Great news from IRELAND, Being Motives of Encouragement for the Officers and Soldiers who shall Serve in the Present War of Ireland.  
Licenced April 9th, 1689.  
James Fraser.  

Drawn from the Heads following,  
I. THE General Inability and Incapacity of the Irish to Manage Employs of Trust and Power.  
II. The Necessity of a standing Army and Garrisons in that Kingdom in times of Peace.  
III. The Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military, Employs; that must be in the hands of Protestants.  
iv The Number and Value of the said Employs.  
V The Advantages may be made by Officers and Soldiers in that Service, over and above what those had in the last War.  
VI The Cheapness of Land and Provisions, and Improvements to be made in that Kingdom.   
All which demonstrates the Irish War to be the most advantageous promising Service in Europe.  
1. HE that Reads the Ancient and Modern Histories of that Kingdom, will there find the Irreconcilable Hatred the Irish have, and ever had, to the British, and will also find that as oft as they have had Power, they have Exerted that Power, as much as in them lay, to the destruction of the British Persons and Plantations.  
2. That when the Religion of the Crown and People of England was the same with that of the Native Irish, yet their Hatred was the same then as now, as appears by Giraldus Cambrensis, by Spencer, by Paccata Hibernia, and in divers Acts of Parliaments before the Reign of King Henry the Eighth.  
3. More Sevear Laws were made against the Irish in those times then since the Reformation, as may be seen in the said Statutes.  
4. Both before the Reformation of Religion, and since, it appears, that whatever was the persuasion of the Crown of England in matters of Religion, they still found it their Interest, to Lessen and Discourage the Irish Interest, and to Enlarge and Encourage the British Interest in that Kingdom.  
5. King Henry the Eighth, his Son King Edward the Sixth, his two Daughter's Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, though of different Interests in matters of Church and State, still pursued that End, as by the Laws made in those times is Evident.  
6. Queen Marry who was a professed Papist, and Persecuted Protestants in England, pursued the same End, and Encouraged Protestants in that Kingdom, as by the Statutes then made may appear.  
7. Those Governors who have most effectually pursued those Ends have been ever Celebrated as the best Governors of that Kingdom, and the best Servants to the Crown of England.  
8. The Crown of England, and the respective Governors of that Kingdom, knowing it Natural for a Conquered People to hate their Conquerors, and as well knowing that the Numbers of the Irish were much Superior to the British, They  
First, Made several Laws to put the Chief Places of Trust and Power in that Kingdom into British Hands, as the Laws themselves Testify, and  
Secondly, But finding this too weak a Balance, they then Settled and Established a standing British Army for the British further Security.  
9 Since the Reformation of Religion the Romish Clergy have Improved that Innate Hatred of the Irish to the British, to a higher Elevation than before, as was too Evident in their last Rebellion in 1641, of which the Acts of Settlement and Acts of Attainder in the Reigns of Charles the First, and Charles the Second, are Records to future Ages.  
The said Clergy having assumed to themselves an Absolute Sovereignty over the Consciences, Lives and Estates, of the Natives of their Communion, have most Zealously Imposed and Infused such Principles, as are most suitable and conducing to their own Ends, and to the Ignorance and Barbarity of the deluded Natives. As  

1. That Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion.  
2. That there is but one Church, and that is the Roman Catholic Church,  
3. That the said Church, like Noah's Ark, those only are saved that are in it, and all lost that are without it.  
4. That they must believe as the Church believes.  
5. That the Priests are this Church.  
6. That the Priests have the Keys of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, and they shut and open them as they please.  
7. That the Priest's Absolution is God's Absolution.  
8. That Obedience to the Church, viz. the Priests, is better than Sacrifice to God.  
9 That Disobedience is worse than the Sin of Witchcraft, and was the Sin of Corah, Dathan and Abiram.  
10. That the Protestants are all Excommunicated Heretics.  
11. That they are all Secluded Heaven.  
12. That Dominion and Propriety are founded in Grace, and that Protestants having not Grace, have no Right to Either.  
13. That Protestants are all Workers of Iniquity, and aught to be destroyed, and that it is no more Sin to Kill a Heretic, (viz. a Protestant,) then to Kill a Mischievous Dog.  
14. That an Oath taken on a Protestant Bible, is no more obliging, than if taken on Æsop's Fables.  
15. That Private Christians are not to Dispute Matters of Religion, but are to receive that Knowledge from their Priests.  
16. That the Priests and not the People, are accountable to God for the People's Mistakes in matters of Religion.  
17. That the Priests Pronouncing the Words of Consecration make a piece of Bread to be a God.   
And lastly, That Private Christians ought not to have, read or keep, a Bible.  
These and many other as Dangerous and Destructive Principles, appears not only to be held and believed by these Ignorant and Barbarous People, but are proved, and that by a Reverend and no less Learned a Prelate then the present Bishop of Lincoln, to be the Doctrines and Practices of the Papists, and Cannons of their Church, and are very suitable to Urbanus Octavus his Bull for, Consecrating the Horrid and Bloody Rebellion in 1641.  
As is the Fountain, such must be the Streams,  
As is the Tree, such must be the Fruit.  
A Learned Subtle and United Clergy, Imposing and Improving these and the like Principles into an Illerate, Immoral, Lose and Barbarous, People, Biased with Prejudice and Malice against the Persons, Professions and Laws, of the Crown of England, as they must needs advance the Irish Papists, as aforesaid, to the highest Elevation of Biggotry, so it must needs render them unable and uncapable to receive any Places of Trust and Power from a Protestant Prince, or to Exercise it over a Protestant People.  
From whence it Naturally follows, 

1. That all Places of Trust and Power in the Kingdom of Ireland must be put into the hands of Protestants, and  
2. That the Numbers of these Biggotted Irish Papists being so disproportionable, and their Hatred against the British Protestants so Irreconcilable, it further appears, as aforesaid, that the British cannot be safe in Ireland without a good standing Protestant Army for their constant Security.  
3. That this Army put into the hands of Sober, Virtuous, Discreet and Experienced, Officers, will not only be a Security to the Protestants there, but a Seminary to the Crown of England, whence, as occasion offers, may be drawn good Officers and Soldiers.  
4. That in the Kingdom of Ireland are many fixed and Established Garrisons, which the Government usually granted for Life, with considerable Revenues, Fees, and other Perquisits, over and above the Establishment of their Pay.  
5. That the Officers of the Army have usually had the Addition of Civil Employs, which are many times more Beneficial than their Military Offices, and given them to make their Persons and Employs the more Considerable in their respective Stations, which said Employs upon Enquiry will be found to be many in Number, as well as Considerable in point of Profit, and may be Reduceable to these following Heads, 

1. Officers or Dependants on the Chief Governor and State.  
2. Officers or Dependants on the Courts of Judicature.  
3. Officers or Dependants on the Army.  
4. Officers or Dependants on the King's Revenue.  
5. Officers or Dependants on the Church.  
6. Officers or Dependants on the respective Counties, Cities, Towns Corporate and Burroughs.      
1. As to the Officers and Dependants on the Chief Governor and State in Ireland, they are in a great measure the same with those of the King and State in England, and at a moderate Calculation cannot be less than two hundred.  
2. Tke Officers and Dependants on the Courts of Judicature, are also much the same with those of England, and are more than four hundred.  
3. The Officers and Dependants on the standing Army, Garrisons, Train of Artillery, and Stores, are not less than five hundred.  
4. The Officers and Dependants on the King's certain and casual Revenue, including the P●rrogative, Admiralty, and Post Office, are best computed from the Annual Charge of the Crown, which is to them more than forty thousand pounds per Annum, and are not less in number than 400 Employs.  
5. As to the Officers and Dependants on the Church, it is well known that the whole Kingdom is divided into 22 Dioceses, each Diocese hath his Bishopric; the 4 Provinces have each of them an Archbishop, with about 2508 Parishes, with their respective Dignitaries, which though inferior in number to those in England, yet what they have is near equal in value, and settled by Law as in England, and cannot have less than Employs for 3000 Persons, who must be all Protestants.  
6. The number of the respective Counties, Cities, Towns Corporate, and Burroughs, Employs, are best known by the Survey of the whole Kingdom, which is near equal to England, (Wales excepted) and consists of 32 Counties, beside the Counties of the respective Cities, each County having several Towns Corporate, and all Judicial and Ministerial Employments with several distinct Revenues of Houses, Lands, Fees, and other Perquisites to support the Dignities of their respective Communities and their Officers, which being the highest and only places of Trust, and Power in the said respective Counties, Cities, Towns Corporate and Burroughs, of the Kingdom, must be presumed to have a suitable Support, and cannot be in Number less than Eight Hundred.  
So that the whole Number of the said Employs in Church and State appears to be more than 5300 Places of Reputation, Trust. Power, and plentiful Support, viz. to the Church 3000, and to the State 2300, which must be all put into the hands of Protestants, though the Irish Papists should be so wise as to submit on the 10th of April, 1689, to the Terms held forth in the King and Queen's Declaration to all their Loving Subjects in that Kingdom, bearing Date at Whitehall the 22d of February, 1688.  
But in case of their Refusal, there will be a much greater Encouragement to the Protestant Officers and Soldiers who are or shall be Engaged in the War, as appears by the following particulars,  

1. The Irish Papists having had the favour of the two last Kings, by Donations and Restaurations, are much Richer now, then in the Year 1641.  
2. The greatest part of their Lands, having been Improved by the British, and when so Improved, taken from them and given the Irish, were lately of much greater Value than in 1641  
3. The said Irish are now in possession as of their own Right, of near Four Millions of Acres of the best Land, and best Improved, in that Kingdom.  
4. The said Lands with the Improvements cannot be of less Value than 8 Millions of Pounds.  
5. The Forces agreed on by the House of Commons the 19th of March, 1688. to be forthwith Raised, being put into Sober and Experienced Officers Hands, and that Army well Paid and Governed, may with God's Blessing, in all probability, in Twelve months' time Reduce and Recover that Kingdom.  
6. The whole Charge of that Army in Twelve Months cannot amount unto half a Million of Pounds, which is ●ot a 16th of what will be got by the said Conquest, which is less than the Protestants have already lost, and the Irish Papists got, by plundering Houses and Stock off of Lands, besides the fall of Rents and Devastation of Plantations.  
7. The King's Majesty, whose Word is as Sacred as his Office, hath by the Declaration, aforementioned, assured to all such Officers and Soldiers as shall be Aiding and Assisting in the Reducing the said Kingdom, that all Lands and Estates that by Law shall by that Rebellion be forfeited to Him, shall be distributed and disposed unto the said Army.   
So that the Soldiery having good Pay, a Prospect of these Lands, and an Assurance of the aforesaid Civil Employs, let a Scrutiny be make into all the Military Services in Christendom, and see it thence can be Extracted one Instance of Parallel, or equal Encouragement to this War of Reducing Ireland.  
It is too sadly known that the British received all Imaginable Discouragement, and the Irish all Imaginable Favour, since the Year 1660, the respective Chief Governors public Instructions being to favour the English, but their private and more effectual Instructions was still to favour the Irish; yet not withstanding those Varieties of Discouragements it is well known, that such hath been the Sobriety and Industry even of many of the private Soldiers both of Horse and Foot in the late General Cromwell's Army, that they were before the present Popish Government under Tyrconnell possessed of Considerable Estates real personal, and also in Considerable Public Employs in that Kingdom; and that which is yet more Remarkable, and as equally True, is, That when some of the late Governors in Compliance with their private Instructions put several English out and Irish into Places of Trust and Power, they found the said Irish so unable and uncapable to manage them that they were forced, against their Wills, as well as their private Instructions, to return them into the British or English hands, from whence they took them. Such of the Irish as were Sober, Industrious, and Men of Estates, were much better satisfied that those Employs were returned into English hands, then to have had them continued in the Irish. And that which is more Remarkable, is, That our present Gracious Sovereign King William, Acting his own Principles, by making a Law for Ease of Tender Consciences, and an 〈◊〉 of Registry to Secure Property, and frequently Inspecting the Execution of the Judicial and Ministerial Officers, Examining the Records of the Respective Offices, Moderating and Asserting their Respective Fees, and placing all, as aught by Law, in British Protestants Hands, receiving and reinforcing the Laws made against Vagabonds and Idle Persons, and requiring Justices of Peace, persuant to Law, to put forth to Trades such of the Natives Children as are unable to put them forth themselves, and thereby Encouraging Trade and Manufacture in the respective Counties, Cities and Towns, of that Kingdom, and not suffer the Trade of the Three Kingdoms for to Interfere or Oppress each other, the wide Breaches now made upon the Protestants will soon be repaired in that Kingdom, the Expensive Charge of the War soon repaid, and Ireland which h●●● hitherto been a Charge and Burden to England, may for the future be made a place of great Advantage both to the British Crown, and British People, and afford better Encouragements to Industrious and Sober Persons than any of our Foreign Plantations, it being Demonstrable, That as little Encouragement as was received under the Government of the Two last Kings, it is clear, that Cent per Cent profit with ease hath been made of Money in that Kingdom, and that by the common and commonly known ways of Graseing , he that would but disburse 100 l in Lean  about the Month of May, might well raise that 100 l to a 150 l in November following, though Beef the bell, and Mutton, were both ordinarily then Sold in the public Markets for one Halfpenny a Pound, and sometimes less; and in case the said Grazier would keep the said  in House, and feed them well Winter, his Money with ease might be doubled before the May following, it being frequently known that the very Hides and Tallow would clear the Price of Buying in, and the Charge of Feeding, the said .  
To which may be added, as a further Encouragement, the great Plenty of Provisions, and the Cheapness thereof, for Support of Life, etc. for, that in Ireland a much better Table may be kept for 100 l a Year, then in England for 300 l To which also may be sub-joined, as a further Encouragement, that should Ireland be recovered by another Conquest, it might probably make for the greater Advantage of the British Interest, Estimating the Value of Forfeited Lands by the Acts of Decimo Septimo, and Decimo Octavo, Caroli Primi & Secundi, its manifest that the highest Value of Inheritance was 500 l (by those Acts,) for 1000 Irish Acres, which is 50 l each 100 Acres, and each 100 Acres Irish contains about 160 English Measure; which having the Addition of one Third more of Lands given in as unprofitable, makes the whole near 200 Acres English Measure, which if commonly Pasturable may well Feed 100 Head of  every Year. And they being graed and Fed as aforesaid, may at the Years end well yield 200 l and in case the Land be commonly Arable, the advantage may be demonstrated to be much higher, so that half the Years Profit of 100 Acres of Pasturable Land may Purchase the Inheritance, and pay the Grazier one Moiety of his principle Money. Besides all which it is well known, That Thousands of Acres of Bog-Land, set forth to Soldiers and Adventurers as unprofitable, and without any Consideration allowed, or Rend reserved, was Included in their several Lots; that since, with an inconsiderable Charge in Draining thereof, are become the best and most valuable Land in the Kingdom, and there are yet many Thousand Acres of Land now capable of the same Improvement.  
And Lastly, Though the last Rebellion continued Thirteen Years in that Kingdom, cost and lost many Millions of Pounds, (as appears by a 6 d Book lately Printed for R. Baldwin in the Old Bailie, and Entitled, The State of the Papist and Protestant Proprieties in the Kingdom of Ireland, etc.) and Reduced the Lands not to a Moiety of the aforesaid Value, yet it is rationally presumed, that with the aforesaid Forces, Managed as aforesaid, and under that sober strict Discipline as the late General Cromwell's Army was in that Kingdom, it's not way doubted but the same Conduct will have the same Success, and the Lands left in a much better Condition by this, then by the former Rebellion, especially, if one Principle can be but effectually pursued, observed and believed, now, as was then, That no Sober nor Serious Person could be a Coward, and no Vain or Frothy Hector Truly Valiant, which did not only appear True by the Success of that Army, but by the differing Conduct, and differing Success, of Two Armies of a later Date.  
FINIS.   

LONDON, Printed by T. Moor in White-Fryers, 1689.