him, or a favourite mare. Here he is guilty of a grofs inconfiftency, for he afcribes two motives to the fame perfon; and as he had previously acknowledged his guilt, in a paper figned by himself, and never denied, that he was privy to the murder, it is not probable that this officer would have recourfe to fuch menaces to make him confirm it.

He pofitively confeffed to Dr. Rogers and others, who proved it before the court of enquiry, that he was privy to, and fanctioned murder, and even mentioned the names of fome of the perpetrators, which coincided with Thomas O'Neil's affidavit; and he even added, that he was impelled by fear to do fo, and to take oaths tendered to him by the United Irifhmen. The reader must be convinced, that this high coloured picture of his fufferings was for no other purpose but to calumniate the Proteftants, and to inflame the Popish multitude; and it is well known, that the difaffected, and the Popish clergy in particular, used every expedient which malice could devife, for that purpose, previous to, and during the rebellion of 1798. He, in various parts of his Remonftrance, speaks of feveral proofs of his innocence, that he was acquitted in the eyes of government, &c. and that, therefore, his fentence of transportation was remitted; but this was by no means the case, for his Excellency did not order a fufpenfion of his fentence, till above two years after his punishment; and, in the mean time, he had been importuned by perfons of high confideration; but no proof whatever appeared of his innocence, but his own declarations in his memorial and some affidavits made by some of the lower class of Irish, to whom no credit fhould be given. The facts fet forth in the memorial were proved to be unfounded before the court of enquiry; and the falfity of his remonftrance is evinced, not only by the annexed affidavits, but by moral evidence contained in his own statement. What credit then can be given to any of his affertions? Delinquents, guilty of high treafon, in the rebellion of 1798, were fo numerous, that the executive power was induced by motives of political neceflity to pardon multitudes of traitors; and, from the impoffibility of enforcing the law against them, they did not arrest a tenth part of thofe who were well known to be highly criminal. In popular governments, men of fortune, who have any political intereft to maintain, will be conftantly importuned by their adherents, and cannot refift their folicitation, to procure the pardon of delinquents.

Lord Clarendon, Viceroy of Ireland in the reign of James II. complained much of this in his ftate letters. As the punishment of a few culprits in each district, out of the immenfe numbers that were guilty, anfwered the purpose of example, Marquis Cornwallis had an ample opportunity of gratifying his merciful difpofition, and, at the fame time, of complying with the interceffion of perfons in power and influence, who folicited the remiffion or extenuation of punishment, In confequence of repeated application, his Excellency was pleafed to order, that Father O'Neil fhould not be tranfported in the veffel deftined for Botany Bay, but that he should be confined in prifon until further orders; which was by no means a pardon, as is falfely afferted in his remonftrance, but a fufpenfion of his fentence. This order was dated the 20th of June, 1800, which was a period of twe years after his committal and punifhalent; and it is well known, that, during that space, repeated applications had been made for his pardon by fome exalted perfonages, though government had not received any fubfequent proofs tending to exculpate him. Father O'Neil afferts, then, what is untrue, Lord Cornwallis, whofe discernment perceived, and whofe generofity recciled at,

this questionable proceeding, unhesitatingly iffued an order for his rem val from the transport; for he refifted repeated applications in his behalf during two

years.

He fays," my Lords and Gentlemen, I am now liberated; not through a pardon folicited for, or granted me, but on the merits of my cafe ; I now moft folemnly fwear, in the prefence of Almighty God, upon his holy gofpels, first, that I never was an United Irishman; that I never took an oath; that I never encouraged, advifed, or permitted others to take it; fome of whom have had the generofity to make affidavit of my exertions in this behalf; and there are thofe who have candidly added, that they` would have taken it, had I not prevented them." But after the grofs perjuries committed by the Popish priests, and their entire flocks, during the progrefs of the confpiracy and rebellion, what regard is to be given to their folemn appeals to the Almighty, particularly as abfolution was frequently given, by the Popish clergy, for the moft horrid crimes.

The applications which had been fo often made to Lord Cornwallis in his behalf, were renewed to the prefent government, who went one ftep farther than his Lordship; for, without any proof whatsoever of his innocence, but the Marquifs's letter for fufpending his fentence, they were pleased to permit him to return to his native country; and his falfe and inHammatory publication, under the title of a Remonftrance, fhews how little gratitude he felt for their lenity.

The clemency of government, in pardoning perfons concerned in the rebellion of 1798, or in mitigating their punishment, was no proof whatfoever of their innocence.

Father Kennedy, parifh prieft of Caille Otway; Father Meara, parish prieft of Nenag; Father O'Brian, parish prieft of Doone, all in the county of Tipperary, were concerned in the confpiracy; and yet they were pardoned, the two laft after they had been fentenced to transportation. Kennedy acknowledged that he had been fworn by Meary. Father Harold, parish prieft of Rathcoole, in the county of Dublin, made all his parishioners fwear oaths of allegiance, and he frequently pronounced loyal exhortations from the altar. On Sunday, preceding the eruption of the rebellion in 1798, he preached two impreffive fermons, inciting his flock to loyalty, in the prefence of Captain Ormsby, and Lieutenant Chriftopher Clinch, of the Rathcoole yeomen, and yet it appeared afterwards, that he had fecretly perfuaded his flock to fwear the treafonable oath of the United Irishmen, and that he had been privy to, and aiding in, a confpiracy formed by the Popish members of that corps, to murder all its Proteftant members. Jolin Clinch, a Papift, and fecond lieutenant of the corps, was hanged, for having been concerned in that affaffination plot; and, previous to his execution, he acknowledged the juftice of his fentence, and loaded Father Harold with execrations, for having inftigated him, and the people of Rathcoole and its vicinity, to fwerve from their fidelity, and violate their oath of allegiance. On the discovery of the plot, Father Harold fled; but having been afterwards apprehended, the alternative was offered him, of being tried or tranfported to Botany Bay, and he accepted the latter. He raifed

* The lower clafs of people think fo little of an oath, and committed perjury fo often, that no regard fhould be given to what they would fwear. * Now a reprefentative in parliament for the borough of Carlow. APPENDIX, VOL. XVIII.

M m

another

another rebellion in Botany Bay. Had he had as powerful interceffors as Father O'Neil, he would probably have returned, and have given a'defcription of the cruelty and perfecution which he fuffered, in a remonstrance fimilar to Father O'Neil's. Though Father Travers, parish priest of Baltinglass, in the county of Wicklow, was noted for preaching loyal fermons fome months previous to the rebellion of 1798, he was convicted of being fingularly active, and deeply concerned in fomenting it, both within and without his parish; and yet he was pardoned.

I could adduce many fimilar cafes, but that they would fwell these observations to too great a bulk. Many members of the Back-lane parliament, fummoned by Edward Byrne in 1792, were deeply concerned in the confpiracy or rebellion, and now enjoy their liberty under a pardon of the amnesty act.

We cannot be furprized at this conduct of the Romish priefts, as it is in ftrict conformity to their canonical oath, and the decrees of their general councils, which Mr. Francis Plowden, in his cafe, ftated, and Dr. Troy, titular Archbishop of Dublin, in his Paftoral Letter, tells us, are infallible in point of faith and morality, and not liable to deceit or error ; a doctrine which thakes the foundation of civil fociety!

As abfolution for crimes, how enormous foever, is, and has been, a common practice in the Romish church, can we be furprized that it should have been used by the Popish priests in the progrefs of a confpiracy, formed for the proftration of herefy, and for the advancement of their own religion, which they confider the only true and holy one? How often has the Pope granted plenary indulgence, and a full remiffion of fins, to his fectaries in England and Ireland, as a confideration for renouncing their allegiance, and rifing in arms against an heretical ftate? Pius V. did fo in Elizabeth's reign, and Urban VIII. in 1643, and during the progrefs of the Irish rebellion, iffued a bull for the purpose of fomenting it, in which he granted a general abfolution from their fins to all the members of his church, who fhould join in the extirpation of heretics; which encouraged the perpetration of murder. The reader will find in Sir Richard Mufgrave's Hiftory, the following inftances of abfolution granted for crimes committed in 1798. Thomas Cleary was hanged at Wexford, the 8th of March, 1800, for the murder of his master, Edward Turner, Efq. and three magiftrates, James Boyd, Chriftopher Wilfon, and William Turner, Efqrs. attefted and fubfcribed his confeffion, that he had obtained absolution from two priests of the names of Murphy and Ryan.* James Beagan, executed on Vinegar-hill, the 24th of August, 1799, for various murders, declared, in the prefence of the High Sheriff, and J. H. Lyfter, Efq. a magiftrate, that he never would have been guilty of murder, but for the priests: and his confession was attested and published by thefe gentlemen.†

"

Dr. Caulfield, titular bishop of Ferms, in a letter to Bryan Murphy, a prieft, dated the 19th of March, 1800, tells him, that (being under a fufpenfion) he had not power to adminifter facraments, or to give abfolution for fins, for want of a power or faculty for that purpose; and he tells him, "that he gives the unfortunate penitents abfolution, which he had no power to do, leaving the unhappy finners in their fins, and leading them to perdition.

Appendix, xx, 22. + Ibid. xix. 8.

↑ Ibid. xx. 23.

3

Father

t

Father Byrne, a Wexford prieft, in a letter to Mr. Robert Donovan, an eminent attorney of Peter-ftreet, Dublin, dated 30th of Auguft, 1799, fays of his bishop, Dr. Caulfield," inftead of excommunicating the barbarous murderers of Scullabogue, he gave all his priests power to give abfolution for murder; a power which he ever till then referved to himself. It is a common practice in the Romish church, for the Pope and the bishops to limit the common priefts, in abfolving from murder, and other crimes of a deep dye, which they call referved cafes. Thus, in the bull which Pope Urban VIII. iffued in 1643, to encourage the Irish rebellion, he permits the priests to forgive-all fins, crimes, and delinquencies, how heinous and atrocious foever they be, not omitting thofe very enormities, in the most peculiar cafes, which were defigned to be referved to the ordinary and the apoftolic See

2

Strada, a learned, Jefuit, who wrote the Hiftory of the Civil Wars in Flanders, tells us in it, that, Jaurigny, one of the affaffins of William I. Prince of Orange," expatiated the guilt of that crime, before its perpetration, by receiving the facrament from a Dominican friar. In fhort, all the parricides of that day, who committed murders on the fcore of religion, and to extirpate herefy, fuch as Clement the Dominican, who affaffinated Henry III. of France, Chatel and Ravillac went to confeffion before they committed thofe crimes.

Thuanus, a Roman Catholic writer, tells us, in his very excellent hiftory, that the Pope," in a long premeditated fpeech, applauded the virtue and firmness of the holy friar Clement, the murderer of his fovereign, declared that his fervent zeal towards God furpaffed that of Judith and Eleazar, and that this affaffination was brought about by Divine Providence."

The fame hiftorian tells us, that Balthazar Gerard, one of the affaffins of William I. the Stadtholder, confeffed that he was affured by fome jefuits, that he would enjoy eternal happinefs, and be enrolled among the best of martyrs, if he murdered that prince.

William Parry, a Roman Catholic gentleman, at the inftance of Palmio a jefuit, and Campeggio, the Pope's Nuncio confulted and undertook to murder Queen Elizabeth, and for that purpose he obtained the Pope's abfolution through Cardinal Como; but, having been difcovered and apprehended, he confeffed the whole plot, and his evidence was confimed by Como's letter, which was found upon him. Such are the horrid and detestable principles which have difgraced Ireland for thefe 25 years paft, and by which England was agitated, while the fectaries of the Romish church were numerous in it! And yet it is melancholy to think, that the malignant efforts of perfons employed to mifreprefent the ftate of Ireland, and to calumniate the Proteftants thereof, have been fo fuccessful in England, as to make the inhabitants of the latter believe, that the difturbances in the former arife from oppreffion and the privation of civil rights. Fatal delufion, that may in time shake the empire to its base!

See this letter at large, in Sir Richard Mufgrave's Hiftory, Appendix, xxi. 9.

+ Non ante facinus aggredi fuftinuit, quam expiatam ejus animam, apud dominchanum facerdotem, cœlefti pane confirmaverat.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

County of Tyrone, } came before me, one of his Majefty's juftices of the peace

HENRY ARCHER, captain in the Wexford militia,

to wit.

for the county of Tyrone, this day, and made oath on the Holy Evangelifts, that in the month of May 1798, he was a fubaltern officer in the Wexford regiment, and quartered at Ballymacoda in the county of Cork; that he received information against a man of the name of O'Neil, refiding near the village of Ballymacoda, of his being concerned in the murder of a man near faid place, being a foldier as deponent believes, in the Meath regiment of militia; that on deponent's apprehending him, he (O'Neil) on being promised his liberty, if he gave fome good information concerning the murderers, informed deponent that Peter O'Neil, parish prieft of Ballymaceda, was concerned in, and knew of the faid murder having been committed; that a committee, confifting of either thirteen or fifteen men, refiding in and about the village, affembled; that it was there determined the foldier fhould be put to death; that the committee then took the fentence of the court to faid Peter O'Neil, who approved of it, and after the murder was committed on the body of the foldier, gave them all abfolution; on which information deponent took up priest O'Neil, and brought him immediately (with O'Neil before apprehended) into Youghal; deponent believes that O'Neil (not the priest) on giving bail was liberated, but has heard and believes, that he was afterwards taken up by Lord Boyle on different charges, and hanged at Cork. Sworn before me at Aughnacloy, April 14, 1804.

Henry Archer.

No. II.

THO. FORESYTH.

County of Tyrone, ford regiment, came before me one of his Majesty's jus

JOSEPH MEKINSON, fergeant-major of the Wex

to wit.

tices of the peace for the county of Tyrone, this day, and made oath on the Holy Evangelifts, that he was prefent at the flogging of priest O'Neil at Youghal, the latter end of May or beginning of June 1798; that the prieft being asked at the triangles by Lord Loftus, if he knew any thing of the murder of the foldier belonging to the Meath regiment replied, that whatever he knew was told him at confeffion, and of courfe could not be divulged; that on being flogged for fome time, he faid, that if his bifhop. Coppinger was there he would tell all to him, on which the bishop was fent for but could not be found; that he then faid he would confefs to a priest in town, named M'Guire; deponent was then fent by the commanding officer for father M'Guire, who begged not to be brought in fight of priest O'Neil, as he knew him to be a very bad man. Being afked by Lord Loftus, if he thought O'Neil was bound to conceal his knowledge of any murder, although revealed to him at confeffion? he replied, that it was by no means obligatory on him to conceal murder. On father O'Neil's being flogged ftill, he confeffed that he himself had chofen the committee, and had figned the death-warrant of the foldier, and that he deferved the punishment he had received, as he looked upon himself to be the real murderer. Sworn before me at Aughacloy, April 24, 1804. Jofeph Mekinjon.

THO. FORESYTH.

No. III.