enemies upon their Knees by which 't was plain that they understood the Protestants And all these unlawful Revellings oftentimes continued for two or three Nights and Days without intermission wherein such of the English
to the Judges of Assize complaining against these insolent and irregular Proceedings of the Priests But alas it was not to be expected that these Catholick Judges would go and punish their Ghostly Fathers a very unnatural act in their Religion In short no Law would be found out to punish them all that could be gained and that very rarely was a civil admonition to them not to disturb the Protestant Clergy in their rights and the like and so were dismissed how plain soever the Matter of Fact was proved against them By this it seemed that those of the Clergy though not the most Couragious yet were the most Politick who dealt privately with the Priests and by fair words and considerable Largesses of Tythe-Corn c. prevail'd upon them to be quiet for the meek and filial regard of these Judges to their Worthy Fathers served but to make them the more insulting and imperious over the Ministers who still animated the Countrey against them and at last to that height that several of the Irish in many Parishes violently seized upon the Tythe-Corn c. and converted it to their own use neither suffering any other to buy it nor any Servant of the Ministers to come upon the Land to collect it But to leave this Affair of the Clergy and to joyn them and the Laity together if it happened that for money due by Bills under Hand and Seal or by clear and unquestionable Evidence Executions were obtain'd from the Judges against any of the Irish then had the Natives another refuge to shelter themselves under and to fly to that of an Irish Sheriff who would carefully decline all opportunities of taking the Party or if he could not avoid apprehending him then would either suffer him to make a voluntary escape or else an hundred two of Men should lie in the way and rescue him from the Gaol or if they wanted force the whole Countrey of the Irish would rise up and assist them if the Debt was due to an English Churle as they called them These things so encouraged the Irish that had Executions over them that they would come and hector those of the English to whom they owed the Money in the open street and with their Swords by their sides and Fire-Arms and Skeens in their Pockets the last a bloody large Knife with which they are wont to stab the English and not seldom one another with half a dozen or more lusty Rogues at their backs would come to their Doors and bid them publick defiance Thus were the English either deny'd justice against the Irish or if they obtain'd it from the Judges yet they were sure not to meet with it in the Sheriff and so have no other return of all their trouble but the contracting additional cost to their former Debt from one Assizes to another which was like to continue in infinitum and all to no purpose unless that of enhansing the charges far above the principal Debt and still be out of both On the contrary hand if an Irish-man had but any tolerable plea for a debt due from a Protestant a decree was presently granted and as for the Sheriffs execution of it 't was as swift as his implacable hatred could carry him and then be sure no failure was committed in the severe usage of the Debtor whether in relation to Body or Goods If the last then must three times value of the Debt be taken and apprais'd by Irish-men appointed for the purpose who the Reader may presume would not put too large an estimate upon them 't would fill a Volume to give the particular instances of such violent and irregular actions done to the Authors own knowledge But I proceed Now came by a Ship from Amsterdam bound to year 1688 Dublin with Letters from a Friend of Tyrconnel's to him which intimated that he writing nothing but his own Conjecture did imagin that the Prince of Orange had a design against England for none could otherwise guess what all those great preparations in Holland which they were so extream hot upon tended to Tyrconnell sent this Letter over to Sunderland who shew'd it to the King who made no other use of it than to deride Tyrconnel as appear'd from Sunderland's Writing to him and ridiculing his intelligence But every day usher'd in fresh suspicions the effect whereof was look'd upon as very strange as being a thing which was wish'd for both by Friends and Enemys The Irish to shew their ancient Vanity triumphed before the Victory They called the English Rebels by way of Prediction for they were sure that they would joyn with the Prince and as certain that they would be beaten and be served the same sawce that Monmouth and his Adherents had met with only that they now spoke more bloodily and in more Malicious and Butcherly expressions against the Prince of Orange Whose Head they would stick on a Pole and carry it round the Kingdom For near a Month this was only discoursed of but at last arrived King James's Proclamation and then the English began to consider what they should do The most considerable persons amongst them hastened to Dublin to see how things stood The Irish also flocked thither in such Multitudes that the City could not contain them yet the soberer and more prudent party were for sitting still and some for going over to England as being differently possessed with various fears and distractions and when the happy News arriv'd of the Prince's Landing they hung down their Heads like Bullrushes and were under the greatest desperation and despondency and on the contrary the English bore up as victors Tyrconnell courted them and made every day preparations for flight Yet the Term was then begun at Dublin and the Ld. C. J. Nugent than whom perhaps the Bench never bore a more Confident Ignorant Irish-man gave the Charge to the Grand Jury in which he applauded and extolled above the height of an Hyperbole the Magnanimous and Heroick Actions of the Great and Just King James and on the contrary cast the most vilifying Reproaches upon the Prince of Orange and charged them to make a diligent disquisition after any that were suspected to adhere to his interest with such opprobious expressions fit only for the Mouth of an Irish Vultur or Cannibal his conclusion was That now the States of Holland were weary of the Prince and that they had sent him over to be dress'd as Monmouth was but that was too good for him And that he doubted not before a Month passed to hear that they were hung up all over England in Bunches like Ropes of Onyons About this time as a Prelude to what has since year 1688 followed was one Swan a Gentleman near Dublin most barbarously Murthered by the Sheriff and a parcel of Irish Ruffins The pretence the Sheriff had was to take possession of some Land that an Irishman had recovered from the said Swan but with so little right that the Irish Judges in the Exchequer
most of the Horses which belong'd to English Gentlemen and Farmers in the Countrey were violently seized upon for the King's use as was pretended and several hundreds were brought into the Corporations which were Garrisoned with Irish Soldiers who quartered upon Private as well as Publick-Houses of the English which were so full of them that they had scarce Beds for themselves to lie in They now were in daily expectation of the Landing of the late King James And this possessed them with so triumphant a joy that the more to discourage the English they not only gave out that he was arrived when there was no such thing but rung the Bells made Bonfires the Mayor and Aldermen in several Corporations drinking the King's Health and the like But this imaginary formality was but a prelude to the succeeding Triumph to the real Landing of the late King. And then what they had done before in Effigie or in empty show they now performed substantially and to the life 'T is beyond any thing of human art to imagine much more to describe the greatness of their joy at this time and therefore I shall not attempt a representation which would come infinitely short of those extravagant Pageantries which were now acted Publick fame has already given some account of it and to that I refer the Reader I have now given as without vanity and oftentation I may affirm it as true and impartial a Relation as is possible of the design the Abdicated King had from the happy Restauration of King Charles the Second to make Ireland the refuge if all other endeavours proved unsuccessful for â—is Catholick Friends and 't is plain that 't was the French Allyance which he always assiduously made Court to upon which he depended in the accomplishment of this Intrigue The Irish were very sensible of it and since his accession to the Crown would frequently boast that if England should upon King James's Death or any other misfortune devolve into the Protestants hands that they made no doubt of preserving Ireland by the power of the French and that the Prince of Orange whom they always dreaded would have his hands full at home but that Soveraign Providence by whom Kings Reign and Princes decree justice has to the great astonishment of other Nations most miraculously confounded all the wicked devices of his Adversaries and preserved him to sit upon the Imperial Throne of these Kingdoms where may he long Reign not only to maintain the true Reformed Religion in his own Dominions but to enlarge the best part of his Titles Defender of the Faith throughout the whole Christian World For so indeed whatever opinion some prejudiced Men amongst us may have do all the Reformed Churches of Europe esteem him to be I thought to have put a period to this Discourse in this place but observing the complaints of many that are fled from Ireland whose miseries may indeed allow them grains I shall beg leave to animadvert a little as to their mistakes in the hard usage which they think they have received here in not being all immediately reprized by the King's Bounty I shall not say what is too apparent of some who came from thence and would shelter themselves among Honest Men as most of them are generally believed to be yet even in this Relation where they could not be left out without making it imperfect some are found faulty and yet may pretend as fair as the best Every day produces additional reasons why the King cannot be too cautious in whom he confides and 't is to be feared that some of Ireland are not quite exempt from all suspicion as well as others in England But then as for those whose deserts have entituled them to his Majesty's good opinion such as for their affection to the Protestant Interest and Religion have been divested of their substance and are in present want those we see are not out of his Majesty's Gracious Care and Princely Consideration For how many I was about to say how few are excluded from Commands in the Army that desired it besides all that had Commands formerly and could not be employed have half pay allowed them for their present subsistence And then as for the poorer sort his Majesty was before-hand in making provision for them in issuing out his Brief for a General Collection throughout the whole Kingdom which Charity has been gratefully acknowledged by that most Reverend anâ— Pioâ—s Archbishop of Tuam in a Seâ—mon at St. James's There now remains onl◠〈◊〉 part of the Clergy and Gentlemen unprovided for As for the Clergy his Majesty graciouâ—â—y consâ—dering their condition did soon after his accession to the â—rown graciously order that whatever Benefices in his Gift should become vacant should be conferr'd upon them besides the supply which the Brief affords them for the present Hence we may observe to what a narrow compass the noise of Forty Thousand People is reduced to there being according to the best account that is given not Seven Hundred Men that are not in some respect or other competently provided for But that I may not be thought to have incurred a mistake in this computation it must be observed That a great part of the List given in to the House of Commons are Men of Estates or Money here in England and though perhaps some of those make the greatest clamour yet would it better become them to relieve their Distressed Brethren than to abate the Charity which the Parliament with great generosity and a Christian compassion designed for the support of such as were really in a poor and an indigent condition All I here say is matter of fact and how partially soever his Majesty's present management may be misinterpreted by some yet 't is certain that his silent but wonderful conduct in the provision for the Distressed Protestants of Ireland ought to be engraven in Golden Characters and not defaced by the unreasonable Clamours of such who would devour that which they have no want of and consequently no just claim and title unto to the apparent injury of their suffering and necessitous Bâ—â—â—hren which the Parliament have most huâ—â—â—â— supplicated 〈◊〉 Majesty for who no doubt 〈◊〉 in the most 〈◊〉 and discreet manner make such a 〈◊〉 as will bespeak his Royal Bounty and 〈◊〉 sense of their condition as well as 〈◊〉 opottionable to their pressing and great 〈…〉 ties FINIS