Henry Earl of Clarendon, lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1685, has left us a very different account of the behaviour of thefe popifh judges and juries, on that occafion. He tells us, "that when thefe popifh judges went to the affizes in the county of Down and Londonderry, where many confiderable perfons were to be tried for words formerly fpoken against king James,' they took as much pains as it was poffible, to quiet the minds of the people, wherever they went; and that they took care to have all the juries mingled half English half Irifh." And particularly with refpect to the county of Meath, where Dr. King tells us they principally connived at this wicked trade of fwearing, his lordship adds, "that Judge Daly' (one of these L 2 4 3 State Let. Dub. ed. vol. i. p. 326. 4 Ib. popish a "All the Irish proteftants," fays Mr. Lesley, speak exceeding good things of Lord Clarendon. They never parted with any chief governor with fo much regret; and, as I have been told, none courted him more than Dr. King, who was admitted one of his chaplains." Answ.p. 132. His lordship himself fufpected, that he was recalled from the government of Ireland, on account of his religion. " If," fays he," my being a protestant be the cause of my ill ufage, I am fo far from being troubled, that I look upon it as a great honour to be found worthy to fuffer for my religion." State Let. vol. ii. p. 158. Harris informs us, " that he was fo much depended upon by the proteftants of Ireland, that after the Prince of Orange's arrival in England, they made all their applications to him, through his lordship." Life of K. William, f. 187. That the Roman catholics of Ireland did not think him partial in their favour, appears from one of his excellency's letters from Waterford, September 12th, 1686, wherein he fays, "Lord Tyrone came to fee him there, and had continued with him all the time of his being there; but that not one of the other Roman catholic gentlemen had been with him. And that none of the Roman catholic inhabitants of that city (though there were there fome pretty confiderable merchants) had taken notice of him." State Let. vol. i. p. 402. Lord Clarendon, in a letter to Lord Sunderland, has the following paffage: "It is thought fit I fhould recommend men to fome towns (where it is doubted the election may not be good) popish judges) did, at the affizes of that county, enlarge much on the unconfcionablenefs of indicting men upon words fpoken so many years before; that he told the jury, that most of thofe then charged before him in court, could give a good account of themselves, and were well known in the countries where they lived, and that thereupon the juries, the major part of whom were Irish, acquitted them;" that Mr. juftice Nugent (another popifh judge)" made the fame declaration at Drogheda, where feveral perfons were tried for words, upon bills found at the former affizes; and that they were all acquitted, except one man, who was found guilty and fined five pounds." 6 7. But who would fufpect this impartial writer to have known, while he was committing these falfehoods to the prefs, that Lord Clarendon had, by king James's express command, published a proclamation, fo early as July 1686, (the popifh judges were made only in April preceding,) "forbidding all profecutions of that kind; and ordering, that no perfon fhould be accountable for any words fpoken against his majesty, at any time before his acceffion;" which proclamation his excellency immediately fent off to the judges, then on their circuits. Yet thefe known facts, Dr. King has difingenuoufly fuppreffed; for no body, I think, will have the hardinefs to pretend, that he, who was one of his lordship's chaplains, and a bufy enquirer into all the tranfactions of that time, could poflibly be ignorant of a matter fo notorious as this proclamation must have then been in every part of Ireland. State Lett. Dub. ed. vol. i. p. 326. CHA P. • Id. ib. p. 324. good) for mayors, and fheriffs, and for common-council-men: in fuch cafes I advife with those who are beft acquainted in these towns; particularly with juftice Daly, and others of the king's council of that perfuafion; and the lifts of names those men give me, are always equal, half English half Irish; which, they fay, is the best way to unite, and make them live friendly toge ther." State Lett. vol. ii. p. 319. С НА Р. IV. The execution of Captain Ashtan. THE hanging of one Captain Ashton for murder, is a another of Dr. King's instances of the cruelty and injustice of these popish judges and juries. "The papifts," fays he," might kill whom they pleased, without fear of the law, because they had popifh judges and juries on their fide; but if any killed or hurt them, they were fure to fuffer." And then he complains, that Ashton was hanged for killing a papift; who, he says, "abused his wife in the street." What the nature of the abuse was, or whether it was by words or actions, he does not inform us; from whence we may probably conclude, that it was not of a very heinous nature; and that the doctor would infinuate, that the killing of a papist, though but upon a flight provocation, ought not to be punished, as a capital offence. • State of the Proteft. p. 47. But There is a paffage in Lord Clarendon's letters, which demonstrates a very different difpofition in these popish judges towards proteftants, from what Dr. King has imputed to them. "Upon a full hearing," fays his lordfhip," at the councilboard, there was a complaint of the commiffioners of the revenue proved against a juftice of peace, who had discountenanced a collector of the excife in the execution of his office. When the board came to deliberate what to do, this," adds his lordship, "is remarkable, that feveral of our new Roman catholic counfellors, though the juftice was an Englishman, and a proteftant, were for putting off the business, and particularly the three new (popish) judges faid the gentleman would be more careful for the future." State Lett, vol. i. p. 292. His excellency alfo takes notice of the fingular modefty of these popifh judges, when they were made privy counsellors; and fays, " they were almost out of countenance on that occafion; that they thought it would bring envy upon them, when it was not needful; they being, every way, as well qualified to do the king all poffible fervice, without the burden of that honour." Ib. 231. But we find that Lord Clarendon, in whofe time it happened, thought very differently of this affair. For his lordship informs us, that at that gentleman's trial, 2 care was taken to have a good jury; but that they brought him in guilty; that great interceffion was made with himfelf in his behalf; but that, in good earnest, the fact was fo horrid, and fo fully proved, and the captain had fo little to fay for himself, that he did not think him a fit object of the king's mercy." His lordfhip adds, "that the pannel was made up of the best men in the city; that is," fays he, "men of the best reputation and credit, without regard to religion; and that there were as many of the one perfuafion as of the other returned; that the captain excepted against as many of the jury as the law allowed him, who were all Roman catholics; but that the reft, who were very honeft men, regarded nothing but the evidence and their oaths.” 4 Even Chief Juftice Nugent, a papift, and one of the judges before whom this unhappy man was tried, and to whom Dr. King has been pleafed to give a most profligate character, had been with his excellency, and defired he might intercede with his majefty, that he would be pleased to beftow the captain's eftate upon his wife and children." Which, for any thing I have found to the contrary appears to have been done. CHA P. V. The affair of the Quo-warrantos against the corporations not truly stated by Doctor King. BUT these popish judges, not content with taking away the lives and properties of proteftant individuals, confpired, it feems, with the popifh lawyers, to deftroy whole corporate bodies, by iffuing quo-warrantos against their charters; although (if we believe Dr. King) 3 Ib. State Lett. p. 196. 4 Id. ib. p. 294: King)' "there was not one of these corporations. found to have forfeited, by a legal trial; fo that all the corporations in the kingdom were diffolved without any reason, or pretence of abuse of privilege." 2 a "But will any man believe, that lawyers (and fome of them, this author acknowledges, understood their profeffion) would bring a quo-warranto against a charter, and not fo much as pretend any abuse, or forfeiture? "State of the Proteft. p. 68. 2 Lesley's Anfw. "Nangle (attorney general) arrived to a good perfection in the ftudy of the law, and was employed by many proteftants." King's State of the Proteftants, &c. p. 55. "Mr. Stephen Rice was (to give him his due) a man of the beft fenfe among them (the popish lawyers), and well enough verfed in the law." Ib. p. 54. It was before him (when chief baron of the Exchequer) all the charters in the kingdom were damned." Id. ib. Mr. Daly (afterwards judge) though a Roman catholic, yet understood the common law well, and behaved himself impartially." Ib. p. 55. "The feveral corporations in Ireland having forfeited their charters by mifcarriages, mifdemeanors, and other offences during the rebellion in 1641, and fince, Charles II. had empowered his chief governor of that kingdom to grant new charters to fuch of these corporations as he fhould think fit; and for fuch of them as should not make application for renewing their charters, to iffue quo-warrantos against them for avoiding the fame. And King James being informed that very few had made fuch application, directed his deputy Tyrconnel to cause these quo-warrantos to be iffued, by which their former charters were made void, and new ones given them with additional franchifes." See Harris's Life of King William. It appears from Lord Clarendon," that King James's intention in all this was nothing more than that religion fhould be no hindrance to the natives from enjoying the benefit of being freemen, and holding offices, as the rest of his fubjects did." State Lett. vol. ii. p. 8. But Dr. King was of a different opinion, and would have that benefit monopolized in the hands of proteftants alone, excluding the papifts from freedom, and votes in the corporations." State of the Proteft. p. 66. "Upon much lefs provocation, Capel Earl of Effex, lord lieutenant of Ireland, (that celebrated champion for liberty, and who was faid to have fallen a martyr to it) thought the bringing of quo-warrantos against the charter of Dublin neceffary. That chief governor, in a letter to Secretary Coventry, in 1674-5, on occafion of a trifling difpute between the aldermen and com mons |