IV. That sir William Parsons, who had, at nine in the evening, received intelligence of a plot, to explode at ten the next morning, and the names of some of the principal conspirators, should be so misguided, as to send back the drunken informer, “to get out of Mac-Mahon as much certainty of the plot as he could," instead of immediately apprehending the conspirators? V. That being "in town," he would have gone "without the town," and sent there for such of the council as lived in town," when such an awful explosion was likely to take place? VI. That when the informer returned to the lords justices, he would be allowed to go to bed, before taking his examinations? VII. That the lords justices would have remained all night, and until five o'clock in the morning, at lord Borlace's house, without the town, and closed the gates, thus shutting themselves out from the defence of the castle. VIII. That when O'Conally had slept himself sober, and made circumstantial deposition of such alarming particulars, the council would have been such idiots as to take no other precaution than merely "to have a watch set privately upon the lodgings of Mac-Mahon, and also upon lord Macguire," as if they had been plotting to rob orchards or hen-roots, to bar out a school-master, break lamps in a midnight frolic, or attack the watchmen, instead of plotting to seize the castle, subvert the government, and cut the throats of one or two hundred thousand people ? IX. That the privy council would not, under such circumstances, have instantly apprehended the conspirators, instead of "sitting all night in council," upon one of the simplest points ever discussed, and which could have been decided in five minutes, as well as in five hours, five weeks, or five years; on which the most prompt and decisive measures were imperiously necessary; and at a moment when, if there were any truth in the statement of O'Conally, the salvation or destruction of the state might depend on a single hour? X. That having taken the precaution, on Friday night, of "setting a watch privately upon the lodgings of lord Macguire," thereby establishing their belief that he was an accomplice in the plot, they would not have arrested him at the same time they arrested Mac-Mahon, but waited "till conference with the latter and others, and calling to mind sir William Cole's letter," which led them to "gather that the lord Macguire was to be an actor in surprising the castle of Dublin ?" XI. That a conspiracy, which was to explode throughout the whole kingdom on the 23d of October, should be arrested in Leinster, Connaught, and Munster, by the detection of it, in Dublin, a few hours before the appointed time? XII. That if it had been intended to murder "all the Protestants throughout the kingdom," who "would not join the conspirators," there would have been no intelligence of a single murder on the 25th, or that, on the 29th, the lords justices should explicitly declare, that the insurrection was "confined to the mere old Irish in the province of Ulster, and others who had joined them ?" XIII. That though the lords justices had recourse to the execrable expedient of putting Mac-Mahon and others to the rack, they should not have extorted a word from any of them, to support the charge of murderous intentions, if any conspiracy had existed, for "cutting off all the Protestants and English throughout the kingdom ?" XIV. That no examinations should have ever been taken of any other of the conspirators ? XV. That if there were a general conspiracy, and of course a large assemblage of people in Dublin, for the purpose of seizing the castle on the 23d, the lords justices would not have been able, on the morning of that day, to apprehend more than two of the leaders and a few common servants? XVI. That to execute an enterprize of which the success absolutely depended on promptitude and secrecy, people would be collected from all the thirty-two counties of Ireland, at various distances, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, one hundred, and one hundred and fifty miles from the scene of operations ? XVII. And finally, whether, the deposition of O'Conally being incontrovertibly established as false, and he of course perjured, in the two vital points, I. The universality of the plot, and II. The determination to massacre all who would not join in it, There can be any credit whatever attached to the remainder of his testimony? And whether it does not necessarily follow, that the whole was a manifest fraud and imposture, designed to provoke insurrection, and lead to its usual and inevitable result,-confiscation? Before the reader decides on answers to these queries, it is hoped he will bear in mind the strong facts adduced in Chapter XX. to prove that the seventeenth century was, in the fullest sense of the word, the age of perjury, forgery, and fabricated plots. He will there see, that in London, the boasted courts of justice were at that period, mere slaughter-houses, where the depositions of men, stained and covered over with crimes of the most atrocious nature, as the leopard is covered with spots, were received without hesitation in cases where the lives of innocent men were at stake, and were finally immolated. He will likewise behold the horrible fact, that the testimony of a man whose perjury was detected in open court, and there confessed by himself, was afterwards admitted, and was the means of consigning innocent persons to the ignominious death of the gallows. Let him also bear in mind, that forged plots, supported by perjury, had been one of the regular and uniform machines of the government of Ireland, from the invasion to that period; and steadily from the restoration in 1660, till the revolution in 1688; and had produced the forfeiture of millions of acres. And further, let it not be forgotten, that all the writers, Clarendon, Carte, Warner, Leland, Gordon, &c. agree, that the grand object of the lords justices was, in the beginning, to extend the flames of civil war; and, when the insurrection had by these means become general, to prevent a cessation of hostilities, for the purpose of producing extensive confiscations. With all these strong facts taken into view, I then invite a decision; and entertain no doubt of a favourable verdict. On this subject I have no hesitation in pledging myself, that if any independent and upright judge or lawyer of any court in France, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, or the United States, will pronounce affirmative answers to the above queries, so as to imply a belief in the reality of the conspiracy, as deposed to by the "Protestant gentleman," alias "servant," I will chearfully suppress this work, and consent to have it burned by the hands of the common hangman. Plan for the extermination of all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. "O thou Almighty! awful and supreme! The anxious pains with which the country groans.”—Martin. HOWEVER shocking and incredible it may appear, it is established, by the concurring testimony of Clarendon, Carte, Warner, Leland, and nearly all the other writers, that the predominant party in England and Ireland, cherished, for a considerable time, the bloodthirsty and barbarous project of an utter extirpation of the Catholics, and the establishment of new plantations throughout the kingdom. To the attainment of this nefarious object, all their measures were invariably directed: nor did they abandon it from its inhumanity, but from finding it utterly impracticable. The favourite object of the Irish governors, and the English parliament, was the utter EXTERMINATION of all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland! Their estates were already marked out and allotted to their conquerors; so that they and their posterity were consigned to inevitable ruin."9674 "It is evident from their [the lords justices] last letter to the lieutenant, that they hoped for an EXTIRPATION, not of the mere Irish only, but of all the old English families that were Roman Catholics."875 "The parliament party, who had heaped so many reproaches and calumnies upon the king, for his clemency to the Irish, who had grounded their own authority and strength upon such foundations as were inconsistent with any toleration of the Roman Catholic religion, and even with any humanity to the Irish nation, and more especially to those of the old native extraction, the whole race whereof they had upon the matter sworn to EXTIRPATE, &c. &c."676 "If it be more needful to dispose of places out of hand, and that it may stand with his majesty's pleasure to fill some of them with Irish that are Protestants, and that have not been for the EXTIRPATION of the Papist natives, it will much satisfy both, and cannot justly be excepted against."677 "Mr. Brent landed lately here, and hath brought with him such letters as have somewhat changed the face of this government from what it was, when the parliament pamphlets were received as oracles, 674 Leland, III. 192. 675 Warner, 176. 676 Clarendon's I. 115. their commands obeyed as laws,, and EXTIRPATION preached for Gospel."878 Though extirpation both of nation and religion be not named, yet I conceive it is contrived almost in every proposition: and the consideration thereof confirms me in a full belief of the malicious practices of the Cootes and Ormsbyes, in the county of Roscom mon."679 "The term of EXTIRPATION is worn out here, and the intention not acknowledged to me by the prime authors therein, with whom I have been plain after my blunt way. 97680 "The reason of their [the justices] advice is founded upon their darling scheme of an EXTIRPATION of the old English proprietors, and a general plantation of the whole kingdom with a new colony; for this is the meaning of what they allege, to show it to be "unsafe for his majesty, and destructive to the kingdom, to grant the petitioners' request; as being altogether inconsistent with the means of raising a considerable revenue for his crown, of settling religion and civility in the kingdom; and of establishing a firm and lasting peace, to the honour of his majesty, the safety of his royal posterity, and the comfort of all his faithful subjects."61 "These difficulties and considerations were of little weight with the lords justices; who, having got a thin house of commons to their mind, of persons devoted to their interests and measures, resolved to improve the opportunity offered, and to get such acts passed, as might distress the king, exasperate the bulk of the nation, spread the rebellion, and so promote their darling scheme of EXTINGUISHING the old proprietors, and making a new plantation of the kingdom."sa "Such considerations as these were not agreeable to the views of the lords justices, who had set their hearts on the EXTIRPATION, not only of the mere Irish, but likewise of all the old English families that were Roman Catholics, and the making of a new plantation all over the kingdom; in which they could not fail to have a principal share; so all their reasonings, upon all occasions, were calculated and intended to promote that their favourite scheme."s3 "These measures served their own scheme of an EXTIRPATION, by racking those gentlemen, whose treatment could not fail of deterring every body from venturing themselves into their power for the future."7684 "These propositions certainly came from some of that party of men which first formed the design of an EXTIRPATION of the Roman Catholics, and, by publishing that design, made the rebellion so general as it proved at last. They all breathed the same spirit; and though EXTIRPATION both of nation and religion was not expressly mentioned, yet it seemed to be contrived effectually in all the propositions. They appeared so monstrous and unreasonable, that it was thought they could proceed from nothing but an high degree of madness or malice."685 "There is too much reason to think, that, as the lords justices really wished the rebellion to spread, and more gentlemen of estates 678 Carte, III. 170. 682 Idem, 330. 679 Idem, 311. 663 Idem, 293. 680 Idem, 155. 684 Idem, 301. 681 Carte, I. 391. 685 Idem, 502. |