LETTER To A FRIEND, Containing certain OBSERVATIONS Upon some passages, which have been Published In a Late LIBEL Entitled, the Third Part of NO PROTESTANT-PLOT; And which do Relate to the KINGDOM OF IRELAND  
London▪ reprinted MDCLXXXII   

SIR,  
I Have received the third part of No Protestant Plot which you were pleased to send me out of England: And I could have wished the two preceding parts had accompanied it which I don't find are to be met with in this Kingdom; But I am apt to believe you did forbear the sending of them, because they might not possibly contain such things as the other does is Relation to Ireland, and concerning which you only desire to be satisfied in. And therefore I am as hearty thankful for this, as I have been honestly careful to inform myself by the most Authentic papers and the most knowing persons in Affairs here, with what truth the Particulars of it touching this Kingdom are related in it; For I will not pretend to meddle with its relations as to other places, both because they are no part of your commands to me, and in regard I have not the same opportunities of coming to the knowledge of them: But this I may adventure to say, that if the Author did use no greater sincerity in his delivery of passages as to the one, than he has shown as to the other, he is absolutely one of the most Malicious and Barefaced LIBELERS that (even in this time of Excess of such Creatures) has been produced: For not to detain you too long with Prefacing, but as briefly as may be to come to the matter, neither therein to follow this LIBELER with a direct or formal Answer, for fear of falling into the Error against which Solomon thus Cautions, Answer not a fool in his own kind lest thou also be like unto him. But only to make some few Animadversions upon his LIBEL, for the detection of his Malice, and the conviction of his Falsehoods in those parts of it which touch this Kingdom and the Government of it, according as you expect, and I have premised; I find, that althô at his first entrance upon Irish Affairs in page the 2d. of his LIBEL, he appears as an Abhorter of the Bloody and Cruel Massacres committed by the Papists in the late Rebellion of Ireland, yet he only assumes that shape in this Conjucture of Time, the better to Insinuate himself with, and the more plausibly to Convey unto the too Credulous Populace, his designed Calumnies upon persons Concerned in the present Government of this Kingdom; who are all firm Protestants, and most of whom by their Zealous oppositions of the Popish Party during the time of that Rebellion, as every of them by their steady Administrations since, have manifested the greatest Abhorrency in the World of those Cruelties; Although they are opposite to the present FACTIOUS and Pretended Protestant Party; Which therefore thus hires and employs base and Mercenary fellows to invent and publish scandals of them.  
And notwithstanding he would in page the 16. where he makes his next step as to Ireland, seem only to inveigh against the ingratitude of the PAPISTS for the lenities they might have received, yet in his handling thereof, he scatters malicious invectives against the Ministers here, and unjustly glances upon them, by making instances of lenity to have been extended to the PAPISTS, and of severity to have been measured to the DISSENTERS since the King's restauration, most whereof are perfectly invented, and not any of them can this Government reasonably be charged with. Of the former sort are these his following allegations mustered up in page the 17th viz.  
First, that PRIESTS and FRIARS are tolerated to swarm and openly to Celebrate Mass in Ireland. The contrary whereof is universally known in the Kingdom; Repeated Proclamations having been Issued from the Lord Lieutenant and Council for the Banishing of FRIARS, and all others of the Popish Regular and Titular Clergy out of this Dominion, and promising Rewards which have been punctually performed to such as should find and seize them, which for a great while has rendered that sort of People not to be visible in these parts, and for the PRIESTS (who were permitted to stay in all times, in so much, that not any of the ORDERS which came out of England, nor even an ADDRESS which was lately made by the House of Commons there to the King, & by his Majesty sent hither for banishing the rest of the Popish Clergy, did mention them) Althô they are suffered to remain, yet are they so strictly inhibited by Proclamations, and those of them caught Offending so severely punished, that for a Considerable time here has not been any such open Celebration of the MASS heard of amongst us, as the LIBELER hath falsely suggested,  
Secondly, that the Introduction of the whole Popish Hierarchy into this Kingdom was Connived at, and a public Assembly of the PAPAL Clergy allowed by a Commission of the Duke of ORMONDE to be held and to sit in 1666. The scandalous untruth of both which, do upon inquiry appear very evidently, for as to that pretended Commission for Assembling of the Papal Clergy, which I begin with, because from what I shall say by way of answer to it, will naturally flow a confutation of that feigned connivance of the Popish Hierarchy: it is to be observed that as my Lord Duke of Ormonde, whose word will surely outweigh that of the LIBELERS, does utterly deny his ever having granted a Commission of that kind, so is there no such thing to be found, nor the least footstep of it to be met with in any of the Offices, through which all Commissions must pass before they can be of any virtue, and where they are Recorded for every one to have recourse unto; Besides, the Ground upon which it is manifest the LIBELER would raise this structure, and the source from whence it is plain he would derive this Objection, when explained, and considered, cannot bear or Warrant any such thing, for they stand thus, Peter Walsh (who was a stiff opposer both of the Pope's Nuntio, and of the whose Rebellious party in Ireland during all the time of the Irish Rebellion) sometime after the King's Restauration having projected and Presented to his Majesty, a Remonstrance signed by him and divers other Roman Catholics of this Kingdom, and containing the highest expressions of Loyalty to his Majesty, and the largest assurances of Fidelity to the Crown, that had ever before been tendered by Papists, and which proved so derogatory to the Usurpations of the Pope, that it was discountenanced and Censured at Rome, Louvain, and other Popish Universities, and opposed by the Pope's Internuncio then residing at Brussels, who did all that in him lay to dehort PAPISTS against it, and upon the account of all which, the subscribers and adherers to it have not dared unto this day to adventure their persons into any foreign parts where the Pope bears sway. His Majesty was very well satisfied with it, and upon Walsh's repairing into this Kingdom about the year 1666. for propagating such the Doctrine of it (which no Loyal Protestant could be against) was pleased to send his instructions to my Lord Duke of Ormonde His then Lord Lieutenant, for his suffering of Peter Walsh to meet with some Titular Bishops, at that time here, to persuade them by his Arguments, and to gain others of the Papists by their Examples, to subscribe unto that Remonstrance; which meeting His Grace accordingly Permitted, but only, and so strictly to that end proposed, as He was both vigilant in seeing that those Bishops did not make use of it to any other purpose, and careful in providing that they should not take up too much time, even in the doing of that business, and therefore very early perceiving that they could not come to such an Agreement as might produce the effects which were expected, He Ordered them not only to disperse, but to quit the Kingdom, insomuch that afterwards when His Grace was called from the Government, there were not above three Popish Bishops remaining, two whereof were Bedrid and the third absconded; althô when His Grace returned again to the Government (in immediate Succession to my Lord of Essex) he found no less than thirteen of them to be here, and them he has caused to be driven out also, and this sufficiently confutes the LIBELERS allegation, of His Graces conniving at the Popish Hierarchy being introduced, which in English is Governance, since He did thus expel the Governors in whom it resided.  
Thirdly, That when the PLOT was to have been executed in ENGLAND anno 1678. there were no fewer than fifteen Sheriffs in IRELAND, who were either professed and avowed PAPISTS, or such as bred and educated their Children in Religion; The Notorious untruth whereof appears by Original Roll of the SHERIFFS of that Year (whose Names are placed in the Margin 
* Co. Dub. Ja. Springham Esq; Co. Lowth Ja: Smallwood Esq; King's Co: John Leyster Esq: Co: Wexford John Tench: Senior Co: Kilkenny John Kealy Esq; dying within the time, Hen: Webb was made Sheriff the 23d April 1678: Co: Meath Nath. Poole Esq Queen's Co: William Gilbert Esq; Co: Wicklow Christopher Usher Esq; Co: Kildare Edward Baggot Esq Co. Westmeath Edward Terrill Esq Co: Catherlagh George Beech Esq; Co: Longford Geo: Conyngham Esq; Co: Cork Richard Hull Esq Co: Limerick John Oddell, Esq Co: Kerry william Ryves Esq Co: Waterford Tho: Christmas Esq; Co: Clare Thomas Hickman Esq Co: Tipperary Tho: Osborne Esq Co: Gailaway Char. Holcraft Esq Co: Leytrim Henry Crofton Esq Co: Sligo Roger Smith Esq: Co: Mayo Sr. George Bingham Bar. Co: Roscommon Ed. Gardiner Esq Co: Donegall Geo. Vanghan Esq Co: Tyrone John Moderale Esq Co: Fermanagh Ferdinando Davis Co: Antrim Edw: Harrison Esq Co: Armagh Godfrey Walker Esq Co: Monaghan Rich: Johnson Esq Co: Down Hugh Eccles Esq Co: Cavan John Coin Esq Co: & City of Londonderry James Morison and Char. Newtowne.  to abide all scrutiny if there should be Occasion) not one of them there mentioned being so principled, or suspected to be so qualified, especially by my Lord Lieutenant, who cannot be supposed to know every Man's person, much less to look into his heart who happens to be placed in that Office, and therefore If one or two differently qualified should chance to have escaped Him through want of knowledge or Information, and throughout a whole Kingdom, His Grace might very well be excused in such a Case, as it falling out that there was not one in this, He is to be extremely Justified. And whereas he affirms, That the Papists have promiscuously before with His Majesty's Protestant Subjects been advanced to several places of power and trust, If he means public places of power and trust, as he must if he means any thing he says, upon a strict inquiry made it cannot be found that any PAPISTS have had advancements of that kind since His Majesty's Restauration, save only such of them as were made Justices of the Peace by the Lord BERKLEY's Orders in the time of his Government, and Colonel Richard Talbot made Captain of a Troop of Horse by Commission from the Earl of ESSEX when He was Chief Governor, so as the present Government which this reflection most Darts at appears to be the least entitled to it.  
Fourthly, That though a Proclamation was Published in Ireland, for searching the houses of all Roman Catholics for Arms, 〈◊〉 when the SHERIFF of the County of GALWAY went in pursuance thereof to search the Earl of clanrickard's house, where as be was informed all the Papists in that County had lodged their Arms, the said Earl produced a Warrant from my Lord LIEUTENANT the Duke of ORMONDE that his house should not be searched, Which Article althô it be placed in page the 27th of the LIBEL yet for order sake is ranked and taken notice of here with the others of page the 17th in the Libel because it is of the same nature, and of the like truth with them: For my Lord Duke of ORMONDE was so far from granting a Warrant to that Earl to hinder his house from being searched for Arms, that he never so much as gave him a Licence to keep any, but contrariwise where the Earl of ESSEX in his Government had given the said Earl his Licence to keep a quantity of Arms, they were since by my Lord Duke of ORMOND's Orders taken from him, and delivered into the public stores.  
Lastly he alleadges, That yet while all this forbearance and tenderness have been expressed to the PAPISTS, the DISSENTERS have fallen under the misfortune of having an express Law made against them, and divers of them have been prosecuted to Fine and Imprisonment upon it. Wherein the LIBELER shows his Ignorance as well as his Malice, for although the Statute of 2d. Eliz. for the Uniformity of Common-Prayer in this Kingdom (which is without doubt against the PAPISTS, and who are frequently prosecuted upon it) should by construction be extended unto the DISSENTERS, (as I never heard it to be so Adjudged in the Case of any of them, so far are they from having been Prosecuted notwithstanding their openly numerous and frequent Meetings) yet was there never any Particular express Law made against them either before, or as the LIBELER would have it believed, since the KING'S Restauration, And as that too moderate Act of 2d. Elizab. be all that is in Force against the PAPISTS or that can be supposed to be against the DISSENTERS, so it is to be wished that for the quiet of the Kingdom, more and severer Laws were made against both. And this brings me to the latter part of my Assertion, that as most of the LIBELERS instances of the Lenity shown the PAPISTS and of the severity extended to the DISSENTERS in this Kingdom, since the KING'S restauration are invented, which I hope I have fully proved to you, so that none of them can be reasonably charged upon the present Government, which I think, I shall be able very easily and briefly to show you, For all the LIBELER observes with semblance of truth and which looks like an Objection in that point as to this GOVERNMENT against which he levels it, is, that there hath not any Laws been made against the PAPISTS in Ireland since the King's return, save one against there living in Walled Towns,  
But if the method of enacting Laws in Ireland be thought upon, how that by Poynings Act the Chief Governor cannot call a Parliament, for the making of Laws in that Kingdom, before he prays the King and Councils leave for it, and transmits' some Bills for their Approbation to be passed in it, and until he receives those Bills back again with Licence for the calling of a Parliament, and if it be Considered that my LORD LIEUTENANT the Duke of ORMOND since his being here, hath REPEATEDLY prayed such Licence, and Transmitted Bills, whereof some were as effectual against the PAPISTS (although there were none among them against other DISSENTERS) as could be devised, and that he and the Kingdom were disappointed therein, by the oppositions of some Persons who are mightily extolled by the LIBELER, that objection of there being no more Laws against the PAPISTS cannot in the least affect this Government, especially in the person of the Duke of ORMOND, neither can his Grace be thought to be concerned in the letter of suspension of, or dispensation with the Law against PAPISTS living in walled Towns, which the LIBELER mentions; that being procured and executed when the Lord BERKLY was Governor, no more than he is to be responsible if the Orders for the taking off that suspension which the LIBELER passes over with silence and which were grounded upon the Address of the house of Commons in England, were not as effectually, as they should be put in execution here, they happening to come Over hither in the time of the Earl of Essex's Government.  
After the LIBELER has thus, as in a false Artificial Glass, which is able to make the best faces look deformed, misrepresented our GOVERNOUR and others co-oporating with him for the KING'S service in the Government, and as he fancies has by his traducements of them rendered the worst of things, which he the worst of Men can feign to be believed concerning them; he proceeds to page the 40th, and from having before endeavoured to asperse them as if they should by his fictious indulgences to the PAPISTS encourage them in the old POPISH PLOT; He there advances and in effect charges them with being ABETTORS with them in the new fangled PROTEST ANT PLOT; But the persons he names for support of this Charge are some of them, so ridiculously Idle, and others of them so notoriously wicked, and the instances he brings for proof of it, are all of them so manifestly false, that if the LIBELER were not possessed with a singular spirit of folly as well as of lying, he would never have mentioned them, for as to SMITH who I find to be the first of the persons named, he is such an abject wretch, and so great a malefactor, and even in the Goal, where he has most deservedly lain for a great while, and still lies, does daily appear so vicious a thing, that he had been only fit for the Laws to take notice of, were it not for the nature of the Information he gave in, which Authority would not pass over without examining, for be it known unto the LIBELER and to all such whose turn he would serve, and under whose pay he writes, that those in GOVERNMENT here, are as apprehensive of Dangers as they can be; Though not as inventive of them as they, for this only reason, are, because not in GOVERNMENT there; Therefore of the great shoals of Informations brought in here, since the first discovery of the Plot, and which tended to the proof of it, not one was ever rejected, althô coming from the vilest of Men. And therefore when that of SMITH against the Priest St. LAWRANCE proffered itself at DUBLIN, it was immediately received and solemnly proceeded upon, the Lord PRIMATE who was then the first of the Council on the place, by the Lord LIEUTENANTS happening at that time to be in the Country, having convened such COUNSELLORS as were in the Town, and with them having given all necessary Orders in that affair, which produced the immediate apprehension of St, Lawrence, together with the seizure of his papers, and the Commitment of his Person, and SMITH had all the Encouragement fit to be given him in this his Discovery, insomuch that if any persons, were found, reflecting upon his Evidence, they were reprimanded by the Magistracy for it, But this did not answer his end, in what he designed and expected by making such discovery, being no less than that he should forthwith be permitted to go out of prison upon the foot of it, Which there was no reason in the earth yet to allow him, until he had to satisfaction either proved his accusation of St. LAWRANCE upon his Trial, or disproved others accusations of himself, and for which he was imprisoned, upon his own Trial; And therefore, he did betake himself unto another course, and to walk in the steps of some of his predecessors the IRISH evidences, who obtained their releasments out of prison in this Kingdom where they found they were too much known, by getting themselves to be sent for as Witnesses into ENGLAND where they were too little known; For which purpose, according to the Mode of the times we are fallen into, he Prepares a NARATIVE with a letter to enclose it in, unto a BUSY Person at LONDON in such matters, and by the assistance of, together with recomendatory letters from a half witted fellow and wretched RHYMER of this Town; gets them transmitted to him, Who upon his receiving of them, and according to his accustomed manner of running headlong without weighing matters, or if he chance to do it, making the scales to light on that side which contains least truth, and is likeliest to make the greatest stir, conducts them with all speed and bustle to WHITHAL, and in hopes of having this fresh INFORMER or rather new Engine sent for over to work with, lodges them with Mr. Secretary JENKINS for the Information of the KING and COUNCIL, having most dutifully and mannerly taken especial care before to Print and publish them for the Amusment of the world, but His MAJESTY and the Lords knowing this Conductor and his drift too well, and experiencing such kind of Artifices as this Informer used too much, would not be so passed upon by them and yet at the same time were pleased so far to take notice of those papers, as to send them over hither with Orders to proceed upon them according to Law here, where the matter of them were properly Conizable, and where preparations were made for St Laurence his being strictly prosecuted upon them, The KING'S Counsel having by order and with great circumspection form a firm Indictment for misdemeanour (which was all that in their Opinions the matter could bear) to be preferred against him, and the judges having carefully provided that no PAPIST nor any suspected to be POPISHLY affected should pass upon the Trial of him, which came on the last Michaelmas Term in the King's bench, Where a jury all consisting of the strictest protestants and ablest Citizens of the City of Dublin did appear, where SMITH had the greatest liberty and latitude afforded to him, and which he made use of in the proffering and management of his evidence, that any Court did ever give or Witness take, and where St. LAURENCE (whose person I know not, and whose professien I abominate, and therefore, you may be sure I speak impartially what was observed universally) had nothing beyond mere justice extended to him, and as a part thereof was that of Allowance of Counsel to plead for him, (which the LIBELER with more Malice than Law makes his Observation upon) to be reckoned, since he standing indicted for misdemeanour only, no judicature could have refused it to him justly, so as all things seemed to concur, if not to have been calculated for St. LAWRENCES' Condemnation, except SMITH himself, who by variety of villainies proved upon him in other Cases, which he could not deny, and by many and palpable incoherences and contradictions that fell from him in this Case, which were not to be reconciled, did wholly prevent it, for they were the reasons that particularly swayed with the Jury to acquit St. LAURENCE by their verdicts, and generally made all others who heard them, to do the like in their Judgements, and these were the motives, which made the Gentlemen of the long Robe (as they have declared) to forbear, because they were ashamed to appear on the behalf of such a blurred and stellionated Creature, and none of those wild instances which the LIBELER invents and mentions only to debase them, and to reflect upon Authority, and which it is to be observed he at once insinuates to be believed by others, and yet expressly says, he will not so much as conjecture them himself: so as he needed not in the Conclusion of this his fable of SMITH, have any more told us that he was no diviner, than I need tell you after all this that he is an idle Dreamer.  
The next man our LIBELER produces is JAMES MORLEY, whom he Styles Captain MORLEY, though I know not for what reason, unless it be because of his appearing at the head of the band of IRISH WITNESSES, which sometime since Marched to LONDON, and of his drawing them up with what he would have them swear unto for him, but however true he may be in giving of that Title to him, I am sure he is most false in those things he relates of and possibly from him, and because the LIBELER will not be long before he makes my words good (though neither I nor all the World will ever be able to make his so) he no sooner mentions the name of MORLEY, but as if it were a spell to raise a lie with, he falls plum into the telling of one concerning him, by introducing and expressing of him to have appeared and Sworn before the Committee of LORDS and COMMONS in England, two Consults which the Papists had in Ireland in reference to the extirpating the Protestant Religion in that Kingdom; whereas it appears by MORLEYS' Examination taken either before a Committee of the LORDS, or of the COMMONS, or both, that he did not swear to those Consults, but only to a hearsay touching them; which he said he had from HUBBERT TIRRELL & Henry o Neal, who it is to be observed, were two Beggars, & such miscreants, that an honest and a discerning PROTESTANT who knew them as well as MORLEY did, would hardly have adventured to repeat any thing after them, much less to conduct what they should say, unto public assemblies, & in prejudice of any who was a PROTESTANT also, especially Considering that as it is well know MORLEY had such experience of their villainies, as before that time, he did reject their proffered Oaths to him in some Trial which he had in this Kingdom, however afterwards he became so reconciled to them, as in the last PARLIAMENT at Westminster to make use of their names for injuriously accusing of Sir. JOHN DAVIS, a person who with all his Relations, have ever been eminent professors of the PROTESTANT Religion, and for that reason known to be obnoxious to the POPISH Party, and it is besides to be remarked that Tirrell has lately and solemnly disavowed his ever having known of any such Consults, and declared that what he had informed concerning them was a mere fiction, which as TYRRELL alleges MORLEY prompted and hired him to make, and to get others to swear unto for carrying on some designs of his own, and what is yet more remarkable o NEAL (who was lately hanged for a Robbery in this KINGDOM) did just before he was thrown off the Ladder, Confess himself to be perjured, both in what he delivered as to those CONSULTS, and in what he had sworn against Sir. JOHN DAVIS, and that he was by MORLEYS' desire led into the latter perjury, which Confession coming from one in the instant he was going to the dead, must be convincing with all but such who will not be persuaded though one risen from the dead; After the LIBELER has thus begun and dispatched this untruth of MORLET, who has no reason to con him thanks for it, since it has provoked and produced the representation of these truths concerning him, he grows upon his own hands, and to show his proficiency in the lying-trade, he proceeds to the delivery of a grosser falcity, in asserting, that six or seven witnesses have been procured to depose in this Kingdom, that MORLEY was suborned by the Earls of ESSEX and SHAFTSBURY, and by Sr. ROBERT CLAYTON, to swear treason against the Duke of ORMONDE the Lord CHANCELLOR boil and Sir JOHN DAVIS, whereas upon search in the Offices where things of that nature (if any had been,) would be lodged, and upon inquiry from the Officers who could not but know of them if they were there, it cannot be found that ever any one such deposition was taken, or so much as heard of, but several Examinations (and with probability of truth too considering the before mentioned proceeding: of MORLET) do appear of his Contrivances of that kind with people of infinite lower ranks, and it is to be hoped of infinite different principles too, than it can be thought the Earls of ESSEX and SHAFTSBURY and Sir Robert CLAYTON are of, who the Lord Duke of ORMONDE and those named with him do not suppose would Embark themselves with such a sort of man as MORLEY is, and in such manner of Designs as he was upon, so as the setting up of these imaginary depositions, which never had being but in this libeler's idle brain, and in his Idler LIBEL, must have been a piece of MORLEY'S magic, by such Incantations to charm those persons of Quality to stand by him in this time of his deservedly Expiring Credit, and to raise their Spirits (though most Vndeservedly) against others whom his and the LIBELERS malice would point them unto, and whom (though it be impossible to find them out by the mark the LIBELER puts upon them,) of having obtained those depositions, because there were never any such, yet by all this Lurry about Morley, I guess them to be certain persons of such uprightness and integrity as I am certain, they will not fear to have their Actions placed in that approaching light of a PARLIAMENT with which the LIBELER threatens them, and which then shines brightest when MORLEY and the LIBELER, and such other sons of darkness are scattered from before it, and thanks be to GOD, we have no reason to despair of a blessing of that kind to attend that time, for the weather seems to clear very much, and the air to be so well upon Puryfying, that those infections cannot remain. And as the LIBELER has thus ingenuously in this Paragraph represented things that never were, so he will not leave it off until he has as ingenuously misrepresented Matters otherwise than they were, according to the saying of Fame, the true Parent of this lying Monster, that pariter facta atque infecta canebat; thus purposely to reflect upon persons concerned in this Government (which the scope of his whole discourse as to Ireland drives at) he would from the receiving an Information which was given in here against MORLEY, for such treasonable expressions as are not fit to be repeated, but in a Judicial way of proceeding against him, and from the transmission which was made of it to the KING and COUNCIL in ENGLAND infer a fondness, & I do not know what, to have been in them of it, whereas they did but as they were bound, in taking a matter of that dangerous import when it was offered, and as they would have done, if it had related to any one else besides MORLET, and only observed their duty and the Custom of their predecessors in transmitting (as they always did) things of such a transcendent nature, let them concern whomsoever they would, And why this ordinary practised method in all other Cases, should be thus extraordinarily handled and represented in MORLEYS by the LIBELER, is what I cannot think of any other reason to be given for, but this, that he is a LIBELER; Besides, suppose it were true, as the LIBELER says, (and it is the only thing he says of affairs in IRELAND which supposition itself can help) That at the time of this transmission as to MORLEY it was withal desired he should be sent over hither to be Tried, where his Crime was supposed to be done, (althô really not such thing was desired) and that the KING had granted it, which He neither did, nor denied, because no application was made for it, does the LIBELER believe himself? or can he imagine any one else will believe him in, but laugh at him for, this his doctrine thereupon, That it were illegal and Arbitrary to send a Malefactor to be Tried here for a fact committed by him here; For surely that is as legal and looks some thing more reasonable than to send for persons from hence to be Tried in England for things they are only charged to have Committed here, as we see has of late been practised, and which though the Lawyers say may be done in this Case, I am sure no Lawyer will ever allow what the LIBELER says in the other Case, especially, if no pertinenter reason be given than this, which he assigns for it, because the party was born and bred and has an Estate in ENGLAND, For such Circumstances alone, can never protect any one in ENGLAND, or IRELAND, from answering for his breach of the Laws in either KINGDOM, and in that KINGDOM too, where he so broke them if the KING please to have him sent thither, Nay in this Case of MORLEY, if the matter charged upon him to be Committed here (from which I shall not with the LIBELER acquit him only because he is a PROTESTANT, considering: what kind of one he shown himself in the times of usurpation, thorough-pacedly serving of them, and what sort of one he manifests himself in the present time of faction, by those base Offices of subornation and Perjury ministering to it,) were any felony under Treason, I speak it with reverence, it were unjust not to send him hither to be tried, because the Statute of Hen: the 8th for Trial of foreign matters in England, extends expressly & only to Treasons, so that lesser Offences done here cannot be tried there, and consequently, to have kept him in such Case on the other side from appearing here, would be to hinder a malefactor from being brought to Justice, which were not Just; But as MORLEYS' Case is, being for Treason Committed here, which by that Statute may be Tried there, the KING can Justly enough (if He Pleases) detain him to be Tried in ENGLAND, or (if he thinks fit) as Justly too may send him hither for Trial, for by that Statute it is in the KING'S Choice, in which of the KINGDOMS such a Case shall be Tried; But then if the Trial be ordered to be there upon a Treason Committed here, the Judges in ENGLAND are therein to Govern themselves according to the Laws of Ireland, that is, they are not to adjudge any thing to be Treason, but what is so by the Law of IRELAND, or by some Act of PARLIAMENT in ENGLAND where IRELAND is named, or that is Enacted in IRELAND; And this Rule holds concerning Pleas in discharge of Treason also, wherefore though MORLEYS' charge consists of Treasonable words only, and they really were spoken two years ago as the LIBELER observes, whereby he was to be discharged by the late Statute in ENGLAND (if they were alleged there) yet being laid to be spoken here, where that Statute not naming IRELAND, nor being Enacted in IRELAND does not extend, he cannot reap any Benefit, by it; From all which though I will not take upon me to conjecture, what were the Causes MORLEY was not sent hither, yet I may rationally conclude, that they could not be any of those which are given by the LIBELER for it, so as he proves to be as grossly out in his Matters of Law as he is notoriously mistaken in his Matters of fact; And where, for Conclusion of this his Paragraph, and for the bringing off MORLEY by it, he says, it is remarkable that what MORLEY did declare, (I suppose he intends to the PARLIAMENT) in relation to the Duke of ORMONDE the Lord CHANCELLOR, and Sir John Davis, he referred himself for, the truth of it to the Council Books or to depositions before the Council of this Kingdom; it is more remarkable that MORLEY did declare nothing there (whatsoever he has done elsewhere) as to any of those Persons, save only Sir JOHN DAVIS, and as to him that he referred nothing to the COUNCIL BOOKS, or to depositions before the COUNCIL to prove, other than a pretended Copy he produced of the said o NEAL or TYRRELLS Examination, but of which there never was any Original in the Council books or at the Council Board, or indeed in being, so as the LIBE LLER by his thus elaborately attempting to preserve MORLEYS' gasping reputation, for support of his Scandalous reflections upon the GOVERNMENT, does but destroy his own Credit, and confound his own Devices.  
There are two other persons, whom the LIBELER brings by head and shoulders into this Paragraph for evidence of what he amies at by it, but he giving only surnames to them as HANLON, and MURPHY, whereby it is Impossible without more certainty, out of the herds that are of those names, to gather whom he means, and not assigning any particulars to have come from them, in proof of his General assertion which he Cites them for, by means whereof he only sets up Shadows to be contested within them; I will therefore pass them over and come to that more solid body in the LIBELERS single opinion of Mr. HAWKINS, whom he shows as his next and last man, but who performed such a part when he first brought himself upon the stage, as I cannot tell whether folly, or something that is worse were his greatest Vice, and therefore I will determine on neither side, but give a true account of it, as it has been collected out of the Original papers of that matter, and then let any sober and impartial man make his Judgement of it, and of him upon it, which was thus; Mr. HAWKINS (between whom and some of the mac GENNISES his neighbours there were some differences) came to my Lord LIEUTENANT to the CASTLE, having made his way as being a stranger by presenting of a letter from Sir HANS HAMILTON a late member of the Council unto his GRACE, & there acquainted his Grace that one Daniel Hanvy came to him to his house in the Country, and told him of a meeting which he had a little before with one Con mac Gennis at Down-Patrick, and that among other things which at that meeting passed betwixt them, mac GENNIS engaged him to join with him in swearing HIS GRACE, Mr. HAWKINS and others into the Plot, and at the same time did give him a little money, and promised him a great deal more when they should afterwards meet, as they then agreed to do at Dublin, where the design was to be carried on betwixt them, That with this Information Mr. HAWKINS repaired to Sir, HANS HAMILTON, who advised him to carry it to my LORD LIEUTENANT where he thus brought it, hereupon my Lord LIEUTENANT caused Mr. HAWKINS to bring HANVY to him, and after his GRACE had with great privacy taken his Examination, which was much to the purpose aforesaid, he asked Mr. HAWKINS if he knew CON mac GENNIS and where he was to be found, which he said he did very well, and that as HANVY told him, he was come to Town in order to their aforesaid appointed meeting, which was to be sometime on that or the day following, and though Mr. HAWKINS did not know the certain house where it should be in, yet he would learn it from HANVY, and thereupon he proposed to his GRACE that for having more witnesses besides HANVY of what should pass at that intended meeting, his GRACE would appoint another Trusty person to join with one NEAL mac LAUGHLIN whom Mr. HAWKINS designed to employ, for so disposing of themselves in the Room of the house where the others were to meet in, that they might (without being observed by them) see them, and hear the discourses betwixt them; Which my LORD LIEUTENANT complied with, and was accordingly done, only with this Variation, that Mr. HAWKINS employed another in that service in the stead of mac LAUGHLIN, who could not be found, In the mean time his GRACE kept this matter as a secret from all persons, lest any disappointment should befall such a promised discovery, afterwards Mr. HAWKINS came to my LORD LIEUTENANT, and acquainted him the parties had met, and the person appointed by his GRACE, with the other whom Hawkins did employ in the Over hearing of them, came likewise, & told his Grace that they saw HANVY & another man whom he called CON mac GENNIS together, and heard them discourse of such designs as were at first informed, but withal that they observed and heard mac GENNIS to say at their parting to the Master of the house, who came towards the end of their discourse to them, These words, take notice I never saw this person pointing at HANVY before the last night, upon this Report brought to my Lord LIEUTENANT He ordered CON mac GENNIS to be sent for, who appeared and denied his name to be CON mac GENNIS, affirming it to be OWEN DUFFY, and proved it to be so by invincible Circumstances; but he owned at the same time his having gone under the name of CON mac GENNIS to, and his having had the aforesaid meetting with HANUT, whom withal he protested he never saw until the night before he had the meeting with him, which with his other feigned parts, he said he was prevailed upon to Act, by the desires of one HENRT FARREL, whose reason for the same he knew not, but referred it to farrel to declare: At this proceeding my Lord LIEUTENANT (as any one would be) was strangely surprised, and the more, because His GRACE was satisfied at his first sight of the Man, who now is DUFFT, and before he named himself to be so, that he was not CON mac GENNIS whom HANVY had described, for him His GRACE had occasions to see and know long before, in the quality of a Deputy Pursuvant, for dispatching of Irish Witnesses, sent for from hence into ENGLAND, but what HIS GRACE most wondered at was, that HANVY should have affirmed as he did, his having had a familiar acquaintance for many years together with that CON mac GENNIS before, and yet that he should now take this DUFFY for him; Hereupon my Lord LIEUTENANT had HAWKINS and HANVY who were attending, called in, where HANVY upon the question put to him, declared again such his long acquaintance with CON mac GENNIS, and all the other matters touching him, and confidently affirmed, that DUFFY then present before him was the Man, and Mr. HAWKINS (although at his first coming to my Lord LIEUTENANT, and as is before mentioned, he told His Grace that he knew CON mac GENNIS very well, and consequently, could not but at this time know that DUFFY whom he saw thus to personate him was another person) yet as if he would have had my Lord Lieutenant deceived, did suffer Duffy to pass upon His GRACE for Con mac GENNIS, without offering any thing to undeceive him, until my Lord LIEUTENANT did at last take notice to them, how that person had proved himself to be OWEN DUFFY, and how his Grace himself knew that it was not CON mac GENNIS, upon which HANVY and HAWKINS confessed themselves to be mistaken, and so in great confusion vanished; After this scene was thus over, which in the persons and the parts of it looked the most odd, and was the least intelligible, that for a great while has been presented, my Lord LIEUTENANT conducted the whole matter to the Council, where it seemed as a perfect riddle, and because farrel appeared the ablest to unfold it, by giving an account how he came to make DUFFY personate CON mac GENNIS unto HANVY, he was ordered to be examined, who in his Examinatiom and upon his Oath declared, that NEAL mac LAUGHLIN did some time before, lodging at his house, let fall expressions which gave him suspicion of HAWKINS his being upon some evil designs, and that he was confirmed therein afterwards, by lighting upon a letter from HAWKINS to mac LAUGHLYN which farrel produced, and HAWKINS confessed, but pretends to be to an innocent end, and which directed mac LAUGHLIN to go to one RAWLINSON in Dublin for the furnishing him with money, enjoining him afterwards to repair to HAWKINS into the North concerning the business which mac LAUGHLIN to do for him; That after mac LAUGHLIN (who then went to the North accordingly) returned unto Town, he came to Farrells house, but told him that he was to lodge no longer with him, for that he had a lodging provided in another place hard by the said RAWLINSON; which with FARRELLS observing of mac LAUGHLIN to be flush of money, and understanding that HAWKINS was come to Town, put it out of all doubt with him that there was some mischief a contriving, which farrel resolved to employ himself in the finding out and for that purpose remembering that mac LAUGHLIN had been very inquisitive of him for CON mac GENNIS, and perceiving several messengers to come to his house at divers times in a day to inquire for CON mac GENNIS, as from persons newly come out of the Country, He dogged some of Them to a certain House whither he prevailed upon OWEN DUFFY to go with him, and if there should be Occasion to take upon him the name of CON mac GENNIS, after whom this great inquiry had been, and when they came thither and a little after they had talked something loud, on purpose to be heard by an obscure man who they were told was in the next Room, that man (who proved to be DANIEL HANVY) hearing the name of CON mac GENNIS, came in unto them, and applying himself to DUFFY whom he took or pretended to take for CON mac GENNIS, finding him to be called so, said to him with much kindness, you know we have great business to do, to which DUFFY Answered, yes, yes, and so after having appointed to meet together the next day, they then parted, which was the only occasion, as farrel said, of his thus persuading DUFFY to personate CON mac GENNIS unto Hanvy, and of such meeting and discourse had betwixt them, and now let any one who reads these true passages of that affair Judge, whether Mr. HAWKINS has aquitted himself like that man of honour, discretion, and ingenuity, which the LIBBELLER would blazon him; and whether my Lord DUKE of ORMONDE be not a more merciful person to the DISSENTERS, than the LIBELER would seem before to represent him, since notwithstanding Mr. HAWKINS be one of the virulenst of them, and by such his proceed appeared a very great Triffler with, if not an affronter of GOVERNMENT, yet his GRACE let him go without inflicting any Punishment upon him for it, althô he could not but take more notice of him afterwards, when an Information amounting as near to HIGH-TREASON as could be was given in to the Council against him, and by such a Person too, as Mr. Florence Weyer a Sanctified evidence in ENGLAND and who was one of the Chiefest of those Witnesses upon whose Testimonies the Titular Primate PLUNKET was found guilty in the King's Bench there, for which reason the LIBELER never so much as mentions WEYER here, but only takes notice of mac GENNIS and mac LAUGHLIN who swore latter in time, and much inferior in matter against HAWKINS than the other did, and as to mac LAUGHLIN it is observable, that though the LIBELER affirms he never spoke with HAWKINS but once, and then only to insinuate into his acquaintance, yet HAWKINS himself in his Examination owns to have known him & to have Employed him in his business for some years past; And besides it is manifest by HAWKINS his above mentioned Letter to Mac LAUGHLIN (which farrel produced upon his being Examined and HAWKINS Confessed in his Examination to be his hand,) that there was a familiar acquaintance betwixt him and Mac LAUGHLIN before, which Letter, looking so suspicious, and being followed with WEYERS and the others Informations, which sounded so dangerous, my Lord LIEUTENANT and COUNCIL could do no less than as they did, to Commit HAWKINS upon them, and notwithstanding the LIBELER and his Party would now, because it seems to thwart their designs, reflect upon the Government for doing of it, as too much countenancing of Informations, yet (as has been found by late experience,) they would be apt at another time (if it might advance their purposes) more severely to fall upon the GOVERNMENT for not doing of it, as too great discountenancing of Evidence, so partial and so passionate are the FACTIOUS.  
Thus, (Sir,) have I run through the several Parts of this LIBEL, which touch upon this Kingdom, & the Government of it, & in my answers to them, I have for the most part mentioned and referred unto such papers of Estate & public Records, and besides, all the matters of them prove to fall within the knowledges of so many persons living, that if I had not a singular regard to truth (which I hope I shall ever follow) and a particular respect for you (whom I am certain I will never abuse) yet you may be sure I would not dare, and therefore that I have not adventured to say any thing, but what contains the greatest veracity, since in doing otherwise (which was a sufficient Precaution to me from the beginning unto the end of this work) I knew I should be by variety of Testimonies disproved, and rendered not only as Odious, but as Ridiculous and Contemptible to the World, as our LIBELER has shown himself, who though he would have it believed, as if he were in his principles the farthest removed from the Popish Party, does yet expose his LIBEL (by the gross lies which are dispersed through it) to be the nearest allied unto the Popish Legend. I am with Esteem and respect.  
Sir Your most affectionate and most humble Servant Dublin the 1st. of April 1682.