i- .*M 7;^ MlV ' %l' ■If '^ ^■A-.-5 ALUMNI LIBRARY, * ;• * THEOLOGICAL SEMINAI^Y, | ' ' ;;^ PRINCETON, N. J. * m Case, Division ' j. ^heif, sgclir.n |i.- 1. .1) Book, I ■ -J. ^ T R Y A £ y O^ THE j^^S^:^^^^ ROMAN CATHOLICS, On a fpecial Commlflion direflgd to 2 Lord Chief juftice Re a son, Lord Chief Baron In t e r e s t, and Mr. Juftice Clemency, Wednesday, Augufi $th, 1761.' Mr. CLODWoRTttY'^€aMMON-SENSE, Foreman of the JWry. ' - ' ^ ^ Mr. Serjeant STATUTE,.Counfel for the Crown, CoNSTANTiNE CANtioi^^ Efq. Counfcl ioi the >f>^ Where'ver Truth and Interefl pall embracfi Let Paffion cool and Prejudice give Place, The THIRD EDITION. DUBLIN: ^ Printed by GEORGE FAULKNER, in Eflcx Street, MDCCLXII, T O HIS EXCELLENCY THE Earl of Halifax, Lord Lieutenant, General, and General Governor of Ireland. My lord, y\ LL Benefits that require Eftablifhment or Promo- tion, and all Grievances that re- A 3 quire [vi] quire Relaxation or Redrefs, in this Country, are naturally fub- mitted to the Man who hath approved himfelf rather the Pa- tron than the Regent of Ireland. If Your Excellency had not taken a diftinguiflied Pleafure in doing public Good, and remedy- ing public Evil, You would not have been troubled with the fol^ lowing Treatife, As Ireland cannot partake of the Royal Favour or Influence, fave I vil ] fave by Refleftion ; it is a very fingular Happinefs when fuch Fa- vour is Conveyed to ns, without Cloud or Diverfion, in all the Comfort of its Warmth and Full- nefs of its Luftre, May the Praifes of Your Ex- cellency continue to be record- ed, not by the Adulation of Cour- tiers and venal Dedicators^ but by the Beneficence of Your Own A&.Sj and the Acknowledgments A 4 of »^ [ viii 3 of an obliged and grateful Peo- ple. I amy Tfiy'Lo^JDy Your Excellency'^? Moft humhle^ and Mojl dutiful Servant J The AUTHOR. THE T R Y A L O F T H E ROMAN CATHOLICS. T was on Monday iht 3d o? Au- gufi laft, when, croffing a Walk in St, James'' s Park^ I happened to meet Mr. Fairfield^ my Coun- tryman and old Acquaintance. After mutu- al Salutations, my dear Friend, fays he, I rejoice to fee you. You are come mofl fea- fonably for the Service of our common Coun- try, on a very interefling Occafion. Why, faid I, is any new Evil intended to- ward Ireland? Is our Linen-Staple to be dif- treffed, [ I^ ] trefTed, or is a Stop to be put to our Inland Navigations, or is a Union adtually on the Carpet ? Nothing of This, he replied. You muft know that I am Member of a Society of about Thirty proteflant Gentlemen, partly Englijh and partly Irijh^ who meet on IVed- fiefday in every Week, at the King's Arms Tavern. On the firfl Week in January we chufe our Chairman, who retains a Confular Authority through the Year. We aim at Inftrudion as well as Amufement ^ and, ^1- moft on every Meeting, we debate fbme Queflion of public Concern, that had been propofed for the Purpofe at a former Sitting, As the Difcovery of Truth is our only Caufe of Queflion, and Matters of national Utility our fole Subject of Debate, I am bold to fay that the Public has already received fome Be- nefit through this fame Channel. That our Controverfies are, at Times, not unworthy the Attention of a firft Minifter; nor our Dccifions unbecoming a more auguft Af- fembly. About [ 'I ] About four Months ago we received fome printed Papers, entitled, the Farmer s Cafe of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. And, on Pe- rufal, we found that They included a Mat- ter of no fmaller Concern than the bodily Safety and temporal Interefl of every Protefl- ant in that Kingdom. It is evident, howr ever, that the Writer, before he fat down to his Defk, had determined the Queftion in his own Bpfom^ and, though his Rea- fonings, in fad, may be flrong and impar- tial, we cannot fuppofe them equally con- clufive with Arguments fairly oppofed by all that can be urged on the other Side. In a Matter of fuch Weight and unfpeak- able Importance to a whole Nation ; we re- folved that it was incumbent to make a thorough Inquifition into the Merits of the Caufe, on either Part. Three full Months were afligned for the particular Study there- of Each Member adopted the Side on which he chofe to rank. Three Judges, with a Jury, and a Bar of refpedive Lawyers, were appointed. And next Wednefday is fixed for the Day of impending Tryal But, [ 12 ] . But, as feveral of our Members are now in the Country, we are in prefent Diftrefs for One or two of the Jury, and you are arrived mofl opportunely to fupply the Defedt. I know you to to be verfed in the Laws of your Country, and warmly affeded with all her Concerns ; and yow will be entertained with One of the mofl extraordinary Tryals that, perhaps, ever depended in any Court. Mr. Fairfield^ faid I, I will chearfully at- tend you, and think myfelf much honoured by your Invitation. I have repeatedly read the printed Papers you mention, and am fur- ther fludied in the Cafe in Queflion. This fame Farmer, who feems now to have un- dertaken the Caufe of the Roman Catholics, was once reputed their mod irreconcileable Enemy; and, on the Rebellion of 1746, he wrote feveral Papers againft them, with a Spirit and Poignancy, that neither They nor their Poflerity are ever likely to parcjon. Our Counfel againfl Them, replied Mr. Fairfieldj are furnifhed with thofe very Pa- pers and all other requifite Inflruments of Offence, i 13 J Offence. But, the Counfel, for the Catho- lics, are furnifhed, on the other Hand, with a late Treatife entitled Hijlorical Memoirs* y a Match, as it is thought, for this formida- ble Farmer and all Other their Opponents, put together. As my Time of Engagement iox the Eve- ning is come, I mufl requefl you to meet me, at the Temple-Exchange CofFee-Houfe, about Ten to-morrow Morning. I will there introduce you to feveral very fenfible and worthy Members of our Society. THE DAY of this important Tryal be- ing arrived, I attended my Friend to the Place of Alfembly, The Judges affumed the Bench. The Lawyers ranged themfelves on their refpedive Sides. The Jury was du- ly impanelled. And the Parties to be tried being arraigned by their Proxy ^ Mr. Serjeant Statute^ then Counfel for the Crown, opened the Caufe as followetb. My * We know not the Author. His Modefty would not permit him to prefix his Name to a Work that any •ther Writer would be proud to acknowledge. [ H ] My Lords the Judges, and you Gentlemen of the Jury! You are this Day to try a Peo- ple, by their Prox}^ whom every Man muft of Neceflity condemn who hath, in himfelf, any Share or Participation of Allegiance to his King, or Attachment to his Country, any Regard to Society, to the Sandlion of Laws, or Obligation of Treaties, to Leagues between Nations, or Faith among Men. What Amity, indeed, what Alliance or Intercourfe can be had with a People whofe Religion abfolves from the Obfervdnce of Engagements ; who promife through Policy, and through Principal betray. But, my Lords, I need not dwell upoii bare Aflertions, I haflen to Overt-Ads, that are pregnant with a thoufand Proofs of thefe Allegations, all known, recorded, and in- conteflable. IN the Reign of our firfl Charles^ the Ro- man Catholics of Ireland were in the Pofleflion of every Blefling that the Conflitution of thele Kingdoms could confer. They enjoyed the free Exercife of their Superftition equal with That [ 15 ] That of the Religion ellabllflied by Law* They were equally allowed to purchafe and inherit ; to fit as Jurors on the Determinati- on of Life and Property-, to vote for Re* prefentatives to Parliament j and even to fit in Parliament themfelves. *^ In this blefTed Condition of Peace and *' Security (fays my Lord Clarendon) the En- *' glijh and Irijh^ the Proteftants and Ro- " man Catholics lived, ISc. during the whole " happy Reign of King James^ and, from " his Death, every Degree of their Happi- " nefs was increafed and improved under " the Government of his late Majefty King « Charles \r But now it was that, taking Advantage of this great Lenity and Indulgence of Govern- ment, as alfo of the unreferved Affedion 3nd Confidence that their Proteflant Brethren repofed in them, the Papifts of Ireland plot- ed and perpetrated the moll execrable Scheme that ever brought Dilgrace upon Human-Nature. They had fecretly planned the univerfal Maflacre of all Proteftants in the [ i6 ] the Kingdom. The bloody Night was ap- pointed. The Word was given throUghoiif And the dreadful Secret was preferved by All to the Hour of Execution. So faithful are thefe Irijh Cathohcs to Each other, the' None elfe living may place any Trufl in Them. The fame noble Hiilorian tells us that " On the ^0,^ of Onoha\ 1 641 , a Rebellion *^^ broke out in all Parts of Ireland^ except *^ Dublin^ where the Defign of it was mi- " raculoufly difcovered the Night before it *' was to be executed. That a general In- ^' furredion of the Trijh fpread itfelf over the " whole Country, in fuch an inhuman and " barbarous Manner, that there were forty " or fifty thoufand Proteflants murdered " before they fufpeded themfelvcs in anj " Danger, or could provide for their De- " fence, by drawing together into Towns " or ilrong Houfes. We are further informed, by Sir John Tefnple and Others, that, during the two firfl Months of this Rebellion, more than one hundred [ 17 ] 01^ hundred and fifty thoufand Proteriants v/ete mafTacred in cold Blood. ^ I willingly fpare the Court, as well as myfelf, the Horror of reciiing the Manner and wanton Cruelty of thofe deliberate Butcheries. Let it fuffice to obferve that,- at the time of this Infurredion, thefe Peo- ple were equal Members of our free Con- fiitution^ that they were favoured of Go- vernment, careiTed by all Prot^flants, and could not have given us fo deadly a Sting if we had not received them to our unarmed Bofoms. And that Proteftants, therefore, may hope for Safety within the Neighbour- hood of Irijh Catholics juft lb long, and no longer than they want Power to hurt, while their Talons are well pared, and their Teeth ^11 drawn. I (hall nov/- proceed to give the Court a Syflem of thofe very humane and charitable Dodrines, on whofe Principles fuch detefta- ble Pradifes are founded, B Foreman. ^.M'- [ i8 ] Foreman. With the good Pleafureof your LordfhipSy my Brothers and I wifh to hear every Ar- ticle argued and anfwered apart, that No- thing material may efcape our Memory. Lord Chief Juftice. Let it be as you defire. Let us hear what theCounfel, on the other Side, have to' fay in Mitigation of this heavy Charge. Counfetkr Candour. My Lords ! My Anfwer fhall be to Fa6ts, and not to Fidion. And I (hall fpare the Court feme Time and myfelf fome Trouble, in Confidence that your Lordfhips and the Gentlemen of the Jury haVe not been by- afled by a mere Parade of Words, in Con- fidence, I fay, that you have not miftaken In- vedive for Argument, nor the Didates of Prejudice for Thofe of right Reafon. The Charge that has been laid by Mr. Serjeant Statute^ gives me principally to learn that he has never been in Ireland^ and that he is equally a Stranger to the Manners and Difpofuion of our modern Irijh Catholics, as ^ to I 19 1 tb the Charader and Repute of their gallan j Fore-fathers. By the Pidurc which he has . drawn 4)f ' this People, with a Pen dipt in^^Gall, and a Pencil in Ink, v/e Chould think them of fome different and adverfe Species, that fa- voured not of the Humanity of the Sons o^ Adajn, But, when v/e compare Age with Age and Nation with Nation, we find, with little Difparity, that Men compared to Men are, as Man to himfelf, a Compound of Vice and Virtue, a Balance of Propenfities to Good and Evil. Complexion and Climate may make fome Alteration ; Education, Re- ligion, Cuflom ■ will have their Influence^- more or lefs; but Nature is almoft the fame in All, It cannot wholly be overcome. It cannot wholly be converted to Benevolence or Malevolence, to Good or to Evil. And we have feen Chriftians and Mahometans exchange Principles, as it were by mutual Confent ; Thefe inviting their Fellow-Crea- tures, tho'.of an adverfe Religion, to iliare the BlefTings of Peace and Plenty under their Government ; and Thofe driving their Coun- B a trymert [ 20 ] trymen and Fellow Chriftians from the com- mon Partrcipation of Eanh and Air But, if any particular Diflindion is to be admitted between the Sedls and Societies of Men and Men, Mr. Serjeant has been very unhappy in pointing this Diftindion to the Difadvan- tage of the Lijh^ a People noted, to a Proverb, for their Holpitaiiiy and Benevolence; and whofe Anceftors, from the Year of Chrifti 500 to 1002, are record- d in Hiilory, for Arts, as for Arms, for a Nation of Heroes and an Ifland of Saints. Love annihilates Faults, Hatred creates them. While we are leagued in Faction or Friendfhip with any People, their Merits are magnified and their Blemifhes difappear : But fliould a Breach enfue, their Merits will flraight vanifh, and every Fault wiU return and grow upon our Sight. Jndeed the Principles of every Sedl and Fadlion are thought better of, than they de- ferve, by Thofe who clafs with them, and much worfe than they deferve by Thofe who oppofe them. They are mutually miflaken, mif- [ 21 ] mifreprefented, and vilified by All who are in a State of civil or relicjious Warfare with Them. We firft feel a Propenfity to be- lieve Evil of our AdverfarieSj and, after- ward, to hate and punirti them, on that Prefumption. It is very unhappy for this deprefTed Peo- ple that, of the feveral Hands who painted the Originals from which Mr. Serjeant has compx)unded his Portrait of Papifls, Each was interefted or inclined to (hade and to blacken, without one charitable Teint, or lenient Touch of the Pencil. In Truth thefe Pencils were, All, in Proteflant or, rather, Puritan Hands; and, who would dare to flep forth in Vindication of Wretches whom Power, joined by Prejudice, had cruflied and condemned.? Wherefore, fmce the Hiflori- ans of thofe Times can afford them but few Friends, let us try what we can gather from the Mouths of their Enemies that may, in any Degree, avail them for the Difcovery of Truth. B 3 Mr, [ 22 3 Mr. Serjeant informs us, on the Authority of a noble Author, that, during the Reigns of our firfl Jayms and our iirfl Charles^ the Roman Catholics of Ireland enjoyed every temporal and fpiritual Privilege, equal with Proteftants whofe Religion was eflablifhed by Law. But, was Mr. Serjeant and his noble Author under any Neceflky of forgetting or palling over what every Subjedl in England was obliged to taV;e Note of, to v/it, the Sta- tute of the 2d of Queen ElizahQth ? The Tax on Irijh Roman Catholics, of i zd. per Simday^ for abfenting themfelves from the Proteftant Service, was frequently exaded with Rigour in boththofe Pvcigns. In the Year 1629 a fl:ri(ft Proclamation iiTued againil the Exer- cife of the Popifh Pvites and Ceremonies. la J 633 the Roman-Caiholic Clergy of Dublin were fuppreiTsd, fifteen Chapels were feized on for the King's U(e. The Fryars and Priefls were fo perfecuted that fome of them hanged tliemfelvcs, (as Dodlor BoreJace jeftingly phrafes it) in their own Defence. Arid Num- bers of tiic Lijh, from Time to Time, had been fined and imprifoned fbr refufmg the Oadi { 23 ] Oath of Supremacy, an Oath, of all Others, that no Papift can pollibly take, confident with his Confcience. The Roman-Catholics, on thefe Occafions, earneftly petitioned to be tolerated in the Ex- ercife of their Religion, and, on that Con- dition, propofed, at their fpecial Coft, to maintain an Army of five thoufand Foot and five hundred Horfe for his Majefty's Ser- vice, but this Offer was rejeded. And thus thefe People, whom Mr. Serjeant has repre- fented to be fo happy in the full Enjoyment of all fpiritual Privileges, were not only pro- hibited from exercifing the Religion of their Confcience, They were alfo compelled, under the Pains of Fine and Imprifonment, to con- form to a Religion that was contrary to their Confcience; a Grievance rarely impofed by the fevereft Tyrants, and what no Govern- ment on Earth can have a Right to enjoin. Let us now fee how much better thefe People were fituated, with refped to Tem- porals than Spirituals ; for it would be ex- trordinary, indeed, if Mr. Serjeant fhould B 4 happen [Hi happen to be equally miflaken in two fuch capital Articles. In the Beginning of the Reign of James I. the Roman-Catholic Natives of Ireland were feized of nnofl of the Lands of that Kingdom, as their Forefathers had been, from Genera- tion to Generation, during feveral Centuries. This v/as a Circumftanceby no Means a- grecable to Some of the Reformed who, en- vying and coveting theRichnefs ofthofePof- iciTions, wiflied at once to extirpate every Pa- pifl fronh the Realm, and t;o take their Eftates T .... into Proteftant Tutelage. With this View, fome greedy Politicians, who were near the Throne, prevailed upon his Majefty to fet Aip a civil Inquifitwn in Ire- land^ for the pifcdvery of defedive Titles, whereby it^'was decreed to feize all Lands, l^c. in the Nan^ of the Crown, whereof the Proprietors fhould not be able to produce and to prove a legal Convevance. This they were very fenfible was generally impofTible, (orasmuch as, in Times of 4opg "\Varfare and [ ^5 ] and National Dlftradion, the Offices of Re- cord, with the Houfes of the chief Natives, had been pillaged or burnt, whereby almofl: all ancient Title- Deeds had been loft or de- (Iroyed. It is One of the fiift Laws of Nature and Reafon, aiid the Cufton of almoft all Nations upon Earth, refpedting Property, that Pnf- feffion makes a Right againji all who cannot pror duce a worthier CLiim. Upon this Law, our Statutes of Limitation are now moflf equita- bly founded. For if, in a certain Number of Years, no Clairrfant appears againfl a PoG- feffor, it IS a Prefumption, araountiryg to Proof, that the PoiTelTor, himfelf, has the worthieft Clait%. But, neither the Laws of Nature, B^^afoii, or Cuftorn, nor PoiTefiioa for feveial. Centuiies, pra<^ed Tiifficient, at thofe Tinnes, to prefer ve to ///}^'at holies the Inheritance of their Anceftory that was cru- elly rent from Them, by this iniquitous Court, as the Committee of the Lijh Houfe of Commons complained, in 1634, " to the utter O'uerthrow of many nolle and deferving Perfons [ 26 ] Per Jons that^ for valuable Conftderations of Ser- vice^ or Money^ or Bothy honourably and fairly /acquired tbofe Eftates'' During the Reign of James I. tliis Bufinefs was vigoroufly and ^ effedtually profecuted, under the Adminiflration of his Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichejkr^ who, accordingly, was rewarded with a Dividend amounting to the yearly Value of ten thoufand Pounds Ster. a Fortune next to Princely in thofe Days. During the Reign of Charles I. this fame In- quifition, after defedlive Titles, was profe- cuted with equal Application by his Deputy- Lord Falkland y who received, in one Sum, a Gratuity of ten thoufand Pounds Sterling, And, again, the Earl of Strafford^ perceiving what a high Recompence his Predeceflbrs had found, determined to exceed All in his Dili- gence on the Occafion. He is not afhamed to tcil us that he propofed to have his Inqui- fition attended with a Body of Jive hundred Horje^ as good Lookers on. That he further refolved to treat with Such as might give Furtherance in finding the Title for the King. • [ 27 ] King. That he enquired out// Men to ferve upon the Juries. That he found great Ad- vantage in granting the Judges a Portion. And, in the County of Galway^ when a Jury refufed to difpoffefs the Natives and find the Title in the King, he fined the Sheriff that returned them a thoufand Pounds, and bound over the jfiry to anfwer in the Cafile-Chamher " where^' fays he, " we conceive it is fit that *' their pertinacious Carriage be followed with all *' jtifi Severity.'' And agreeable to faid IVIea- furcs four whole Counties in Conaught were further found for the King, as alfo a great Extent of Territories in Miinfier^ and the County of C/^r^. l^emples Hiji. p. 13. Such was the blejfed Condition in which Mr. Serjeant and Lord Clarendon are pleafed to tell us that the Roman-Catholics of Ireland lived during the faid two Reiga^i. Deprived of their Patrimony and Inheritance upon Earthy and prohibited from worfliipping Hea- ven according to their Confcience, what Pro- fpedt was left them for Here or Hereafter ? A Worm, when bruifed, will turn, but thefe People, [ 28 ] People, notwithflanding the Severity of their Sufferings, Hill continued within the Pale of Peace and Allegiance. At length, the Aoimofities that fabfifted between the King and his Parliament began to flame abroad. A Rebellion broke out, in ScGthnd, that was countenanced ajad abetted by the Puritan Party, in England. The Pu- ritan Parry, in Ireland, had got the Reigns of Government into their Hands, and were fpi* rited and flrengihened by the Counfel and Encouragement of their Friends in England, And both the Church and the State, as then eilabliflitd by Law, began to be threatened, with final DiiTblution, by Thole who thought themfelves of Ability to give both the Gofpel and Law to the Land. In fuch Ti;nes, and at fuch a Jundure, what had wretched IriJIj Catholics to hope from Rulers who ihtn meditated, and foon after efFeded, the Downfall even of Mo- jiarchy and Epifcopacy itfelf? Indeed thefe depreffed People, then, looked for nothing Icfs than utter Extirpation •, nor were their Fears [ 29 J Fears and Surmizes without an adequate Foundation. Before they offered to f\\^erve from their Obedience to Government, Sir William Par- fons^ One of the Lords Juftice^, at a public Entertainment, before m.any WiinefTes, did pofuively declare that within a Twelvemoatfe no Catholic fhould be k^w in Ireland. It was alfo currently rumoured that the Rebels of Scotland propofed to invade them with an Army of 10,000 Men, and put Man,- Woman and Child to the Sword, .^nd a; Report at the fame Time prevailed among Them, as Dodor Maxwell^ afterwards Bi- fhop of Kihnore^ depofeth, that the ParliamenS of England had a Plot to bring them all to Churchy or cut off all the Pap^s in the King's Dominions. Even the King hrmfelf, againfl whom they are faid to have rebelled, apolo- gizes for them in his Eck. Bofdic. " where*' (he fays) " that Defpair being added to their " former Difcontents, and the Fear of utter " Extirpation 10 their wonted Oppreflions, [ B^ ] <' it was eafy to provoke them to open Re- ^' bellion, ^cr ' Thus, it fhould feem that thefe diftrefled' People arofe, not through any Defed of A^ legiance to their King, of due Obedience to Government, orof Good- Will or Affedion to their Protellant Brethren. They judged that fuch an Infurredion was indifpenfably necef- fary to their Self- Defence, the fir ft great Law' of Nations as of Nature : And they judged, at the fame Time, that they were efFe(5lually ferving their King and the Conflitution, as is evident from the Marquis of Clanricarde' & Letter to his Majefly, 26th oWBoher^ 1642^ wherein we find the following Paflage. Serjeant Statute. My Lords, } mull beg PermilHon, at this Time, to interrupt Mr. Candour: Suppofing we allowed that the Roman Ca^ tholics of Ireland were perfecuted and op- preffed in the Manner he fuggefls: Sup- pohng, I fay, we granted that the Motives of their Inlurredtion and Rebellion againfl Government [ 3» ] Government were founded on fiich Fads nS he has fet forth. Can This, however, be, in any Meafure, a Juflification of the horrid Bar- barities that enfued thereon,» committed, al- mofl: wholly, on the Helplefs and Inoffending, on Thofe who had neither the Power, nor the Will to promote or contribute to the Lead of their Sufferings ? Good Heaven, to what an Infernal Depth may Humanity be degraded! to what Exceffes will bigotted Zeal and bloody Enthufiafm condud their Votaries! What, fifty Thoufand flaughter- ed, perhaps in one Night, unfufpeding, con- fiding in the Friendfhip of their Butchers ? one hundred and fifty Thoufand mafifacred, within the fpace of two Months ; unprece- dented Cruelty : dreadful Fads, long affirm- ed by unqueftionable Teflimonies, that no' Eloquence can palliate, nor Sophiflry evade. Thefe are (hocking Imputations, They are weighty Truths, indeed. They have lain heavy on this People for a hundred and twenty Years, and are likely to lie upon them, from Generation to Generation, as long [ 32 ] long as any Diflindion remains between Fro- teftant and Papifl. Counfeilor Candour. My Lords the Judges, and Gentlemen of the Jury. I am not infenfible of the many Difadv^antages that I happen to lie under in my Anfwer to this Part of Mr. Serjeant's Charge. He rightly obferves that this heavy Imputation, whether juft or unijufl, has long lain and ftill lyes on this u.ifortunate People. It is a Prejudice deeply rooted in the Minds of Proteftants, a Matter fo received a.nd cre- dited by all as not- once to be controverted or examined by any : Aud, though we and they are equally the Sons of Adam, and that neither thf y nor their Fathers, nor the Fa- thers of their Fathers had any Ad or Part in this bloody Bafinefs •, yet, their being the more immediate Defcendants of Men, who are faid to have treated Proteftants with fuch Inhumanity, leaves an Im. riilion of Jealoufy and Di(gufl on our Hearts that may not be fuddenly and ealiiy erafed. I have [ ^^ ] I have already confefTed that I know o{ very few Writers, of the Roman-Catholic Sedt or Party, on this Subjed. If any there were, yet, who would dare to print or pub- lifh a Syllable in Favour or Vindication of Papifts, during the Regency of Oliver Crom- well F Or if fuch Things were printed, they were fupprefTed by Authority, or have pe- riflied in a Corner foif want of Sale. Now though the Teftimony of their Ene- mies, when againft thefe People, may be juft- ly fufpedled ; yet, fhould thofe Enemies ad- vance any Thing that tends to their Juftifi- cation, fuch Teftimony muft claim a double Credit, as nothing lefs than the Rack, or the greater Force of Truth can be fuppofed to extort it. For all that I have advanced or fliall, here- after, advance in this Argument, I have here in my Hands unqueftioned Authorities, to which I beg leave to refer your Lordfhips and the Jury, on any Controverfion or Doubts that may arife. C The [ 34 1 The Writers of chief Note, who have treated of the faid Rebellion of 1641, arc Lord Clarendon^ Sir John 'Temple^ and Dodtor Borlafe. Lord Clarendon was an Englijhman, He, probably, had never been in Ireland. His Attention was nearly confined to the Con- cerns of his native Country. He took fome Things from Rumour, from People ftruck with Panics, whofe Fears and Antipathies magnified Mole-hills into Mountains. And fome other Things he took on Truft from the faid cotemporary Hiflorians, without recolleding, and, poflibly, without being ap- prifed that They were fo deeply interefted in blackening and fuppreffing the Iri/b Catho- lics, with whom they lived in continued En- mity, and by whofe Ruin They profpered. Lord Clarendon was, himfelf, deceived 5 but thefe Men intended to deceive others* They tell us in the firfl Place, that, by Confpiracy and fpecial Appointment, on the 23d of OBoher^ 1641, a Rebellion broke out through Ireland^ and that the Infurred- on L 35 ] on was univerfal, except in Dublin. Second- ly, that forty or fifty thoufand Proteftants were butchered before Notice or Time fuf- iicient for avoiding the Danger. And, Third- ly, that, within the two firfl Months of the Rebellion, more than one hundred and fifty thoufand Proteftants were maflacred in cold Blood. Now, My Lords, if, either direftly, or by neceffary Iriiplication, I can prove from the Mouths of Proteftants, from the Mouths of Puritans themfelves, even of Tliofe in fiigheft Station, and who, from ths Nature of their Place, muft have known more of thefe Matters than all Others; if I can prove, I fay, from fuch unqueftionable Tefti'monies, that each of the above three Articles is falfe ; it muft follow that fuch Scandals were vented and propagated, on Purpofe to perpetuate Divifion and Rancour between the Inhabit- ants of that unhappy Country : And Irifh Proteftants will, thenceforth, learn to behold their Catholic Countrymen with Eyes of fu- ture Charity and brotherly Benevdenpe. C 2 From From the firfh Englijh Invafion in the Reign of Henry the fecond to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth^ the Iriflj had generally Hv- ed in a State of favage Anarchy. They had been deprived of their own Govornors, their Conflitution and Laws, without having Others duely fubftituted in their Room. It is true that England fent them Rulers from Time to Time; but thofe Rulers were as Planets, that looked down upon the IriJJj with Af- pedls of malignant Influence, nor once of- fered to receive Them within the Sphere of common Protedlion and Beneficence. No fpiritual Diftindion as yet fubfifted between them; the Contention was of Papifts againfl Papifts ; but the Words Englijh and Irijh ferved as Terms of War fufficiently virulent, without the Whetflone of Religion to fharp- en their Ferocity. A certain ancient Perfonage once offered to make a Gift of this whole World, and all the Glories thereof, upon the Party's barely doing him a fingle A6t of Homage, fn like Manner, Pope Adrian had made a prefent of all C 37 J all Ireland to Henry the fecond, although the Popes of Rome^ from the Birth of St. Peter to the Invafion of the Englijh^ never had a Foot of Land nor a Grain of temporal Au- thority in that Kingdom. And laftly, the Kings of England^ on the fame righteous Ti- tle, had divided the whole Ifland . between a .Few of their Englijh Sw^qCls, and left them to get it from the Irifh^ as well as They could. And thus it fliould feem, that Feo- ,ple are never inclined to be more -bountiful, than when they make Donations of the Pro- perty of Others. Hence it came to pafs that during a long Interval of upward of three hundred Years, from Henry II. to Queen Elizabeth^ the IriJJj looked on the Englifh as Invaders of their natural Rights and Properties ; and the £;z- glijh^ under Colour of the faid Gifts, looked on Ireland 2ls lawful Prize, and on any Oppofiti- on, to their Will, as Rebellion. The En- glifh^ as Lords paramount, treated the IriJJj^ as VafTals, with an infolent Severity ; and the Irijbj like a Horfe reludlant to the Rider, flill C 3 laboured [ 38 ] laboured to difcharge themfelves from the Lafli and the Rein. Hence, perpetual Fears and Jealoufies, and Oppreflions, on the one Part ; and on the Other, Difcontent and fre- quent Infurredllon. When the Irijh were Offenders, they had rarely other Trial fave That of martial Law ; and when they were offended, they had no Redrefs to look for, in any EngUfi Court, againfl the EngUlh, In this State of frequent Warfare and con- tinual Animofity, the Englifi and the IriJh had fcarce any other Employment than recipro- cally to guard themfelves againfl Each other. The Bleflings of Peace, of Unity and Com- munity, were altogether Aliens to this defo- latcd Kingdom. Amidfl loofe Morals and fa- vage Manners, mutual Rancours and. Ra- pines, what Urbanity could be cultivated or Civility found? No Trade could circulate vyhere no Intercourfe of Safety or Amity was provided. All Arts were rooted out; the Pradife and Methods of former Crafts and Manufadures were wholly forgotten ; and even the Sound of the Hammer w^s fcarce heard [ 39 ] heard in the Land, fave for forming or fharp- ening the rude Inftruments of Battle. Could any Land be cultivated, could Agri- culture take Place, where the Sower was doubtful of the Hand that fhould reap? While the Englijh and Irijh mutually coveted and grafped at the PolTellions of Each other, the Precarioufnefs of Property, on either Part, difcouraged them . from that Induflry which was ncceflary for the Encreafe of what was honeflly their own. This naturally pr# duced Indolence, and Indolence produced Want, and Want as naturally withheld them from the Propagation of their Species, which was further abridged and thinned by the Wafle of frequent Wars. Queen Elizabeth wifhed to put an End to thefe Evils. She wifhed to unite both Par- ties as one People under one Monarch -, fb as All fhould enjoy, in common, the Advan- tage of the Laws, under a free Conflitution : But the Miniflers, appointed for fuch bene- ficent Purpofes, were very far from anfwer- ing to the Worth of her Intentions, and ma- C 4 ny [ 40 1 ny lawlefs Pradlifes and unwarrantable Seve- rities continued to be exercifed towards the y Tht Majority of the Englijhy in that King- dom, were nov/, alfo, of the reformed Re- ligion. This ferved to adminifler new Mat- ter of Diftindlion and frefh Gaufe of further DifTention and Quarrel. The late Confor- mifts imagined that they could not better prove the Truth of their own Religion, than by perfecuting their Brethren of a different Perfuafion ; and the A6t of Uniformity and the Ad of Supremacy^ fo fevere to be impof- ied, and fo i-mpoflible to be complied with by Roman-Catholics, againfl their inward Di6lates of Duty and Confcience, began to be enforced with Rigour. They now apprehended, with fome Ap- pearance of Reafon, that they fhould be compelled to forfake the Religion of their Forefathers, to which they were more attach- ed than to all temporal FolTeilionSi and, in- deed, Sincerity in Religion,' whether well or ill [ 41 ] ill founded, is the beft Security we can have of the Integrity or Morality of Mankind. This Fear of the Excifion of their Eccle- fiaftical Syftem, with the manp civil Oppref- fions that they continued to labour under, united to excite the native Roman-Catholics of Ireland to three feveral Rebellions during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth^ the laft of which was very formidable under I'yrone^ and could not be fuppreffed without great Coft and Difficulty. And this War again con- duced to depopulate the Land, and ilill fur- ther to exafperate the Englifh and Irifb^ the Proteflants and Papifls, againft Each other. What enfued, during the two fucceeding Reigns, refpeding the prefent Argument, is already recited. The Trumpet of War, for a Time, had ceafed to blow. The native IriJJj began to warm themfeives in the Sun- fhine of a lawful and jufh Government. They were now free to plead in thofe very Courts where they could rarely obtain the Privilege of being impleaded. They got a Glimmer- ing of the Advantages of a free Conflitution, by C 4* 3 by feveral particular Inftances of the Guardi- anfhip of their Perfons and the Security of their Properties. And had not thofe very Laws, (to which this diflrefled People gladly fled for Protedlion) like Penelope^ unravelled the Web they had woven, Irijh Catholics would have fat down, in Peace and Con- tentment, the moft pleafed and the moft grateful of all Men upon Earth. At the Begining of the Reign of James I. it was found that the many Difcouragements to Propagation, with the Wafle of frequent and long Wars, had left but few Inhabitants in the Kingdom of Ireland. The Sword, it is true, was fheathed for the prefent; but the Commotions in the Minds of Englijh and Irijhy of Proteflants and Papifts, like the Sea after a Storm, took long Time to fubfide; fcind the Cuilom of fettled Peace, with the AfTurance of domeftic Quiet and Family-En^ joyments, are neceflary to the Encourage- ment of matrimonial Eftablifhments. Hence It happened that, at the Infurredi- on of 1 641, the Inhabitants of Ireland had not [ 43 3 not encreafcd, in the Proportion that might have been expeded, during a Truce, as I may fay, of forty Years. About that Time, the largefl Towns in the Kingdom were very thinly peopled ; the Number refident, even in the Metropolis, fcaree amounted to twenty thoufand Inhabit- ants; and Sir ^Mam Petty and Others com- pute that the Britifb^ including both Englifb and Scotch^ were, in Proportion to Irifh Catho- lics, as Two to Eleven!, and did not exceed 225000 in the whole Realm. Now, one Third of the faid Number were all Scotch^ or of Scotch Extradion, who had fettled in the fix efcheated Counties of the Province of CTr fter^ and had there eftablifhed fo very formi- dable a Colony that the Irijh^ during thefe Troubles, did not dare to attempt them. Wherefore if, independant of the faid Scotch Colony, one hundred and fifty thoufand En- glijh Proteftants, as is faid, had been maf- facred during the two firft Months of this In- furredion ; not a fingle Englijh Proteflant had JDcen left m the Kingdom ; and here a Peri- od, [ 44 ] od, at once, had been put to the War, or at lead, to all Contention between Proteftants and Papifls in that Country. But, I fhould previoufly have anfvvered to the Jir/i Article of the Charge, thsit. on the 2 ^d of O^ober^ I74i> fbis Infurre^on was tiniverfal except in Dublin. When the News of a Rebellion firft reach- ed the Metropolis, as the Panic of the Peo- ple was great, their Apprehenfions had no Limit, and the Government imagined that the Confpiracy and Infurredtion had been imiverfal. They accordingly iffued a Pro- clamation, without Difbindion, againft all Irijb Papifo as Traitors to the State; but, on better ' Information, they acknowledged and reformed the Error, of this firft Procla- mation, by a Second, wherein they declare and pubiilli, that " by the Words 7r/)^ Pa- ^' pifts (nientioned without Diftindion in the " former Proclamation) they intend only fuch " of tJje old mere IriJb in the Province of Ul- ^' /ler^ as had plotted, contrived, and been ^' Adors in that Treafon, and Others who ^' adhered to them." In . [ 45 J In the ^Journal of the Houfe of Lords, la England, we find among other PafTages of a Letter written to the Lord Chamberlain and dated the i^th o^ November, 1641^ the following remarkable Words, ". That ,the " Province [Conaught] wherein his Lordfhip '' [Clanricarde] is, doth utterly diflike the " Proceedings of the Rebels — and that the '' whole Province of Mu^er is yet quiet." In a Letter of the fame Date to the Earl of BripU the Earl of Clanricarde fays, that " at '^ firfl he was on a fudden furprized with the " mod fatal News of a defperate Rebellion " in the North, and a Rumour of a general '' Combination ,and Confpiracy "^ throughout " the Kingdom, ^ut, (he adds) we begin " to recover our Witis, feared away by the " firfl Reports, and to to difcern that None " appears in this deteftable Confpiracy, or " enters into Adtion, but the Remains of the " ancient Irijh Rebels in the North, and " fome in the planted County of Leitrm,"* And, in a Letter dated the 14th of the fol- lowing December; from the Lords Juftices, Sir fVilliam Parfons and Sir John Borlafe^ to the [ 46 J ,^ the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland^ then in Eng- land y Tht^ write " That the Fire, which " was fi^/l kindled in Uljier and lay a-while " fi^thered in other Parts, begins now to " bre^ o^t generally." Serjdknt Statute. With t^ good;Leave.of the Court 1 muft obferve; ^)at'il is no Way "meterial to the prefent ArgurriSMpvhether this Infurredion was gener^on yjis.or.on that particular Day, or whether the f ir^. ^ Rebellion firfl broke out in this or that particuliar Province ; pro vided thd'^Mucd^ and Mafiacres, charp;ea^ were cornniSttjed j|^ p6'rpeka|rf within the Time fpeclged, either ih this Prt)vince or that Province,, or iii [ 47 ] ferring that fuch a Wltnefs may, e(!lually^ have mifled us in the fubfeqiient Part of his Teftimony ? But further — With your good Leave, my Lords, and Gentlemen of the Jury'j I appre- hend and do infift that it is exti?emely mate- rial, to the prefent Argument^/ to |!tew, as I have done, that this Infurr^ion was very far from being generaj,|^^jjer on the firfl Day, or in the firfl Month, or in the two firft Months fucceedi^.g'y^he 23d of O^lo- ber-, Forafmuch as I fhalfnere^er prove, by a Croud of Teftimonj^s, that rucn\an Infurrec- tion was5= by no Means, the gene^r Intenti- on of this People. That they '^voided its Commencement, That they deteft^^ its Con- fequences. That they Werq artfufly:;fad vi- olently impelled theret6, ^ith a j^ipvjto the Forfei ture of their Lives an \j For*,|?neis. And, that they hanj no other Reiource, no other Option, than patiently to endure the Sword and the Halter or toftandfor their Lives, It may however be neceffary, before I en- ter on thofe Proofs fo requifite for the Miti- gation [ 48 ] gation and Removal of Prejudices long efta- blifhed againft this unhappy People ; it may, I fay, be previoufly neceffary to clear thenl of the fecond and third capital Imputation, fo heavily, charged upon them by Mr. Ser- jeant Siame'; to wit, that forty or fifty thoiif and Proteftants were mirdered before they fufpe^ed themf elves in Danger-^ and that one hundred and fifty thou/and^ were maffacred in cold Blood during the two firJ^^Months of this Rebellion. Sir PFilliam Pg//J; , informs us that thirty feven thoufand Englifb were maffacred, during the firfl Year of this Rebellion. This, in- deed-, is fome^.hat lefs tfen one hundred and fifty thoufand, within the two firfl Months. But, neither (hall we give Oredit to this Gen- tleman. . Hb was principal Secretary to Ire- ton the Fvegicide. He, himfelf, got five or fix thoufandiPounds yearly Inheritance by the Forfeitures-, and he righteoufly conceived that Ail were malTacred, whofe Blood was fhed by the Rebels, though in Battle and equal Combat. Let [ 49 ] Let Us rather attend to the Teftlmony of the Lords Juftices themfelves, who princi- pally provoked and excited this Infurrediortj and who perfifted in their Prcvifions of con- iiant Fuel for fupporting and fpreading the Flame they had raifed. The Lords Juftices and Council of Ire- land, by a Letter dated the ^gth of the faid formidable Otlohery acqua^^the Lord Lieu- tenant, that the Rebels had poflefled them- felves of the Caftle, Wife, Children, and Ser- vants of the Lord Blamy in the County of Monaghan, Asalfo, of the Houfe of the Earl of Effe$i called Cdrickniacrofs, As aKb of the Houfe of Sir Henry Sptwood in the fame County. That they had, further, plunder- ed a Town and Plantaition of \ht' Britijh^ had burned diverfe Houfes^ had burned di- verfe other Villages, and robbed and fpoiled many Englijh^ and none but Proteftants, leaving the Engtifh Papifts untouched as well as the Irijh. That they had broken open the King's Store of Arms and Munition, at New- ry, wherewith they had armed themfelveSj, T> and t 50 ] and had plundered the Englifh there, and dit armed the Garrifon. Now, my Lords, in all this long Account of various and manifold Violences and In- juries, we have not a fingle Syllable tend- ing toward Murder, or even toward Maim- ing or any perfonal Hurt. No, not even tending towards any Infuit to the Men, or Indecency to the Women. And yet they ciofe their Intelligence with this remarkable Aflurance, even the joint Afiurance of the Government, " That^ Tbis^ though too muchy is all that they yet hear is done by the Rebels, I take Leave to paufe a little. 1 wait to know whether Mr. Serjeant has any par- tlculiar Exception to the Teftimony of the Lords Juitices and Council of Ireland^ or whether he thinks them deferving of any Credit in this Cafe, — But, I fee he is diftrefled. I will urge him no further on this Article. It muft be confefTed, however, that Doc- tor Borlafe and Sir John Temple prefume to know more, of thefe Matters, than the Lords Juftiees C 51 ] Juftides and all the Council of Ireland^ put together. Borlafe informs us that " In his Time it *' was confidently averred by the Irijh that " not above Seventeen were killed at the *' Beginning of this Infurredion." This he calls a bold Aflertion. But he does not at- tempt to dilprove it, which he certainly would have done, if warranted by Fadts or any Colour of Truth. Sir John Temple admits that ** The Jrijb ** at the very firfl, for fome few Days after " their Breaking otit, did not in moll Places " murder many EngTifh •, but the Courfe they *^ took was to feize upon all their Goods and ** Cattle.'* He affirms, indeed, " that there " were fome Murders committed on the firft *' Day of thefe Rebels rifmg." But then he lays not where, by whom, or on whom fuch Murders were committed ; and he adds that *' Thefe he conceives were, for the mod " Part, done out of private Spleen, or where ** they had particular Inflrudtions fo to do ^ " but certainly, (proceeds he) That which J> 2, " thefii [ 52 ] '* thefe Rebels mainly intended at firft, and " moft bufily employed themfelves about, " was Driving away Englifljmens Cattle, and " poffefiing themfelves of their Goods." But, let us proceed to the lad Day of thofe tw.o fearful Months, in which it is faid that more EngUflj Proteftants were malTacred than were adually, at that Time in the Kingdom of Ireland. On the 23d o? Deceraber^ 164.1 , precifely two Motnhs from the Day of the Infurredion, the Lords Juftices iflued a Commiffion, in his Majelty's Name, directed to feveral Ma- giftrates and Gentlemen of the Province of Uljier and elfewhere. And in this CommilTl- OQ it is recited that " Whereas diverfe wick- '' ed and diiloyal People have lately rifen in " Arms, in feveral Parts of this Kingdom, ** arid have robbed and fpoiled Many of " our good Subjeds, Britijh and'Proteftants, *' who have been feparated from their feveral *' Habitations and fcattered in moft lamenta- " ble Manner •, and forafmuch «s it is need- " ful to take due Examination concerning tlie " fame [ 53 1 " fame : Know Ye, that We, repofing fpc- *' cial Trull and Confidence in your Care, ** ^c. have nominated and appointed You *' to be our Commiflioners, £f?f. to call ^' before You and examine upon Oath, &c. *' as well all fuch Perfons as have been rob- " ed and defpoiled, as all the Witneffes that *' can give Teflimony, therein, what Rob- *' beries and Spoils have been committed on " them fmce the 2 2d of OMer laft, or (hall ^' hereafter be commited on them or any " of them ; what the Particulars were, or *' are, whereof they were or (hall be fo rob- *' ed or fpoiled ; to what Value ; by whom ; "what their Names are, or where they now " or laft dwelt, that commited thefe Rob- " beries ; on what Day or Night the faid " Robberies or Spoils, committed or to be " committed, were done; what traiterous " or difloyal Words, Speeches, or Adlions, *' were then, or at any other Time uttered ** or committed, by thofe Robbers or any *' of them, and how often ; and all other " Circumftances concerning the faid Parti- " culars, and every of them : And You, our D 3 " faid [ 54 1 *"' faid Commdioners, are to reduce to Wrltr ^' ing ail the Examinations, £s?r. and the " fame to return to our Juflices and Council " of this our Realm of i;W^«^, Witnefs, ^c. Never, fure, was a more rninute Enquiry cnjoyned to l^e inade, by Proteflants, of Da- rnages done to Proteflants: It reaches evea t,D the Treafpn of Words and Circumftances^ But, is there any Enquiry enjoyned here, conr cerning Murder, or are any fuch Nlurders? intimated, or fuppofcd to have been commit- ed before the Ifluing of this Coramiflion ? The Proteflants, it is true, are here faid to have been robbed, and fpoiled, and driven from their Habitations, and fcattered abroad ; but they are called together, again, with their Adherents and WitnefTcs, to be exa- rnined, viva Voce as One would imagine, touching the Damages they had fufFered; ^ pretty flrong Implication that th^y were r;ot murdered. For, otherwife, it fhould feem that a CornmilTion to enquire into the Murder, as well as the Spoil of one hundred and fifty thoufand, ought to have been di- redecj I 55 i rc6ted to fuch Magiflrates, as /Eacus and Rhadamanthus^ who might have Authority to take the Depofitions of the Deceafed. Serjeant Statute. My Lords — there is no bearing the In(b- lence of fuch a fuppofed Triumph. We may fhortly exped to be told, by this Gentleman, that there never was fuch a Thing as the Rebellion of Forty-one. He may pofTibly even except to the Depofitions, legally taken, of the Multitude of bloody Butcheries committed by this People ; Depofitions that have flood the Teft of all Time and Enquiry ; entered on Record, transferred into Hiflory, and open to the Perufal, as well as impotent Cavil and Gontraverfion of all People thefe hundred Years and upward. Counfellor Candour. I do except to thofe very Depofitions, Mr. Serjeant. They were taken by prejudiced People, and ought, therefore, to be fufpedled. Many of them are faid to be the genu- ine Depofitions of Perfons who could" neither write nor read, and who, confequendy, were D 4 ignorant [ 56 j ignorant of the Contents of the Papers tQ which they fet their Mark. Many OtherS' were taken warm from Perfons jufl arrived, jn their Flight from the Enemy ; their Pan- nic naturally heightened the Terrors of their Imagination ; and each of them came like the MelTengers to Job, and cried, I only am left to tell the 'I'dk; in their Concern for their Kindred and Friends behind, they adually conceived, ^nd were ready to depofe, that All were put to the Sword without Exception ; and, in fad^ they fwore, fpecially^ to the Murdet of. fe- veral Proteflants who, ten, twenty, thirty, and forty Years, afterward, were living Wit- nefles of the Falfhood of thefe Depofitions. I fhould, laftly, be glad to know what Degree %f Creciit a Gentleman, of Mr. Serr jeant'sflenddr Faith in other Matters, is like- ly to give to fome of thefe fame Teftimo- nials that have, fo veritably, flood the Teft of all Time and Enquiry. They tell us that a Man was wounded in feyer^l Places ; that his Body was ript up, and [57] and his Bowels taken out ; during all which he (hed not one Drop of Blood. Again they tell us of a young Perfbn whofe Flefli was Proof againft Steel, and, like the Stygian Achilles^ could not be pierced. And again they tell us that " Hundreds <^ of the Ghofts of the Proteflants, that ^' were drowned by the Rebels at Portadown " Bridge, were ^Qtn wandering about that " Place, and beared crying for Revenge." From which Depofition we mufl infer, that thefe Ghofts were as duely numbered as they were truely fworn to; but that they were not Ghofts of a very forgiving Temper, who thus carried their Defire of Revenge beyond the Grave. Alas ! Revenge enough, as I can ftiew, had been taken already. Serjeant Statute. My Lords, I requefl to know from the Counfel for the Accufed, whether he ad- mits that any Maflacres, or Murders, were at all committed by Irijh Catholics, during the Courfe of this Rebellion ? Or, if any Re- bellion [ 58 ] belllon there were, whether it might not have been a very placid Kind of Bufinefe, and wholly innocent of Blood? Counfellor Candour. There were, indeed; there were, Mr. -S'^r- jeant, too many Murders and Maflacres com- mitted on both Sides. But, not by the Peo- ple properly called Proteflants% nor, properly Ipeaking, by the People called Irijh Catholics, They were committed on the one Part, by a fanatic and enthujiaftic Soldiery y and on the other, by a favage and exafperated Rabble of IriJh Banditti or Free-booters. Englijh Protefi- arUs and hijh Papijis were, alike, Sufferers on the Occafion. The Generality, of the One and the Other^ had in no Degree either fought or provoked the Quarrel, and yet they were mutually made the Vidlims there- of; and the Helplefs and the Innocent, on either Part, were caft to the Swords of the Guilty. and the Offending. Indeed, in fuch Times of Anarchy and utter Mifrule, it is impoflible but that many Offences muft come. Suppofe [ 59 ] Snppofe that, for a Term of twelve Months from this prefent Day, all Government fliould happen to ceafe, or to be withdrawn from any One of the bed civilized Common* wealths upon Earth ; and that all the Mem^ bers, of fuch Community, fhould be left, without Account, to the Licentloufhefs or- Propenfity of their own Inclinations. Here is no Rebellion, no Confpiracy, no previous Appointment or Intention ofMaflacres; but, will That be a fufficient Proteelion from Damage? is there not in all Climes, in all Countries, and Se^ ] I fay not this, my Lords without Autha- rity. Mr. Serjeant has quoted Lord Claren- don^ againft thefe People, permit me, in my Turn, to quote him in their Favour. " Ma- '' ny Perfons of Honour, (fays his Lordfhip) "- among the Iri/b Catholics had always gi- '-'■ ven fignal Proofs of thei-r Duty and Af- *' fcdlion to the King. Others of them were, '' by the Faffion and Rigour of Thofe wha " were then in Authority, and had Power " enough to deflroy whom they had Incli- " nation enough to fufpect or accufe, driven " to put themfelves into the Protection of '^ Thofe whofe Ways and Courfes they to- " tally drfapproved." Hear the Word of a King, alfo, in behalf of this People, vyhere he tells us that the Perfons then in Authority, " exafperated *' the Jri/Jj to the moft defperate Refolutions *' and Acftions, by threatening all Extremi- *' ties, not only to the known Heads and *' chief Incendiaries, but even to the whole " Community of the Nation, refolving to " deflroy Root and Branch, Men, Women, « and [ 67 ] " and Children, without any Regard to the *' ufual Pleas of Mercy, Sc Hear, again, the Teflimony of the Earl of Clanricardey then General of an Army of Irijh Catholics ; not raifcd to promote the Purpofcs of Treafon or Rebellion, but in De- fence o^ Engltfb Proteflants, the King, and the State. In a Letter to the Lords juftices, dated June z'i thy 1642, the General remonftrates that " The Refolution taken to profecutc " the War with that Severity in general^ " £5?^. hath moved general Diflradion, and " armed mod Men with Defperation." And again, in a Letter to his Majefly dated June 28 th of the fame Year, he thus complains. At this prefent, the Rigour of incenfed Forces falls In a Manner equally not only upon the Capital Offenders, and others lefs criminal, biit even upon Well deferving Servitors, Natives of this Kingdom, which, in my poor Opinion and Obfervation, will retard your Service and put all in Defpe- ration -, and, for my own particular, it E 2 « will C 68 ] ** will not only difable me from Service, " but draw a certain Ruin upon me, having *•' not the Honour to have Engiijh Forces " under my Command, but what I am to " adt being to be performed by Thofe that " conceive themfelves deftined to diflruCli- " on, let their Endeavours be never fo loyal." With the good Leave, and good Patience, of your Lordfhips and the Jury, I will give a brief and natural Hiftory of this Affair. The civil and religious Severities that Irijh Catholics laboured under, in the Sup- prelTion of their Religion and the Refumpti- on of their Lands, had given a general DiC- gufl to All, and had, more efpecially, exaf- perated Thofe who loft their Eftates, many of whom, though Catholics, were of EngTifb Extradion. The Parliament of Ireland^ from time to time had remonftrated to the King on the Article of civil Grievances, and his Majefty had promifed a gracious Redrefs ; but this Redrefs was induftrioufly evaded, from time to [ 69 ] to time, at firfl by the Earl of Strafford^ and afterward by the Lords Juflices and Council of the Kingdom. Mean while, the Chiefs of the Malecon- tents, and principal Sufferers, being advifed of the Commotions in Scotland^ and of the Fomenting of Jealoufies between the King and EngTtJh Parliament, looked on this as a fit Seafon, with the Afliftance of foreign Forces, to recover their lapfed Eftates, and to re-eflablifh the Religion of their Forefa- thers. In this View, they warmly, though pri- vately, folicited Aid from the fcveral Catho- lic Powers of Spain^ France^ and Italy. But a Defign of this Importance could not be fb fecretly conducted but that Intimations, there- of, were fen t to the King from abroad, which Intelligence he tranfmitted to his Governors of Ireland^ who were further apprized of the fame, by early Notices from feveral private Perfons within the Realm. E 2 Thefc [ 70 1 Thefe Governors confequently, if fo they had intended, might have crufhed this grow- ing Offspring of Rebellion in the Egg. Or they might better have removed the original >Seeds of Difcontent, by haflening thofe Graces v^^hich the King had engaged to grant. But, whether They were moft inclined to quafh, or to fofter, this Embryo of Rebelli- on, we come now to enquire. The Commons oi Ireland had employed a Committee of their own Houfe, as Agents to his Majefty, for the obtaining of two Ads, to be paffed in their prefent Parliament, which Ads, ^s Sir John Temple informs us, were moji impetuoiify dejired by the Natives. The, One f fays he) was the Ad of Limitations^ which unquejiionably fettled all Efiates of Land in the Kingdom quietly enjoyed.^ without Claim or In- terruption for the Space of fixty Tears immedi- ately preceding. The other was for the Relin" ^ui/bment of the Right and Title^ which his Ma- iefiy had to the four Counties in Conaught, legal- ly found for hint by fever al Inquifitions taken in them, and ready to be difpofed of upon a due Survey^ [ 71 J Survey^ to Britijh Undertakers ; as alfo to fome territories of good Exlent in Miwjler and the County of Clare ^ upon the fame Title. Agreeable to this impetuous Defire of the Natives, thefe Agents had obtained the royal AlTurance of the faid A6ls, with further Graces. They were now on their Return to Ireland. The Lords fpiritual and temporal, and Commons, in Parliament alTembled, had fupplicated his Majefty that they might not be prorogued or diflblved until fuch Time as faid Bills were found, and other Grievances removed. And the King had written his cxprefs Commands to the Lords Juftices to fuffer that Parliament to fit until his Pvlajefty Hiould think fit to determine the fame. But now it was that thefe fame Lords Juftices, in dired Oppofition to this impe- tuous Defire of the Natives of Ireland^ to the Supplication of both Houfes in Parlia- ment afTembled, and to the exprefs Command of the King himfelf, did arbitrarily adjourn the faid Parliament for three Months, and did, thereby, preclude the Intention of the E 4 faid ( 72 ] fald A6ls and Graces which, unqueftlonably, would have quieted the Minds of the People and, confequently, have prevented the en- fuing Infurredtion. And hence it appears that the Lords Juftices, and Council of Ire- land^ had already fet the royal Authority at Nought, and had taken the Reins of Govern^ ment into their own Hands. Serjeant Statute. My Lords, If my Notes do not deceive me, Sir John Temple afliires us that the faid Lords Juftices, Parfons and Borlafe^ were con- tent to draw up the faid two Adts of Limita- tion and fo forth, to be paffed in the Parli- ament. Counfellor Candour. Sir John Temple^ indeed, gives That as his Opinion ; and he afligns a particuliar Reafon for their being (b content^ to wit, " becaufe " they faw the King moft abfolutely refolved " to give the Irijh Agents full Satisfadion.'* But, afterward, we fee that they were not content, inafmuch as they found- Means to bafHe this ab/olute Refolutjon oHnsMyti^iyy to defeat [ 73 3 defeat the Supplication of both Houfes of Parliament, and to difappoint the impetuous Defires of the Nation in general. Be pleafed, my Lords, further to note, that when the faid Irijh Agents, on their Arrival in Dublin^ found the Parliament ad- journed, *' They prefently applied to the " Lords Juftices and Council defiring to " have all thofe Ads and other Graces, " granted by his Majefty, made known to ** the People, by Proclamations to be fent " down into feveral Parts of the Country." But This, alfo, the faid Juftices and Council declined to comply with, till the Time of In- furredion at lenght arrived ; an Infurredtion which They had earneftly defired, which they had purpofely provoked, and whereby They purpofed to render themfelves Mafters of the Lives and Fortunes of all the Roman- Catholics in Ireland. But, my Lords, in the Proofs of fuch weighty Allegations, I chufe rather to depend on the beft Authorities of the Times than, even on the beft Prefumpti- ons and Deductions of Reafon, though a- mounting. [ 74 ] mounting, when united, to the cleareft Dc* monflration. Lord Clanricarde^ in his Letter from Ire- land^ to the Duke of Richmond^ on the 23d of January^ 1641, affirms that " All were dif- " contented with thofe that managed the Af- " fairs of State, there, whom they charged " with fecret Pradlifing, both there and in *^ England^ before the Commotions began, *^ to raife Parties and Faftions, to deftroy ^* their Religion, to divert and hinder the ^ King's Graces intended towards them j ** and, by that Means, to put them into ^^ Defparation, that they forfeit their Lives *' and Fortunes. And, as the Diftempers " began, that they had fo difpofed of Af- *^ fairs, as if the Defign was laid to put the " whole Nation into Rebellion. Again, the Author of the Hiftory of In- dependency, having told us, to the Purpofe, that the Independants in the Englijh Parlia- pient had infifted, openly, to have the Pa- pifts of Ireland rooted out, and their Lnads fold to Adventurers -, and that this impelled the [ 75 ] the Iri[fj to the following Infurredion. He adds that This " was purpofely done by the ** Independants, that both Papifts and Protefl- " ant$ might de/lroy Oneanother there!* This was not altogether a Plan of novel Policy. Homer gives us an Inftance of the like charitable Difpofttion in the Charader of his Hero Achilles^ where he prays to Jupiter^ that Greeks and T'rojans might mutually ex- tirpate Each-other, and that he and his Myr- midons, alone, might remain to enjoy the Spoils refulting frorn the Ruin of Troy. Oh! would to all th'immortal Pow'rs above, Apolloy Pallas^ and almighty Jot;^/ That not one Trojan might be left alive, And not a Greek of all the Race furvive, Might We be left, we only, to enjoy The Realm and Plunder of devoted Troy, To thefe, a learned and reverend Author * of the Church of England adds his Teftimo* ny. " That the Lords Juflices, Parfons and " Borlafe^ did, by their Authority, com- f mand many Things, which did not only " exafperate C 76 ] *' exafperate but render the Irifh defperate, " as will appear by feveral of their own Let- *' ters, and public A6ts of State ; and that, " in the firft Irruption of the Rebellion, they " had a greater Eye to the Forfeitures of " the Rebels Eftates, than to ufe fuch Means *' as might, by the Hopes of Pardon, induce " the better Sort of the Nobility and Gen- •* try to hear Reafon, and come in, and fub- *' mit themfelves to his Majefty's Mercy, ** though they had exprefs Diredions from *^ the King, and two Houfes of Parliament " fo to do." Even Lord Clarendon is decifive on this Head, and alTures us that, " a more unplcafmg *' and unpopular Inclination could not be dif- *' covered in any Man, than a Wifli or Con- *' fent that a War, (from which fo many " promifed themfelves Revenge and For- ** tunes) fhould be any other Way ended, *' than with the Blood and Confifcation of * All, whom they could propofe to be guilty " of the Defeaion.'* In [ 77 ] In the November^ immediately fucceeding the firfl Infurrcdion, in Part of Uljiery the Parliament met, in order to pafs the Adts of Limitation, ^c. to quiet the diftradted Minds of the People ; and to fupprefs thefe Begin- ings of a growing Rebellion while It was, yet, in its weak and infant State; and ac- cordingly, Both Houfes, in a moft loyal Ad- drefs, offered the Government their Lives and Fortunes, for thefe wholefome Purpofes. But fays the Earl of Cafthhaven^ " this Way " of proceeding did not, it feems, fquarc " with the Lords Juftices Defigns, who " were often heard to fay, that the more were " in Rebellion^ the more Lands Jhould be forfeit " to them ; and therefore, in the very Heat " of the Bufinefs, they refolved upon a Pro- " rogation ; which the Parliament under- " (landing, the Lord Vifcount Cofielloe and my- " fi¥ were fent from the Lords Houfe, and " Others from the Commons, to the Lords " Juftices, to defire the Continuance of the " Parliament till the Rebels, then few in " Number, were reduced : But our Addrefs " was flighted, and the Parliament, the next « Day t 78 ] " Day, prorogued, to the great Surprize of " both Houfes, and the general Diilike of *' all honeft and knowing Men.'* This fame Lord, fpeaking of the fame Lords Juftices, informs us that " Although " his Majefty, and both Houfes of the En- " glijh Parliament, had recommended it to " them to beftow his Majefly*s gracious " Pardon to all Such as fhould, within a " convenient Time, return to their Obedi- " ence : Yet thefe Lords Juflices did, by *' their Proclamation, limit thefe his Majef- " ty*s and the Parliament of England's fa- ** vourable and general Intentions to the In- *' habitants of a few Counties only, provided *' always they were not Freeholders^ and allow- *' ed them but ten Days Time to come in." But this is not the firft Inftance wherein Men have been held criminal, merely, hecaufe they bad EJlates and Fortunes to forfeit. My Lords — Gentlemen of the Jury — On duely weighing the Premiffes ; with the ma- ny induftrious Contrivances, for fomenting the Difcon tents of Irijh Catholics, and exas- perating [ 79 J pcrating their Spirits againft an Englifh Go- vernment ; in Times, I fay, my Lords, of fuch Diftemper and Turbulence, it is not to be wondered, that the Drofs and the Dregs of this People boiled upper mofl, and that the favag'^ and flagitious aflbciated together and perpetrated many Things, deteftable to their own People, and deteftable even to the Irish Leaders and Soldiery who, then, were up in -Arms, by open and fair War, as They apprehended, to recover the Eftates, and re^ cftablifh the Religion of their Fore-fathers. Mr. Serjeant, indeed, on finding that his monthly Authorities failed him, has taken Leave to tranfpofe his Months into Years, whereby he propofes to be reftored to his principal Charge, that one hundred and fifty thoufand Proteftants were maflacred within the two firft Years, as he now fays, of this Rebellion ; to the utter Extirpation, as he further affirms, of almoft every English Pro- teftant within the Kingdom. Now, my Lords, it would give me a fin- gular Pleafure to be able to alleviate, in fomc Meafure, [ So ] Mearure, the fearful Alarms and Appreheri- lions of Mr. Serjeant, on this Occafion ; and to convince him that the Race o^ English Pro- tcflants in Ireland^ were not wholly extir- pated at that Period. That, at leaR, a pro- portionable Number of Irish Papifls, (fuch as of eleven to two) can be proved to have perifhed during the Courfe of the War. That the Advantage, in Favour of English Proteflants, hath been a growing Advantage from that Day. And that the Proportion of Two to Eleven, computed, by Sir William Petty^ to have been a near Eftimate of the Number of 5n//V^ Proteflants in Comparifon of Irish Papifls, on the Day of the Infurrec- tion, hath increafed to a Proportion of Three to Eight or One and a Half to Four, which is computed at this Hour, to be the nume- rical Balance between Proteflants and Papifls, in that Kingdom. Let us now fee, my Lords, whether dure- ing fo univerfal an Extirpation, as is faid, fufficient Seed could be left for fo extraordi- nary an Encreafe ; or whether Proteflants have t 8t ] have been, there, propagated, by the Sow- ing of Teethj or by Tome other Kind of equivocal Generation.- The English, in many Places, upon the firft Alarm and Infurredtion of the Irish^ as Dodlor Borlafe informs us '^ poireiTed them- " felves of fome Forts, ftrong Holds, and *' Caftles, which, though very ill provided^ " they did for many Months, nay for fome *' Years defend." At the fame Time, vafl Crowds q{ English Proteftants, who dwelt in the open Country of Uljier, fled from thence to Dublin \ " and Thefe (adds Dr. Borlafe) " were fo numerous and burthenfome, as, " though thoufands were lliipped away foon *' after they arrived, and Such as could lerve *' in the Army were daily enlifted ; yet They *' brought fo great an Extremity and Want " of Provifions toZ)«M/?, as the Inhabitants *' were reduced to great Exigency.'' The fame Author proceeds to tell us that S'wPFilliam Coky with his Regiment, deftroy= ed in the North, by Sword, Famine, ^c, nine thoufand four hundred and fcventeen of F the [ 82 ] the Irish^ and refcued from Bondage five thoufand four hundred and fixty feven En- (Tiish and Scotch Proteilants. Alfo that Sir Frederick Hamilton (lew many of the Irhh^ and freed many Proteflants. Carte^ in his Life of the Duke of Ormonde^ informs us that the great Body of the English was fettled in Munfter and Leinjler^ where (fays lie) very few Murders were committed \ and that feveral thoufand got fafe from UU jier to Dublin^ befides fix thoufand Women, and Children whom Captain Mervyn faved in Fermanagh^ and Others that got fafe toDe?" ry, Coleraine and Carrickfergus^ which were all in the Hands of the Scotch and English. Ware^ foL i8i, tells us that the Citizens refident in Dublin had been numbered, and were found to be, of Proteflants z^6^ Men, and 2986 V/omen. Of Papifls 1202 Men, and 1 204 Women. Wherefore, if we add to Thefe a proportionable Number of Child- ren, we fliall find that the Proteftant Refi- denters, in the City o^ Dublijty confifted of a- bout i 83 ] bout fourteen thofand who never were hiirt^ in Perfon or Property, by any Irish Papifts. If to thefe we add many Thoufands of Proteftants who, fecurely, refided in various Parts of the Kingdom, where the Ejiglisb were prevalent. If, again, we add feveral Thoufands of Proteftants who lived under the Protedlion di Irish Catholics^ where They were Mafters. And if, laftly, we add great Numbers of English Proteftants who were faved or fnatched from the favage and def- perate Rabble, by the Priefts, by the Sol- diers, and by the Chiefs of the Infurredtion, who either efcorted them, at their own Perils to Places of Safety ; or hofpitably entertain- ed them, under Guardianfhip, and in the Circle of their own Eye and Authority. I fay, my Lords, if we add all thefe Thoufands up- on Thoufands, together ; we (hall find that we have pretty nearly, recovered our loll Sheep. The Earl of CafthhaveUy in his Memoirs, affirms that " In Sir John Temples Mufter- " Rolls, of whom the fubfequent Scribblers F 55 ** bbrrowcd [ H ] " borrowed all their Catalogues, Hundreds *' are mentioned as murdered that lived ma- *' ny Years after." And he adds, " that *' not the twentieth Part of the Cruelties, *' faid to be committed on the English j were " acflually committed.*' Peter IValsh^ in his Letter to the Bifhop oi Lincoln-, p. 225, protefts that " after ufing '■'■ the greatefl Diligence, in the Year 1662, '- to inform himfelf rightly on this Subjedl, *^' out of every particuliar County of Ireland^ '' he reduced the Number of P rot ejl ants-, " murdered in cold Blood by the Popish Con- " fpiiators, even to thatLownefs, that they " did not all amount to more than fome '• few Hundreds. This, (adds Walsh) I did ** attefl publickly, and in Print, to the Duke *' of Ormonde himfelf." And he affirms, clfewhere that " thefe Murders were com- " mitted by a very Few of the rude Rabble." The Duke of Ormonde was unqueftionably a competent Judge of this Matter. He had been on the Spot, and engaged, as General, againlt the Irishy during the whole Courfe of [ g5 ] of this Rebellion ; he could not, therefore, be impofed upon. And, yet, I am apt to ima- gine that Mr. Walsh and feme Others, who have reduced thefe Murders to four or five hundred, have rather foftened and palliated below the Truth. I will, therefore, allow Mr. Serjeant any feafible Addition •, and as I lately admitted him to fubftitute 7ears for Months, I will here admit him to fubftitute Thoufands for Hundreds ; the very utmoft that, in any reafonable Refentment, he can re- quire and much more than he can prove by any credible Authorities. Serjeant Statute- I do not, my Lords, fo much infift on any particular Number of Murders, as on the Manner and unparalelled Cruelty with which they were committed, however difguftful the Tale may be, to the Court, and to myfelf, I muft entreat your Attention, my Lords, and yours. Gentlemen, a few Minutes; wherein I truft to prove that They, who could perpetrate fuch Barbarities on any One English Proteftant, muft have wiftied all En- glish Proteftants to have but one Throat, that F 3 they [ 86 1 they might glut their thirfty Malice, with the Cutting of the Same. Wherein I, fur- ther, truft to prove the Danger, impending over all English Protejianu^ ixom Men, born of the Blood, and educated in the Principles of thofe Barbarians. CotinfsUor Candour. Beware of what you are about Mr. Ser- jeant, I requefl you. If you quote but a finglc Inflance of this, your general Accufa- tion, I will keep no further Meafures with You. I will quote, on your Part, and on the Part of fuch Proteftants as you mofl af- fect, five Inflances for one, of Cruelty for Cruelty, and Murder for Murder. But this is not my defire. I wifli not to inflame but to ailuage latent Acrimony ; not to rip but to heal Wounds ^ not to widen but to clofe Breaches. Lord Clarendon^ and a Crowd of other Witr ncfies attefl, that the antimonarchical and antiepifcopal Rulers, of Ireland^ who, even then, widied to rife upon the Ruin of English Protejlants ; [ 87 J ProteftaiitSy had no Meafure of Mercy, to- ward Irish Papifls. That they forbid any Quarter to be given to them. That they took all Ways to incenfe a furious and bloody Soldiery againft the Irish Nation. That they made no Difcrimination between the armed and unarmed, the Criminal and the Guiltlefs ; but equally fell upon the Innocent and Help- lefs ; neither pitying nor fparing Old Age or Infancy, Men, Women or Children ; and that fome were publickly executed, by Order of Government, againfl whom no Colour of any Crime could be alledged, fave that of having prrferved the Lives and Fortunes of English Proteflants. Mr. Serjeant, perhaps, hath not duely animadverted, that the Murders, committed on the Part of the Sedaries, were committed by a regular Soldiery, either by Order, or under the Countenance and Encouragement of the Parliamentarian Government, to whom the King had permitted the Power of profe- cuting the War. But, that the Murders, committed on the Part of Irish Catholics, F 4 were [ 88 ] were committed by angry Routs of iingor vernable Defperaddes ; againfl the Cuftom of their Army ; againft the Ordinances of their Clergy, and againft the Orders of the Chiefs of the Infurreclion. That many of them were profecuted, with Fire and Sword, by the Leaders of the Insh themfelves, as well on Account of their Barbarity, as on Account of the Difhonour they had brought upon their Arms; and that all of them, without Exception, were publickly condemned and excommunicated by their Church. I cannot but further obferve that there is much of unchriftian Afperity, and Unchari- tablenefs, in fiippofing our modern Irisb ei- ther of the Blood, or Principles of, compara- tively, a few Mifcreants who were the Dregs, Scum, and Purging, and Outcaft of their People. Might not Mr. Serjeant, with bet- ter Reafon as well as with better Charity have fuppofed our modern Insb the kindly Dependents of the Eight Tenths of thofe Jrisb^ who never lifted a Hand, in any Adl of Hoftility i^ Or, even, to thofe generous Chiefs [ 89 ] Chiefs and Soldiers, who (as Lord Clarendon obferves) " though engaged in the Carrying " on, and, pollibly, in the Contriving of ** the War and Infiirredion, were Enemies " to thofe Anions of Blood, Rapine, and *^ Inhumanity, which diflionour any War.'* But, let us wholly turn our Eyes from Deeds of Horror, to Ads of Goodnefs and Benevolence and to the Doers thereof; to the Alexander HovendenS', to the Owen O^Neihy to the Sauls-, Everards-^ Redmond Englishes', to the Dallys, Biggin/esy Farrillys., and too- ther pious Ecclefiaftics, and generous Com- manders, Who went about doing Good-, refcu- ing^ freeing., defending., cloathing., feeding their Enemies. Convoying many Protellants at the Hazard of their Lives, and to the wounding of their Perfons (through the midft of the Barbarians of their own Septs) to Places of Strength and Safety, or to their Kindred or Acquaintance. Proteding Many, at their own Hearths ; concealing Some in Chapels \ faving others under Ahars. Preferving the great Prelate oi thofe Days (with his Houfhold and [ 90 3 and Hundreds who fled to him for Shelter) in Peace and in Safety ; and in the free Exercife of the Proteftant Rites and Religion. Rever- ing him while he lived, bewailing him when he died; honouring his Funeral with a Pro- cefTion of the attending Army; and crying out, at his Interment^ Jit Anima mea cum Bedello ! that my Soul were now with Bedell! May AH, who are of the Blood and Prin- ciples of thofe Soldiers, Priefts, and Papifts, find no worfe Enemies to themfelves, at this Day, than their faid Irish Anceftors were then to Proteftants! and may thele fignal Inftances, of the Humanity and Charity of their Fore-fathers, avail them for turning the Prejudices, .of the prefent Times, into Sen-^ timents of kind Neighbourhood and brother^ ]y Love ! Serjeant Statute. Mr. Candour^ I thought it ill-natured to interrupt you, till you had finiflied, what you think, your pathetic Eulogium. But, ?ir, I mud inform you that, in this your lafl Piece t 91 ] Piece of Oratory, you have fet out on wrong Principles, and have built your fine Struc- ture on a Foundation that mufl fail you. You, yourfelf, have confefTed that all the Murders committed, on the Part of the Sec- taries, (or rather Slaughters, Mr. Candour^ for (b you ought to have fliled them) were committed either by Order or under Counte- nance of Government. Very true, Mr. Can- dour^ they were indeed i and for that very Jleafon they could not be Murders. . What greater Difference can there be between any two Things than between an Adtion that is agreeable to Govern- ment and Law, and an Adlion contrary thereto and Subverfive thereof.^ Irish Papijis were, then, in the very Adt of Rebellion a- gainfl Government, againflKing, andagainft the Conflitution of Church and State, as then eflabliftied by Law. All the Slaughters that They committed, whether in cold or hot Blood, in the Houfe or in the Field, were therefore Maffacres and Murders. But the English acted by Order of their lawful Rulers; They [ 92 ] They fought, and fhed Blood with the Con^ ftitutionon their Side; and, therefore, fought and fhed Blood, with a fafe and a good Con- fcience. Info much, Mr. Candour^ that, to balance the numerous Murders, committed hy Irish Papijls, you cannot produce a fingle Inilance (by your own Confeffion) of a Mur- der committed by any of the English Pro- teftants, or Se6lariesy or Puritans^ as you are varioufly pleafed to (tile them, during the Courfe of that Rebellion. Counfelhr Candour. Mr Serjeant, Mr. Serjeant! will you per- mit me to afk you, or (if you do not chufe to anfwer) to afk any Man, breathing, how ma- ny Sorts of Laws, or how many Promulgers of Laws, he thinks it incumbent upon him to obferve ? There are, as you intimate. Laws pecu- liar to every civil Conftitution upon Earth; and there are Governors appointed to be the Editors, Interpreters, and Enforcers of thofe Laws. But are the Laws, peculiar to any civil Conftitution, the only Laws that the feveral [ $3 1 ieveral Conftituents ought to obferve ? Or are the Didates, of the Governors, Editors, Interpreters, or Enforces of thofe Laws, the only Didates that, in Duty, they ought to obey ? You will not do yourfelf the Difgrace to infifl on it, Mr. Serjeant. We have, my Lords, God be praifed! Laws of infinitely greater Authority and Extent, wherewith to bound the Ambition, Avarice, or Malice of any particular Men, or of any particular Sedts or Societies of bad Men. There are the Laws of Arms ; there arc the Laws of Nations-^ there are alfo the ex- prefs Laws of GOD, to which Warfare, it- felf, is fuppofed to be amenable. But, above All, My Lords, there is ONE LAW which GOD hath made to himfelf, to Angels, and to Men, and which He ceafeth not to utter in the Centre of our Exiftence. This eternal and immutable Law ordaineth that we bear GOOD WILL to All, without Exception, who do not fliew, by evil Deeds, that they bear ILL WILL to others. Where- fore, whoever refufeth to give Aid to help- lefs [ 94 ] iefs Infancy, or Defence to alTailed Inno- cence^ is a Rebel to GOD and Nature, and a Debtor to this Law. But, whofoever fliall make a contrary Law to himfelf ; or, under Colour of any Order or Authority of GOD or Man^ of religious or civil Government^ fliall take the Crutch from the Lame, or thrufl a Ponyard into the Breafl of fiich as cannot offend, is a Felon and a Murderer, and this LAW falls, with the Weight of the whole World, upon him. Mr. Serjeant, however has given it, as hiiS Opinion, that the EngUjh then fought with the Conflitution on their Side, and therefore fought and fhed Blood with a good Confci- ence: But that the Irijh took up Arms a- gainfl the Conflitution of the State and the Church as then eflablifhed by Law ; and therefore concludes, as I fiippofe, that they aded againfl Confcience. Now, Mr. Serjeant is not to learn, that the civil Conflitution of England and Ireland^ as then eflablifhed by Law, had been a Mo* narchy during feveral Centuries; a State to v/hich [ 95 J which Roman Catholics are peculiarly attached. And it is fomewhat extraordinary to hear Mr. Serjeant, of all Men, accufe thefe Peo- ple of Rebellion to fuch a State; even He, who is the firft to accufe and Condemn them o^ fervile Pradices and Jlavifh Principles^ of Non-Rejijiance and pafive Obedience Thereto. But again, Mr. Serjeant is not to learn that the Conftitution of the Church, as then eflabllfhed by Law, had been but of fhort Duration, and had been framed and fettled, by thejointAdl of Queen, Lords, and Com- mons, during the Reign of Elizabeth. But, Mr. Serjeant may be yet to learn that an Ad of Parliament, framed in England^ does not affedl Ireland', and, that the Conftitution of the Church, as then eftablifhed in England^ was never fo eftablifhed by any Ad, in Ire- land, till the Revolution atchieved by our glorious Deliverer, William the Third. Irijb Catholics, perhaps, conceived that the Con- ftitution of CHURCH and STATE was ftill on their Side; and might bear Arms, at leaft, with as fafe and good a Confcience as thofe wha i 9^ J' Vvho never laid them down, till they liaJ efteaually abolifhed both the ONE and the! OTHER, both STATE and CHURCH. I (hall not pretend to define how far the Infurredion, of Ir'ijh Ronaan Catholics,^ ought in fuch Times as thofe to be entitled a Rebellion. The King himfelf, as I may fay, had be^n the Bufinefs. .He fir ft re- belled againft the Rights and Liberties of his People. This gave a Colour and Pretence to many of his People to rebel, as Some call it, againft their King. The Antimonarchi- cal and Antiepifcopal Gentry gladly raifed a Foundation and Scaf^lding, of thefe Matters, for rebelling againft the Conftitution of Church and State. The Scotch, accordingly, were hallooed, and ad u ally rofe in Rebellion againft t]ie One and the Other. And, as far as the Jrifh Catholics may, with Propriety^ be faid to have rebelled againft Any^ They did but follow the Lead and Example of their Neio^hbours. From theFirft of the Reformation, tathe Revolution of Eighty-eight, the State of Re- ligion t 97 ] llgion was extremely iinfettled; Papifts, Pro- teflants, and Puritans, like the Heroes in Homers Iliad, fuccefllvely prevailed ; and Each, in their Turns, had their Day of Triumph. After the Downfal of Popery under Har- ry VIII. and Edward VI. It was again re- ftored and re-eftablifhed in the Reign of Queen Mary. In the Reign of Queen Eliza-^ heth, the Proteflant Religion again got the upper Hand; and heavy Laws were, then, enadted againft the Puritans on the one Hand,- and againft the Papifts on the other. In the latter End of the Reign of Charles I. and during the whole Regency of Oliver Cro7nwel, the Puritans got the Supremacy, all to No- thing, and didated Law and Gofpel to Great- Britain and Ireland. Proteftantifm was, how- ever, reftored with the Reftoration of Mo- narchy. But a Divorce was, again, nearly efFedled in the following Reign under the Influence of James II. the great Patron of Popery. Till the Conftitution, of Church and State, fo often broken and bruifed, and G confounded, [ 98 ] ("on founded, and wrought together, and again nndone, fermented, anddeanfed, and refined^ v/as newly modelled and eflablifhed, as I truf^ for the lall Time^ under the happy Aufpices o^ fFnliam the Thirds the benign Cementer and Eenefadtor of all Parties, and more ihe Friend than the Conqueror of thofe with whom Ik had contended. it were naicuious to fuppofe that the Sec- tsries of the 17th Century, when they firll fet out on their Journey to the Land of Li- berty, had any Notion of travelling as faF (^s they afterward went. The King had erh croached on the GREAT CHARTER, and had arbitrarily polTei&d kimfelf of fome of ^he Rights of his People; and Thefe his People had, unqueftronably, a Right to re- claim. Many Members of the eflablifhed Church, true Lovers of Monarchy as well as Epifcopacy, had joined the Sectaries, on this Occahon, in the Aflertion of common Liber- ty. Thi^Divifion had greatly v\^eakened the faid Members of the eftablifhed Church, ?, hlle fome fided with the King, and Others with [ 99 ] with the Conftitiition ; and this Weaknefs gave the Sedtarics an Advantage and Power to which their utmofl Ambition had, till then, never afpired. This, it muft be owned, was a very tennpting SitiTation. They juftly aflerted, and reclaimed the Civil Rights that were in- hereni to the Conftitution, BtTt-they found thertifelves of Ability to go a Step further. They were not fatfsfied that Liberty fhould be barely reclaimed^ They further propofed to enlarge It; and, under the fpecious Co- vering of a free Conimon- Wealth, they in- ttoduced a more arbitrary Tyranny than Any that they had intended to abolifh or a- void. Experience, in a Ihort Time, made Them fenfible of this wrong Step. And They, themfelves, were fome of the Firfl to propofe and to promote the Reftoration of Monarchy. Quite fick of fuch Diftempers, and quite tired with perpetual ConflidtSi We have, at length, fat down in Peace and Contentment together. The Experience of near a Centu- G 2, ry [ 100 ] ry hath now taught us that, while we repofe, like the Ifraelites^ Each under his own Vine or his own Fig'l'ree, any Land becomes a Ca- flaauy under fuch a Conftitution. If we look Eaft or look Weft ; we find None like it ; and, if we rj^ur through the Hiflories of all NatioRf -a^il /Vges, we fhall find, in the freed Rep|(^fe> u^ Earth, the bare Prin- ciples and Mdlments of our prefent 'Efta- blifhnient, of that perfedt Security of Perfon and Property to which We have arrived. If Puritans are precluded from fome State- Privileges. If Papifts are difcouraged by fame limiting Laws^yjgt, in all other Re- fpedts, They fee and reel the Benefits of our common Confliution as clear, and as com- fortable as the Light of yonder Sun. Their Titles are not now defeated by any packed Juries or griping Inquifitions ; They fiiffer not for worfhipping God according to their Confcience, much lefs are they compelled to the Exercife of a Religion that is contrary thereto. They, now, plead and are im- pleaded with eqtial and impartial Equi- ty- [ I«< J ty. The Law embraces them with as kind a Guardianfhip as the bed Proteflant in the Landi and, had They the Power, They have not the Will to forego fuch Advantages. Mean while, it is /ufficient, for the Strengthening and full Securi;j^of our civil- Conftitution, that all Sedls, and all Sedlaries, are of a Religion that dirceij|if"^83tt rejoices in the temporal Profperity of its i rofeiTors. Let the Civil Conflitution^ therefore, ^y^referve (or enlarge where neec^ul) this temporal Profperity of the Sutyeds of its Govern- ment; and, let their Religion be that of Turk^ Jew^ or wild Intfi^n, They will, infal- libly, unite in oppofmg any Supprefilon or Interruption of that Fountain, from which their common Bleflings fo evidently flow. But, God be praifed ! neither our Se^aries, nor our IriJb'Catbolics, are Turks, or wild In- dians; They are pious, and have long been. All, peaceable Men. However they may differ from Us, in fome Matters of Faith, or of Form; They unite with us in the humble, and ardent, Adoration of our common CRE- G :^^ ATOR [ I02 3 ATOR and SAVIOUR. It is true that, m adhering to their ecclefiaftical Errors, They decline fome temporal Advantages, and fur- ther lay themfelves under fome very irk- fome Reflraints. But is not this their Suf- fering, for Cmfcience Sake, the fureft Tefti- mony that they can give us of their inward Virtue and Integrity ? And have we not, thereby, a bt'iiter Hold on theni, than all Laws and Inftitutions upon Earth can ^ive ? Even the Obligation of Religion, their Re- gard to Futurity, and their attachment to CHRIST'S Dodrine of LOVE and PEACE. Let us then, fay, with ray Lord Clarendon^ " Away with the Antichrijiian Spirit of de- ^' fending what hath been done amifs, only *' becaufe it hath been done; and of difcrc- ^' diting the Catholic Religion, as if it would " not buffer its Children to be dutiful and " loyal Subjeds to Protejlant Kings and '' Princes: And let what wag done jn Viola- '^^ tion of the Laws and Government (in this ^' Rebellion) be acknwledged, and excufed to ^^ the King, by the Diftemper and Accidents '' of f 103 I '^ of the Times, and the iinjuftifiabk Proceed- " ings of thofe who were, unhappily, intruft- " ed with the Adminiflration of Jiiftice and '' Polity." Lord Chief Juftice, Mr. Serjeant, — do you chufe to drop any further Charge againft this People, or, are You defirous of proceeding ^ new Matter ? Serjeant Statute. I do not propofe, my Lords, to drop any Matter, whereof I conceive I have, flill, dif- ficient to compafe and enforce the principal Scope of my Argurrjent. And though the Hiflorians of thofe Days have been wonder- fully erroneous, with refped to Time, Num- ber, Incident, and fuch other Externals; They may, however, have been righi: in the Main of the Moral that they aimed to inculcate ; to wit, that Proteflants cannot live with Pa- pifts in any Community or Neighbourhood, of AiTurance or Safety -, and that, by the Prin- ciples which they imbibe and fuck in, as I may fay, from their Mother-Church, they G 4 become [ 104 1 become religloufly dangerous to any Civil Conftitution. Now, my Lords, if I can prove, not from any particular Quotation, of this or that Au- thor, whofe Teftimony might be queftiona- ble, who might have been deceived himfelf, or have intended to deceive Others; If I can prove, I fay, my Lords, not from any fingular or difputable Authorities, but from the concurring Teftimony of Nations and Ages, from the Perfuafion of all People, from the ConfelTion of their own Se6l, that thefe "things are So\ Ifhallthen, furely, be reftored to the Subftance, at leaft, of my original Charge againft Jrifh Catholics:, and I fhall fliew, from the Wickednefs of their Princi- pies, that their Pr apices muft have been con- formable, and that they have been guilty of Barbarities tantamount, at leaft, to thofe that are laid at their Door. Permit me, on this Occafion, to mention a Popifh Author who is in principal Repute with this People. His Name is John Gother^ and [ I05 ] and his Book is entitled, A PAPIST MIS- REPRESENTED AND REPRESENTED. Under the Term MISREPRESENTED, he acknowledges and fpecifies the wicked and inhuman Principles that are imputed to Ro- man Catholics ; and under the Term RE- PRESENTED, he endeavours to paint the Reverfe of this horrid Pidlure, and to vindi- cate his Fraternity, of the Popifli Commu- nion, from fuch injurious Afperfions, as he is pleafed to call them. But, can ye conceive, my ILords, in what Kind of a Balance he hath weighed this Bu- finefs? Why, truely^ in the one Scale he has placed the general Opinion, and in the Other he puts his own perfbnal Authority, as a Counterppife to That of the Reft of Mankind. I pafs over, for the prefent, all fuch Er- rors and Abfurdities as are merely religious ^ and haften to fuch Ecckjlaliical Tenets as muft prove of fatal Tendency to any Civil Government with which they are conn edled. In [ io6 ] In the firft Place, thefe People make a Di- vinity, of every little Member, however ig- norant and flagitious, of their infallible Priefl- hood. If any Layman or Laymen, of this dreadfwl Communion, fhall be guilty of Rapes, Treafons, Murders, Adulteries, Sa- crileges, and fo forth ; They have nothing to do but to ftep to fome petty Individual, of this very forgiving Priefthood, and to ac- knowledge their Enormities, under the Con- felTional Seal of Secrecy-, and, though the Leprofy of their Soul fhould be as invete- rate as That which infedtcd the Syrian Naa- man, the Charm of a fingle Sentence, fhall reclaim them to the Sjtate of inofFending In- fancy; and, thus refrefhed and reftored, they ftiall be enabled, like a Giant, to fet out on a new and vigorous Courfe of Iniquity. Perhaps fome little Matter of Penance may be enjoined, by way of Atonement, for thefe Enormities-, fuch as wearing Hair-Cloth next the Skin, or walking with Peafe in the Shoes for fome fmall Time; but, if this Hair- Clorh is woven of the Down of Mice; or that the Peafe are previoufly boiled to a harmlefs harmlefs Confidence; the Letter of the Law is obferved, and All is as it (hould be. To Thefe, I may add the fpiritual Traffic that is carried on by the Church of Rom^y and the many gracious Indulgencies granted to her Votaries, if not altogether gratis, 3?et at a Pennyworth that is admirable, con- fidering the infinite Privileges acquired there- by; even thole of Sinning without Guilt, and Offending without Punifhment. Thefe Indulgencies alfo, like other Tenures, maybe prolonged and extended on advancing the Price; They may be purchafed for Life, or made defcendible to a Man's Heirs ; an un- fpeakable Advantage confidering what Pro- fligates Children might turn out; or how fhort a Man, himfelf, might be taken in his Iniquities, without Time for Repentance which, in other Chriftian Communions, is deemed previoufly requifite to a happy Im- mortality. But when fuch Indulgencies are granted by the fpecial Grace and Seal of the Pontiff, himfelf; They then, are called Difpcnfations, and [ io8 J and fandify the Sins that are propofed to be committed. But, further again, fhould fuch Sins be intended to promote the Catho- lic Caufe, or to prop the tottering Frame of their ancient Mother, the Church, by pious Breaches of Allegiance, by Rebellions againft Government, by the Depopulating of Na- tions, or Overturning of States; Guilt then becomes a Virtue deferving of Canonization; and the Repugnance arifing thereto, from Fealty or Humanity, fhall be accounted Guilt unpardonable. Many and various, throughout Hiflory, have been the Mifchiefs, the Miferies, the inexpreflible Calamities, that attended the King-depojing and King- killing Do£lrine. Need I mention our Englijb John^ need I mention our Englijh Elizabeth? The Chriflian World is full of Inftances, of Princes excommunica- ted and plucked from their Thrones; and of People difcharged from all Faith, Submillion to Government, or Regard to Civil Society ; as though Rome were as felicitous to reduce the World to Chaos, as the DIVINITY origi- nally was to create and to form. I expert. [ 109 J I exped, however, my Lords, to be told by this Orator on the Part of the Defendents, that Rome never yet attempted to excite or foment Seditions or Rebellions, or to abfolvc any Subjeds from their Allegiance to their Sovereign. That Thefe are the Inventions of a gracelefs Pack of heretical Hiflorians, And that, if the World gives Credit to any fuch Stuff, the World is a Blockhead and knows nothing of the Matter. Counfellor Candour, My Lords. I am glad that Mr. Serjeant is grown {q plea(ant with Us. Is not this much better than Railing and Scurility.? than giv- ing Us Abufe in the Room of Evidence, and naughty Names, for Want of material Ac- cufation.? If we may guefs at the Caufe of his extraordinary good Temper, he thinks that, at prefent, he has fomewhat to fay for him- felf; and he is not half fb angry with his Ca- tholic Opponents, as when all his Sophiftry was filenced and his Authorities, like Artil- lery, turned upon himfelf, I think t i»o 3 1 think it, my Lords, incumbent, at thi^" Day, to make a Confeflion of my own Er- rors, before this honourable Gourt. It is not long fince I fided with Mr. Serjeant, in this Mattet. I verily thought^ as Saint Pml faith^- that I ought to do many things againft this Ped- pie. I was carried down the Current of ge- neral Prejudice. I afliired myfelf and per- fuaded others, that the Infurredion of Forty- one, was a univerfal Confpiracy of all IriJJ:} Catholics, for the inflaAt Extirpation of every Proteftant throughout the Kingdom ^ and that they very nearly accomplifhed their ex- ecrable Plot by the fpeedy MafTacre, in cold Blood, of one hundred and fifty thoufand of their in offending Countrymen. Hence, my Lords, I concluded that Ro- man Catholics were adually wicked upon Principle, and that the Dodrines, which they had imbibed from th^ir Mother-Church, could, alone, be produdlive of fuch unnatural Pradices. Under thefe Prefumptions and Prejudices, while I continued in that Kingdom, I always looked [ Hi ] looked upon Irijh Catholics with Apprehen- fion and Difguft. I was in continual Ex- pedation of their fuddenly breaking out into fome nightly Infurredlion and general Mafla- cre. And I beheld the wonderful Calm of their Condudl and Behaviour, as the Fore* runner and fure Prefage of the more violent Tempeft. It is fbrhe Years ago, finee opening ^^- pin's Hillory of the Rebellion of IriJh Catho- lics, under y^^w^j II. the lad Male of the Stuart Line, I began and proceeded with much Attention. I was fenfible that This had not been a preconcerted Affair; and that the IriJh took up Arms, as they apprehend- ed, with the King and Conftitution upon their Side. I, therefore, did not look for any fud- den, horrid, and univerfal MalTacre. But, as the Government was, then, wholly in tbeir own Hands j as the Army was theirs j as all the national Arms were within the Grafp of Catholics-, as it was evidently in their Power at once to have crufhed all Pro- teftants olEngliJh Defcent, within that King- dom; [ 112 ] dom; and, thereby, to have prevented any future Oppofition, on their Parr, to Irijh Catholics; I fay, my Lords, that, in fuch a Situation, I looked every Moment for fome bloody Cataftrophe; for military Executions; for partial MaiTacres, at leaft; agreeable to their prefent Power, and to the former Prin- ciples and Pradtices imputed to them. I looked in vain, my Lords. I fliil read on, and on. I proceeded till Ireland was in- vaded by an Englijh Army under William the Third, who was further joined by Thoufands of Irifi) Proteflants then living in the open Country unhurt by their Popilh Adverfarics, although in Power ; And I confidered, within myfelf, how this might be. Can thefe gende Catholics of Eighty-eighty thought I, be of the Blood of thofe Butchers of Forty-one? Is it polTible, that the Princi- ples, of the One and the Other, (hould be the fame, when they differ fo infinitely, in the Pradliee and Exprellion thereof? Again [ "3 ]1 Again I read how the Englijh and Irip^ on cither Part, agreeable to the Laws of GOD and of Humanity (as far as the fame are con- fident with the Law of Nations and of Arms) did long continue in open Defiance and Hof- tility againfl Each-other. I read of Battles, Sieges, Skirmifhes, of mighty Deeds at- chieved, of Fields won and lofb, with equal Glory : But I read of no Maffacre, I read of no Murder, neither of any Thing that could charge or impeach Irijh Catholics with an Ad unbecoming humane and gallant Men^ and I was tempted to pity the native Bravery of Thofe who, at Boyne as well as at Aughrim^ (abandoned by their King, and unanimated by Example) held the Battle in Stifpence, a- gainfl the befl Army and the beft Leader then upon Earth. I now began to hefitate, with refped to the Principles long charged, and now repeat- ed by Mr. Serjeant, againfl: this People; Principles fo detefl:able in their Nature and Tendency, that They who, even in Se- cret, can juftify to their own Hearts the H leaft [ "4 ] lead of fuch Abominations, ought ta he fwept from Society, from the Community of Earth and Air, as Serpents horrid to Sight, and Pefts deadly to Nature. Here;^' , ^nd that, though Irijb Catholics looked J^ .1 James II. as their conflitutional and J"'|f^'-i^ Prince; though they were rea- dy to \^w^r/l:/^, where- by they are admitted, not only to Terms of Peace, but Terms of Amity, as alfo to the equal Protedion of Law and Participation of Property, throughout the Kingdom. Now, [ "5 ] Now, my Lords, how comes it to pafs that Mr. Serjeant did not fix on this neighbour- ing ^ra of War, Rebellion, and BlooJflied, as a Foundation whereon to ground his Charge againft the Principles ai^d^adtifv^ of Irijh Catholics? He might, in tliis 6^,' have got living Witnefles of Fads vf^siOy -^ha^Focey would have attelled the Tri^h^ff ^ ~ xlUe- gations, if any Truths \^i^^\^M\^; ' He might have got Thoufands ^^ ^ra^dreo^wiio have liflened, while theii; ^^P^i* /„ff^'^?|g^€d, again and again, the minlit|fl t' i^^fes of thofe Days. No, my Xotds, ,;^Eti[^ would not doj he was confcious that theie Tefli- nv)nies were all agaifiij: him. Matters, in the prefent Cafe, were fomewhat too recent, and the Evidence of his jVIajefly, of the Go- vernment, of the Generals, of the Englifh Sol- diery, and, indeed, of all Irijb Froteftants, were too ilrong in the Favour of IriJh Catho- lics, to admit of any oppofite Charge from the Malice, or Invention, cither of Orators or Hiftorians, H2 With [ ii6 ] With regard to the Catholic Defendants, Mr. Serjeant Statute gives us, at prefent, to underftand, that fmce he found himfelf un- able to prove their wicked Principles from the Wickednefs of their PraBice ; he chufes to take his Argument by the other End, and to prove their wicked Practices from the Wickednefs o^ their Principles. His Saviour Christ tells him tl[iat the Nature and Virtue of a Tree is to be known frOiii its Fruit-, but Mr. Serjeant, for the pre(^7 IS 0^ ^ different Opinion, he af- firms 'that the Nature and Virtue of the Fruit is to be known froni the Tree-, or rather, in- deed, from the Judgment and Opinion of Tbofe, who wifh It to bQ bewn down and cafi into the Fire. Upon this Footing, my Lords, Mr Ser- jeant expedls to be reftored, as he fays, to his original Charge; and to the Credit which he defires the World fhould give to the Bar- barities imputed to our Catholic Defendants. Reflore him then, my Lords, reftore him to all and to every Part, of former or of fur- ther Allegations againft this People. I, in- deed, [ "7 ] deed, for the Sake of Peace, of palliating and reconciling, for the Coalefcing of all Parties into mutual and equal Amity, have purpofe- ly dropt many Matters which, though mainly conducing to the Caufe of my Clients, might have tended, at the fame Time, to provoke their Adverfaries. For the War that I wage, at prefent, in Behalf of Irjh Catholics, is merely defenfive: I wifh, ^^jd to fhield them, from the Aflaults of rri-^Ueeming Ene- mies; but I wifh not to returiV u fingle Wea- pon to the Bofom of him wfe^-' caft it. Let not this, however, be, a Pre^^'dent to Mr. Serjeant Statute^ if any Lap0 .of Memory has happened, on his fart; if lie is defirous of recommenfing his Charge, from the Be- ginning, on any better Plan, either refpedl- ing a new Manner, or additional Matter, let him do fo in Heaven's Name; we take no Advantage, we are ready to lift the Target wherever he points the Spear. I can't, myfelf, forbear recurring to one Article at lead, of Mr. Serjeant's original Charge againft the Catholic Defendants; H 3 where [ 118 1 where he fays, he trufis to prove the Danger y impending over allEngliJh Proteftants^ from Men^ born of the Blood and^ educated in the Principles of thofe Barbarians. Of what Barbarians, I pray ye, rny Lords? Our prefent Irifh Catholics are, univerfally, defcended from their generous and humane Anqellors o£^ixteen hundred and eighty eight. True, 'but thpfe are not the Ancef- tors Mr. Serjeant would intend. He leaps you quite overthefe, as Milton s Devil leapt into Paradice, at one Bound. He comes, with a backward Genealogy, to a few Mif- creants," the Drofs ^nd Dregs that boiled uppermofl in Times of Fermentation, and Who, to a Man, either perilhed by War, or took their Flight beyond Sea, or fufFered for their Grimes, with their Abettors and Harbourers, under the grand Court of In- quifition, that was appointed to purge the Nation of all fuch Delinquents. 1 am apt, my Lords, to irqagine that, had Mr. Serjeant been drawing a Deed of Convpy^nce, or affirming a Title, by lineal Defcenr, t 119 J Defcent, in Favour of fome Client ; he would not, thus, have forgotten the more imme- diate Generations. He would not have dug, fo deep into Dirt, for an old rufty Sword; if he thought he could have furniflied himfelf from any Armoury, at Hand, wherewith to aflail and wound the Defendants. But, my Lords, let us fuppofe that, at the Infurredlion of Forty-one^ all the Catholics in Ireland were Rebels, Robbers, and Murder- ers. Well — From that Period to Eighty- eight, we have a long Term of forty Years and upward; good Time for Repentance and Reformation. Accordingly we find that, if the Parents of Forty-one were Profligates, the Children ofEighty-eight were Penitents; they had turned away from the Principles and Pradlices of their Fore- fathers ; they were reclaimed from former Barbarifm; They were refined from former Drofs; and this, their Gradation, from Guilt into Goodnefs, ought to have been an AfTu ranee, to all their Proteflant Brethren, of their future Progref- fion in their Afcent to Virtue. H 4 For [ 120 ] For myfelf, my I^rds, I confefs that the Prejudices, which I had imbibed againft Irifh Catholics, were fo llrong, that, upon read- ing the Hiftory of their Condudl during the War of Eighty-eight, I was defirous of dif* covering any Motive, whatever, to their honourable Proceedings, on that Occafion, rather than any Reformation or Deviation from the vicious Principles which I imputed to them. I was flaggered, however. I recurred, further back: into the Hiftory of thefe Peo- ple. I had been told, as Mr. Serjeant alfo obferves, that our MOST GLORIOUS ELIZABETH had been folemnly, excom- municated by the Pope, and that her Sub- jeds, univerfally, were difcharged from their Allegiance; a double Command, in EfFed, neither to fuffer her to reign, nor to live upon the Earth. Here, again, my old Pre- judices and Opinions were reftored. I doubted not to find a Corroboration and Confirmation of the Truth of all the Maf- facres, alledged to have been perpetrated, during [ 121 ] during the Reiga of Charles I, from fimilar Enormities during the Reign of Elizabeth, But how was I difappointed, how was I de- feated of my Defires, on this Head ! when, on the flridteft Enquiry, I could find no Maf- facre, no Murder, no Infurre(5lion, nor even Commotion, that could be referred to thefe horrid Articles of Excommunication and Dlfpen- fation^ or to the Principles of Papifts alledged to be conformable thereto. Serjeant Statute. Your Pardon, Mr. Candour^ feveral Con- ipiracies and Rebellions enfued thereon. Counfellor Candour. Subfequent thereto, there did, Mr. Ser- jeant: But no Confpiracy or Rebellion, not a fingle Murder, or Maim, in Confequence thereof. When all were Pagans, or when all were Papifts, in all Countries, and all Ages, when no Quarrel nor Contention fub- fifted, with refpedt to Religion; there have not been wanting Confpirators, or Aflaflins, Infurredlions, or Rebellions. Neither can it be faid that the Poignard, which ftabbed a Proteflant [ 122 ] Protejlant Henry or a Popijh Lewls^ was lifted j by the Religion of the one ScSl or of the Other. The Truth is, that his Holinefs at that Time, began to feel his Powers failing apace. I would afk Mr. Serjeant if he has read Shake/pear's Play of Harry IV ? Owen Glen- dower y the heroic Magician of /i^^/(?j, boafting to Harry Percy ^ crys " / can call Spirits from *' the vajly Deep'' Why yes, fays P(?rry, " and " fo can /, andfo can any Man-, but will they ^^ come when you call 'em?'' Thus the Pope, at that Time could excommunicate Princes, and charge Subjeds to break their Allegi- ance, he could call the Spirits of Infurredi- ©n and Rebellion from the vafty Deep; but, did they come v/hen be called them? no in- deed, Mr. Serjeant i He might have fpared his Breath, for not a Leaf ftirred; and all his Thunders, from that Day, have been account- ed no more than a Brutum Fulmen. I had fcarce finifhed this Part of our En- glijh Hiflory, when the Rebellion of 1746 broke out in Scotland, and then it was that the t 123 ] the Farmer wrote his famous Invedive, a- gainft this People, and prophecied, as many Others did, at the fame Time, that the Ca- tholics of /r^te^ would, indubitably, lay hold on that Opportunity to difcharge the Storm, fo long brewing, on the Heads of their Pro- teftant Brethren : But, here, we are obliged to turn over the Farmer himfelf, with his Contemporary Prognofticators, to the Clafs of the falfe Prophets; for all continued as calm and ferene, throughout that Kingdom, as when the Halcyon builds her Neft on the fmoothed Surface of the Ocean. What could I now think? I faw that the whole Tenour of the Condudl of Irifh Ca- tholics during the Memory of Man; and all that Hiftory had further recited, of the Manners, Adions, and Difpofitions of their Progenitors, was a joint Negation and Con- tradidlion to whatever I had heard or read of the Malfacre of Forty-one. All Accounts that preceded, and all Accounts that fucceeded to that difgraceful Period, concurred to give their Tefti monies in Favour and in Honour of [ 124 ] of this People: This MafTacre, alone, ftood againft all other Evidence; here was a de- plorable Falling off, indeed; here lay the dark Blot that degraded and difhonoured their whole Efcutcheon. To reconcile fuch apparent Inconfiflencies, and to clear my own Doubts, on this Head; I enquired, I fearchcd, and made a Colled\i- on of all the Hiftories, Memoirs, Extradts of Records, Pamphlets, and Papers, that related in any Meafure, to the Wars of Forty-one. I compared each Author with others, I com- pared him, alfo, with himfelf I found that Lord Clarendons Spleen, if any Spleen he had to thefe People, did not furvive the firfl two or three Days of the Rebellion. And, though He does not, in form, retradl his original AfTertion, that they had murdered forty or fifty thoufand Pro- teflants, before Warning or Time for Efcape^ ' yet his whole fubfequent Account, of the Ty- ranny of their Rulers, of the Inveteracy of their Enemies, of their Sufferings, of their Patience, of their Inclinations to Peace, of the [ 125 ] the Loyalty of their Chiefs, and of the Cha- rity of their Prieflhood, 'are more than a thoufand Retradtions of one inadvertent, or interpolated, Sentence, which muft have been wholly abfurd and falfe, if his own fub- fequent Hiftory, if the Hiflory of all Others on the fame Subjed, if the Confeffion of the bittereft Enemies of Irijb Catholics, if the Teflimonies, even of a puritannical Govern- ment, of the Lords Jufliccs and Council of Ireland, deferve any Credit. Again, I perceived that Sir John Temple and Do6tor Borlafe had induflrioufly fharpen- cd their Pens with a Defire of wounding; and I found, alfo, upon Enquiry, that they were, by Policy, as well as by Inclination^ the avowed and intcrefled Enemies of the Catholics of Ireland. But, unhappily for the Credit which they might otherwife have ob- tained, they were frequently obliged to quote Matters of Record and Public Recognizance. In this Cafe they did not dare to deviate from the Letter ; they were, reluftantly, compell- ed to infert many Inconfiftencies, in this Page to [ 126 ] to refute v/hat they had written in that, and thus, with one Hand they expunged what they had blackened with the Other. Again, my Lords, when I had compared thofe three t^ftorians with all others who liad treated of- the farne Subjedl : When I had rejected the Impoflible; admitted the Probable; and fet down, as indubitable, whatever their coiiclLirring Teftimonies unit- ed to affinii. I found that the Catholics of Ireland h2Ld\>e€ny defignedly, vilified, in or- der to prevent the Refloration of their Eflates, on the Refloration of the Monarchy. That they had, at three feveral Times, mofl carneflly though vainly, petitioned the Go- vernment that the Mifdeeds of thofe Times might be ftridly enquired into, for the Ac- quittal of Innocence and the Punifhment of the Guilty, on both Parts. And I further and finally found, that the faid wonderful Detail, of Murders and MalTacres, was little other than a Bundlement of legendary Stuff, exaggerated by the Fears and Inventions of the Times. That a Pidure drawn from a few [ 127 J few Reprobates, fpued out both by their Civil and Ecclefiaflical Communion, was fet up as the Reprefentative of this whole Peo- ple. And that Malice, as it were, had paint- ed a cloven Foot, and had artfully written under, EX PEDE CATHOLICUM. SerjeTmSd My Lords, Mr. C#^J%, lom^^Time ago, did me the Honour tc^^tiraate that I might have fomewhat to fay '-fer^ myjelf^ in the new Matter which I exhibited againiji thefe Ca- tholics, refpeding th^- iftWren^t Wicked- '^S "v, p nefs of their Principles, And i have been waiting, with much Patience;^ this half Hour and upward, for an Opportunity to return Mr. Candour his Compliment. He appears, however, induftrioufly to decline having any Thing to fay for himfelf on this Head. He has reconnoitred the Subjed genteelly enough, I confefs; and has talked, with much Elo- quence, about it, and about it. But, if he thinks himfdf equal to a Combat, in this Caufe, why does he not come to clofer En- gagement.? Perhaps he has forgotten, or chufcs [ ia8 ] ehufes not to recoiled the Purport of my Charge. Permit me, my Lords, to refrefh his Memory in this Matter. Counfellor Candour. You will not find any Need, Sir, You will not find any Need. There is much of Gal- lantry, as alfo of Confidence, in your Chal- lenge, Mr. Serjeant. But, how long that Confidence will uphold you is a Matter of fome Doubt. For I truft, Sir, for the Time to come, to fave you the Trouble of ever repeating your faid Charge, either here or elfewhere. It might, my Lords, be an Experiment curious enough to enquire how far Mr. Ser- jeant's Charge, fuppofing the fame to be true, could alFed the Morals and Condud of Roman Catholics in general ^ how far, I fay, thofe Tenets, fo damnable in themfelves, fo everfivc of Chriflianity, and fo fhocking to human Nature, could influence this People, fuppofing them to be the Tenets of the Church of Rome. I have C 129 3 I have formerly taken Notice that Virtud, and Vice, are Qualities no Way peculiar to any Nation or Sedt. That neither Precept, Education, nor Religion, itfelf; noDodlrines, nor Preachments, however zealoufly inculcat- ed, have yet proved available for converting People, wholly, to Benevolence or Malevolence^ to Good or to Evil. We fee Turks, who are unblefled by true Religion or Liberty ; who are the Slaves of Slaves; without a Form of civil Government, temporally fubjeded to the Will of a Tyrant, and fpiritually to the Worfhip of a fenfual Im- poflor; We fee, I fay, however, that they live in Charity, and kindly Neighbourhood, with all other Seds and religious Denomina- tions. Even the wild Indians, who never lift- ened to the Toll of a Bell, nor ever were call- ed into any Court of civil Judicature; Thefe want not their Attachments, their Friend- fhips, their Family Feelings, nor the fweet Compundlions and Emotions of the HUMAN HEART DIVINE. I The [ 15^ ] The Truth is that People live, incompa- rably, more by Impulfe and Inclination, than by Reafon and Precept. Reafon and Pre- cept are not, always, inftant or at Hand; but Inclination is more than at Hand, it is within and, from the Citadel, rules the Out- works of Man at Pleafure. When the Apoftle, fpeaking of CHRIST, affirms that there is no other NAME under Hea- ven^ whereby a Man may hefaved : And again, When he affirms that Thofe, who have not received the Law, are a haw unto Themfelves\ He intends one and the fame Thing ; He in- tends that CHRIST, from the Fall of Man, is a PRINCIPLE of REDEMPTION in the Bofbms of all Living. That he is not an outward but an inward Redeemer^ working out our Salvation by the Change of our deprav- ed Nature. That in and from Him, and Him only, arifc all the Sentiments and Senfibili- tics, that warm the Heart with Love, that expand it with Honour, that wring it with Compundion, or that heave it with the Story of diftant Diftrcfsj and that He, alone, can be [ i3i 1 be qtiaiified to be Judge, at the lafl Day^ who, from the firfl Day to the Lafl, was in- ternally, a Co-operator and Witnefs of all that ever paffed within the Bofbms of Men. Hence it is that, although the Chriftian Countries have received the fwo 'Tables^ of the Laws of CHRIST, his external as well as internal Revelation-, (E^ch witnefling to the Other^ that the GOD of our Go/pel is the GOD of our Nature) the Nations, however, who are Strangers to his Name, yet acknow- ledge his Influence i they do not, indeed hear^ but they feel the Precepts of that LIGHT lohich lightetb every Man who cometh into the IVorld. Many Infidel-Reafbners and Infidel-Wri- ters, wholly miftaking this Matter, give large Encomiums to the native Morals, of Indian Nations and others, in Preference to Nations illuminated by the Gofpel; not knowing, at the fame Time, that they adlually compare and reproach CHRIST with HIMSELF. But Mr. Serjeant goes a Step further; he re- proaches a Church of CHRIST with Tenets I % which [ 132 ] which ANTICHRIST, alone, could adopt-, an Enemy equally adverfe to Nature and Revelation. Suppofing, then, that Rome was this very Antichrift^ let us inquire how far her Influence prevailed, in perverting the Morals and na- tive Goodnefs of her Members. There were, my Lords, three capital Pe- riods^ during which, the Court, and the Church, and the Conflituents of the Church ofRomey were, if ever, under very extraordi- nary Temptations to put the faid abominable Tenets into Execution, to wit, during the Reign of Elizabeth^ during the PFars of Forty- me^ and during the Wars of Eighty-eight. The temporal Powers of Rome had been greatly broken in upon. Her ecclefiaftical Ju- rifdidion had been, alfo, much abridged, and, at thofe Periods, was threatened with utter Extirpation in thefe Kingdoms. Ambition, therefore, the Lufl of Rule, and of tempo- ral Wealth and Profperity, urged her to vio- lent Meafures for the Reparation of thofe Damages [ "^33 ] Damages which (he conceived to have been injurious; and her Religion, itfelf, might feem to plead to Her, for the Exertion of her fecular Forces in its Defence. It is evident then, my Lords, that, if Rome ever offered Difpenfations and Indulgencies for Crimes to come, If ever (he preached up Con (piracies, Infurredions, Rebellions, Mur- ders, Maffacres, the Extirpation of Schifms, and the Excifion of Heretics, as Matters me- ritorious with CHRIST and with GOD; fhe would have didated and preached them up, at thofe three feveral Periods, fhe would have inculcated and enforced them on every Mem- ber of her Communion, •nii'^ih ^ But, if (he did preach them up, pray what was the Confequence ? we have feen the Con- fequence, my Lords ; we have feen that, in fuchaCafe, the Catholic Priefthood as well as Laity, of England and Ireland, were, almoft univerfally greater Rebels to the State and Church o^Rome, than to theProteftant or Pu- ritan Government of thefe Kingdoms; and that they chofe to be the Servants of that Word, ,1 3 which [ '34 1 which CHRIST revealed to their Ears, and imprefled upon their Hearts, rather than Ser- vants of Tenets eyerfive of all Morals, and abhorrent to human Nature. Should a Foreigner of fomediftant Nation, or diftant World, be told of the Principles of the Religion eftablifhed in England ; fhould he be told that It is no other than the Law of eternal Love^ beaming forth and expand- ing into Anions and Sentiments of unbound- ed Benevolence. That it teacheth its Vota- ries to return Good for Evil, ^nd Affedlion for Hatred ; to look down upon Earth and All that is tranfient as Matters beneath the Attention of their immortal Spirits ; to re- jed Riches, Honours, Pleafures and tempo- rary Emoluments ; as Toys fitted, only, for fuch of the Children of Men who are igno- rant of their own Natures, and of the Advan- tages that are infinitely fuited thereto ; to fay to this whole World, thy Goods are nothing unto me ; to embrace AfKidion ; to foiile un- der Calamity ; and to regard Time, Pain, and Death itfelf, merely as Porters of that Gate which [ 135 J which opens on a glorious and blifsful Eter- nity. Should fuch a Foreigner, I fay, be thus apprized of the Principles of our Englijh Pro- teftants, before he was acquainted with the ProfefFors thereof; could he form a higher Idea of the Reditude of any Creatures, tho* he were to be introduced to the Society of the Seraphim ? But, fhould this Foreigner, afterward, come to compare Adtion with Sentiment and Dodlrinc with Deeds ; he might pofTibly con- ceive that we deemed it quite fufficient to be pious, by Principle ; but that we dropped the Pradtice thereof, on the High Road of Life to be picked up, by any who might deign to ftoop for the fame. We fee then, my Lords, that the good Principles, of a Church, are not neceffarily attended by conformable Pradices, and, con- fequently, that the evil Principles, of aChurch, are not neceffarily produdive of the evil Practices of its Members, I 4 Mr. t 136 ] Mr. Serjeant, my Lords, hath told us that one John Gother^ in a certain Book, entitled a Papifi mifreprefented and reprefmted^ has fpe- cified and acknowledged his late Charge of abominable Tenets, as Tenets generally af- cribed to the Church o^ Rome. No, my Lords, this is not the Fa6l. Doc- tor Gother fpecifies the faid abominable Te- nets, as Matters of mere Calumny ; as Falf- hoods invented, by fome defigning Enemies of the Roman Catholics, with a View X6 bring the Hatred ^nd Perfecution of the World upon them. And he appeals to the Church of Rciney and to every Member there- of, for their utter Rcjedion and Abhorrence of fuch Dodlrines. We all know how difficult it is for any Society, or Individuals of Society, to defend tbemfelves from the Malice of thofe who hate or have Caufe of Quarrel with them. Even CHRIST was feid to have been confe- derated with Devila, while he was bufied in conquering the Kingdom of Satan, But, [ 137 1 But, my Lords, as the World, for fome Ages, hath been peftered and difturbed with Affirmations and Negations, with much Quar- rel and Controverfy, on this Head ; and as fuch a deal of Smoak can, hardly, be fup- pofed, without fome Matter of Fire or Embers at Bottom ^ I will with the good Patience of the Court, and of Mr. Serjeant, give the na- tural and veritable Hiftory of this Bufinefs. I am fenfible that in the enfuing Account, I fhall inevitably offend this People, whofe ' Caufe I am pleading, by fpeaking lightly and difparagingly of fome Perfons and Things, which they think it their Duty and which it is, therefore, their Virtue to revere. But, I (hall proceed in the Courfe and Inveftigation of Truth, or of that which I conceive to be the Truth, without Byafs or Regard to their Favour or Difpleafure. My Lords, and Gentlemen of the Jury, it is notorious, thro' all Hiflory, that, whenever Religion hath been impreflcd into the Service of Intsrejiy It hath been taught to fpeak the Language • [ 138 ] Language and avow the Opinions that Inte- refl fhall occafionally pleafe to didate. From the 9th to the 1 6th Century, Romi^ had ufurped and flretched a Sceptre of tem- poral Jurifdidlion over the Weft. That Scep- tre is now broken, that Jurifdi6tlon is nq more. Our prefent Matter of Enquiry is, how this fhould come to pais. 9> During the firft nine hundred Years of the Chriftian Difpenfation, the Church was the ObjecSV, not the Author of Perfecution. In- quifitigns were, then, wholly of Pagan Infti- tution ; and the Chriftian Sufferers addreffed many an Apology, to the Heathen World, wherein they truly fet forth that the Princi- ples and Pradlice enjoined, by their divine Legiflator, were incapable of Offence toward any Government upon Earth. That his Re- ligion, being that of Love, Peace, and For- bearance, could not polTibly be at Variance with any Syftem of temporal Policy; and that the Obedience, enjoined by CHRIST to the Civil Magiftrate^ was anfwerable to every Purpofe of Civil Subjedion. But, [ 139 ] But, when temporal Dominion was wed- * ded, by the Roman Pontiff, to fpiritual Au- thority, his fpiritual Authority was fpeedily inllrudled in the Language and Sentiments of temporal Dominion. And Romey now, re- fufed that Toleration to Others which, with all the Force of Reafon and Eloquence, fhe had formerly claimed for herfelf. As (he had founded her new Pile of earth- ly Domination upon the Broad Bottom of her Ecclefiaftical Influence, fhe grew exceflively fond of making Profclytes to her Faith, fince fhe now looked upon Them as Profc- lytes to her Power; and fhe became out- ragious on the fmallefl Defedion from her Church, as fhe held it to be a Weakening and Diminution of her State. Her fpiritual Prelates were, now, become temporal Prin- ces; they rather conflituted the Courts than the Church of Rome. It is not, then to be wondered that, in their temporal Capacities, they preferred Earth to Heaven, and impofed fome Opinions, as Matters of Religion, that were didated, merely, by Ambition and civil Policy. By [ HO ] By fuch Means did Rome arlfe to her tie- plus ultra of all worldly Glory. She affumed a perpetual and univerfal Didtatorfhip. Whom ihe would fhe pulled down, and whom fhe would fhe enthroned-. Princes kiffed her Feet, Emperors held her Stirrup; and (he made Prefents of Diadems to the Children of Obedience, as Garlands, or fuch like Favours, to be worn for her Sake. While the World thus laboured beneath the double Yoke of the temporal and fpiri- tual Tyranny of Rome^ a few Ecclefiaftics of her own Communion, had the Boldnefs to remonftrate againfl the Innovotions that, from Time to Time, had been impofed by the 5*/^/^, upon iht Churchy They according- ly propofed a general Reform, and ftrenuouf- ]y urged for a Reduction of Chriftianity to its firft Principles. Thus did thefe Ecclefiaflics put the World in Mind that it was Time for them to think and judge for themfelves. People liflened, with Avidity, to the Detedion of fuch Errors, as were alledgcd to have been adopted under the [ HI ] the Papal Difpenfation. Several Princes, alfo, who wiflied to be freed from the Shackles of his Holinefs, gladly laid hold of this favour- able Difpofition in their Subjedts. And, when the State of Rome refufed to make any Re- form in the Churchy thefe Princes caft afide all future Allegiance to her Church and her State i and the Nations claimed a Right in Temporals^ and even in Spirituals ^ to judge and adt for themfelves. Then were beared the Papal Thunders, far and near, Europe trembled thereat. But, when People perceived that None was blafted thereby, their Terrors gradually fubfided, and now the Bulls of Rome may bellow, as harmlefs and unregarded, as the bleating of fo many Sheep at Banjiead, From that Time forward, the Power of the Roman Court began to decline a pace. Though the Pontiff had long claimed the In- veftiture of all Authority, in Earth as weU as Heaven, yet He did not equally pretend to a divine Delegation for Both. Even thofc Potentates, who continued to acknov/ledgc his t H2 ] his fpirltual Supremacy, fcrupled hot to re- fume his temporal Ufurpations. His wide World is now fhrunk to a little Demefne in Italy^ and his Power is difclaimed by the fe\y remaining Signories who do him Homage with their Lips. This Divorce of temporal Dominion from fpiritual Authority has again reftored Rome to her primitive Charity. Wars, Feuds, and Infurredtions are no longer her Intereft, and flie is become a fincere Preacher of Peace upon Earth. Indeed her abfolving of /5'«^>, under whkh tbjeylive, Weq^nnot, incjeed, bpaftof^heir being Sticklers for popular Rights, or Char^' pions for |^iberty; but we can truely affirm that they are thje mofl loyal ar\d amenable of all Subje(Ss,, under the Sud. £ W CJki^f Jufi'm. Gentlomcn of the Jury,— with your LeaYC|. and that of the Gei>tlemea of the Bar^, 1 will now proceed to my Charge^ in the fim- plefl and fucdndefl Manner I can. S^jeant- StatuU. r mut-jb, yet, entreat your Patknce, my good^ Lord Chief Jufl'ice. Although all other Catholics, throughout th§ UQiverfe, were to be. accounted loyal^ peaceful, c m 3 peaceful, and amenable to Government, as wdl upon Principles of Religion as of civil ^liq? i yet the Catholics of Ireland^ can ne^ ver prove loyal to the royal Houfe o^ Hano^ ver^ or to any other princely SuccelTion, (6 long as an Individual of the unfortunate and infatuated Houfe of the Stuarts (hall re- main. Mr. Canimr^ himfelf, has been exceeding honeft and ample on this Head. He has fliewn us that Irijh-Catholm^ notwithftanding their temporal and fpritual Grievances under Jmes and Charles I. and notwithftanding thieir Rejeftion of a Puritannical or Republi- can Government, ftill continued inviolably attached to the Perfons of the faid Kings; as they did^ alio, to the Perfons of Cbarks and James II. and to the laft Regent of that jnaufpicious Line. It flaould fcem indeed, by the Hiftory of ttieir Behaviour under the Whole Race of the Stuarts^ that thcfe People are of a Species^ like Spaniels, whofe Obedience andFondnefs encreafes in Proportion to the Laihes that are infliftccj t '54 ] inflided by their tyrannical Mailers. Their Loyalty appears to partake of the Propenfity of the Bull-Dog, who will not quit his Hold^o though rent Limb from Limb. What Profped, then, what Expcdation can we reafonably form, that Irifb-Catholics will be induced to bear any cordial Fealty to our prefent illuftrious Houfe, while a Twig of their anciently beloved Stem fhall fubfift ? We may as well hope to fever Attradtion from Matter, as to tear, from the Breafts of this People, their Inclination and Attach- ment to the Stuart Line. Thither their Looks, their Defires, and Expedations will tend, to the Laft; as fome benighted Mari- ner looks to the Polar Star, whereby hehofcs to fteer to a Haven of final Safety, Counfellor Candour, I now begin, my Lords, to perceive the great Advantage of Oratory •, and almoft to think it a Match, in Controverfy, againft Truth and a good Caufe. Mr. Serjeant, undoubtedly, confcious that he could aflign no rational Motive for the Attachment [ 155 ] Attachment of Irifb-Catholics^ to" that ancient Houfe of the Stuarts^ artfully defcribes this chinierical Attachment, as irrational; and, thereby, avoids the Neceflity of affigning any Motive or Caufe for the Same. I, however, acknowledge that he plentir fully fupplies all Deficiency of Reafon with pofitive Affirmations that the Fad is fo. He, himfelf, appears (b fully perfuaded thereof; and he has rendered his Affirmations fo fea- fible and pleafmg, by a Number of illullrate- ing and agreeable Images, that we are almofl: compelled, againft our better Knowledge, to fall in with his Opinion. Mr. Serjeant, among other Things, takes Notice that Irijh-Catholics reje t i58 ] On the AccefTion oi James I. to the Throne of England^ Iriftj Catholics, as I once before obferved, were feized of mod of the Lands in that Kingdom. This ^x^ Stuart was, then^ the firft Invader of thefe their Properties, and, under the Finefle of Law, deprived them of more Lands than all the Englifh Ad- ventures had been able to lay hold of, by War and flrong Hand, during ten preced- ing Regencies. Charles I. fhewed his Approbation of the Meafures of l^is honed Anceflor, by vigor- oufly running the fame Courfe. Ireland faw no End of Inquifitions and Seizures. Many private . and Parliamentary Remonflrances were made, again ft thefe warranted Plunders and legal Iniquities. The King, teized or, poffibly, fli^nied into a Stop of fuch Abufes, had promiSi^he Proprietors Redrefs and Reftoration.^^is Deputy Strafford^ however, fecretly diffuaded him from fuch rafh and in- difcreet Retributions; and promifed to take, the whole Blanie of the Knavery upon him- felf. The King, as fecretly, thanked him for [ ^59 J for this, feafonable Saving of his efcheated Lands and Honour ^ and though, afterwards, in the Time of his own Diftrefs, his Majefly profefled his Repentance of thofe Injuries to others, and accordingly tranfmltted his Ads, of Limitation and Relinquifhment, by the Committee of the Jrijh Parliament ; yet the Government found Means to defeat the faid Ads i and the King's faid Graces becajne nul^ and void, and his faid Ufurpations remained in full Force and Virtue of Law, During the Authority of the Parliamenta- rian Government, as alfo during the Regen- cy of Cromwely many further Seizures were made of the Eftates of Iri/h-Catbolicsy as well under Colour of the Defedion of Forty one^ as on Account of the Services which the Irijb had rendered, in Scotland, to King Charles h and to King Charki^h 2i^ilxxi^ the Englifb Parliament, and more particularly againft the Scotch Rebels, whom they defeated in a Num- ber of defperate Engagements. The Irifb^ however, fondly affured themfelves of the Reftoration of thefe their Eftates on the |H|p Reftoration l: m t ^60 3 Reftoration of the Throne to that Family, in whofe Cehalf they had loft their Blood and their Fortunes. But, how cruelly were their Mopes defeated! This fecond of the Name of Charks^ and Third of the Stmrt Line, no way degenerating from the Severity of his two Anceftors toward Irijb Catholics, and, deflroUs of conciliating his formidable Enemies, at the Expence and by the Sacri- fice of his invariable Friends, transferred, and confirnied, into hoftile Hands the Proper- ties and Eftates that had been holdett by his Defenders 5 he received to hisBofont the Partizansof the late Ufurperj he enfiirai ta the Limdan Abrchants more th*i a threefoki Equivalent of Lands in Irdand f<^ the Mo- ney which they had advanced to carry oil the War againft his Father G&ar&f I. and hecou* fintcd to a fpeciail Ejtception of irijh Catho- lics from the general Adt of Iftdeftihity which paffed in Favour of all others, refpedl- log the late Times aS mutual Turbulence tnd Offence* # feant [ i6i ] Serjeant Statute. My Lords, if I do not forget, Charles II. made a fpecial Refervation in favour of a Number of the Irifh Gentry^ who had ac- companied him, during his Exile, or had been, otherwife, perfbnally attached to him- felf and his Father, and exprefly provided that an Equivalent fliould be given Them, in lieu of thofe Eftates which they had for- feited in Confequence of their adhering to the Crown. Coiinfellor Candour. Such a nominal Provifion, indeed, was ap- pointed, and conditioned to be carried into EfFedl, whenever the propofed Equivalent ftiould be found: and this proved, exadlly, as honefl and as profitable, as enfeoffing them with like Territories, in the World of the Moon, provided they were fo tall, ot fo ingenious, as to reach them. Ye have now, my Lords, had a Detail of all the Favours and Benefits which ought to have attached the Gratitude, of the Roman Catholicsof Ireland^ to the Defcendants of the % ^, , L three t [ i6z ] three Firft of the Stuart Faniily. Let u& fee if they profpered better by the Generofi- ty of their Succeflbrs? They, now, found themfelves deprived of moO: of the Lands, which they poirefTed, on the Acceflion of the firfl Stuart to the Throne of England. A Remnant, however, v/as ftill left to thofe, who had fided wfth the Common-wealth, or who, by a prudent Neutrality, or by Minorfhip, or other Ac- cidents, were preferved from any Impeach- ment or Colour of Defedion. But, here again, comes James II. the fourth of that friendly Houfe, to take away, at one Sweep, whatever had, inadvertently, been left by his Predeceflors. His perfonal Ap- pearance, with the Government and Confli- tution, as they imagined, on his Side, were tempting Baits to feduce them from their better Interefts; but his Promife of re-efta- blifhing the Religion of their Fore-fathers, and of refloririg them to the Poflefiion of all their lapfed Eflates, overbore all Hefitati- on. % [ i63 ] c>n, and Irijh Catholics^ almofl to a Man, em^- braced his Caufe. So great was the Folly and Superflitiori of thofe Days, that many even of the Protefl* ants, againft Interefl and Conimon-Senfe, fided alfo with this Enemy of their Rights and their Religion. They had not, it feems^ reconciled themfelves to King James's^ invo- luntary Abdication of the Throne^ a mofl futile and needlefs Apology for rejeding him ; when he firft ABDICATED THE CONSTITU- TION, he, then, ABDICATED THE THRONE, and by the moft efFedual of all poflible Releafes, difcharged every Subject in the three Kingdoms from their Allegiance. In the mean while, all the Advantage that the IriJh received from this Phoenome- non of the Stuart Houfe, that appeared fo wonderfully to rife and blaze forth in their Favour, was, that He fubjeded them to the Forfeiture of alt the little Property which his PredeceiTors had left them^ that he paid their true Courage m\h falfe Moneys and that he abonJI^ned their Perfons to the Defence L Qi of t 164 ] of his own Caufe, though he hirnfelF, in Per- Ibn did not dare to avow it. Happy for this poor People, the Conquer- or of James II. was not of the Stuart Race, and was, ftill, a greater Alien to their Policy and Dii])ofition, than he was to their Blood, f'Filliam pitied both the Civil and Religious Prejudices of Irifh Catholics, He beheld them as Enemies no longer than he beheld them with the Swoid in their Hand. He reflored to them the Properties and conftitutional Privileges, of which they had been in Pol- feifion, at the Time of their oppofing his Accellion to the Throne. And, though he could not reftore to them thofe vaft Territo- ries which they had loft, by Means of the Stuarts^ He yet left them the free Privilege of acquiring an Equivalent, whenever they fliould be enabled, by the Produds of their induftry, to purchafe the Same. Unhappily for this People, as alfo for other Purpofes of infinite Import, the Reign of this Monarch was but of fnort Duration. To him fucceeded Queen Anne^ S^ laft of the [ 1% ] the Stuart Line, and, vinth one Stroke, gave the Coup de Grace^ or finifhing Blow, to all the Misfortunes and Expedtations of Roman Catholics in Ireland. Her Anceftors had barely deprived them of thofe Inheritances, of which they were in immediate PofTeflion ^ but Anne took due Care, and made efFedlual Provifion that neither they, nor their Pofte- rity, fhould ever inherit a Foot of Land in that Kingdom. It is not, here, my Bufinefs to dwell upon the Grievances of the many limiting, prohi- bitory, and penal Laws, that were enadled during the Reign of that Princefs. Be it fufficient to obferve, from the Beginning to the End, that the Hiftory of lri(h Catho- lics and of the Houfe of the Stuarts^ feems to confift of little elfe than Severities on the one Part, and Sufferings on the other. Here, my Lords, we have feen Provo- cations without Meafure, ard OpprefTions, whereof we can fee no End, heaped fuccef- fively by every Branch of the Stuart Family, upon this People i Provocations more than ^ L ^ enough .*? [ i66 1 l*nough to keep alive their Refentments againft the Memory and lateft Defeendents, of that hoftile Houfe, by whom they and their Defcendents have fuffered, and flill fufFer, and may continue to fuffer till Time fliall be no more. Here, my Lords, I fay, we have feei^ every pollible Motive for Rejedion, Difgufl, ^nd Hatred irreconcileable; but no one Mo- tive, in Nature, for Affedion or Attach- ment, to the Holding of a Hair. But Mr. Serjeant, perhaps, may now have changed his Sentiments, with refpedl to the religious Principles of Rotnan Catholics \ he may tell us that they have remitted the Offences of the Stuarts^ through a Senfe of Chriftian Charity. IF, indeed, they can pardon Injuries, fo ir- reparable and To lafting, they are, queftion- lefs, the mod forgiving of all Chrjftians, And, if they, indeed, continued attached to fuch ancient and inveterate Enemies, what would they have been to Friends, to Princes who bad treated them with Lenity and Good- nefs? But, [ i57 J But, my Lords, fhould we fuppofe, with Mr. Serjeant, that this pretended Attach- ment, of Irijh Catholics to the Stuarts^ was fomewhat more than imaginary -, what then ? Had it been formed of Links of Steel, it could not have endured to the prefent Generation. Time ceafeth not, from Day to Day, and Hour to Hour, to expunge, to wear, and erafe all Impreflions and Traces of former Interefts and Regards. To Day we are in Defpair for the Lofs of Parents, of Children, of fome beloved Wife, or of Hulbands dear to Matrons who were not Ephefians: To-mor- row and to-morrow, the Violence of our Af- flidion begins to fubfide; every Week and Month brings additional Lenitives; next Year we become eafy, the next Year we become chearful; and at laft we find what, at lirft, we could not fuppofe pofTibe, that the Affe5lions^ as well as the Fafljions of this World, pafs and vanidi away. It is now feventy Years, and feveral Gene- rations have decayed and fucceeded, fince any Irijlj Catholic lifted a Hand in Aid or L 4 Comfort [ i68 3 Comfort of a Defcendant of the Stuarts: Even, during three Rebellions in Scotland-, all was quiet among the Irijh^ no Commoti- on or Cry was heard in their Streets; no Foice of Difaffedion, to Government, or to that Family from whom the Throne derives ks prefent Luftre. But, my Lords, where is this Houfe of the Stuarts, to which the Roman Catholics of Ireland are faid to be fo attached ? What are their Powers^-their Expectations, their Con- nections, their Family Alliances ? Where, I fay, is the Warmth and Luflre, of this fame Polar Star, whereby our Iriflj Catholics, as Mr. Serjeant alledges, look to fteer into a Haven of final Safety? All dark and extin(5l, not a fmgle Ray remains to attrad or diredt an Eye to the Place of iheir Exiftence. Such Things and Perfons have been ; but no Part of the knov/n World, now, yields us any Tidings or Intelligence concerning Them. My Lords, I would humbly propofe a Qneflion which every Man who hears me, jnay anfwer to himfelf. If, while the Houfe ' '- ■■ ^ of [ ^^9 ] of the Stuarts flood, Irijh Catholics were In- variably and inviolably attached to It ; ought fuch Fidelity and Affedion to their former hoftile Maflers, ought fuch a virtuous Pro- penfity to make them any way obnoxious to their prefeht benign Rulers ? A certain Duke of Orleans raifed Commo- tions in the State againft his Kinfman, then King of France-, but all his Meafures were watched, and defeated, by fome Perfons who were inviolably attached to the Crown. Up- on the Death of the Monarch, this fame Duke afcended the Throne. His Courtiers thronged about him. They called out for fpeedy Vengeance on his late implacable Ene- mies. But his Majefly turning toward them, with a Smile and a Nod; hufh, hufh, faid he whifperingly; ^ey are the very heft Friends 1 have upon Earth ; for thofe who were faithful againft me while I was Duke of Orleans^ will be the faithfulleft to me^ now that I am King of France. It is Duty^ and not Perfon^ to which they ftand attached. In [ 170 ] In truth, no People in thefe Dominions, no People in the Univerfe, can give furer Demonflrations, of their Obedience to Go- vernment, or Fealty to the reigning Powers, than Irijh Catholics have given of their Ame- liablenefs to our Civil Eftablifhment, for thefe feventy Years pad, and of their Loyalty to the Houfe of Hanover^ fince their firft Invef- tittire with the Crov/n of thefe Kingdoms. It is true that the Roman Catholics of the Kingdom of Ireland, cannot comply with the AdV of Uniformity^ neither take the Oath of Supremacy, for thefe are contrary to their Confcience. But thev are defircws of taking the firmefl: Oarh, of true Faith and Allegi- ance to the gracious Perfon and Government of his Majedy George the Third ^ that is re- quired from the Papifts, of any other Nati- on, to any other Government throughout the Earth. Let us no longer, then, be deceived, let us no longer dcxeive ourfelves, with an old Woman s Fable oj the Majjfacres of Forty-one ; with a groundkjs Imputation of infernal Princi- ples.^ [ J7I ] ples^ or nsoith an idle Siippofition of this People's Fondnefs of a Race of Princes whom, of all created Beings, they have a Right to deteft. Let us no longer, I fay, deceive ourfelves with fuch chimerical Apprehenfions; as tho' the Throne of the reigning Majefly were endangered by Irip Catholics, or that Pro- teftants could not live with them in good Fellowfhip or Security. Such Notions are as everfive of Truth and our own Charity, as they are injurious to thofe our inoffenfive Countrymen and Fellow Chriflians. If IrifJj Catholics have been nurfed in Igno- rance, or bred up to fome Errors, that we have reformed; this is greatly their Misfor- tune, but no way the Fault of their Nature, or of their Will. Shall we then prohibit them from their Portion of Comfort upon Earthy becaufe we think ourfelves in a fairer Way of attaining Happinefs in Heaven ? Be It fufficient, for the Security of our King and Conftiturion, and for quieting the Jea- loufies of their Proteftant Brethren, that their Religion preacheth Peace, adive Obedience, and t 172 ] and paflive SubmifTion to all Civil Eftablifh- ments, under which they fhall happen to livej and that their Condud hath been prov- ed, invariably, conformable to the faid Pre- cepts, from Generation to Generation, be- yond the Memory of Man. But, my Lords, I have heard it queftion- ed, by Men of Difcemment, whether many of our Irijh Proteftants have in Fad the Jea- loufies, that they pretend, of the Principles or Propenfitie^ of Irifh Catholics. People of felfifh Hearts, and narrow Underftandings, are apt to conceive that any Acceflion, to the Fortune of a Neighbour, is a leflening and Abridgement of their own PoffeiTions. Ig- norance looks upon Lands, however wade and uncultivated, as the Wealth of a Nati- on ; and Avarice defires to engrofs the faid Wealth to itfeif, though incapable of encreaf- ing or ufing the fame. Hence, many Irifif Prottflants are iludious lo contrive, and to foment Fears and Jealoufies, to the Preju- dice of their Po^^-ifh Biethren, in order to pre- clude tliem, for ever, from any Portion of Property [ 173 ] Property or Profperity in their common Country. They ignorantly imagine that the PoiTeflion of that defolated Ifland, is as a Feaft where, if few Guefts participate, there will be the better Cheer. But, fuch a nati- onal Feafl, as ye well know, my Lords, re- quires many Hands to prepare and to ferve it up; and what Sort of Fare ought we to get or expedt, where we tie up the Hands and flarve the Mouths of our Caterers. This, my Lords, hath been done, in Ef- fedl, by the many limiting Claufes and Ex- clufions, of our Popery Laws, in Ireland, We have, by Difcouragements amounting to an abfolute Prohibition, precluded, near- ly, two Thirds of the Natives of that King- dom, from contributing to the Profperity of the remaining Inhabitants; and, by fup- prefling the Induftry of the greater Part, we have efFedted the impoverifhment of the whole of the Nation. The Number of the People, my Lords, hath ever been accounted the Wealth of every Republic; becaufe Number fupplies Hands [ 174 i Hands, and becaufe thofe Hands fupply In- dullry; and becaufe Induflry fupplies thofe Produdts that can alone conftitute the Wealth and Profperity of Man : But if any Republic Ihall, prepofleroufly, tie up the Hands, or difcourage the Induftry of its Conftittients ^ the Number of Hands, that makes the BlefTing and the AVealth of all other Repub- lics, becomes the Curfe and the Poverty of fuch an infatuated People; and the Com-^ pilers and Abettors, of fuch perverfe Laws, find their Punifhment in their Participation of the general Calamity. Let us then unmuzzle the Oxen by whom, alone, we can propofe to till the Land or to tread the Grain. Let us do more than relax the Hands by whofe Induflry we wifh to profper ^ let us encourage, let us incite thera to labour for us, by admitting them to a Share of the Produdl of their oWn Toils. Let us faffer this poor People to eat the Bread of the Land, and, in return they will furnifh our Tables with Dainties. Let us bind them to us by their Intereft. Let us take [ 175 J take a Pledge of them by their Property. And let us turn the Waftes of Ireland into Scenes of Plenty and Profperity, by making it the Advantage of Irijb Catholics to reclaim and cultivate the fame. Lord Chief Jiijiice. GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY. This Tryal has been long, but that Length was unavoidable. Great Difference is to be al- lowed, between the Tryal of a fmgle Man, and that of a whole Nation j and flill more, where the Tranfadions and Interefls, of that Nation, are carried backward, through part: Ages, and forward into Futurity. Various Hiflories of Times pad, Prefumptions of Times to come, with all Caufes and natural Confequences, any way relative to fuch Con- cerns, ought to be brought into Debate and impartial Confideration. ' The Gentlemen of the Bar have, with e- qual Ingenuity, feledled and digcfled whate- ver was material to their rcfpedtive Pleas, and have argued with equal Perfpicuity and Eloquence. Indeed [ '76 ] Indeed the Council, for the Crown, has been much more concife than the Council for the Accufed. But in all Cafes, it takes more Time and Terms, to anfwer and to folve ^Enigmas and Exceptions, than to pro- pofe them. In recapitulating what has been faid, I iball, purpofely drop all Matters of Invec- tive, and Figures of Oratory-, I fhall only touch what I conceive to be the Merits of J the Caufe on either Part. Mr. Serjeant Statute^ in his Plea againft the Roman Catholics of Ireland^ firft charges, j That during the Reigns ot James and Charles I. thofe' People enjoyed all fpiritual and temporal Privileges equal with Pi otejiants whofe Religion ' was ejiablifljed by Law. And he further fup- ports this Charge by the Teftimony of Lord Clarendon^ an Author, to this Day, in great Repute. This was a very material Part of Mr. Ser- jeant's Plea; for, had the Cafe been fo, it would have argued and aggravated the great I Wickednefs E ^77 ] Wlckednefs, as well as Folly of Irijh Catho- lics, to rife againft Government when they had nothing to complain of, nothing to re- drefs. To this Mr. Candour^ Council for the Ac- cufed, anfwers, that the Fadl was wholly the Reverfe of what Mr. Serjeant reprefented -, and that the fpiritual and temporal Grievances of Irifh Catholics^ continued and encreafed, throughout the faid two Reigns. In Contraft to the Teftim'ony of Lord Cla- rendon^ with refpedt to Spirituals, he pro- duces many public and notorious Inftances, where the Ad of Uniformity was enforced with much Rigour; where the Exercife of the Popifh Rites and Ceremonies were pro- hibited ; and where thofe People were enjoin- ed under heavy Fines and Penalties, to con- form to a Religion that was contrary to their Confcience; a Matter which would have been as wicked in the PracStice, as it was fe- vere in the Appointment. For he who do- eth Good^ againfl Confcience, doeth guiltily. M Again i 178 i Again to invalidate the Teflimony of the faid noble Author, with refped to Tempo- rals-, Mr. Candour produces fuch a Multipli- city of unqueftionable Authorities, that it is wonderful how any Hiftorian fhould have overlooked them. He fhew^us that, early, in the Reign of James I. a civil Inquifition was appointed, in Ireland^ for examining the Titles that Peo- ple had to their Eftates. I mud here obferve to ye. Gentlemen, that from ^tbe Condudl and Intention, of this Inquifition, it does not appear that any Fault or legal Forfeiture, on the Part of the Pro- prietors, was either pretended or required, in order to fhe diverting them of their Eftates ; if they could not produce and prove feme grant from the Crov/n, or other Equi- valent Conveyance, thefe Eftates were, then to revert or cfcheat to his Majefty i on the original Title, as we may fuppofe, of the Grant of the Kingdom, to King Henry^ by Pope Adrian. Thus, the longer thefe Te- nures had continued in Families, the more they were [ ^79 T were in Danger of Forfeiture or Reverfion, through the Likelihood that the Title Deeds had periflied by Time or Accident. This Inquifition, however, was profecuted with equal Injuftice and Application, during the whole Reign of James^ and to the latter End of the Reign of Charles I. and that, in fo fhamelefs a Manner, particularly by Lord Wentworth^ as calls b^ck Infamy on the Council, Judges, and Inq^uifitors, and all who were Parties to the fame. ^^ There can be noQueffion^' Gentlemen, of tads equally attefted,' by ihe vafE Territo- ries found for the Crown lender the faid In- quifition, by the Remon^rances of Parlia^ ment on the faid Grievances^ by.^his Majefty's Promife of Redrefs and Relmquifliment, and by his tranfmitting two Ads td^the Commons of Ireland for that Purpofei And, indeed, Mr. Serjeant feems fo confcious of Mr. Can- dour ^ having refuted this Part of his Plea, that he filently acquiefces in a P/*ocedure to new Matter. M 2 Mr. [ i8b 1 I Mr. Serjeant had further charged that, on the 23d of Oclober, 1641, a univerfal Con- ipiracy and Infurredion of the Roman Catho- lics broke out through all Ireland. That for- ty or fifty thoufand Proteftants were maf- facred befoFe they had Notice or Time to avoid the Danger. And that one hundred and fifty thouftnd were butchered, in cold Blood, during the'-fwo firft Months of this Rebellion. ^ .^v ' V-* .: In Proof 'of ihe-^two firfl Articles of this heavy ^-jf^c^,'''^VJ?^'6erjeant qiiotes the ex- prefs Affi™a|p)ft of^Lord Clarendon : Aiid, in ProoT^WJKarit Article, he quotes the exprefs Affir^ffilJa of Sir John Temple. On the^ofeer-Hand, the Council for the Accufed fets^^iefe two illuftrious Witnefles at Variance v&^ Varh other; and (hews that Sir Jdin^^M^^^'m diredl Contradi6tion to Lord Claredon^ ^rms that the Irijh^ at the firft, did ndt murder many Engliflj-, but cer- tainly, Xa^ he, that, which thefe Rebels mainly 'intended and bufied tbemfelves about, « was [ i8i ] was the Driving away Englijhmeri^ Cattle and poflcfling themfelves of their Goods. Having, thus far, weakened the Authori- ty of one ,or both of thefe Hiftorians; Mr. Candour continues gradually to remove the Weight of this whole Charge, by the Tefti monies of 3 Proclamation of the Lords Juftices, Parfons and Borlafe^ recited by Sir John Temple himfelf. By Extradts from the Journal of the Hoiife of Lords here in Eng- land. By a L'^tfeer XxomJ^^ Clanricarde to the Earl of BrifioL ^By - |[^etten^ from the faid Lords Juftices to'^er Lord Lieutenant, then in England. Bv gnoThT^fLett^f from the faid Lords Juftices fD^tbfe fi^ Lord Lieute- nant. And by a fpecial Cummil^n'^f the faid Lords Juftices, dsittd -December 23d, 1641, precifely two 'Months fr^rn'^'^e Day of the Infurredion, and direded i% fey^ral Magis- trates in the Provincei>of i/w^^f ^^' }p en- quire into the Damages done by- /r^. Cat ho- lies. All which concui ring Teftimomes ferve to perfuade us that the Infurredio^ was very far from being general, either on the firfl M ^ . Day, [ l82 ] Day, or In the two fiifl: Months of faid Re- bellion, and that not the hundredth Proteft- ant, affirmed to have been maflacred, can be fuppofed to have . perifhed within that Time. Mr. Serjeant hereupon, appears amazed that fo many Authorities could have been brought together for the Overthrow of the Credit of his two' hiftorical Pillars, fo long and fo well eflablifhed * in the Opinions of Mankind. He i^an-not confent that either Clarendon or Temple ^u\d be thought guilty of falfe Evidence; he therefore imputes the Error of the ^irji to fojpie Interpolation, and the Error of the Laiter to the Careleffnefs of Printers* who had '.inadvertently fubftituted the V7ord MoMfior Tears. . Gentljem^en ^idf the Jury. In my prefent Charge, I h'aye chqfen to follow that natu- ral Order, in which the Merits of both Pleadings arofe to my own Mind, rather than the percife Order in which they were argued. I fliould, otherwife, have informed you, be- 101 e nnv/, tliat Mr. Serjeant, growing warm » on [ i83 ] on fome little Matter of triumphant Merri- ment in his Opponent, crys out, we may, fhortly expect to be told that there never was fuch a Thing as the Infurredion of Forty-one. This Gentleman may even ex- cept to the Depofitions taken of the many bloody Butcheries committed at that Time; Depofitions that have flood the Tefl of all Time and Enquiry thefe hundred Years and upward. f To this Mr. Candour v^ry coolly anfwers, that he does peremptorily Except to thofe very Depofitions. That all of them were taken by Perfbns, who were tlie prejudiced and avowed Enemies of 'the People whom they propofed to criminate there%. That fome of them might b^ pcefumed the De- pofitions of thofe who took th^, rather than of thofe who figned them, \vho could nei- ther write nor read, and who, confequently were ignorant of the Contents to which they put their Firm. That mofl of them were taken from Perfons juft efcaped from the Enemy, and were didated, not by Fads, M 4 but [ i84 J but by the Fears of the Deponents; that they adually believed all to be maffacred whom they left behind, a natural Effedt of their Pannic, while each Deponent arrived terrified, like the MefTengers to Joh^ and cried, / only am left to tell the 'Tale, Laflly, Mr. Candour clofes his Apology, on this Head, with a Recital of the Abfurdities contained in fome of the faid Depofitions, and pleafant- ]y hints at the Difficulty of numbering the Ghofts, at Portadown Bridge, and of being duly afcertained of their religious Principles. Mr. Serjeant, fomewhat piqued at this Kind of Raillery demands, of his Opponent, whether he admits that any Murders or Maf- fjacres were at all committed, by Irijh Catho- lics, during the Courfe of this Rebellion; or whether it might not have been a very pla- cid kind of Bufinefs, and quite innocent of Blood. To this Mr. Candour replies, and does not hefitatc to confefs, that there were many, too many ^vlurders and Maffacres committed on both Sides. But^ Gentlemen, the Dif- tindlion [ iS5 ] tindion, which Mr. Candour makes on this Occafion, is worthy your particular Notice and future Recolledion, as it is the Axis on which this Tryal is likely to turn. Thefe Maflacres, he fays, were not committed, on the one Side, by the People properly called Protejiants; nor, properly fpeaking, by the People called Irilh Catholics, on the Other. They were commited, upon Irijh Catholics, by a fanatic and enthufiaftic Soldiery ; and up- on Proteftants, by a favage and exafperated Rabble of Free-booters. He pbferves that En- gliJh'Protefiants and IriJh Papifis were, alike. Sufferers on the Occafion ; that the Generali- ty, of the one and the other, had, in no De- gree, provoked or interfered in the Quarrel; that they were mutually- made the Vidims therof; and that the Helplefs and the In- nocent, on either Part, were caft to the Swords of the Guilty and the Offending. Mr. Candour^ having thus wholly cleared his Clients, as he conceived, from every criminal Imputation, hitherto charged by the Council for the Crown, expreffes his De- fire [ 186 ] fire of dropping all further Altercation, touch- ing the Infurredlion of 1641, left, in the future Defence of his Clients, he fhould be compelled to criminate the Sedlaries of thofe Days and, thereby, to give Offence to the Sedlaries of thefe Days, with whom we con- tinue to live in all Peace and Charity. Mr. Serjeant, however, will by no Means agree to fuch a Compromife. He feems to think that, where Temple fpeaks of the Maf- facre of one hundred and fifty thoufand within the firft two Months of the Rebellion, the Error lay merely in the Abridgement of the Time, and not in any Exaggeration of the Number. Thus reftored as he appre- hends, to the Merits of his Charge, he pro- ceeds to perfuade us of the Likelihood of the Fad from the ancient Antipathy of the Iri/b to the Englijh ; from their beholding them a^ the Invaders of their natural Rights and Properties; from their Propenfities, on that /Account, to perpetual Rebellions, fince the firft £'/^^/i/^' Invafion ; and that, at this particular Period, when the Scotch were up in [ i87 ] in Arms, and the King embroiled with his Parh'ament, the Roman Catholics of Ireland gladly feized the Occafion to caft off the En- glifh Yoke, which they nearly effedled, as Mr. Serjeant affirms, by the Mafl^cre and Extirpation of almoft every Englilh Protefl- ant within the Kingdom. Mr. Candour, no longer permitted to de- cline the Conteft, cafls this ancient Repug- nance, of the Iri/h, to Government, upon the intolerable Infolence and Tyranny of the Englijh. He adds that, during the Reigns of James and Charles I. when thefe People were admitted to the Protection and Warmth of ajufl and a free Conftitution-, had not thefe Advantages been, again overpoized, by the Deprivation of their Eflates and the Prohi- bition of their Religion, they would have f^t down in Peace, the mod fatisfied axid grate- ful of all Men living. In Atteflation of this juft and amenable Difpofition in the native Iri/h, Mr. Candour re- fers to feveral very honourable Memorials in their Favour, quoted from Sir John Davis^ Attorney [ i88 ] Attorney-General to James I, and one of the itinerant Judges in Ireland. Agreeable t© this their peaceable Temper, he affirms that during the whole War of 1641, eight Tenths, of Irijh Catholics, never offered to ftir in any Ad of Hoflility. That great Numbers of their Gentry were perfonally at- tached to the King. That all this People, without Exception, were attached to the Conflitution. That fuch an Inlurredion was by no Means the general Inclination of the Irijh. That they avoided its Commencement. That they detefted its Confequences. That they were artfully and violently impelled thereto, with a View to the Forfeiture of their Lives and Fortunes. And that they had no other Alternative, no other Option, fave patiently to abide the Swords of their Enemies, or to (land for their Lives. Mr. Candour^ at this Time, feems juflly aware that Allegations fo contrary to the Opinions and Prejudices, long entertained and deeply rooted againft this People, require very uncommon and uiiquellionable Proofs. He, therefore [ '89 ] therefore, calls in a Hod of honourable, right honourable, and royal Witnefles to his Aid. From feveral Teftimonies of Lord Clarendon^ and feveral Teftimonies of Sir John Tempky who were principally quoted againft this Peo- ple i from that of his Majefty King Charles I. from many Teftimonies of the Earl of Clanricarde-^ from that of the Author of the •Hiftory of Independency; of the Reverend TDodtor Nalfon\ of the Earl of Cajikhaven-, and of the Parliament of Ireland; he fhcws, That, '' Many of the Irijh Catholics were " driven by the Rigour of thofe who were in *' Authority^ to pit themf elves into the Prote^ion *' of thofe whofe Ways and Courfes they totally " difapproved. That the Perfons^ then in Power ^ " threatened all Extremities to the Community " of the Irifh Nation^ refolving to dejiroy Root *' and Branchy Men^ Women and Children,^ " without Regard to Mercy. That fuch Mea- " fures armed this People with Defperation. " That the Rigour fell even upon well deferving *' Servitors. That even thofe ^ of the Irifh Ca- " tholics^ who fought under the Banners^ and " in the Caufe of the Government^ conceived themfelves ' [ -^90 ] *' them/elves deftimd to Dejiriulion let their En- *' deavours he never Jo loyal, ^hat the Lords " Juftices had fo difpofed of Affairs as if the ^' Dejign was laid to put the whole Nation into " Rebellion. That this was purpofely done hy " the Independents that both Papifis andPro- *' tejlants might deftroy one another. That the ^' Lords Jiiflices had a greater Eye to the For- " feiture of the Rebels Efiates than to any " Means for preventing or fupprejftng the In- ** furre5lion. And., that a more iinpleafing In- " clination could not he dif covered than a IVifh " or Confent that the War Jhould he any ether ^^ way ended than with the Blood and Confifca- " tion of all this People. Hereupon, Mr. Candour obferves that, af- ter fo many induftrious Contrivances, for fo- menting Difcontents, and for exafperating the Spirits of Iri/h Catholics againfl an Englifh Government^ it was not to be wondered that the Dregs of this People ihould boil upper- niofl, and that the Savage and Flagitious fliould perpetrate many Barbarities. But Mr. Candour llicws thefe Baibarities were fo far t 191 ] far from being imputable to the People, pro- perly fpeaking, called Irifb Catholics, that they were perpetrated contrary to the Cuflom of their Army, to the Ordinances of their Clergy, and to the Orders of the Chiefs of the Infurredlion; that many of the Offenders were punifhed by the Injh themfelves-, and that they were univerfally condemned and excommunicated by their Church. _ Mr. Serjeant Statute^ additional to his firft Charge of the Maflacre of one hundred and fifty thoufand, further affirmed that, in the Courfe of this Rebellion, the Irifb Catholics nearly efFedled their Intention, of calling off the Englijh Yoke, by the Extirpation of al- mofh every Proteftant within the Kingdom. To this Mr. Candour^ in the Courfe of his Defence, very fully replies. He fhews, by a natural Dedudion of hiftorical Fads, from the fir ft Engli/h Invafion to the Infurredion of Fory-One, that the colledive Number of Inhabitants in Ireland could not be many; and, agreeable to the numerical Eftimatcs of thofe Days, he fhews, that the refpedive Amount [ 192 J Amount of Epifcopal Proteflants, in that Kingdom, could not exceed the 150,000 al- ledgcd to be mafifacred. Wherefore to alle- viate our Apprehenfions of the utter Extir- pation of all thefe Proteflants, at that Pe- riod; he very charitably proves, from the Authorities of Dodlor Borlafe^ Carte^ Ware^ and Others; that the great Numbers of Pro- teflants, who pofTefled themfelves of fbrong Holds, who efcaped from the open Country of Uljier to Dublin^ who were delivered from Bondage by Sir William Cole and Sir Frederic Hamilton^ who were preferved by Captain Mervin in the County of Flrmanagh^ who got fafe to Derry, Coleraine^ and Carrickfergus^ who were Inhabitants of Dublin^ who refided peaceably in the open Countries of Munjier and Leinjler^ who lived under the Protedtion of IrifJj Catholics where they were predomi- nant, and who were faved from the Rabble by the Priefts and Chiefs of the faid Ca- tholics; Mr. Candour fhews, I fay, that, when all thefe Thoufands upon Thoufands are totted together, there cannot be very many mifling of the original one hundred and [ ^9^ I and fifty thoufand, the Amount, as has beea eftimated, of Epifcopal Proteflants, at the Time of the Infurredtion. Mr. Serjeant, finding himfelf thus pufhed from all the Arguments and Authorities wherewith he had entrenched himfelf, re- treats to a Corner which he thinks flill te- nible; he fays he does not fo much infift on any particular Number, of Maffaeres ancj Murders, as on the Barbarity of the Man- ner with which they were committed ^ and he, inftantiy, offers to go into Proof. Here, however, Mr. Candour interpofes ae friendly Caution, he hints that People ought not to be over forward in attacking Others from that Quarter where they, themfelves, are moll expofe6 3 the Condudl of Perfons wjiom no Body dared to arraign in their Day. They are no lefs than her Majeily Queen Anne;^ the laft Regent of the Stuart Line, her Privy-Coun- cil of England^ and her Privy-Council of Ire- hnd^ with the Lords and Commons, of that Kingdom, then, in Parliament alTembled. If I fhall happen to be over warm in this Caufe, as the Gentlemen of the Jury feemed to apprehend, when laft we parted; it is not lipwever, in behalf of Roman-C^/W/a,- that 1 fhall fhew, the leaft Appearance of an un- becoming Zeal. It is in Behalf of his graci- ous Majefty George the Third; in Behalf of the Interefts of this his Kingdom of England-^ of the Intereft of the prefent Lords and Comr mons of Ireland^ of Irijh Proteftants in par- ticular; and of that my beloved 'and native Country in general. •:- > =^? - On this Trial, my Lords, no Matter of Life or Death depends, all the Parties, ac- cufed, are long fmce deceafed ; and, indeed, tl^e principal Matter with which we preiume to charge them, is that they were not Pro- pliets [ 21? ] phets as well as Legillatorsi that they did not forefec, or, rather, that they did not, duely forecaft the Evils that might enfue, and that have adually attended feveral Laws which they enadled in thofe Days. Serjeant Statute. With your Pardon, my Lords, I do not per- ceive that we can regularly enter upon a Di{^ cuffion of this Bufinefs. There is fomething fb facred in the confenting A6t of the legifla- tiye and executive Authorities of a whole Kingdom, as ought to deter Individuals from the Prefumption of Queflioning, and, much more, from an Attempt tp criminate the Same. To what dangerous Lengths may Self-fuf- ficiency extend! if every private Caviller fhall be permitted to quarrel with the Decrees of his Rulers; and to canvafs and arraign, in Point of Juftice or good Policy, the joint and folemn Ads of a national Legiflature. Coimfellor Candour. My Lords, I have already, been rebuked, either with or without Reafon, for the Warmth [ 2l8 3 Warmth of my Friendfhip to Roman-Catho- lics. Bur, I have not imbibed fo much of their Principles, as to afcribe Infallibility to any fpiriiual or temporal Jurifdidion upon Earth. Eimmum eft^ermre. This is equally the Axiom of Nature and Experience. AH Men are fallible alike in the Congregate, as in the Individual. And the Shrewd may err as much, by over-reaching their Aim, as the Tgnorant, by falling fhort or deviating from it. If I c^DDc^ive that any Mortal, or Alfen- M^ge of Mortals, have erred, or are about €oerr^ in any interefling'Concern, canlferve t^bm bfetter, can I oblige them more, than by (hewing where that Error may be avoided or refortned? Do not -our Parliaments, them- felvesj exprefsly acknov/Iedge their own Fal- libility, by repealing, and anicnding, a Mul- tiplicity of Statutes which Experience, hath proved to be pernicious or imperfed.^ Ee.k known to yau;, Mr. Serjeant, that 1 am one of the Conftituents of the Parliament of that Kingdom. That I have thereby a Right to advife them, either before or during their Seflionj i [ 219 ] Sefliori, of any Meafures that I conceive to be of public Concern. And that it is my Privilege, my Intereft, and even rhy Duty to iremonftrate, to the Patrons of the national Profperity of Ireland^ on any Detriment that hath accrued, and on any Advantage that may accrue to our common Country. But, my Lords, had the Laws, to which I objedV, been ever lb juft and wife at the Time of their beittg enadted; had they been machinated and framed, by an AfTembly of SolonSy of Cecils^ aijd of Pitts % is that ^ Reafon that they fliould continue always wholefome and neceflary, to the End of Time ? In a World, where nottiihg is perma- nent; where Modes, Manners and Intereft^i are ever at a Flux; where Life is uhcertain, and all it contains changeable; Nature and Reafon will conform to Circumftance and Situation, and, where Caufes have ceafed in any Degree, the Confequences ought to ceafe in the fame Proportion. But, I further de- mand, wherein or againft whom do I tref- pafsj in 'this Matter ? Will his gracious Ma- [ 220 ] jelly, or his Councils for either Kingdom, will our honoured Reprefentatives of the Peo- ple of Ireland be .oftended, by my fuppofing that they, in their fuperior Wifdom, are duly qualified for redtifying the Miftakes of their PredecefTors ? Laftly, Mr. Serjeant, were your Notion of refpedable Infallibity equally applicable to all Monarchs, all Miniflers, all Councils., and all Parliaments, in all Ages; can itjbe Treafon to affirm that a total Change of Times, Occafions, and Exigencies, may make the Continuance of an Expedient abfurd and deftrudlive, which originally might have been founded in fome Sort of Prudence ? No, fure- ly. Permit me, then, Mr. Serjeant, to pro- ceed, wholly untrammelled in the Way ot Truth. It is not polTible that I fhould give juft Caufe of Offence, while I intend Nothing worfe than Honour to Station, Profperity, tq my native Country in general, Advantage^ta the Proteftants of that Country in particular, and a Relaxation from Grievances to fuch of her Papifts as, in the IfTue, (half be found and deemed worthy thereof. Lord [ 22t ] Lord Chief Baron Inter eji. You are in the Right, Mr. Candour-, pray proceed. God forbid that the King, or the Legiflature of a free Conftitution, fhould condemn a Man for attempting the Service of his Country. Counfellor Candour. Ifhall not, my Lords, take any Manner of Exception to the Laws, efpecially called the Popery Laws, as being fevere or oppref- five of Irijh Papifts; but merely, as I ap- prehend Them injurious to Government; dangerous and detrimental to Irifh Protefl- ants, and repugnant to the general Interefls of the Nation. BY THE 2d. Ann, Seff i. Chap. 6, " Every Papifl (hall be difabled to purchafe " either in his own Name, or in the Name " of any Other, or to his Ufe, or in Trufl for " him, any Manors, Lands, Tenements, Here- *' ditaments, or any Rents or Profits out of the " fame, or any Leafes or Terms thereof, other " than any Term of Years not exceeding *' thirty oae Years, whereon a Rent, not lefs than [ 222 :] " than two Thirds qf the imprpved yearly '^ Value at the Time of making fuch Leafe, ^' (hall be referved or made payable during " fuch Term; and all Eflates, Terms, or *' any other Interefts, or Profits whatfoe- " ver, other than fuch Leafes as aforefaid, *' purchafed by, or for the Ufe of fuch Pa- " pift, or upon any Trufl or Confidence, *' mediately or immediately, to or for his " Ufe or Advantage, (hall be utterly void." Further, by 2d, Ann. Self i. Chap. 6. Every Irifb Papift is, efFedually, excluded from bearing any Office, civil or military, or receiving any Salary, Fee, or Wages, be- longing to, or by Reafon of any Office or Place of Trufl under tl:^e Crown. By the 8th Ann, Chap. 3d. *^ No Papifl, *' or Perfon in Trufl for any Papifl, fhall be *' capable to take, have or receive, any An- " nuity for Life or Term of Years deter- " minable on any Life or Lives, or for any " greater or leiTer Eflate, any ways charge- " able on, or that may aife^ft any Lands, " All [ 223 1 ■" All collateral and other SeGurltij8$ by " Mortgages, Judgments, Statutes- Mer- " chant, or of the Staple or otherwife, *' which Have been, or hereafter fhall be " made or entered into to covpr, fupport or " fecure and make good any Bargain, Sale, " Confirmation, Releafe, Feoffment, Leafe " or other Conveyance, contrary to 2d. Ann, " SefT. I. Chap. 6. are void to the Purchafer *' of any the faid Lands or !l!*enements in *' Truft for, or for the BenefJ .^pf any Papifl, *' as likewife to any fuch ^^^r^ifl, his Heirs " and Afligns, and All fuch Lands, &c, ^o *' conveyed or leafed, or to be conveyed or " leafed to any Papift, or to the Ufe pf, or " in Truft for any Papift, epntrary to the " faid Ad; and all ftich collateral Securities ** as are or ftiall be mad^pr e^>t^red in0, ta *' cover, fupport, fecure or make good the '^ fame^ may be fued for, by^^ny Proteftant, ^f. by his proper Adion, real, perfonal or " mixt, founded on this Ad, in any pf her ^'-Majefty's Courts of La\y or Equity, if the «' Nature of the Cafe fhall require it, and " the Plaintiff or Demandant in fuch Suit, " upon [ 224 j " upon Proof that fuch Purchafe or Leafc " was made in Truft for any Papifl or un- " der any Confidence to or for any Papifb, or " for hlsBenefit, by receiving the Rents, IfTues " or Profits thereof, or otherwife, fliall ob- " tain a Verdid and Judgment, or Decree *' thereupon, and fhall recover the fame, and " have Execution, to be put into the Seizin " and PofFeflVa thereof" .to hold and enjoy " fuch J^znSy&f* aceor^ng to the Eflate, ^* Ufe,- I'ruf'^^ftiterelt or Confidence which " fuch PapifJ^' / o^ fli' . have had there- *' in, had he been qi|^ihed to purchafe or " enjoy the fame,' liibjed to all fuch Rents, *^ Covenants, Conditions, and Refervations, ** and all Incumbrances and Portions what- *^ Ibever, as the fame would have been fub- ** jedt to in the H^nds of fuch Papifl, or in *' the Hands oEfucKPerfon to whbm the *' fame were fbldj' or leafed in Truft for fuch « P- "%r to^liis Ufe or Benefit, and fhall " ; ve the full Benefit of all fuch col- " lateral Securities as the Party to whom the *' fame are or fhall be made, might have " had. '' No [ 225 ] " No Papift who Is or fliall be permitted « to follow any Trade, Craft or Myflery *' (except the hempen or flaxen Maniifadure) " fhall hereafter take or keep more than two " Apprentices at a Time, and that for no " lefs a Term of Apprenticefhip than feven " Years ; any Papift that fhall offend there- " in by keeping mop than two Apprentices, *^ or by taking or keeping Apprentices for a " lefs Term than feven- Years, fliaH forfeit " lOo/. for every fuqli Offence^ to be reco- " vered by any Perfbn wHo fhall fue for the " fame." AS THESE, my Lords, are, principally, the Statutes that ferve, as I conceive, to weaken the Hands of Government, to en- danger and impoverifh Irijh Proteflants, and to obflrud both the manual and landed In- terefts of Ireland,, I fhall pafs oY^^^for the prefent, the many other penal an(i' prohibit- ing Laws which if put in Execution, would not fuffer a fingle Papifl to breathe, beyond •the Barrs of a Jail, in Ireland. P But [226 J But though thofe Laws are ftill in Force, it is long fince they have been in Adion^^ , they hang, hke a Sword by a Thread, over the Heads of thofe People, and Papif^s walk under it, in Security and Peace; for, who- ever fhould adventure to cut this Thread would become ignominious and detedable in the Land. Wherefore, without awaking fuch Laws as have long flept, let us return to the Laws already recited, to the Laws that fleep not, and confider their Confequences, firft v/ith refpedt to Roman Catholics apart, ^nd fecondly with Refpedt to Government, to Proteflants, and to the National Interefl. From the faid recited Statutes it is evident, - that Irifh Roman-Catholics are precluded from ' profitable or durable Tenures in any Lands^ - or afFeding or refpedling any Lands, Tene- -i ments, or Hereditaments in that KingdorrP.^ Further, that all fuch prohibited Tenures, Interefls, Ufes and Trufts are difcoverabfe, and may be fued for, recovered, and poiTefTed -^ [ 227 ] by Protefiants, without any Kind of Equi- valent, Reimburfement, or Confideration whatfoever, for the Same. Further, that Irijlj Papifts are perfonally incapacitated from ferving the Government, or themfelves, by any Trufl or Office, whe- ther civil or military, under his Majefly. And further, that, in their* feveral Occu- pations of perfonal Craft and Manufadure, they are confiderably crampt, by being pro- hibited from intruding and employing any confiderable Number of Hands. That, confequendy, Irifh Papifts are whol- ly difcouraged and in a great Meafure inca- pacitated from earning a Subfiftance, by manual Occupation, or the Culture of Land, and, confequently, from doing any real or perfonal Service, to their Families^, to the Government, or to the Country in which they live. That, fhould they be able however, by Means of fuch limited Induftry, to acquire a Sum of Money, they are debarred from P 2 realizing [ 228 ] realizing or afTuiing the fame, and even from defending it againfl Robbers, for Want of Arms : And that, cofidering the many Ufes, both real and perfonal, from which Papiils are precluded, it may be difficult to fay of what Ufe they are' in Ireland. NQW, ray Lords, where fb. numerous a Peopk, all Natives, of the Country and ame- nable to the Government under which they live, are difcouraged, and dilated by thofe Laws, to which alone they^-cajj Ipqk for Countenance or Protedion ; j^/>ijjuft,.. -in Reafon, fuppofe that this partial Hardfhip was appointed and- permitted, with a View to fbme very exteniive Advantage; agree- able to the MAXIM, that a particular Inju- ry is^ rather^ to befiiffered than a general Incon- venience. And r would gladly learn, from Mr. Serjeant, what thofe great and" extenfive Advantages are, of which thofe Laws have been, or were propofed to be produdive. Serjeant Statute. MANY, my Lords, and very great, and Very extenfive, have been the Advantages, that [ 229 ] that were propofed to accrue, and that have adlually accrued, and that ftill continue to accrue to Ireland^ from the Ads efpecially, called the Popery Ads. Firft, with refpedt to the Religion there eftablifhed by Law. Secondly with refped to the Safety of the State. And, thirdly, with Refped to the Intereft of Irifh Proteflants who ought to be confidered, however few in Number, as the true and conflituent Body of the Nation. At the Time of enading the faid difabling Statutes, we will fuppofe that four fifths of the Inhabitants of Ireland^ were Diffenters from the Religion eftablifhed by Law, and that three of the faid four Fifths were Ro- man-Catholics. This, the Governors of Ireland^ with the Reprefentatives of the Nation tlien in Parli- ament affembled, confidered as a very difa- greeable Circumftance. The Reclaiming of fo confiderable a Portion of the People from their religious Errors and Prejudices, to a Uniformity of Principled in Church and State, became a moft defirable Objed of Attention. P 3 They [ 23© J They were fenfible that fo great a Reformar tfon could not fuddenly be effected. They, however refledled, with Horror, on the ma- ny outrageous Wars, Devaflations, and civil Feuds that had been nearly perpetuated, from the Reign of the lad Harry to that Day, by the mere Means of Difference in religious Opinion. They were fludious of fuch Ex- pedients as fhould prevent the Poflibility of the Return of the like Evils. And though they were confcious that fo great a Work could not prefently be accompliflied, they generouf- ly wifhed to procure thofe Advantages, fpr Pofterity, which they could not hope to fee attained in their own Days. It is, alfo, obvious to prefume that They were Perlons of uncommon Piety. They preferred the Interefls and Advancement of true Religion, though diftant, to temporal Concerns, which they knew, to be near, but held to be lefs important. They conceived that, even, the temporal Intereft of thei;- Pofterity would finally, be better accomplifli- ed by a general Conformity of (pritual Opi- nions. [ 231 1 nions. And they therefore propofed, by ade- quate Expedients, to gather tHe Irijh Flock into one Pale, whereby they might at length become a happy People, united in Principle, Intereft, Profperity and Power. For this great and beneficent Purpofe they judicioully laid hold of the two principal Springs of all human Anions, Pleafure and Pain^ or Intereft and Damage. On the one Hand, they allured Roman Catholics into the Tale of the Proteflant Church, by an Offer of a free and equal Participation of all Bene- fits and Advantages arifing in the State; and, on the other Hand, they deterred them from continuing in the Pale of the Popifli Church, by Difcouragements, Difabilities, Forfeitures and Penalties. That, by a Sort of kind Conflraint, they might impel an in- fatuated People to Happinefs; and pufli Them into the Profeflion and Pradife of a iJS.eligion, which Reafon and future Refledi- on could not, fail to approve. Having, already, ftiewn the very impor- tant Benefits that are derived, from the faid P 4 Laws, [ 232 ] Laws, to the Froteftant Church., I now, pro- ceed to fet forth the further Advantages that are, thereby, derived to the Protefiant State of Ireland, Mr. Clodworthy Common-Senfe. Mr. Serjeant, we beg your Patience, a- ■whik. You have fo clearly and fatisfadtori- j<^, demand rated ttie Advancement that true Religion mufl make, by Means of the faid Laws, efpecially called the Popery Laws, that we deem them of fufficient Value to thefe Kingdoms, without any further Advantage -attained, or propofed to be attained there- by. We, therefore, think it unneceflary for you to proceed, till Mr. Candour has anfwer- ed to this Part of your Pleading, if he hap- pens to be furn idled with any Matter, or any Appearance of Matter, for thatPurpofe. Coimfellor Candour. My Lords the Judges, and Gendemen of the Jury. — I am not, perhaps, fufficiently prepared for anfwering to this Part of Mr. -Serjeant's Argument. Indeed I, originally, imade no Manner of Objedion to the faid Laws, [ 233 ] Laws, with refpedl to their advancing or re- tarding true Religion. I merely, andexprefs- ly, excepted to them, as I apprehended their Confequences injurious to Government, dan* gerous and detrimental to Irijh Proteflants, and repugnant to the general Interefls of my Country. I, however, imagine that I am furnifhed -with (bmewhat more, than the Appearance of Matter, for fhewing, that the fpiritual and religious Advantages, fuppofed to be procured by the faid Laws, are not fo well aflured, fo mighty, or fo extenfive, as their Advocate has fet forth, or as the wor- thy Gentlemen of the Jury feem inclined to believe. If the Government and Legiflature of thofc Days did ferioufly intend, by the faid Laws, to promote and extend the Proteflant Church; how comes it to pafs that the Means were merely Civile whole Influence they made Ufe of in Matters of Religion ? why did they appoint the temporal JVeapon, ^ alone* [ 234 ] alone, for the Cutting away of fpiritual Pre- judices? ,b©iJ ci^til Had our Anceflors fincerely and pioufly pro- pofed the Converfion of Dlflfenters to their own Communion, it would furely have been by (hewing, to the World, the fuperior Redlitude and Purity of the Church eflabliflied, by Law, in thefe Kingdoms. To that great End, they would have enaded and publifhed Laws, for difcountenancing, and chaftifing, all Kinds of Vice, Irreligion, and Lewdnefs ^ efpecially among the Members of their own Sedl; neither would they have exempted Wealth, Title, or Station, from the Shame and Reproach that ought, legally, to be af- fixed on the TranfgrefTors of the Laws of their God and the Land. They would have projeded a Regulation, and further Provifi- on, of Academies, Schools, and Seminaries, for Inflrudion and Education, throughout the Land; where the inculcating of Morali- ty, and the Duties enjoyned by Cbrift^ might be held, at lead, equivalent to the Know- ledge of the dead Languages, and of the Whore- [ '^?>5 ] Whoredoms and Debaucheries of the Hea- then Gods. By fuch an early Provifion for the future Morals, Virtue, and Condud of Proteftants, each Member would have flood, as it were, at the Door of his Church, and liave attraded all others to approach and to enter; our Religion would have been juflly, and inwardly, honoured, even by thofe who determined to be obflinate in Error ; and our State would have received the happy En- creafe, in a perpetual SuccelTjon of good Countrymen, fair Traders, loyal Subjeds^ fearlefs Soldiers, and honefl Men. Indeed, the comparative Reditude of any one Religion, in Preference to another, can no otherways be raanifefled than by prefer- able Reditude in the Practice of its Pro- felTors. The Word of God, himielf, mufl: remain a dead Letter till enlivened by Ob- fervance j and , the divinefl Precepts of our di- vine Legiflator, cannot fhine, fave by Re- flexion from the Subflance of good Works, Ought the Members of any one Communion to hope, that the Members of another will ; enter [ 2ie ] enter their Pale, while they think they can lliew as good Men, and as good Chriftians, within the Circle of their own ? If we ftray from the Road of a good Life, is it Reafon- able to expect that others will follow, mere- ly becaufe we have the Chart of the right Way in our Pockets ? . . Now, my Lords, Mr. Serjeant has been pleafed to affirm, and the Gentlemen of the Jury have been pleafed to conceive, that the faid Popery Laws were happily and fticceis- fully enadled for the Advancement oif true Religion; and, if this is the Cafe they mufl:, neceflarily have advanced the faid true Religion, by contributing to the Piety of Thofe, already, within our Pale; or, by the Introdudion of Men of Piety and Integrity into it. But, my Lords, in the firft Cafe, it can- not be pretended that Laws, merely, appoint- ed to alure or punifh thofe, who are with- out our Pale, can have any worthy Influence on the Morals, or Chriftian Principles, of Thofe who arc within,. In [ 237 ] in the (econd Cafe, then, I demand, who are they, among the Papifts, of whom thefe Laws are likelieft to make Converts and Pro- felites? Is it they who, agreeable to the Tn- jundtions of CHRIST, are ready to facri- fice all worldly Interefts to the Didates of Confcience and Duty toward their God? No, my Lords, no. The very Reverfe. The faid Laws can be fuppofed to' Influence thofe alone, who are ready to facrifice, to their worldly Interefts the Didates of Confci- 'ence and Duty toward their God. And, in- deed, I wonder how a fingle Papift-Reprobate ihould continue out of the Proteftant Pale, in Ireland', confidering the many temporal Ad- vantages they might derive from a verbal Re- cantation of their fpiritual Errors. In all Countries, where there is any Sort of Connexion between Religion and Civil Government, the Church which, there, hap- pens to be €ftablifhed by the State will be produdlive, to its Votaries, of many tempo- ral Advantages which Schifmatics and Dif^ Tenters ought not to look for. And it is therefore [ 238- ] therefore that, generally fpeakIng,-^% -'-'^P^-^ Countries the People who are,- really, of no- Religion, are, profefTedly, of the Religion that is countenanced by the Govern nnentjS^^^-^ Hence it happens that there is a greater Appearance of Piety and Zeal among all dif^ fenting Seds, than among the Members of any national Church. But, where, additio- nal to the general Benefits that fuch Mem- bers enjoy, particular Rewards are offered to Conformifls, and particular Penalties de- nounced againftRecufantS; we ought to fup- pofe, that no Perfon will decline fuch tem- poral Advantages, or chufe to undergo fuch temporal Sufferings, except for the Sake'of ' Confcience, alone. And, what will be -tlie " Confqeuence? Why, the Confequence ' \^ilf ' be, that all the Flagitious and Profligate, all Perfons who are loft to the Senfe of God and Futurity, and who deferve exemplary Pu-.. j nifhment, will meet with Reward j and tha^^q the full and entire Weight, .of fiich Difad^^ vantages and Sufferings, will fall upon thofi^^f/j ^yhom nothing, .but a Senfe of fpiritual Duty^ro could [ 239 ] eould tempt to a Change of fpi ritual Profefli^ on; and who (however erroneous in Matters of Opinion) at lead retain the Merit of their Integrity and Virtue. Indeed, as Matters of Civil Influence are altogether foreign, and oppofite in their Na- ture, to Matters of religious Perfuafion; it is remarkable that all Churches have thriven better, under the Winter of OpprefTion and Perfecution, than under the hotteft Summer of temporal Indulgence. Faith, whether orthodox or erroneous, is as the Cloak, in the Fable, which every Man wraps the clofer about him, in Proportion as he is attacked by the Severity of the Weather. It is the Light of Reafon and the Warmth of Favour, alone, that can prevail upon him to relax or caft it afi^e. Is any Man the Mafter of his own Faith ? can he bid himfelf to be of this or of t'other Perfuafion ? He cannot, my Lords j he can- not compel himfelf to believe this Way or that, much le(s can he be compelled by any outward Force. Mental Faculties are fubjedt to [ 240 ] to mental Powers, alone; material Inftruments., may, more eafily, lay hold upon Air; Opi- nion and Prejudice cannot be influenced, or convinced, or reformed, fave by Reafon ©r the Letting in of Truth upon the Soul. Temporal Pleafures, and temporal Pains may terrify, .or allure Hypocrites, to the Utter- ance of Profeflions that bely their Heart; but, furely, no Rewards ought to be kept in Store for fuch fpiritual Proilitution; nei- ther Punifhments, for the Retainers of Con- fcience and Intergrity. No Road can be right to the Wretch who takes it againft Convic- tion, and Heaven will Bnd a Hpme for him who.efrs.in hi$ Hpnefty. Bivt^vfurthep, my Lor-ds; While all other ~ Dlffenters, on their taking the Legal Tefland attending our public Worfhip, are account-^ ed fufeient Members of the Proteftant Church, and are accordingly admitted to all the Benefits of the State; to Papifts, alone', the Entrance is made narrow, and difficult,' and diflionourable; and, at the fame Time, that we bribe them to Conformity, and pu- nifh t HI J riifh them for Recufancy, we lay a Gulph be- fore them, which None btit the AdventurouSj; will dare to pafs. By this Gulph, my Lords, I mean that Form of Recantation, which every Papift riiuft repeat, in the Face of God, and of the Congregation, if He, or She prbpofes to be legally reputed a Member of our Church and, thereby, to take^old of the Advantages of our State, Now, in this Form of Recantation, They are obliged, exprefsly and publickly, to avow that they are convinced, by the Bleffing of God, of the many Errors and Abufes in the-' Dodtrine and Pradrce of the Churth of Rome. That they believe the Dodtrine, of Purgatory^ Pardonsy Adoration cf Images and Relicks^ and Invocation of Saints and Angels^ to be repug- nant to the Word of God. That public Prayers and the Miniflring the Sacraments, in a Tongue not underjiood by the People^ is con- trary to Scripture. That Tranfubftantiation overthrows the Nature of a Sacrament. That thQ . Adoration of the confecratcd Elements is Q, idolatrous [ 242 ] idolatrous. That the holy Scriptures contain all Things neceflary to Salvation. And that the Bifliop or Pope of Rome hath no Supre- macy, or ecclefiaftical Authority, given him, by Chrifi, over the Catholic Chiircb. My Lords. — In thefe many Articles which every Convert, from the Popifli Religion, is obliged to aver, before God and the World, that he hath thoroughly difcuffed, and abfo- lutely reniounced ; in thefe Articles, I fay, are contained almoft the whole abftrufe and fub- tile Region of Polemic Divinity; over whofe Trac^ls Few have travelled, and whofe ^^Boundaries Fewer have found. The Battle is fought, to this Day, on the narrow Ridge of Diftindion, between Reverence and Wor^ (bip^ Invocation and AdoratiQW, between the real and fymbolical, xht fpritual and corporeal Prefence of Chrifl in the Sacrament, ^c. ^c. But, my Lords, if thefe are Matters of Con- troverfy among Men who are grown grey amidft Letters and Erudition; are they, ;al- fo, to become indifpenfable Matters of Sci- ence to the Ignorant and unlettered, to the Yeoman, [ 243 3 Yeoman, the Clown, the Cottier, the Day- Labourer? to Wretches who, neither by Education nor Nature, are capacitated for the Inveftigation, or Idea, of fuch Subtileties? If they are, my Lords, we may, perempco- rily, pronounce, that Ninety-nine, in the Hundred, of all Irijb Papifls, are legally ex- cluded from conforming to our Church ; are excluded, I fay, by thofe very Laws, which were fo happily framed (as hath been ob- ferved) for advancing and extending the Proteflant Religion." My Lords, 1 believe, that no Man, here^ Is infenfible of the Difficulty of erafing the Impreflions of Infancy, when traced and deepened by the conformable ImprefTions of Education. Prejudices, in Favour of old Friendfhips, old Connexions, old Attach- ments, and old Perfuafions, are not fuddcn- ly, or without Pain, to be rooted up. I have heard it affirmed that the faid Laws were, never, the Inftrument, or Means, of intro- ducing a fingle fincere Convert into the Pro- teflant Church. It is certain, that no Papifl Q^ 2 ever [ 244 ] ever repeated the faid Form of Recantatk)^, for whofe Converfion fome Motive might not be ailigned, independant of the mer« Didates of Confcience and Duty. And -I appeal to Mr. Serjeant, for his Opinion on this Head, not as an Advocatej but, as a Man of Integrity. Serjeant Statute. Mr. Candour^ I muft tell you that yoitr Appeal is ungenerous-, it fhall,, howev^^ b6 generoufly and ingenuoufly anfvvered. In Truth, you have fet this Affair vci d very new and extraordinary Light, and have arranged your Arguments with a Force and Manner, that I was not aware of, * and of which I did not think your Matter capable. I (hall, therefore, only obferve that, though our Catholic-Converts, under fuch Conditi- ons, may not, at firft, be the fin cere and Zealous Proteftants we could wifh them. This, however, is a Fault which muft daily diminifli; we can haive nothing to fear froel Education, or Prejudice, in their Children^^. their Grand-Children, and fa onward* and :. -^noi^'ihus v-..i.,v:<^ [ 245 J thus we (hall continue to receive the grow- ing Benefit of the faid Laws to the latefi: Pofterity. Counfellor Candour. But, pray you now, Mr. Serjeant. Ifthof® Laws had opened a wider and lefs difgrace- ful Way, for the Entrance of Popifh Pro- fclytes into our Pale, do you think that their Number would have been lefs? Would not the Number of their Children and Grand- Children, have been greater; and would not the Benefit of fuch Laws have been, confe- quently, extended and multiplied to our Pof- terity? you know it, Mr. Serjeant. "'In Fad, my Lords, many Thoufands of Popifh Converts have entered our Pale, fince the firfl Enadling of the faid Laws. But, of thofe many Thoufands, not Qne in a Hun- dred, hath entered by the ftrait Door of the faid fufpeded and public Recantation. They have entered by the Way of our Fleets, of our Armies, and, in much greater Numbers, by the Way of domeflic Service in Proteft- ant Families. They have entered zealous CL3 Papiftsi [ ^h6 ] Papifls, with all their Prejudices about them ; but, by repeated Obfervation, and by occa- fionally conforming to private or public Worfliip, They begin to perceive that there is not that Bugbear, in the Morals or Reli- gion of Pfoteftants, which they were taught to believe. Their Antipathies wear away-, in Time they begin to approve, and, at laft, to prefer. But, my Lords, the late happy Inftitution of Charter-Schools, in Ireland^ hath availed, above all Laws, above all Schemes and Con- trivances, for the timely Converting of Popifli Infants into pious Chriftians, fincere Proteft- ants, faithful Subjeds, and ufeful Country- men. I have feen many Proofs of the lauda- ble Manner, in which thofe Children of the State have been hitherto educated. Nei- ther do I think that the World can afford equal Seminaries, for giving Infants an early Impreflion of true Religion, for inftrudling them in all moral and practical Duties -, and for preparing them, by various Branches of Induftry, to be profperous and beneficent Members of the Commonv/ealth. I am [ 247 1 I am now, my Lords, quite impatient for the Performance of Mr. Serjeant's Promife, that he would proceed to fet forth the many Advantages which are derived from the Laws, called the Popery Laws, to the Pro- tefiant State of Ireland, I am, indeed, curi- ous to learn what can be faid, on this.Sub- je<^. For, though I have the higheft Opini- on, of the Talents and Ingenuity of Mr. Ser- jeant, I can form no Idea of the Mercury which he is to hew out of fuch a Block. Serjeant Statute, My Lords. When the faid Laws^ called the Popery Laws, wefe Hrft ehafted ; the Roman Catholics of /r^toi were, proporti^ onably,. more-, numerous, and i^^iuch more powerful than they are, at prefent. The firft Soldier of the World, though lately followed by the braved Army upon Earth, had found thefe People extremely formidable, and difficult to be fubdued. By their Num- bers, as well as Valour, and by their Con- nexion and Alliances, with their Popifh Brethren of France^ Spain^ ^c. They polli- QL4 Wy biy, had been found, upon a kcmd 'Xxhl; fuperior to all that Irijb Broteftant^, though iabetted by Englan4t could bring ^gain.fl Them. The ImpreiTion of the Force and Enmity, of irijh Fapifls, was then recent and ftrong in the Mejriory of IriJh Proteft- ants, and they rightly meditated to fupprefs ^ Power, by which they rnuft, otherwjfe^j look to be fiipprefled. But, how was this to be dpne, my Lords? was it by utter Extirpation? it might favour of Inhumanity to exprefs my own Sentiments pr Wiflies on the Qccafipn. Ha4 Jame and Memorial is tatken; from among Men to this Day. dddnmbfii The Spartans looked on all the^wTorld, aij barbarians, whofe Dwellii^gs were beyon^ the [ H9 ] ibc IConfjiies of Greece. Yet, when they conquered the HeloJs^th^y condemned them and their lateft Pofterity to a Sate of per- petual Bondage j They made them as Oxen to till the Ground, and as Beafts of Burden, to carry their Baggage. jgve^ the People of J/raely the Eleft of God, though they had made a League of Peace and Alliance with the Giheonites^ and had bound themfelves, by Oath, to the Ob- fervance thereof, yet, thought themfelves fofiiciently humane and compaflionate, when they permitted thofe very Giheonites to live in the Land; though under the flavifh Terms of being Hewers of Wood^ ^nd Drawers of ^atery for evef . ir But, my Lords, of all the Conquerors, that ever were, our Chriflian Anceflors, whp enadtad the faid Laws were, furely, the moft merciful and the moft beneficent. It was incumbent to do fomething in Prudence^ but they did nothing, in Malice. They found thefe People, in Highty-eigbt^ as their leathers had been, in Forty-one^ confederate^ for [ S50 ] for the Re-eflablifhment of the Popifh Su- perllition, and for the Reftoration of their pretended Rights to that Ifland, whereof the EngUJb had made a Conqueft, above four hundred Years before, and had continued the Seizin to that Day. in fhott, our Protefl- ant Ancellors faw no End to the Turbu- lence, and irreconcileable Animofity, of thefe inveterate Papifts; and had they been per- mitted, to retain the Powers and Privileges, with which they had, hitherto, been fo in- iudicioufly entrufted, no End could have been found to their Enmity and Infurredions, fave in the utter Extirj^ation of all Irifb Proteftants. % Gut gracious AtSceftors, however, pur- pofed Nothing, againft thefe their anciefft and implacable Enemies, fave what was ne- cejTary and indifpenfable, with refpedl to their own Prefervation. They, even, pro- ceeded calmly, and with fucceflive Delibe- rations, in this necelTary Bufinefs. They firfl difarmed them ; they, next, fet a Watch over their Virulen(;e, and Motions. They further reflefted, that thefe hoflile Papifts continued [ ^51 ] continued formidable, by their Numbers, by their Wealth, and extenfive PoirefTions. They were loth to deprive them of their pie- fent Properties; but they deemed it neccfiar. ry to prevent their further Accellion of Power, by any further AccefTion of durable Property in the Land. And I prefume, that Mr. Candour has little Caufe or Colour to wonder, that a People fhould not be readily, admir- ed to the Communion of our Church, or the Offices of our State, who, from Generation to Generation, for above a Century paft, had been the avowed Enemies of the One and of the Other. Mr. Candour, You lately appealed to mc for my Opinion as a Man of Integrity, and not as an Advocate. I now call upon You, in my Turn, Mr. Candour, And I afl^ you, do you think that thefe fame Irifh Papifts are to be depended upon with regard to their Friendfhip for their Proteflant Brethren, or with regard to their Attachment to our ilhftrious Houfe of Hanover f Counfellor Oun/ellor Candoidr:-- r Mr. Serjeant, alfo, intimates that thefe ; People are ambitious, and afpire at Govern- ment and the Inheritance of the Land; but they are too poor to be proud, and too much prefled to be afpirlng. They are Indeeed, the mod humble and mod dejedted of att' the Race of Man. They look not for Rule, neither for extenfive PofTefTions ; They bare- ly petition that their Proteftant Brethren would open to them an Opportunity for bet- ter Service; and that the Government would accept a fure Pledge of their Fealty, by ad- mitting them to make Depofits of the Pro- du(5l of their Labour. Serjeant Statute. J beg Pardon, Mr. Candour^ I cannot help interrupting You. I am truely afFeded by what you have faid of this People ! GOD forbid that I fhould wilh to break a Reed, already bruifed ; or defire to exafperate R Power [ 25^ 3 Power, agalnft a Set of unhappy Men, who are already under the Difpleafure and De- preffion of the Law! If you can make it out that they are aggrieved by the faid Ar prehenfion or Poffibility of Danger. And, in- deed, I then fpoke in dir-edt Contradid^ion to repeated Trial and ExperienGe,tongapprpvedi Ab9ut fix Generati<3ns h^ve now gaffed ^way, accordihg^ to the Rates of PurcWfe and Eftimate, Gf..tbe .Life of. K&A»> fince thefe People n^ve offe^nded in Word or in Deed. No Riqtings^ have beeti heard in tlieir Hbiifes, no Complainings in their Streets;; they have f^eeh fifent ani harmlefs as the Floeks oh the Mill of Croghdjh Our Parties, Fadions, arid Iiifurreftions, as they are merrily ftiled here in EngJ(in<^y have been" all, among /r^ Pro- teftanVs ; this. people were neither Adtdrs'nBf Partakers therein. They have offered therh- feives *tb our Fleets and to our AfmiesJ t6 tend dufPerfons, to tillt)ur Grounds, to hev^ ■■-'. our [ 299 ] our Wood, and to draw our Water. Where we admit them to fight for us, they hava €ver proved valiant 5 where we admit them to ferve us, they are ever found loving, ob- fervant, and faithful. Temptations have come to their Doors and called them forth j the Contagion of Rebellion hath feveral Times l^roken out among their Neighbours; they have yet remained quiet, and continued un- tainted ; flill loyal to their Sovereign, amenc- able to Government, and fubmiflive to Law, through a long and trying SuccefTion of up* ward of feventy Years, they have fcarce ap- peared to repine \n the Midft of Calamity. What, then, do we look for further? What Proofs do we yet require, of Peace- fulnefs and Attachment at the Hands of thefe our Brethren ? Is no Period to be put to their State of Probation ? Muft they for ever keep out upon ^arantiney without Harbour or Hopes of Reft or Reconciliation ? Or is it poflible that Irijh Catholics, who have fo long and fo loyally demeaned themfelves as Friends, while confidered as Enemies j is it poflible I fay [ BOO ] fay, my Lords, that tlieyfhouid become out Enemies, on account of thdr befcg treated by us, and attached to lis, and intereftcd m us as Friends? A People, my Lords, who, through a Winter of feventy Years Continu- IfEfce, have never failed, or forfaken, ^ c^ given VsCaufe of Offence, furely merit fdrfi^ Confideration, feme grateful and chearful Ray, to warm them to a Senfe. that Proteft- ants are not, by Choice, of a criii^J, . iinforglv* ing, or malevolent Nature..: r^ifg^uii:. joa. * IVith what a Strengthening to liis Mkjef- ty's Throne and Government! With what ^n Affurance of Safety to /ny^ Pfoteftants! ^Vith what anEncieafe of Wealth and Prof- perity to Ireland I With what Eafe and Ho- nour to our Legiflature might this be done! It A^hixt interejiing this People in. the Defence, of the State, in the Safety of thieir PrQt#-- ant Brethren, and in the Culture and Pf^ftf-- vation of the Country wherein their Trea- fures will then be depofited ; and, as furely as Matter mufl gravitate to its Center, thefe People will adhere to the^Intereftsbfthofe, '"'-'' with I 301 ] with whom their own (hall be united, againft Men and Angels^ againft Pretenders, Popes, oij Devils. ,* No. Sedudions, no Perfuafions, could then jempt them to permit, and much lefs to aiTift, toward the Overthrow of a Con- iQ:itution, wherein their Stake lay, and whole g^ual they could not hope to find upon Earth. :hrrp WERE to be wifhed, I confefs, that thefe People were reclaimed from their eccle- fiaftical Errors, at leaft, provided they might not, thereafter, become worfe Men, orworfe Subjeds, than they are at prefent ; provided they fliould, thereafter, retain a fufEcient Senfe of any Religion at all. Two Thirds, of the Inhabitants of Ire- landy are at this Day Roman Catholics. And yet, my Lords, it is remarkable, that there are- fewer Robberies, Thefts, Murders, Maims or Riotiiigs, in that Kingdom, than in Any Nation, equally numerous, in Europe, _ I once intimated to your Lordfhips, that ^eculative or religious ErrorSj in certain Cafe$ might be politically ufeful, with re- ']:^ "' fpea [ 302 ] Q)ed to civil Government. That auricular Gonfeflions, Purgatories, Fails, and Penan- ces, are to the Members of the Church of Ro7n€^ what Difcipline is in the military De- partment j by preferving Roman Catholics in the familiar Ufe and Pradife of daily Obedi- ence. That this Haibt of Refped and Sub- mifiion to ecciefiaftical Difcipline, is, not un- naturally, attended with Refped and Sub- miflion to the fecular Powers. And, that the Obedience of thefe People, to the Au- thority of their Church, is an Earned of their Obedience to the Authority of all States un- '' der which they Itve. But, my -Lords, this is' not all. Nineteen in Twenty, oilrijh Papifts, ^ though naturally the moft fenfible and appre- henfive of all People, ^re wholly illiterate 5 >;. and their Priefls are to them, in the Place; n. of Letters, of Inflrudors, of Parents, of Go-, v vernors, of their Church, and of their GOi). .^j. Thofe fame Priefls, my Lords^ ar^f alfei-/'^^ extremely zealous and fedulous in their Func- ■• tions. They vifit from Village to Village and Houfe to Houfe. They call in Queftibn the moil [ 303 ] moft ancient and the mod refpedable of their Communion. They take hold of the Souls of Infants, as you would of fprouting Twiggs, and bend them, during their State of Pliancy, tq the defired Direction. They prefervc their Authority, over their People, not on- ly by the Threats of future, but by the In- flidlion of prefent Punifhments, And, in- deed,, we cannot fay, during thefe fev.entjtri Ye,ars and upward, but that the Influence of this Priefthood, hath been exercifed and di- reded to the Quiet of the Nation, to the Benefit of the Public, to the Obfcrvance of legal OrdJnanqes, ,aQ4 to the Safety of jrfifbD t?dw, my Lords, fuppofe that a fudden Reformation had been, inflantly made •, and not a Popifli Ecclefiaflic left in all Ireland. — Very well, my Lords. — But then, the Con- fequence muft be, that the Weight of the Sou]?,^ of the Morals, and future Condudl, of t:^(^ Million of our Natives, falls wholly on the Shoulders of our Proteflant EcclefiafticSi who appeal:. fulSciently engaged by their pre- fent t 304 3 ftnt Cures, without any further Demand of Time or Toil at their Hands. This Weight then, my Lords, muft, at leaft, treble the Burden of what they now labour under. We will, however, fuppofe that the Load is quite lightened by their Pie- ty, and by their Zeal for the Reformation of Sinners. Be it fo. Yet, it flill remains a Doubt with me, whether this fame Excefs " of Piety and Zeal, in our Proteftant Clergy, will be Equivalent to their Want of Authori- ty which, in Fadl, is Want of Power. You, my Lords, who know the World, can bed judge how far Gentlemen, who have been delicately nurtured and politely educated, may conform, againft Habit, to the Dictates of Charity. You can tell us, with what Pleafure, the elegant Do6lors and Dignato- ries, of our Church, will trudge about, through the barbarous Inclemency of the Seafons ; entering Cabbins by whofe Doors the Smoak is evacuated ; abiding the Stench of a reeking Atmofphere ; fitting down. Side by Side, with Beggary and Ignorance ; and familiarly f;^miliaj:ly inflrudling Wcet^iji^s, whofe Ward- robe and whofe Ta}>le U^ftiiijated at nothing beyond Rags and-fomacrude Potatoes. -■•'ii. '>v AH-this, my Lords, would, queflionlels, rbe. very kind and meritoripus, for the Sake ofv.the Gofpel of Christ, and of thofe bis iowly Creatures, whom he hath ordained, however, to Life and Immortality. But, flijl, it. might take fome Time before Gentlemen, of exalted Erudition and Converfation, could adapt themfelves to the Apprehenfion of the wholly Illiterate. And, in all Events, our Proteflant Clergy mufl want the two Handles^ of xhzi Cardinal Rudder^ by which the Popifh Prieflhood (leer their People at PJeafure ; to wit, Abfolution, for their open Admittance to Heaven ; and Penance, for the Chaftifement of their Tranfgreflions upon Earth. i We Lawyers, my Lords, are apt to ima- gine that a due Execution, of Statutes .and -Ordinances, might anfwer all the Ends of ^m\ Government, and keep the World in .fujficient Subjection and Order. But this is l^widely far from being the Fadt. There are U thoufands I 306 1 thbufands of Inftances, in which the Wicked may trefpafs upon the Rule of Right, and yet keep cle^ of all civil Ordinances that ever were, or can be enjoined. And, were there no internal and confcious Senfe^, |.t^t prompted us to Good, and checked us, in oiir Propenfity and Courfe to Evil ; had we no Regard to GOD, to Futurity, to Duty, Mankifidy in Spight of Laws, would become jthe Kind of Devils. If you, my Lord Chief Baron Interefty an^ you, my Lord Chief Juflice Reafon^ had any Concerns in Ireland^ as Mr. Jullice Ckmency land I have ; I alk, would ye chufe that Irijb Papifts fhould continue, as they now are, erroneous indeed, but pious and peaceable ? Or would ye, rather, wifh them divefted of all Religion, and confequently of all religious Errors and Prejudices, Strangers to the Fear of God, and Enemies to the Peace of Man ? If nothing, however, is wanting b.ut thjat thefe People ffiould, either pioully or pro- feffedly, conform to the Religion eftablilhed by Law in thefe Kingdorr^s^ lA^fl} fhew you, ;; my t 307 J my Lards, the fhortefl and fureftof all RoacU t<^, ihis defirable Refting-Place. Wherever we conceive a Prejudice agavnft the Perfon of any One, we, in Confequence, conceive a Prejudice againfl his Principles ; and Reafon, itfelf, will not appear rcafonable, from the Mouth of any Man, or Set of Men, whom we look upon as our Enemies. This, my Lords, is the Cafe of the Ca- tholics of Ireland. They look upon us as Enemies, as well to their civil Interefts as re- ligious Opinions ; and this gives therh an e- qual Prejudice to our Perfons and Principles, and mainly helps to continue them obflinate in Error. Give them Caufe, then, to think us Friends to their civil Interefts, and they will no longer be averfe to our religious Opi- nions ; they will liften, they will like, and, in Time, they will reform. ^ nslv; to 'y-ifi' AND NOW, my Lords, as the Good ^ Society is the only rational End and Intent of all Laws; where any Laws, on Experience, are found detrimental to that very Society, for whofe Emolument they were enadled; can U % Wifdom [ 308 ] Wifdom make it d Queftion, whether 'they (liould continue of be repealed? ' Were Protedants enriched, and flrength- cned, and exalted, in Proportion, as Papifts are impoveriifhed, debilitated, "and deprefTed. Did we derive any Wealth from their yearly Exportations of the current' Ca(h of that Kingdom. Did we derive any Safety from their Difcontent and Difaffedtion. Did we gain any Power, by their being -divided from^ us, while they are continued among us.' Were oiir national Prod u6ls encreafed by^ their Want of Motives to Induftry. Were^ our Bogs and Wades better reclaimed hf their Want of Incitement to Labour. Were our Coafts the better fecured from foreign^ Invafion, becaufe two Parts in Three of the^: Inhabitants of Ireland, are no Way concern- ed in the Defence thereof Were our in tern ait Dangers leflened, by giving ourfelves Caufe. to be jealous of fuch Numbers. CouH. w^ hope to gain their Friendfhip by the public A6ls and ExprefTions of our own Diftruft.r Or, could we exped that their having diffe- rent [ zog ] rent Intercfts and Attachments would engage them to wifh our Welfare or to promote our Profperity. I would be the fir ft Man in Ire- land to remonftrate and petition againft the fmalleft Abatement of the Popery Laws. But, as a feventy Years Experience hath proved and confeues to prove, that theRcr verfe of all fuch happy Confequences is, per- manently, and palpably, and pernicioufly the Fadt. I would humbly propofe: That, for the better Security of his Majefty's Crown and Government in the Kingdom o^ Ireland, by interefting Irijb Catholics in the Guardian- fhip thereof; for flopping the perpetual Drain of the Specie or political Blood of that Nati- on ; for deriving Strength to Irijb Proteftants from the good Will and Alliftance of Irijh Papifts, with whom they are unavoidably though difcontentedly aflbciated-, for acquir- ing immediate and inconceivable Opulence td the State from the animated Induftry of two^ Thirds of th<^a .R^ooa Lands ; for giving them Gaufc to oppofe our common Enemies by giving them a common Stake to retain and defend -, for giving them Caufe to contribute to our Profperity by ad- mittiiig them to a legal Participation there^ of; it is humbly propofed, I fay, that Qur Patriot Legiflature, fo (ludious in other Re- fpeds for the Advancement of their Country, fhould mate fuch an Abatement or,' Altera- tion, of the faid di fabling Law^,\ as^ ;to fuperior Wifdom and Bifcernment fhall ap- pear requifite, for leffening the naany. Evils that are thereby created ; and for reftoring the many Benefits that are thereby fupprefled. — I had carried my Notes thus far, when I was called .away on a very interefting Affair, and cannot fay, whether the Jury brought in a formal Verdid, or left Matters to the better Judgment of our Legiflature, BOOKS, lately publlOied, and maybe had of Dillon Cham- ber lain e, in Smock- Alley. THE Interests of Ireland confidered, dated, and recommended, particular- ly with Refpedl to the Inland Naviga- tion. Price 5 s. 5 d. The Conftitutional Rights and Interefls of the Kingdom of Ireland. In five Letters to the People. Price is. id. A Proposal for the Refloration of pub- lic Wealth and Credit, by Means of a Loan froiti the Roman Catholics of this King- dom, in Confideration of enlarging their Pri- vileges, i£c. In a Letter to a truly Honoura- ble Member of the Houfe of Commons. Price 3d. N. B. The above were wrote by Mr. Brooke. -, 'The Danger of Popery to the prefent Government, examined. To which are an- nexed, Queries, relative to the fame Sub- ject, by Dr. Berkley., Bilhop of Cloyne. Price a BritifJj Sixpence. A Vindication of the Political Prin- ciples of Roman Catholics. AddrefTed to his Grace the Lord Primate of All Ireland. By C O'C r, Efq. Author of the Con- llitutional Queries, £5?r. Price 3d. The Irijh Ads of the late King James 11 conceived ^and.pafled in that fhort Sefilon of Parliament held in DubBi, May the 7th, in