other foreign prelate, or potentate, had power to controul the king in any causes ecclefiaftical, or civil, within that kingdom, or in any other of his majesty's dominions-" yet this extreme condefcenfion could not fhield him from condemnation.

"In July 1612, Doctor Connor O'Duan, Titular Bishop of Down and Connor, was for the fame offence committed to the Castle of Dublin, where he was confined in ftrict constraint for four years at last he contrived to escape from his prifon; but was immediately retaken, and hanged, drawn, and quartered on the 1ft February, 1616-There fuffered with him, alfo, Doctor Bryan Carrigan, chaplain to the Bishop, and two priests, Donoughoe Mac Reddy, and John Lune." [Theatre of Relig. p. 578.]—But the zeal of the Lords Deputies, and particularly of Sir Arthur Chichester, was fo intemperate and exceffive as would fwell my pamphlet into a large volume, to illuftrate, by all the inftances which occur from the written evidences of the times: and the king and council in England often found it neceffary to reftrain it-[See Def. Curiof. Hiber. Vol. I. throughout].

Thefe frightful feverities not having produced the intended effect," a new infurrection, and confequently new forfeitures;" another expedi ent was adopted by Secretary Cecil, viz. "Private information of an intended confpiracy of the Irish, by means of an anonymous letter"

Cecil, [fays Mr. Dodd in his effay respecting Tyrone's Treafons] was an adept in framing fictitious plots, and has left inftructions behind him to fucceeding minifters, when and how to make use of them against Catholicks. The original of

thefe

thefe inftructions, in Cecil's own hand-writing, was formerly in the poffeffion of Lord Prefident Bradfhaw, who tried the King: by whom it was given to Sir William Percival, who died in 1697, and left it among other papers of remarks upon the times-" [Ecclefiaft. Hift. Vol. III. p. 196] And the traditional account of this forged confpiracy of the laft Earl of Tyrone, and other Catholicks, which ended in their utter deftruction, is thus detailed by Doctor Anderson, in his book entitled "Royal Genealogies," p. 786.--" Artful Cecil employed one St. Lawrence to entrap the Earl of Tyrone, and Lord Tyrconnel, Lord Delvin, and other Catholick Irish chiefs, into a fham plot, which had no evidence but his: But these unhappy noblemen being bafely informed that witneffes were to be hired against them, foolishly fled from Dublin, and thus taking guilt upon them, they were declared Rebels, and fix entire counties in Ulfter were at once forfeited to the Crown, which was what their greedy enemies wanted-" With regard to the fate of Tyrone, Borlace relates in his "Reduction of Ireland, p. 184," "The Earl of Tyrone fled privately into Normandy, thence to Flanders, and finally to Rome; where he became blind, exifted on contributions, and expired in 1618— His fon was foon after found ftrangled in his bed, and fo ended his race--"

Doctor Corry acquaints us, Vol. I. p. 89. "That Knox, a Scotch puritan and Bishop of Raphoe, had informed Lord Belfast, the Deputy, that the only fure means of extirpating Popery out of Ireland, was by the death, or banishment of the perfons, and by the confifcation of the properties of Papifts-For this purpose feveral new Boroughs were created haftily in Munster and Conaught;

F 2

Conaught; fome, and those not a few, even after the writs had been iffued.-"And Sir John Davis fays, "the new boroughs were forty-"

Now this very principle, and advice of the bishop of Raphoe to Chichefter, for "exterminating Popery out of Ireland by the death of the perfons, and the confifcation of the property of Papifts," illuftrates, of itself, the position which for fome pages I have been endeavouring to afcertain, viz. that the profeffors of the Roman Catholic Faith, refiding quietly upon their eftates, or induftriously purfuing their callings, and occupations, have fuftained a conftant, rigorous, and unremitting perfecution, from the reign of Elizabeth to the year 1779-and how rapidly the kingdom has flourished in confequence of even the partial relaxation of penal laws which commenced at that period, he who runs may read :-Their fair and entire emancipation is now only wanting to convert it into the moft opulent, and most happy kingdom in Europe.For you will alfo obferve, gentlemen, that the very means invented to deftroy the Catholicks, has turned out, by a fignal intervention of Providence, the greatest curfe of the Proteftants of the kingdom at this hour, and the heavy grievance against which the Proteftants themselves now exclaim.-Thefe rotten, clofe boroughs was a trap laid by Cecil to exclude the Catholic natives of Ireland from reprefentation and protection: and they now operate to the exclufion of the real reprefentation of the Proteftants themselves, as well as of their Catholic flaves.

Doctor Leland writes, vol. II. page 443, " That these new boroughs being most of them inconfiderable, and too poor to afford wages to their reprefentatives,

representatives, must have been entirely influenced by government, and have returned only its creatures and immediate dependants: And accordingly they were reprefented by attorneys' clerks, and the fervants of the lord deputy-" And the king himself was afterwards fo convinced, and alhamed of this notorious violation of the conftitution, that "His Majefty foon after fent inftructions to the Deputy, Chichester, that the burgeffes returned upon the new charters from Tallagh, Lifmore, Belfaft, Carlow, Fethard, Augher, Charlemont, Clonakilty, Kildare, Cavan, Clogher, Athlone, and Gowran, being falfely returned, fhould forbear to fit in that houfe of parliament." [Defider. Curiof. Hiber. vol. I. page 325.1

Yet thus pursued as the Catholicks were, for their lives and lands, they boldly ventured to present a petition to the King upon this occafion, in which those Papists, who are now held, in fome Northern counties, as incapable of any principle of liberty, and incompetent to the poffeffion of arms or freehold, dared to fay to James I. in oppofition to his rotten boroughs, "That the managing elections for parliament, had generally bred fo grievous an apprehenfion, as is not in their power to exprefs, arifing from a fearful fufpicion, that the project of erecting fo many corporations in places that fcarcely pass the rank of the poor villages of the poorest county in Christendom, do tend to nought elfe but that by the voices of a few, felected for that purpofe under the name of burgeffes, extreme penal laws fhould be impofed on his majefty's fubjects"-[Remonftrance of the lords" of the Pale-Curiof. Hib. vol. I. page 160] more found, reasonable and conftitutional language never has been uttered fince upon the

fubject

fubject of parliamentary reform.This re monftrance was carried to London by lord Fermoy, lord Killeen, lord Delvin, Sir Patrick Barnwall, and their two agents, Mr. Luttrell, and Mr. Talbot; but they were difmiffed and infulted, by a quaint and evafive reply from the King, "That as Papifts, they were but half fubjects, and therefore fhould have but half privileges. It was never before heard, [faid James to these agents] that any good fubjects did difpute the King's power-what is it to you, whether I make many or few boroughs ?-My council may confider the fitnefs, if I require It; but what if I had created forty noblemen, and four hundred boroughs?-The more the merrier, the fewer the better cheer.-[Defid. Curiof. Hiber. vol. I. page 120] And he immediately committed their two agents, Mr. Talbot and Mr. Luttrell, one to the Tower and the other to the Fleet prifon.-Talbot remained a long time imprifoned in the Tower, and was compelled to pay a fine of ten thousand pounds, [Leland's Ireland, vol. II. page 451-and Defid, Hib. vol. I. page 321]. A fevere punishment, and a heavy fine, inflicted upon Roman Catholicks, because they attempted to vindicate the conftitution!-No wonder that the Catholic body of Ireland foon after became firft broken-hearted, and finally, desperate!

This new parliament, thus conftituted, inftantly proceeded to the enacting additional penal ftatutes, under the direction of Lord Deputy Chichester. It appears that at the end of the feffion " Eight Roman Catholicks who had been excommunicated by the archbishop of Dublin for Popery, and imprisoned, were releafed by the indulgence of Parliament; fome faid by the mediation of bribes, but their joy was short-lived,

and