give ample scope to anticipate what effects the influence of such men must have had on the excitable spirits of Irishmen. It may well prepare the reader for the scenes of disaffection and intrigue that preceded the great rebellion. James the First, who has a fair claim to the title of legislator of Ireland, aware of one great evil of the land-the exorbitant power and influence of the chieftains and heads of septs, set all the influence of his government to work in order to break down this power; and he in a great measure succeeded in emancipating the middle and lower classes from this thraldom of their chiefs: but when those loose and turbulent beings-unfit for the honest pursuits of commerce or agriculture-unfit for industry by their indolence-unprepared for liberty by their ignorance-when they were presented with the privileges of English liberty and English laws, like the Spaniards and Portuguese of the present day, they knew not how to value the boon; and therefore, instead of accepting of it, they only exchanged masters, and when let loose from their ancient lords-they recklessly flung themselves under the domination of foreign-influenced Priests. Thus the Clergy became lords of the land, and through their influence, the allegiance of the Romish population was virtually transferred to the Pope and the King of Spain; and under priestly auspices the turbulent spirits of the provinces were either sent across the seas to swell the armies of the House of Austria, and return home to organize and recruit, or remained at home living on in the fever of expectation, in hopes that a favourable juncture would come, when they might arise as one man and take vengeance on their heretic oppressors Hence the conspiracies of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, in 1608-that of Bryan O'Neal, Roger O'Cahan, and Alexander M'Surley, in 1615: and when Father M'Crodden in his sermon at the Glynn, in Maguire's country, (Fermanagh) stated, that O'Neil was coming from Spain with an army of 18,000 men, they kissed the hem of his vestments, and made a collection for his Reverence of 2000 cows. Wide then was the field, and excitable the spirits over which the Romish Priests exercised their temporal and spiritual sway; and long has this island (as well as every other country subjected to the same infliction) suffered under the worst of despotisms, that of priestcraft. But it is time to specify and produce examples which may be rich in admonitory teachings to us who coming on the human stage, two centuries later, still find the Priesthood of the unchangeable Church potential. Omnibus in terris quæ sunt á Gadibus usque, In the year 1610, James thought it expedient to summon a Parliament; and at this period Ireland was fast recovering from the effects of the wars of the former reign, and had arrived at a state of great comparative prosperity. The penal statutes against Romanists, were much relaxed. The Romish Lords and Gentry were eligible to sit in Parliament: Romanists also were admissible to fill the offices of sheriffs and magistrates, provided they took the oath of allegiance; and even that oath which merely sought an acknowledgment of civil supremacy was so inadequately enforced, that numbers of magistrates, lawyers and functionaries in corporate towns, were never required to take it. At this period then the Romish party, united in prejudices and interests, became very powerful; and the Popish Priests, hot from foreign seminaries that educated them, or from Rome that appointed and could prefer them, directed and moved this mighty mass of turbulence and bigotry, The Parliament, when summoned, received every possible opposition from the Popish party: they transmitted a high and assuming remonstrance against it to the King; requiring of him not to call a Parliament untill all the penal laws against the Roman Catholics were repealed: and when the party found that their remonstrance was rejected-agents were sent from Dublin and the pale into every province and county to conduct the elections; and the Priests from evey altar, preached that the cause of God was at issue and his only Church at stake; and the awful anathemas and penalties of excommunication were dealt around on all those who presumed to vote against the cause of the Catholic Church. Nay, they went farther; they assured the people that Young Tyrone was preparing with the aid of Spanish men and money to invade the kingdom, and that now the time was propitious, if a strong stand was made against the heretics, for the Church, the eternal Church, to resume her wonted prosperity and honour. So manifest was the electioneering success of the Priests, that most of the government party that were proposed as county members were thrown out, and turbulent Popish lawyers elected in their stead-and triumphing in their success after the election, the Popish leaders and successful candidates, made their triumphal entry into Dublin, attended by bands of armed followers, and hordes of Priests and Friars. It may be satisfactory to shew how O'Sullivan, the Popish historian, describes this transaction: "The Catholics, resolving to resist unto death, thought of two ways,-first, to hinder the meeting of Parliament if possible; and, secondly, if met, not to receive or admit the heretic Parliament men, because not inhabitant in the towns that chose them; and with this design they went to Dublin-WHERE ALL THE CATHOLIC CLERGY ALSO WENT, TO ENCOURAGE THE GENTRY IN THEIR HOLY RESOLUTION. On the 18th of May, 1613, the Parliament met at the Castle of Dublin, and first the Lord Buttevant carried the sword before the Deputy to Church, to hear the BLIND MINISTERS OF THE DEVIL, (cæcos Diaboli Ministros:*) and that being over, when they came to the Castle, the guard disarmed the nobility and gentry as they entered; but some resisted, and did not part with their arms; and others that did, had arms secretly about them. "No sooner had they sat, but the soldiers were drawn up into a body in the yard, to terrify the Catholic members, who, in the upper house, were less numerous than * We see here what a paramount influence the Popish Clergy possessed over the members of Parliament who were of their religion; nothing agitated, nothing done, without their intermeddling. the Protestants. However, they resolved rather to die (which they expected) than forsake the Catholic religion; but if they had died for it, the gentlemen and citizens then in Dublin, assembled from all parts of the kingdom, had certainly revenged their death and now the eyes even of the English-Irish were open, and they, cursing their former folly in helping the heretics, would have now repaired it by a hearty conjunction with the Old Irish." Again he says: "When the Catholics refused to sit in the Parliament, the Deputy did not dare to force them, because they had many friends in town ready armed," Again he says, speaking of the attainder of O'Neal and O'Donnel which passed in that Parliament : "The sounder part of the Clergy always opposed their attainder; and the Archbishop of Tuam wrote a notable letter against it but the worst part of the Clergy (he means those of English extraction) persuaded the Catholic members to consent to that act."* On the meeting of this Parliament in 1613, it was found that the House of Commons consisted of 232 members, whereof six were absent, and of the sitting members 125 were Protestants. The House being called over, the Vice-treasurer, Sir Thomas Ridgway, proposed Sir John Davis as the Speaker: whereupon Sir James Gough, on the Popish side, proposed Sir John Everard. Hereupon, (as Cox says,) the House was in a confusion-some crying Davis, others Everard. Sir Oliver St. John then interposed, and said, it was the usage of Parliament to decide controversies by questions, and questions by votes; and the affirmative party usually went out of the House, and the negative party staid behind. So he desired all those who voted for Sir John Davis, to follow him out-which they did, to the number of 125. The Treasurer and Marshal in vain desired Sir Christopher Plunkett and Sir Christopher Nugent, to join them in numbering each. party; which they refused; and the Romish party, gathered themselves into a lump, so that they could not be numbered. However, as there were altogether but 232 in the whole House, of which six were absent, it was manifest that Sir John Davis had the majority. The Papists aware of this, thought to gain their point by a trick; and therefore, while the Protestants were numbering without, the Papists shut the door, and pretending to be the House of Commons, they unanimously chose Everard, and placed him in the chair. The Protestants being returned, declared that Davis was elected; but his opponent sat still, and would not move. Then the leading Protestants planted Davis on Everard's lap; but still the Papist would not stir, until he was pulled out from under his Protestant superincumbent. Then all the Romanists left the House, and adjourned into an outer room, for they could not depart altogether, as the doors were * Thus J.K.L. now compares the Protestant clergy of Ireland to the idolatrous and bloody Priests of Juggernaut. locked. In this room they sat, and voted Sir John Everard, as their Speaker, and declared themselves to be the House of Commons of Ireland. Thus for a time under one roof, Ireland had two Houses of Commons-Papist and Protestant. On the following day, the Popish Lords wrote a letter of complaint to the King, concerning the transaction, wherein they styled the proceedings of the Protestant party as strange and preposterous; they expressed their own feelings on the subject, as "Pia deliria et justa iracundia." They would not give Parliament that name, but denominated it, an "intended action:" they designated the new Boroughs which had been erected as "Tituli sine re," and " figmenta sine rebus:" they even intimated menaces of rebellion; and ventured to describe how it would be managed. In this way the Popish members seceded from the Lower House, and the Lords of their party taking up the quarrel, positively refused to take their seats, and protested against all laws made in their absence; intimating that the people would and should refuse to obey them, as unjustly enacted. And when the Lord Deputy, by proclamation, commanded them to their respective Parliament Houses, to pass the Act of Recognition of his Majesty title, the Popish party in both Houses presented a petition to the crown, recognizing that King's title, but refusing to attend Parliament until Everard was appointed as Speaker of the House of Commons, and the new Burgesses incapacitated from sitting, The Lord Deputy was here placed in a truly distressing dilemma. He dared not act against these recusants; for all the force he had in the kingdom at the time was 1735 foot soldiers, and 212 horse and the Popish Lords and Gentry had such a concourse of attendants in Dublin, from all parts of the kingdom, that he dared not imprison or proceed against the refractory; so as the only course he could adopt, he adjourned the Parliament until His Majesty's pleasure was known. During the adjournment, the Popish party were engaged in active operation they selected delegates to go to London-they levied a Catholic Rent to support their cause; and though the Deputy published a proclamation prohibiting any one from paying this Popish tax; yet it appears by the examination on oath, before Sir Laurence Parsons, of John O'Drea and Donough O'Drea, that the tax levied by the Priests and Jesuits on the occasion, was two shillings on a yeoman, and five shillings on a gentleman; and O'Drea further bore testimony that the Lords Roche and Barry were attended by a cortege of foreign-educated Priests, who came to instruct them how to act in Parliament, and to advise according to circumstances. Thus we find that the transactions of the present day are merely rehearsals of what was performed two centuries ago; and like one of Shakespeare's historical dramas, the performance is the same, though the actors may be different. History has but too well told us what the after-piece in 1641 was to this first perform ance-what ours will be time only can tell; in the mean time it is well to bear in mind that there is nothing new under the sun. James received the Popish delegates with much kindness; but determining to hear both sides, he sent for the Lord Deputy, and after a patient hearing, gave his decision against the Romanists, in a very quaint, long, and learned speech: in the latter part of which he thus addresses them: "You that are of a contrary religion, must not look to be the only lawmakers. -You that are but half subjects, should have but half privileges-You that have an eye to me one way, and to the Pope another way. The Pope is your Father in spiritualities, and I, in temporalities only; and so you have your bodies turned one way, and your souls drawn another.-You that send your children to the seminaries of treason, strive henceforth to be full subjects, that you may have 'cor unum et viam unam,' and then I shall respect you all alike. but you, Irish Priests, teach such grounds of doctrine as you cannot follow them with a safe conscience, but you must throw off your loyalty to your king." It was well for Ireland that Sir John Everard, the then leader of the Popish party, was more moderate than those that have usually directed their councils. He earnestly recommended the Romish party not any longer to impede the course of business, and whatever indulgences they sought, to merit them by peaceable conduct. The Deputy and Privy Council feeling the effects of this moderation, answered it by corresponding dispositions; and in this Parliament no new laws were enacted against the professors of Popery, or even against its Priests; and the work of conciliation went on so steadily, that when a petition was presented by the Romish lawyers, to be allowed to plead, even though they did not take the Oath of Supremacy, it was acceded to; and a hot Protestant of the name of Crook, who objected to the concession, declaring that those who were corrupt in their own judgment ought not to be permitted to corrupt others, was called to order, and for the delinquency made to beg his pardon before the House. Thus all things went on smoothly and prosperously for Popery, and its Clergy increased prodigiously. There is a manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, which gives an account of the sums that were then levied on the people by Priests and Friars, secular and regular; and summing up the items, the whole assessment on the people for the support of a foreign-influenced religion-amounted to the enormous sum of £575,246: 14:4.* "Ana The spirit and enterprise of this prosperous Clergy may be gathered from one or two overt-acts. David Roth, Vicar Apostolic, about the year 1616, published his famous work, entitled, lecta Hiberniæ ;" and dedicated it to Charles, Prince of Wales, in a high and assuming strain, somewhat like some of the Popish documents of our own day. He here dedicates to the son, reflections the most opprobrious, and accusations the most unfounded, against James, who really was, as far as he could be, a favourer of Popery : VOL. IV. * See Catalogne of Manuscript. D. 316. |