1689. and indeed he was the first Man in the Exchequ:

that ftruck the fatal Blow in all Causes, where that English were concern'd.

The Supream Courts being thus fill'd up, it wa Dr. King, but reasonable all other Courts should keep pa: Bishop of with them. In the Year 1687, there was not a London Protestant Sheriff in the whole Kingdom, excep: Derry, his one ; and he put in by Mistake for another of th: State of fame Name that was a Papift. Some few Proteftans Ireland un

were continued in the Commillion of the Peace der king but they were rendred useless and Infignificant

being overpower'd in everything by the grea Number of Roman Catholicks join'd in Commill: on with them; and those for the most part of th: very Scum of the People ; and a great many whol Fathers had been Executed for Theft, Robbery and Murder.

The great Barrier of the Peoples Liberties both in i England and Ireland, being their Right to chule their own Representatives in Parliament, the Prot: ftants in Ireland finding a Neceflity of securing this ! Right in their owu Hands, had procur'd man Corporations to be founded, and had Built triny Corporate Towns at their own Charges; from all which the Papilts were by their Charters excluded. This Barrier was broken through, by diffolving all the Corporations in the Kingdom, which was effected either by Tyrconnel's Promisos and Threats, and the Wheedling Infinuations of Elis his Secretary, or where both fuild, by the Infallible Mans of Quo-Warranto's brought into the Exchequeer Court; and that without the least Shai dow of Law. Hereupon new Charters were granted, and filld up chiefly with Papists, and Men of Desperate or no Fortunes : And a Clause was inserted in every one of them, which subjected them to the absolute will of the King, by which it was put in the Power of the Chief Governour to turn out and put in whom he pleas'd.

The next Work was to agree upon a Model for the Men. This Debate was strongly canvassd feveral ways; and that which chiefly puzzled them, was that the King would have nothing of

this transacted at Court, for fear of meeting with 1687.
Opposition there. This Exigency, of not being suf-
ferd to receive Advice from England, expos'd them
to great Difficulties ; for they were utter Strangers
to the Laws and Government of Corporations,
having been conversant in nothing but Secret Plots,
and Private Contrivances, how to unhinge all man-
ner of Government ; and as an Aggravation of
their Misfortune, as they own'd it themselves, ex-
cept Rice, Daly, and Neayle, there was not a
Man in the Privy-Council that had common Sense.
Necellity at lart supplied the Place of Invention;
and a Method was agreed upon which reduc'd Cor-
porations to perfect Slavery, which was their prime
and ultimate Aim ; for as to Matter of Trade, or
Improving of the Nation, these were Speculations of
too refined a Nature for their Understandings, as
was demonstrated in the firft Proclamation issued
forth by Tyrconnel and his Council, to break an Act
of Parliament in taking off the Duty of Troit,
and admitting it so into the Kingdom, whereby
they might encourage Merchants to bring in Pies
ces of Eight from Spain ; and fo halty were they to
have the Honour of this admirable Contrivance,
that without asking the King's Leave (which is
ever done before any Proclamation, relating to the
Revenue, pass) they put it in Execution ; but as
foon as 'twas heard of in England, a Proclamation
came from the King, forbidding this wise Act of
those great Statesmen. And so ill this presumptu-
ous Folly of theirs was interpreted, that the Lord
Bellasis swore in Council, that, That Fellow in Fre-
land das Fool and Madman enough to ruin Ten King-
doms ; and Father Petre corrected him severely for
this foul Miscarriage.

And now the Irish Papists being supported by a
Lord Lieutenant of their own Persuasion, they
carried all things before them, and the Proteftants
were not only Oppress’d, but rendred Infamous;
for the Lord Chancellor Fitton did not stick to
say even upon the Bench, and at other Places; I har
the Protestants were all Rogues ; and that among Förty
Thordland of them, there was

not one that was not a
E 2

Formy

1687. Traytor, or Rebel, and a Villain. It would en. wgage me to transcribe whole Volumes, if I should

atteinpt to relate all the Outrages that were offerd to the Protestants under this Popish Administration; and therefore I will only mention the following Particulars. The Prietts began to declare openly, tha

: Severities the Tythes belong'd to them, and forbad their Peoagain;t the Protestant

ple, under the Pain of Damnation, to pay them to Clergy in

the Protestant Incumbents. This pait afterwards Ireland.

into an Act of Parliament, by which not only all
Tythes payable by Papilts, were given to their ow?
Prietis, but likewise a way was found out to mak:
the Popish Clergy capable of enjoying the Prote-
stant Tythes, which was thus: If a Protestant hap.
pen'd to be possess’d of a Bishoprick, a Dignity, or
other Living, he might not by this new AG D.
mand any. Tythes or Eccleliatiical Dues from any
Roman Catholicks; and as soon as his Preferment be-
came Void by Death, Cellion or Absence, a Popule
Clergyman was put into his place. The only
great Nursery of Piety and Learning in Irelans.
is the University of Dublin, consisting of a Proval,
Seven Senior, and Nine Junior Fellows, and Seventy
Scholars, who are partly maintain'd by a Yearly
Salary out of the Exchequer. This Salary 1 yrom-
nel ftopt on no other Pretence than their scrupling
to admit to a vacant Fellowibir, contrary to their
Oaths, a vicious illiterate Man, who was a new
Convert. Nor could his Excellency ever be pre-
vail'd with to remove the Stop; and fo in effect
he dissolv'd the Foundation, and shut up the Foun-
tain of Knowledge and true Religion. About
the fame Time Chrijt - Church was taken from
the Protestants and given to the Roman Catho-
licks.
To return to England: One would have thought

, Chara&ter that the vigorous Oppolition the King had met of King the last Sellions of Parliament, in his Design

of James's setting up a dispenting Power, and eltablishing PoMinisters. pery, would have been sufficient to deter him from

that Dangerous, not to say Chimerical, Attempt. And indeed it is not poisible to imagine, that a Prince rather Debonair" and Good-natur'd, than

either Haughty or Cruel, could have fallen into the 1686.
Detire and Exercise of a Despotick Power, and
forgot so soon what he acknowledg’d himself in
his First Speech to his Council, That the Laws of
England were able to make a King as Great and Hap-
py, as he could defire to be, if he had not been ele-
vated by Flatterers, and Time-servers; who not
only in their Secret Whispers, but even in their
loud Harangues from the Pulpit, delivered these ine
toxicating Affertions: 'Ihat Monarchy and Heredita-
ry Succession were by Divine Right ; That the Legislı-
ture was voted in the Person of the Prince only, and
the Two Houses of Parliament, that of the Commons
Specially, inconfideralhe Parts of the Conjtitution ; and
That Kings bad an unquestionable Power to dispence
with Laws. What Prince could have with stood
the Temptation of grasping at Arbitrariness, and
countenancing that Religion which seem'd most
subservient to that End, in fo favourable a Jun-
cture, when the reigning Part of the Nation was
lulld alleep by the Doctrine of Pasive Obedience
and Non-resistance? I will not endeavour to palliate
the Faults committed by the unfortunate King
Jimes, which are fo palpable, that even a Jesuit
Writer is forc'd to own them; but Truth obliges
me to averr, that mofiif not all of them, are
to be charg'd on his Ambitious and Jarring Mini-
tters, and the aspiring Ecclefiafticks, both Prote-
ftant and Romilh, that were about him. Therefore
to form a true Notion of King James's Government,
and to know the very Springs of all his Actions,
you must let before your Eyes an Ealie, Credulous
Prince, manag’d by a Light, Proud, Daring, Cove-
tous Father Confeffor, who is himself govern'd
by a Crafty, Dissembling, Designing Statesman,
and whose Pernicious, Despotick Deligns he first
adopts out of Vanity, and then makes his Matter
put in Execution out of Avarice. Add to these
a Bold, Pushing, Upstart Chancellor ; a Set of Cor-
rupt Judges ; two or three Protestant Bishops blind-
ly devoted to the will of the Prince, and some
few Honeft and Affectionate Courtiers rendred fuf-
picious by the rest.

E 3

King

1686. King Charles II. towards the latter end of his

Reign, being influenc'd by his brother and the Popish Faction, begun to lay the Foundation of a Delpotick Government, by making Bargains with Cor

porations, or forcing them by his Quo-Warranto's, d'en Char- to Surrender their old Charters, and receive new TETS, ons from him; wherein, amongst other Reftri

ctions, he referv'd a Power, that if they did not return such Members to represent them in Parliament, as pleas'd him, he would resume the Charters he granted them. He was so well serv’d in this Afair, both by Chief Justice Jeffreys, the Earl of Bath, and several other Zealous Courtiers, that in less than a Year's Time the Principal Cities and Towns of England, such as London, Canterbury, Exeter, Lincoln, Oxford, Colchester, Leicester, Bedford, Durham, Plimouth, Buckingham, Carlisle, Lancaster, &c. either by fáir or forcible Means had submitted to his Pleasure. King James, fince his Advancement to the Throne, had follow'd the fame Method to introduce his Creatures into the House of Commons; but nevertheless he found by the Proceedings of the last Sessions, that the Spirit of Liberty, and a warm Zeal for the Laws and Priviledges of the Nation, were still prevailing in this Parliament. This con

sideration oblig'd him to Prorogue it from time to July 2d, time, till at last he was advis’d to Dissolve* it. In 1687. the mean time, the Lord Jeffreys being made Lord

* High Chancellor of England, in the Room of the The King

Lord Keeper North, (who died when Jeffreys Jets up a

was at his Campaign in the West) things were Dispencing carried on towards Popery, and absolute Monarchy, Power. with all the Diligence and Heats Imaginable. To

this End, His Majesty interrogated the old Judges, and before he would make any new ones, would enter into a Bargain with them, and engage 'em to set up his Power of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests. The first Man the King attempted to persuade, was Sir Thom. Jones, who boggled very much at it, and at last told the King plainly, He could not do it ; the King answer'd, He would have tzvelve Judges of bis Opinion : To which Sir Thomas

replied,