House of Lords Journal Volume 13: 31 March 1679

DIE Lunæ, 31 die Martii.

REX.

Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales præsentes fuerunt:

PRAYERS.

Lords take the Oaths.

This Day these Lords following took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and made and subscribed the Declaration, in Pursuance of the Act for the (fn. 2) more effectual preserving of the King's Person and Government, by disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament.

Fulk Lord Brooke.

Robert Lord Ferrers.

State of Ireland.

This Day being appointed to consider of the State of Ireland, in this Time of imminent Danger;

The Lord Butler presented (according to the Directions of the House) a Paper, giving an Account thereof.

Which was read, as followeth:

"An Extract of some Letters, Orders, and Proclamations, which have come from Ireland, some to the Council Board, and some to particular Hands; which in Part shew what hath been done since the Discovery of the Plot, and how Things stand there in the general; referring for full and exact Information unto such Account as by the Lord Lieutenant and Council of that Kingdom will doubtless be given when required thereunto.

"1. That when News of the Discovery of the Plot, and His Majesty's Order of the First of October last, came to the Lord Lieutenant, which was about the 7th following, his Lordship was then at Kilkenny, newly returned from a Progress made by him into Munster, to view the Forts and Places fit for Fortisication; and in particular from seeing the new Fort begun by his Order the March preceding, for the Defence of the Harbour of Kinsale; which Work hath since gone on, and upon which is already expended above the Value of Five Thousand Pounds, it being a Work of great Importance to the Safety of that Kingdom and the Security of all Ships resorting to that Harbour.

"2. That, according to the said Order, the Lord Lieutenant did presently issue a Warrant for the Seizure of Peter Talbot, and of his Papers; and he was accordingly seized, and made close Prisoner in the Castle of Dublin, where he now so remains; and the Examinations taken were transmitted to His Majesty in Council, and from thence to the House of Lords, the last Parliament, together with a Paper writ in his own Hand, being an Account of Treason laid to his Charge by one Sergeant; which Paper, 'tis probable, he desired should be found; for no other Paper of Moment could be found, either in his Chamber or in his Trunk, he having had Time enough to put all out of Reach, by the Tidings it is likely he and many other Papists did receive of the Discovery of a Plot by Mr. Oats, at the Council Board, on Saturday the 28th of September, and the Intelligence sent away that Night: The Lord Lieutenant did also, according to his Orders, secure Mr. Butler, a Son of the Lord Mountgarrett's; but that Lord himself, being of extreme Age and Infirmities, was and lies still bed-rid: And Colonel Richard Talbot was also committed to safe and close Custody, as soon as ever the Orders and Accusation against him were transmitted into Ireland; and so he still remains.

"3. The Lord Lieutenant also hastened to Dublin; and arriving there the 11th of October, he presently called upon the Council, and they met from Day to Day, to consider of the public Safety; and did issue from Time to Time several Orders and Proclamations, as followeth:

"14 October, 1678. A Proclamation, strictly requiring all Officers and Soldiers to repair to their respective Quarters, and not to depart without License.

"16 October, 1678. A Proclamation, requiring all Titular Archbishops, Vicars General, Abbots, and other Dignitaries of the Church of Rome, and all other exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from the Pope, as also all Jesuits and other Regular Priests, to depart the Kingdom by a Day limited; and that all Popish Societies, Convents, Seminaries, and Popish Schools, should dissolve and separate themselves, under the Penalties therein mentioned: All Persons were forbid to harbour them, and all Magistrates commanded to inquire, punish, or certify, the Disobedience therein.

"And, that the Persons so commanded to leave the Kingdom might not pretend want of Convenience for Transportation, another Proclamation issued, 6 Nov. 1678, requiring all Owners and Masters of Ships, bound to Parts beyond the Sea, to set up Notice in Writing, in the most public Places, of the Time of their Departure; and they were required to take on Board all such Ecclesiastics as should desire to go with them; and the Officers of the Customs were commanded to stop all Ships that did not give such Notice of their Departure.

"2 Nov'r, 1678. Another Proclamation issued, commanding that no Papist in the Kingdom should thenceforth presume to ride with, carry, buy, keep, or use, any Arms whatsoever, without License: That, within Twenty Days after the Date thereof, or Seven Days after the Receipt of such Arms, they were required to deliver them up to certain of the most noted Protestants, for that Purpose named, in the several Counties, who were to take such Arms, and give Receipts for what they took: That the Justices of the Peace and the Officers of the Army should, after the Time expired, search for, and seize, the Arms of unlicensed Persons; or, if they found more Arms than were expressed with those that had License, they were to bind the Delinquents over; and all Merchants and others, Retialers of Powder, were required to send in an Accompt of their Stores, if the same exceed above One Pound; and of any Powder which they might afterwards receive.

"20 Nov'r, 1678. Another Proclamation issued, forbidding Papists to come to the Castle of Dublin, or into any Fort or Citadel of that Kingdom; appointing also, that the Fairs, and even the Weekly Markets, of certain Places, videlicet, Drogheda, Wexford, Corke, Limrick, Waterford, Youghall, and Galloway, to be thenceforth kept without the Walls of the said Garrisons; and that Papists be not suffered to continue or reside in the said Towns, or in any Towns or Corporations where Garrisons were kept, unless they had for the greatest Part of Twelve Months past inhabited in such Towns; and that no Persons of the Popish Religion, any ways armed, be suffered to come into the said Fairs or Markets; and also strictly requiring all Papists to forbear any unseasonable or Night Meetings, or in great or unusual Numbers, in any Part of the Kingdom, and commanding all Officers Civil and Military to be careful to prevent and dissolve all such Meetings, to commit the Principal Offenders to Prison till they find good Security to answer the same at the next Sessions; and to return an Account of their Proceedings therein, with the Names of such as occasioned or countenanced the same, unto the Council Board.

"20 November, 1678. Another Proclamation issued the same Day, promising a Reward of Ten Pounds for every Commissioned Officer, Five Pounds for every Trooper, Forty Shillings for every Foot Soldier, to such as should discover any of them to have been perverted to the Romish Religion, or heard Mass, who had formerly taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy; and the like to the Discoverer of any that should afterwards be perverted: Besides that, it was a Rule begun in the present Lord Lieutenant's First Government after the King's Restoration, and ever since continued, that the Muster-master should check the Pay of every Officer and Soldier of the Army, who does not produce a Certificate, from the Bishop or Minister of the Place, of his having received the Sacrament, according to the Church of Engl'd, Twice every Year.

"2 December, 1678. That, being informed that several of the Titular Bishops and Regular Clery had not obeyed the Proclamation of the 16th October last, for their Departure, there issued a Circular Letter from the Lord Lieutenant and Council; whereby all Justices of the Peace are commanded to make diligent Search after them, to commit them to Prisons, and to return the Names of their Receivers and Harbourers, that they might be proceeded against according to Law.

"12 December, 1678. Another Proclamation issued, highly resenting the Slackness of the Justices, &c. in executing the late Proclamation for searching after and seizing of Arms; requiring, therefore, a further Search, and proposing a Method for preventing of forged Licenses; and to look upon all (fn. 3) who should be remiss in their Duties, as Contemners of the King's Authority, and proceeded against as the Abettors of those who disturb the Peace.

"13 December, 1678. Another Proclamation issued, taking Notice of a Letter scattered in the Streets of Dublin, intimating a Conspiracy against the Life of the Lord Lieutenant; promising Protection, and Two Hundred Pounds Reward, unto the Discoverer: And it afterwards appeared, that one Jephson, a young Man perverted from his Religion by some Irish Priests, was a Party engaged in that Design; and Two Irish Priests, his Abettors therein, were taken and put into Custody, and their Examinations transmitted to the Council here, and from thence sent to the House of Lords.

"There were Two great Questions, among others, under the serious Debate of the Lord Lieutenant and Council, from whence much ill-grounded Reflection hath arisen: The one, about securing the principal Heads of the most considerable Clans or Families of the Irish who have lost their Estates; some supposing that it might conduce to the Safety of the English, if such Heads were in Restraint; and that their Followers would not then presume or adventure to run into Rebellion: But, upon serious Consideration, it was thought that such a Proceeding might rather quicken a Rebellion than prevent it; for the numerous Followers, who depended wholly upon their Master's Interest and Authority for the Support of themselves and Families, being angered or affrighted at the ill Usage of their Principals, and being loosened from all Dependencies, might rather put themselves upon some unlawful Way of Living, by turning Tories, than intrust themselves to the Pleasure of the Government; and in the Quality of Tories, they would be equally mischievous, and especially to the English dispersed in their remote Dwellings, as a small Rebellion: Besides, this further Reason did dissuade the taking up these Chief Men as Hostages; for, if their Followers were but few, they could not do the English much Hurt as they are; but, if strong and numerous, it would be easily in their Power to surprise so many English Gentlemen, living remote and scattered in the Country, as would soon redeem such Hostages, and thereby render all the Charge and Care of such an Undertaking fruitless, and only serve to breed ill Blood: So that the Lord Lieutenant hath in some Measure steered a different Course, by shewing Civility, and giving good Words, to such of the Heads of the Irish as come near him, whereby he finds out early what is doing among their Dependants; and hath conceived this Method of obviating Dangers more safe than either by Rigours to compel them and their Followers to live always in Conjunction, and to talk of their Misfortunes; or, by Imprisonment of so many of the Nobility of a Kingdom, without Crimes objected, or Commands from hence, incur the Censure of arbitrary Proceedings, which are neither safe nor fit for him to bear.

"Another Point, that hath been under Consideration before the Lord Lieutenant and Council, was, a Proposal for draining the Corporations (especially those that are garrisoned) from the Numbers of Irish Papists that live among them, in order to prevent any Surprise or private Conspiracy: But, when it was reflected on, that, notwithstanding the several Orders and Proclamations that have from Time to Time been issued from the Government, for the Expulsion of Irish Inhabitants and Servants from the Towns and Garrisons, and that very few in respect of the Numbers complained of were licensed to return, it was manifest that it was the English themselves who did in most Places receive them in again for their own Advantage, not knowing well how to live without them. They wanted Servants, Tenants, and Tradesmen, for of such are these Numbers in the Towns constituted; and the Irish Papists supplied them with such, and the English did not conceive this Sort of People to be so dangerous as beneficial unto them, so that the Lord Lieutenant and Council do only forbear their Expulsion in Whole or in Part, but for Conveniency or Gratification to the English. However, it is certain there can never be a true Remedy therein, as to the Security and Improvement of that Kingdom, unless by a large Accession of English and Protestants there; and until that shall happen, all other Trials upon these Sorts of Irish will be in a Manner but to lay some Towns, and very much of the Lands of the Protestants, quite waste and untenanted; and yet it so falls out, that many on this Side, not considering the Disposition of the Irish to the English, nor the Difference of the Laws there as to capital and pecuniary Mulcts from what they are in Engl'd, do think many Things are defective, because they are not there executed as they are and may be executed in this Kingdom: Upon these and other Reasons of Weight, the Two Propositions aforementioned were thought impracticable.

"But, the principal and present Security of that Kingdom consisting in the balancing the Numbers of Irish with a Superiority of Strength, and leaving them naked, and the English in Arms, the Lord Lieutenant and Council did think fit to revive the Commission of Array; so that the Militia of that Kingdom hath been raised in all Parts, and is now found in a better Condition than ever it was known to be: And, to supply the Defect of Arms for such Militia, there were not only appointed some Merchants as public Undertakers to bring in Arms from Abroad; but withal, not wholly to depend upon their Performance, the Lord Lieutenant hath procured a Supply out of His Majesty's Stores here, of Powder and Arms, to the Value of about Thirteen Thousand Pounds, which are now actually landed in Ireland, and for Payment of which he himself stands engaged to the Office of Ordnance here, until a Parliament do meet in Ireland, to make Provision for Things of this Importance: But, surely, to have proceeded with any Degree of Precipitation while the English were so unfurnished, had not been very prudential.

"As to His Majesty's Forces in that Kingdom, they are well disciplined and well paid; and it hath pleased His Majesty lately to send over a Reinforcement of about Twelve Hundred Men; and the Army is so distributed, as that the Cities (which are the Garrisons of that Kingdom) are secured as well as it is possible for the Proportion of such a Militia and such an Army to make them. There is all the Discountenance given to Mass-houses, in all Places, which the Laws of that Kingdom will bear; nor is there License for Arms given to any but such as need them, and for no more than is necessary for their Security against Tories in their remote and scattered Habitations, and for whose Loyalty and peaceable Behaviour the Lord Lieutenant is not first sufficiently certified by some Protestant of Note.

"The Forts are in as good a Condition as the Stores and the Revenue of that Kingdom will allow, and perhaps somewhat better; but it is manifest much more is needful in every Kind, in case of foreign Attempts: And therefore, seeing the Charge of the Government and the Income of the Revenue are so exactly balanced by a settled Establishment, that it is not in the Power of the Lord Lieutenant to alter the same, and that no Money can be raised from the Subject but by Act of Parliament; therefore the Lord Lieutenant hath been long endeavouring to have a Parliament called; and, to that End, several Bills were transmitted the last Summer from the Lord Lieutenant and Council, which now remain at the Council Board here, together with a large Representation of the State of Accompts depending with the Lord Rannelaugh and his Partners, who were late Undertakers for the Revenue of that Kingdom; and until there shall be Leisure (which, since the Discovery of this horrid Plot, there scarce hath been) to send back these Things, with the mature Consideration they deserve, there is no visible Means left for the raising and augmenting the public Revenue to such a Proportion as may put that Kingdom in a sufficient Posture of Defence, as to Army, Fortifications, and Stores, in case of any powerful Invasion.

"But, for the present, all Things are there in full Peace and Quietness; and for further Account of the present State of that Kingdom, and of what hath there been done, or further Reason of the Particulars here mentioned, or of any other Thing which may have been left undone, there is no Doubt but full Satisfaction will be given by the Lord Lieutenant and Council, when such particular Inquiries and Demands are made as shall be thought convenient."

Inhabitants of Dublin, and other Ports, &c. in Ireland, to take the Oaths.

The House was adjourned into a Committee, to consider of the same.

And, after Debate, the House was resumed.

And the Earl of Bridgewater reported, "That the Committee, upon Consideration of the Paper concerning the State of Ireland, are of Opinion, That a Bill be prepared, whereby all the Inhabitants of Dublin, and other Ports and Forts in Ireland, (the Ports and Forts to be named in the Bill) shall be enjoined to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and Tests, for distinguishing Protestants from Papists.

"That, in the Bill, Provision be made that the Members of both Houses of Parliament there shall take the said Oaths and Tests.

Col. Fitz Patrick confined to his own House in Ireland.

"That Colonel Fitz Patrick may, by His Majesty's Order, be commanded to repair to his own House in Ireland, and not to come to Dublin, or any other Place (except his own House) within Twenty Miles of such Place as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland shall reside at, till further Order."

The House agreed with the Opinion of the Committee; and made these Orders following:

Bill for Inhabitants of Dublin, and other Ports in Ireland, to take the Oaths.

"Upon Consideration had this Day of the present Condition of the Kingdom of Ireland, in this Time of imminent Danger: It is "ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, assisted by His Majesty's Attorney General, be, and are hereby, appointed to prepare a Bill, to be offered to this House, whereby all the Inhabitants of Dublin and other Ports and Forts in Ireland (to be enumerated in the Bill) shall be enjoined to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and make and subscribe such Tests and Declarations, as are intended for distinguishing Protestants from Papists; and that in the said Bill it be provided, That the Members of both Houses of Parliament in Ireland shall take the said Oaths, and make and subscribe the said Tests and Declarations."

Address for Col. Fitz Patrick to be confined to his own House.

"ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Essex, and the Earl of Burlington, do attend His Majesty, humbly to desire Him, from this House, That Colonel Fitz Patrick, now in Ireland, may, by His Majesty's Order, be commanded to repair forthwith to his own House there, and not to come within Twenty Miles of Dublin, or of any other Place (except his own House) where the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland shall reside at any Time, till further Order."

Papers concerning the Plot to be communicated to H. C.

The Earl of Clarendon reported, "That whereas the Lords Committees for examining Matters relating to the horrid Conspiracy were appointed to methodize the Papers now before them, in order to the sending them to the House of Commons, the Lords do not hold it so proper for them to do, (fn. 4) in regard they are to be Judges:"

Whereupon it is ORDERED, That all such Papers as have been by His Majesty's Direction sent into this House relating to the late horrid Conspiracy, as also all such Examinations and Papers as have been taken by this House, or by any Committee of this House, tending to the Discovery of the said Conspiracy, shall be forthwith communicated to the Committee of the House of Commons who are appointed to prepare the Evidence against the Trials of the Lords in The Tower.

Report concerning Oates having 100 l. paid him.

The Earl of Clarendon reported, from the Lords Committees for examining the Matters relating to the Discovery of the late horrid Conspiracy, "That Tytus Oates having represented to their Lordships the Streightness of his Allowance in this Exigent of Time, wherein he hath Occasion of disbursing several Sums of Money for Furtherance of the said Discovery; the Opinion of the Committee is, That an Address be presented to His Majesty, from this House, That His Majesty will be pleased to give Order for the speedy Payment of One Hundred Pounds to the said Tytus Oates, out of His Majesty's Treasury in the Exchequer, for the Purpose aforesaid."

The Question being put, "Whether to agree with the Opinion of the Committee herein?"

It was Resolved in the Affirmative.

Address for that Purpose

Upon Report made from the Lords Committees for examining Matters relating to the Discovery of the late horrid Conspiracy, "That Tytus Oates having represented to their Lordships the Streightness of his Allowance in this Exigent of Time, wherein he hath Occasion of disbursing several Sums of Money, for Furtherance of the said Discovery:"

It is Resolved, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the Lords with White Staves do attend His Majesty, humbly to desire Him, from this House, "That His Majesty will be graciously pleased to give Order for the speedy Payment of the Sum of One Hundred Pounds to the said Tytus Oates, out of His Majesty's Treasury in the Exchequer, for the Purpose aforesaid."

Report concerning Mr. Weld's Trunks.

Upon Report of the Earl of Clarendon, from the Lords Committees for Examinations, "That those Persons, or any Three of them, who are appointed to search the Trunks at Weld House, shall execute that Order." (fn. 4)

Bill to clear London and Westminster of Papists.

The Lord Chancellor acquainted the House, "That, in obedience to their Directions, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and Mr. Attorney General have prepared a Bill, for clearing the Cities of London and Westm. from Popish Inhabitants."

Which Bill the House received.

Hodie 1^a vice lecta est Billa, "An Act for freeing the City of London and the Parts adjacent from Popish Inhabitants.

ORDERED, That this Bill be read the Second Time To-morrow Morning.

Adjourn.

Dominus Cancellarius declaravit præsens Parliamentum continuandum esse usque in diem Martis, 1^um diem Aprilis, 1679, hora decima Aurora, Dominis sic decernentibus.

Hitherto examined, this 4th of April, 1679, by us,

Anglesey, C. P. S.
Huntingdon.
J. Bridgewater.
Scarsdale.
Craven.
Fauconberg.
Pagett.
Vaughan Carbery.