" I

The Duke of Ormond, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and luckily at that juncture in England, employed all his intereft with the king, to prevent the calling a parliament for thefe cruel purposes." will venture," fays his grace in a letter to the Earl of Arran on that occafion," to tell you, without a cypher, that the reason why the calling of a parliament in Ireland sticks, is the severity of two bills transmitted against the papifts; the one taking away the votes of peers, whilft they are papifts; and the other inflicting death upon a certain fort of popish clergy, if found in Ireland; the one feeming unjust, and the other cruel, and neither neceffary. For my part, I confess, if I had been here when the expelling of the popish lords paffed, I fhould have voted against it in confcience and prudence; in confcience, because I know no reafon why opinion fhould take away a man's birthright; or why his goods or lands may not be as well taken away; fince money mifapplied is, for the most part, a more dangerous thing in difaffected hands, than a word in his mouth. And I think no lefs of the other bill, for upon ferious and cool thoughts, I am against all fanguinary laws, in matters of religion, purely and properly fo called." a

2 Cart. Orm. vol. ii. fol. 535.

tics fhould depart from the kingdom, popish feminaries and convents fhould be fuppreft. Informations quickly multiplied, and directions were received from England to feize Richard Talbot (afterwards Duke of Tyrconnel), Lord Mountgarret and his fon, and a colonel of the name of Peppard. Lord Mountgarret, reprefented as a dangerous confpirator, was of the age of eighty years, bed-ridden, and in a state of dotage; and, to the further difcredit of the evidences, no Colonel Peppard was known or could be found in Ireland.". Lel. Hift. of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 474.

Previous to, and concomitant with, Oates's plot, the minds of the people were inflamed by fermons, pamphlets, &c. containing the groffeft and most abominable afperfions on the civil principles of Roman catholics. Thomas Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, eminently distinguished himself on that occafion, in a book of one hundred and thirty-fix pages in quarto; which

though

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"It was a terrible flur upon the credit of the plot in England, that after it had made fuch an horrible noife in a nation, where there was fcarce one papist to an hundred proteftants, there fhould not, for a year, be found one witness from Ireland, to give information of any confpiracy of the like nature in that kingdom, where there were fifteen papifts to one protestant. But the proclamation above-mentioned, which was published according to the order fent from England, fupplied that defect. For upon the encouragement given in it, tories and other criminals, confined in jails,

though clearly refuted by Peter Walsh, in a letter to his lordfhip, containing five hundred and ninety pages in octavo, yet is ftill made ufe of by all the libellers on that topic, as an inexhauftible fund of arguments against allowing the rights of fubjects, in thefe kingdoms, to the profeffors of that religion; although their dutiful and loyal conduct affords the cleareft refutation of thefe arguments. This Bishop of Lincoln was not unconscious of the injurious falfhoods he published at that juncture, against those inoffenfive people, as appeared by his own fubfequent trimming behaviour on different occafions. "His conduct," fays the Rev. Mr. Grainger, "for fome time, like that of other Calvinists, appeared to be in direct opposition to the church of Rome; but after James afcended the throne, he feemed to approach nearer to popery than he ever did before. He fent the king an addrefs of thanks for his declaration for liberty of confcience; and is faid to have written reafons for the reading of that declaration (by the clergy in their churches); his compliances were much the fame after the revolution." Biograph. Hift. of Engl. vol. iv. p. 287.

Anthony Wood informs us, "that when Oates's plot broke out, September 1678, though he (Barlow) had been a feeming friend to papifts, he became then a bitter enemy to them, and the Duke of York; but that when the duke was proclaimed king, he took all opportunities to exprefs his affection to him; and, among others, writ, as was faid, reasons for reading his majefty's declaration for liberty of confcience. But when the king withdrew himself into France, to avoid imminent danger, in 1688, he was one of thofe bishops that very readily voted, that he had abdicated his kingdom. He was efteemed by thofe that knew him well, to have been a thorough-paced Calvinist." Athen, Oxon. vol. ii. p. 877.

jails, pretended to have great discoveries to make on that head, and obtained their liberty, and had money given them by the government of Ireland, to transport them to England for that purpofe; though these wretches knew nothing of the matter, till they were inftructed by Mr. Hethrington, Lord Shaftsbury's agent in managing and providing for them."

It may not be unentertaining to the reader, to find here an exact defcription of these witneffes, left us by the lord lieutenant himself, after his return to Ireland. "At council," fays he,+ " there is little more to do than to hear witneffes; fome come out of England, and fome producing themselves here, and all, I doubt, forfwearing themselves. Those that went out of Ireland with bad English, and worse clothes, are returned well-bred gentlemen, well-caronated, periwigged, and cloathed. Brogues and leather straps are converted into fashionable fhoes and glittering buckles; which, next to the zeal tories, thieves, and friars have for the protestant religion, is a main inducement to bring in fhoals of informers. They find it more honourable

e

2 Ib. vol. iii.

"I dare not," fays his grace in another letter," fay, though it be manifeft, that most of our discoveries give more difcredit, than confirmation, to the plot. It is well that I am not like to be charged for a plotter or a papift." Carte's Orm. vol. ii. Append.

"There were too many proteftants then in Ireland," fays Mr. Carte," who wanted another rebellion, that they might increase their eftates by new forfeitures. And letters were perpetually fending into England, mifreprefenting the lord lieutenant's conduct, and the ftate of things in Ireland. The Earl of Anglesey gave the Duke of Ormond, a friendly advertisement of those misrepresentations and fuggeftions against his proceedings, made by one of the greateft perfons in the kingdom, tranfmitted to feveral perfons in London, and particularly to fome members of parliament and of the privy council." Orm. vol. ii. fol. 482.

On the other hand, "fome perfons to whom the Duke of Ormond's moderation was not agreeable, imagining that he might be driven out of it by the danger of an affaffination,

dropped

honourable and fafe, to be the king's evidence, than a cow-stealer, though that be their actual profeffion; but as they have not the honefty to fwear truly, they want the wit to fwear probably."f

Jones,' Bifhop of Meath, who was both the procurer and examiner of these witneffes in Ireland, had been scout-mafter general to Oliver Cromwell's army.

Yet, upon the bare teftimony of the above mentioned notorious mifcreants, feveral of the Irish nobility, clergy and gentry, were at that juncture, either thrown into jails or forced to quit the kingdom. Primate Plunkett (as Bishop Burnet informs us, on the report of the Earl of Effex, who had been lord lieutenant of Ireland, and knew him perfonally), "was a wife and fober man, fond of living quietly and in due fubjection to the government, without engaging in intrigues of state;" yet he was brought over to England, and condemned, and executed at Tyburn, on the accufation of these fuborned witnesses. But

6

5 Cart. Orm. vol. ii. fol. 498.

Hift. of his own Times, vol. i. f. 230.

dropped letters in the streets of Dublin, infinuating a confpiracy formed for murdering his grace; and several pretended to give an account of what they had heard, or fufpected of such a defign. Divers examinations were taken, and the duke could not well tell at firft what to think of the matter; as it seemed to agree with what was mentioned in general by Oates and Dugdale, whofe depofitions it was calculated to countenance. But he had too much firmnefs of mind to be moved by fuch dark and inexplicable informations as were given, to alter a conduct founded on fo much reafon, as what he had hitherto obferved." Id. ib. vol. ii. f. 481.

Alluding to two friars that informed against the titular Primate Plunkett.

"Plunkett," fays Burnet, "was at this time brought to his trial. Some lewd Irish priests, and others of that nation, hearing that England was then difpofed to hearken to good fwearers, thought themselves well qualified for the employment; fo they came over to fwear, that there was a great plot in Ireland. The witneffes were brutal and profligate men, yet the Earl of Shaftsbury cherished them much; they were examined by par

liament

h

But the Duke of Ormond, by his great refolution and activity, put a stop to this spreading mischief, not without expofing himself to the danger of being reprefented by the faction in England, as a plotter or a papist, on that account.

AN

liament at Westminster, yet what they faid was believed. Some of these priests had been cenfured by him for their lewdness. Plunkett had nothing to fay in his defence, but to deny all; fo he was condemned, and suffered very decently, expreffing himself in many particulars as became a bishop; he died denying every thing that had been fworn against him." Hift. of his own Times, vol. i. f. 230..

h His grace in one of his letters to England on this occafion, fays, "Here is one Owen Murphy authorised to search for, and carry over witneffes, I fuppofe to give evidence against Oliver Plunkett (the primate.) He has been as far as the county of Tipperary, and brought thence about a dozen people, not like to say any thing material as to Plunkett." Cart. Orm. vol. ii. App.

His grace was urged to imprison all the principal Roman catholics of Ireland at this juncture; but he refused to do it, "because," as he faid, "it could not be known, how many might be thus driven to defperate courses." "It was well known," adds my author, "how much the imprisonments, and other severities of Sir William Parfons, had contributed to hurry numbers into the laft rebellion; and neither the duke, nor the privy council, deemed it prudent to make another experiment whether the fame measures might not be attended with the fame effects." Lel. Hift. of Irel. vol. iii. p. 547.