THE INTEREST OF ENGLAND In the PRESERVATION of IRELAND. Humbly Presented to the PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND.  
By G. P. Esq  Nam tua Res agitur, Paries cùm proximus ardet, Et neglecta solent Incendia sumere Vires. 
Licenced, July 15th. 1689.  
J. Fraser.  
LONDON, Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Ros● and 〈◊〉 St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCLXXX●.   

TO THE HONOURABLE THE Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses IN PARLIAMENT Assembled.  
I do not in the least presume to inform Your Judgements, or to supplicate your Charity by the Boldness of this Dedication. The Wisdom of the Nation cannot be Ignorant of all matters Foreign or Domestic, that concern the Honour, Safety, and Advantage of it. And you have already expressed such a feeling Commiseration of the Calamities of Ireland, that it would seem an Offence unpardonable, to solicit your Compassion by an immodest Importunity.  
You have Testified your Tenderness, in promoting the Brief, and General Collection, for the Relief of the Distressed Protestants of Ireland.  
You have Signalised your Zeal to the Protestant Interest, by a deliberate Contrivance, and a ready Expedition of the Pole-Bill, appropriated, and appointed only for the Reduction of Ireland.  
You have Published your Resolution to interess yourselves in the Cause of Ireland, by a Noble Promise to supply the KING with what shall be further requisite for the Recovery of it.  
You have Vouchsafed a Generous Regard to a multitude of Exiled Gentlemen (of whom some seasonably and prudently withdrew, others with great Hazard and Difficulty escaped; but all Voluntarily dssierted then Houses and Estates, because they would not strengthen the hands of the Papists, or contribute to a FrenchVsurpation or the Exclusion of the English Right and Title) by designing some competent Provision for their necessary Support proportioned to their respective Sufferings; and by so affectionate and repeated Addresses to His Majesty in their Favour (who though he needs no Intercession for the Care of His Subjects, yet He loves and delights to seem persuaded by His Parliament) you have made them your Votaries, you have obliged them by everlasting Bonds of Gratitude, and they shall be recommended to Posterity as the first that ever went under the Honourable Character of Pensioners to the Parliament.  
You have demonstrated your Abhorrence of all clandestine Practices, by a strict Inquisition after the Authors and occasions of the procrastinated Relief of Ireland. and the Miscarriages of particular Men in their Trusts, and Employments: Whereby England, is put to an Aftergame, and obliged in their own Defence to retrieve that Kingdom, at the hazard of many Lives, and the Expense of a vast Treasure, which by the very Countenance, and appearance of a small Succour had been easily, cheaply, and safely assured and preserved Nay under your Protection, I will speak out the Truth: When London Derry had shut their Gates against the Irish, and Iniskillin soon after refused to admit a Popish Garrison; when the Protestants in Dublin were Numerous, Rich and Stout; when in Munster, the Earl of Inchiquin (with many others) was very apprehensive of the imminent danger, and ready with the least Assistance from England, to secure the Protestant Interest there: When the Lord Kingston in Conaght out stripped the Deputy, and made up his Musters of Horse and Foot before him: when forty thousand brisk men were upon Watch and Ward in Ulster; and the Earl of Tyrconnel (utterly irresclute what Measures to take) said to a Person of Honour (who urged him to lay down the Sword, and Submit to the English Government) What would you have me do? I see no Commission to demand the Sword, would you have me cast it over the Castle Walls? I say in this Juncture, any one eminent Person, attended with a small Party, and furnished with a reasonable Proportion of Arms and Money, had without blows, or slaughter, secured the Kingdom of Ireland, in their Allegiance to the present King and Queen; and with much Ease prevented, and kerbed the insultory Insurrections in Scotland.  
But alas! while the Parliament are busy in discoursing, and debating the Business of Ireland, the Clergy are for the most Part silent; the one Votes for them, but I do not hear, that the other Prays for them; the miseries of Ireland are Remembered in the Parliament-House, but Seldom mentioned in the Pulpit; being omitted in their Addresses to the Throne of Mercy, by a very regardless Preterition.  
For my Part, I had neither taken upon me the Confidence to make this Address, nor given the world the Trouble of this undigested Pamphlet (huddled over in haste, and without the Advantages of Study, Books, Advice, or Retirement) but that a sort of Men no way considerable in number, or Interest, perverse in their Humour, as Flattering in their judgements, assume a Liberty to retail their raw and unconcocted Notions in Cossee-Houses (where Men pretend a Privilege, to say any thing but their Prayers) and with as little Charity as Discretion, to arraign the Judgement, and censure the Actions of the Irish Protestant-Refuges, and severely to upbraid them with their Banishment and Poverty, as the disserved Effects of their own Perverseness, in not Submitting to him; who deserted the principal Kingdom, and restless himself in that which is Subordinate. Nay, some have proceeded to that degree of uncharitable Frenzy, that they have belched out their balsphemous Curses on poor bleeding Ireland: Sinking it into the Sea with their Execrations, and disparaging it as an incombered Estate, not worth the Redemption. Would God it might please the King to undeceive this murmuring Crew, by Commanding them on the Expedition with Duke Schomberg, or Count Solmes; that they may see the Country they so much despise, and be convinced how little Reason they had to undervalue it. And I am humbly of Opinion, that it would conduce much to the regaining that Kingdom, if the King would think it fit, to employ the Gentlemen of that Country upon that Service. It is not to be imagined, how far Loyalty, whetted with self-Interest, will go, or what Exploits may be performed by such as fight with a double Courage, to serve the King, and to recover their Own.  
Thus far I have pleaded for my Country, let me now be a Suitor for myself. If a glowing Zeal, for Religion; an anxious Sympathy with my Friends; and a pungent sense of my own Sufferings have transported me into any Impertinency: I humbly implore Pardon from the Honourable House of Commons, for the Rudeness of this Address.  
George Philips.   

The Interest of England in the Preservation of Ireland.  
From these Considerations.  

I. The Advantage to the Kingdom of England in general. 

1. By the Revenue.  
2. The Fertility, and Plenty.  
3. The Number.  
4. The Religion.  
5. The Consanguinity, and Assinity.  
6. The Employments Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military.    
II. The Advantage to the Trade of England. 

1. By the Situation.  
2. The Exportation.  
3. The Importation.  
4. The Ingenuity of the Inhabitants.  
5. The Benefit to the KING.    
III. The Danger of falling into the Hands of the French. 

1. By Engrossing all Trade.  
2. By Intercepting the Trade of England.  
3. By Interrupting the Peace of England.      

THE Interest of ENGLAND, IN THE Preservation of IRELAND.  

The Introduction.  
THERE were two things which mainly contributed to the Ruin and Desolation of Ireland, and reduced it to that deplorable Condition, under which it now languisheth; Resistance, and Nonresistance. The latter sprung from a fond and tame submission to the Arbitrary Government in Ireland; the other was occasioned by a vain and fruitless Expectation of Relief from England. If the People of that Country had not been over-lavish in their Loyalty, they had not been so unfortunate in their Opposition. In the Reign of King JAMES, they were unreasonably passive; in the Reign of King WILLIAM they have been unprosperously active. Strange Fate! To be Losers by the One, and not to be Gainers by the Other! To be possessed of their Estates under a Popish Prince; and to be kept out of them under a Protestant! Had they been independent, and trusted to their own Legs, possibly they had stood firm at this Day: but they are miserably overthrown, by leaning too much on their Supporters. If there were any room in our Church for Merits, the Protestants of Ireland would be entitled to a great Stock, for suffering under King JAMES; and for acting under King WIELIAM: but alas! they are despised for the one, and derided for the other: so difficult a matter it is to walk steadily upon the uneven surface of sublunary Places; here you encounter a Precipice, there a Quagmire: That very way which seemed the direct Road to Safety and Tranquillity, may perhaps lead you into inextricable Troubles, and often ends in certain Misery and Destruction.  
When the Late King (in pursuance of his Design to subvert that Church, which He complemented with the Character of Loyalty, and as solemnly promised to defend and support it) was so far distracted by pernicious Counsel, to prostitute the Kingdom of Ireland to the licentious Will of a Jesuitical Tyranny; and to make an Essay of settling that Idolatrous Worship there, which was too early, and unseasonable for Him to attempt in England: when the Sword was put into the Hands of a bigoted Zealot, and more than a million of British Protestants subjected to the Dominion of an Irish Papist; there was no Murmur heard, no mutinous Whispers spread abroad to discompose the People, or affront the Government: men sighed, and submitred; they groaned, and gave Obedience, with a patiented Resignation to the Will of God, and the Commands of the King: The Protestants through the Kingdom were disarmed; the Officers of the Army were divested of their Commissions; the Soldiers disbanded and cashiered, stripped and disarmed, without demanding a Reason for such unwarrantable Deal, or disputing the Pleasure of their Superiors: the Papists were obtruded into the Privy Council, and Chief Ministry of State; all Justices of the Peace were superseded, who did not carry the Mark of the Beast: the Public Revenue committed to such Hands, as would surely employ and improve it to the final extirpation of Heretics; yet all things proceeded in a silent Calm, without Noise, or Grumbling: where Mass houses were erected, and publicly frequented; no man offered to pull down their Altars: where the Friars walked the Streets in their uncouth Habits; no man threw Dirt at them: the Popish Religion was prohibited by Law; yet never contravened by Force: The People abominated that Superstitious Way; yet never expressed their Resentments by Rage, or Discontent: The Charters of their Towns and Corporations were condemned and vacated; yet no spark of Sedition was kindled among the Inhabitants: The famous Act of Settlement was daily eluded; Possession and Property were no sufficient Guard against Irish Encroachments; yet no man incurred the Penalty of a forcible Deteiner: the Doctrine of Nonresistance (which was so frequently preached in other Places) was there actually and really practised; and Obedience) if there be not a Contradiction in the Terms) was truly passive. Thus posting themselves under the Covert of Privacy, and Retirement, they silently expected a Day of Deliverance from the Appointment of Heaven, without the interposition of any Humane Machinations.  
In this Posture Affairs stood in Ireland, during though short (if it had not been sharp) Reign of King JAMES: and so probably they had continued, at least for some time, after the miraculous Revolution in England. But He, having Abdicated the Government, and deserted the Throne, and unnaturally trucked One Kingdom with that Christian Monster of Turkish Barbarity, for the empty Hopes of repossessing the other Two; it seemed convenient to his Irish Bashaw, and the Jesuitic Cabal, to make sure of a retreating Place, and that of Necessity must be Ireland; which having formerly been given to the Pope, and by him transferred to the King of Spain, must now be sold, or mortgaged to the French Usurper; to facilitate whose Entry by removing all Obstacles, the present Possessors must be put out of Doors, that so Livery and Seisin might be given, in imitation of the due Form of Law. Hereupon Plots were invented; several Protestant Gentlemen were committed to Prison, Indicted, and Tried for their Lives; abundance of Commissions were issued, and the Army multiplied into many Regiments of Horse and Foot; for whose Entertainment, there being no Fund of a growing Revenue, the Goods of the Protestants were consigned to their subsistence; which they did not pilfer by Night, but drove away whole Flocks and Herds at Noonday; and in case of Resistance, securing their Prey by the Murder of the Owners. Thus the Province of Munster was exposed to a Military Execution: Conaught was entirely plundered; and had not the Gates of Londonderry been opportunely shut, when a Regiment of Irish were ready to enter it, all Ulster had been under the same Fate, and probably had been followed by an Universal Massacre. But the surprising News of the Prince of Orange's Adventure, and the total Exclusion of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England, awakened the Protestants in Ulster to stand upon their Guard; and animated them with an Assurance, That their Redemption was drawing nigh; flattering themselves with a Confidence, That as they were under the Laws of England, so they should be no less under their Protection. They firmly believed, that the same methods would be taken in Ireland, which had been so successfully practised in England; every puff of a fair Wind, revived them with a smiling expectation of Succour; they were eager to retrieve their drooping Religion from the Jaws of Death; and ready to rally under a Protestant Standard; their Numbers were very considerable, and their Courage great; but they were naked and undisciplined, they wanted an Expert Leader; and no Aid appeared to support them: The Deputy having too sure and quick Intelligence of the Transactions in the Court of England, and the dilatory Proceed there, poured a mighty Army into the Bowels of Ulster, who rifling the deserted Houses, seizing and carrying away all portable Goods, and exercising all Cruelty on such as did not submit to their Protection, they marched (or rather chased the affrighted People) without Interruption, till they received a slight Check at Colrane, and were shamefully baffled at Londonderry. But all the Towns and Forts through the Kingdom (except that sturdy place, and its neighbour Eniskilling) being Garrisoned by Papists, no Arms nor Horses permitted to remain with any Protestants, (whose enjoyment of their Lives was wholly precarious, and reversible at the will of merciless men); all things concurred to advance the long-hatched Design, which now began to ripen; and King James, with a Rabble of French Reformers, intermixed with a sew Renegado-English and Scotch, landed among his dearly-beloved Irish Catholics, where he remains under Pupilage to the French; He the Reputed King, and Monsieur d' Avaux the Protector.  
I need not place any Remarks upon the supine Negligence and fatal Indifferency demonstrated by England in their cold Concernment, and slow Motions toward the Recovery of Ireland; it is obvious to every eye; and if any have been wilfully accessary to the Ruin and Depopulation of so flourishing a Kingdom, everlasting Vengeance will pursue them: I wish the good People of England may see in the Mirror of our Misfortunes, that Scheme of Misery and Confusion which was prepared for them, and which assuredly will be reacted on their Theatre, if ever the French and Irish be permitted to tread the Stage. To undeceive that giddy sort of men, who think to gather Grapes from Thistles; to enjoy the Profession of the Protestant Religion under a Popish Ring, and the Administration of Jesuits; to continue in Peace and Safety in this Kingdom, if the other be torn from it; I offer the following Considerations; which, weighed impartially, may help to convince all sorts of men, That it is not only the Interest of England to preserve Ireland, but that it is necessary for their self-preservation to use all imaginable Industry and Expedition to reduce it to its former State and Condition.   

I. The Advantage to the Kingdom of ENGLAND in General.  
I Expect to be absolved from the Imputation of Flattery and Partiality, when I take upon me to make this asseveration; That nothing out of England doth, or can rationally conduce more to the Honour, Wealth, and Prosperity of that Kingdom, than the Addition and Conjunction of Ireland: A Country abounding with all things that contribute to Pleasure and Comfort, and richly endowed with the Blessings of Heaven and Earth; situated by Nature as a Postern-gate to England; by which she may discharge all manner of Commodities which are supernumerary or unnecessary, to the great encouragement of Navigation and Trade; and through which an entrance is given for a continual supply of such things as the One may stand in need of, and the other may conveniently spare.  
I shall endeavour to make good this Assertion, by subdividing this Consideration into the following particulars.  

1. The Revenue.  
2. The Fertility and Plenty.  
3. The Number.  
4. The Religion.  
5. The Consanguinity and Affinity.  
6. The Employments Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military.   
I propose these as so many irrefragable Arguments, to convince the World, That the Kingdom of Ireland has not only a Selfsufficiency within it to subsist without dependency, and to grow rich by its own peculiar Traffic; but also, that by being annexed to England, subjected to the Government, and incorporated into its Religion and Laws; it extends the Dominion, strengthens the Hands, and augments the Wealth of that happy and renowned Nation. First, let us take notice of the Revenue.  

I. The REVENVE.  
The Revenue of Ireland was under a sensible declination from the commencement of the late King's Reign, occasioned by the daily Decay of Trade, and that by the discouragement given to Protestants, through whose hands almost the whole Commerce and current Money was wont to circulate; and at length was so visibly impaired, that in the year 1688. the Public Treasury was utterly exhausted; and I have no reason to believe that it has since that time been recruited by any considerable Imbursements, (for I suppose the French Money is in a Treasury distinct, and issuable only at the discretion of the French Dictator, whose Orders are not to open his Treasure, till they land in England:) Therefore I deduce my Remarks from the latter end of the Reign of Charles the Second, about which time the Public Revenue was managed by Commissioners appointed by the King, by whose Diligence and Application it was notably improved; and it consisted in divers Branches, as, 

Crown-Rents.  
Quitrents.  
Customs and Excise.  
Inland-Excise.  
Hearth-Money.  
Wine and Ale Licenses.  
Fines and Forfeitures.  
First-Fruits, etc. of the Clergy.   All which did amount, communibus Annis, to about Three Hundred and forty thousand Pounds.  
Out of this Fund was derived the Maintenance and Pay of an Army, consisting of seven Regiments of Foot, three of Horse, and one of Dragoons: Exhibitions to the Judges sedent, and itinerant, and to all other Officers of the Civil List: a noble Allowance to the Chief Governor, a competent Salary to the Lord Chancellor, and all the Officers of State: a large Provision for all other Charges necessary, or contingent: and upon the Audit of the whole Receipts and Disbursements, a very considerable sum remained, most of which was remitted into England, some disposed of in Ireland, for Pensions, Secret Service, and other Occasions, at the King's Will and Pleasure.   

II. The Fertility, and Plenty.  
Ireland doth abound with an Exuberance of Plenty in all things conducing to a pleasant, and comfortable Living. The Ground, without the Midwifery of humane Art, brings forth Grass for the , and Herbs for the use of man in great Abundance; but where the Husbandman hath clubbed his Invention and Labour, it is rather luxuriant, rendering a mighty Increase of all sorts of Grain, very sound, and very good Indeed, Nature hath opened her Stores, and, like a kind Mother, hath liberally bestowed her Blessings on that Island; The Earth seems to stand in Competition with the Water for the Pre-eminence: the one overloaded with its own Product; the other, overstockt by its proper Inhabitants: the infinite Store of Corn of all sorts, the pleasant Studds of Horses and Mares, the numerous Herds of , the vast Flocks of Sheep (in most Places exceeding those of England in their Size) is even to admiration: neither do I brag, when I say, that the best Parts of Ireland are in every Respect (except the Improvement) equal to the best Parts in England; and that the worst Parts of it are not so bad and barren as the worst Parts of the other: Or when I challenge England itself to show so vast a Tract of rich and excellent Land lying together, as is to be seen from Carlingford all the way to Dublin, from thence (excluding the Mountains of Wicklow) to Carlow; from thence through part of Queens and King's County, so cross the Shannon, and round by Longford to Roscommon: in which vast Tract of Land, at least fourscore Miles square, there is not so much barren Land, as is to be found in two Shires only in England (and not far from London) Berkshire and Surrey. The Seas are plentifully stored with Fish of all Kind's, and the Markets supplied with such Plenty and Variety, as might satiate the Luxury and Prodigality of Lucullus: the Loughs are filled with Pike, Breme, Perch, Roach, and Trout; but the Fresh Rivers swarm with stupendious Quantities. If men (as justly they may) shall become doubtful, scrupulous, and incredulous, when I make mention of the extraordinary Pilchard-Fishings in the South, and the Herring-Fishings in the North; my Credit will certainly run a great Risque, and my Veracity be suspected, when I relate the Wonders of the Deep, and come to speak of the Prodigious Fishings for Salmon and Eels in the Rivers of Loughfoyl, and the Bann. If men will startle at the Report of six thousand Barrels of Pilchards made in one year upon the Coast of the County of Cork; or to hear, that in some Parts of Conaught they take so great Draughts of them, that, not being provided of Salt to cure them, they lay them in heaps, and manure the Land with them: that (beside the plentiful Fishing of Herrings in and about the Bay of Dublin, the Skerryes, Carlingford, and all the Northern Coast) they have usually made and sent away in one year two thousand Tuns of Herrings from the single Fishing at Dunfanaghan: then undoubtedly they will smile, and ridicule me, when I tell them, That there is made commonly five hundred Tuns of Salmon in a year, in Loghfoyl, and the Bann, and other Rivers in the County of Londonderry; that besides the Royal Piscary of the Bann, there are between Colrane and Loghneagh seventy Salmon-Fishings; that there are the same round about that Lough, which is sixty Miles in Compass; that at the Leap of Colrane, ten Tuns of Salmon have been taken at one Draught of a Net: That the last year at the Grebbin, twelve Miles beyond Londonderry, two and thirty Hogsheads of Salmon were taken at once, and for want of room in their Boats, a great part of them thrown again into the River: That in the Eel-weres, in the River of Bann, fourscore thousand Eels have been catcht in one Night. But I have spoken modestly, and within compass, and there are too many Witnesses (much against their wills) now in England and Scotland, who can confirm the Truth of what I have declared. I am loath to pass by the Salmon-Pound (commonly called the Cutt) near Colrane, because, as I conceive, such another thing is not in the World: It is a great Trough, made like a Tanner's Vat, about fifty foot long, twenty foot wide, and six deep; a Stream of the River of Bann runs through it, and at the Place where the Water enters, a row of Stakes are placed very near together, like a Rack in a Stable; at the other end of the Cutt a parcel of sharp Spikes are clustered together, very close at the Point, and wide at the Head, so that the Salmon (who always swim against the Stream) and other Fish, may get in at pleasure, but can neither return the way they went in, nor get out at the other end; whereby it happens, that on Monday morning (there being a respite to Fishing all Sunday, and none taken out of the Cutt with their Loops) a Stranger would be astonished to see an innumerable company of Fish riding on the backs of one another, even to the top of the Water, and with great ease, and pleasant Divertisement, taken up in Loops.  
All these prodigious Quantities of Fish are but collected for the Use of England; to whose Ports, or to whose Order, they are yearly consigned, and distributed.   

III. The NUMBER.  
Having had no Business, or Employment, which might administer an Opportunity to inspect the Catalogues and Returns of Parishes and Counties, or to view the Poll-Books; it will not be possible for me to make any other than a conjectural Calculation of the Number of Protestant Inhabitants in Ireland. But by a modest Computation I may adventure to aver, That at the beginning of the Reign of the Late King, there were in the City of Dublin, and the Four Provinces, above a Million of British Protestants. I am confirmed in this Supposition by a sad Reflection upon the Passages in the Year 1641. at which time the Number of the Protestants was very inconsiderable in comparison with the Natives; and possibly did not amount to the Half of what they were in 1681. yet even then above two hundred thousand, naked and defenceless People, were massacred in cold Blood, and barbarously murdered without Provocation, or Resistance. I reckon, that when the late Revolution happened, there were two hundred thousand men fit to carry Arms, bound to the Interest of England by the Obligations of Religion, Love, Loyalty and Blood; who may be beneficial in their Service and Aid, when it shall be required; though of late (by the apparent Judgement of God) they have been terrified by them, on whom they always had an awe; routed by such, whose Strength they d●●●…ed; and dispossessed of their Estates, without struggling for their Property.   

iv The RELIGION.  
Among all the pressing Motives, that recommend the Care and Conservation of Ireland, there is no one more cogent, than the Consideration of the Religion there established by Law: which reasonably ought to interess all good Christians in a feeling-Sympathy and Concernment for them; and thereby the People of England have a fit Opportunity, at once equally to exert their Duty to God, and Charity to their Brethren. It is true, the Protestant Religion was not universally professed through the Kingdom, neither were all who were distinguished by that Character, perfectly cemented; the Papists were numerous in every County, (though least of all in Ulster); yet Popery seemed to be rather Hereditary than Elective; to be more the Result of Education, than Judgement; insomuch, as it became like a Logical Property to the Natives, and Papist and Irish man were Terms convertible: So great an Influence has Custom over all the Faculties of Mind and Body; they put on Religion as a fashionable Garment, the Dictate of the Priest warranting the mode; and thick Ignorance inflames their Devotion. Nevertheless the Protestant Religion was predominant; Popery sneaked to the Mountains, and squatted behind the Bushes; the Mass was not known, nor a Friar seen, till by the Influence of the Late King, and the furious Zeal of his Deputy, things were changed as it were in a moment, and all Commands Civil and Military, committed to the Hands of Papists. But when, by the Blessing of God, and the Assistance of England, that poor harassed Country shall be restored to its former State and Condition, it will be a joyful Reflection for their Brethren and Benefactors, to hear of so many Thousand Persons united with them in the same Religion, as in all other Respects and Concernments.   

V The Consanguinity and Assinity.  
The Inhabitants of Ireland, (excluding the Natives of the Land, who always were, and ever will be Thorns in our Sides; and who, since the first Conquest of them, were never able to accomplish that Design which was bequeathed from Generation to Generation, till this late unhappy Juncture) do not derive their Pedigree from Strangers; they are the legitimate Offspring of England and Scotland; there is scarce a Man there of British Extraction, except such as by very long continuance are degenerated into mere Irish, but in one of those Kingdoms will Challenge a Father, Brother, or near Kinsman. They are not estranged in their Language, Habit, Manners, or Customs; they retain the natural Propensions disseminated from their respective Families, and own a filial Reverence to their Countries, as to their lawful Parents (not their Step mothers) who not being able to make a competent Provision for all their Issue at home, have sent some of their Children abroad, to seek for their Livelihood on the other side of the Ferry; where in their Manners and Humour, they bear an exact Resemblance to that Original, whereof they are the Transcript; except only in their profuse Hospitality, and luxurious Consumption of Meat and Drink (to which, perhaps, they are inclined by the Constitution of the Air, or disposed by the Genius of the Country, or tempted by the incredible Plenty and Cheapness of all sorts of Provisions) yet in their Language they have gone beyond their Teachers, having refined the English Tongue from the odd Tones, and uncouth words used in several Counties distant from London; and reform the Scotch from the Clownish Dialect spoken by the vulgar People. So that the People of England are bound in Conscience and common Reason, to regard the English in Ireland, as Bone of their Bone, and Flesh of their Flesh; and the Scots as naturalised and incorporated with them, to sympathise with them in their Sufferings, to participate in their Adventures, and from the Principles of Generosity, as well as the Impulse of Nature, and a prudential Foresight of the same Calamities hover over their Heads, to use their utmost Effort to re-assure that Kingdom in its Appendage to England, and absolutely to eradicate the Irish Papists and all French Intruders.   

VI The Employments, Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military.  
Since England is bounded by the Sea, and cannot be enlarged by the Discovery of any Newfound Land; since the Inhabitants are as fruitful as the Soil, Prolific, and continually multiplying and increasing; since the Vigour and Generosity of their Temper, spurs them on to Business and Activity; and that the List of Places, Offices and Preferments in Church and State, do bear no Proportion with the number of Competitors, Candidates, and Pretenders: It is an unexpressible Benefit and Advantage, that they can so easily enlarge their Quarters, and spread through a Kingdom in Polity Subordinate, but in natural Fertility no way Inferior to that from whence they sprang. I think it very well worth the Observation, That among all the Bishops, Deans, and Dignitaries in the Church of Ireland, (in the first year of the late King) so very few were born in that Kingdom, but almost all of them transplanted from England; so were the Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Baron, Attorney General, and many of the Judges and Officers in the Civil List; by such also, was the Revenue managed. And for the Army, it was perfectly a Detachment out of the several Shires in England. In a word, there did Divines and Scholars get Preferment; Lawyers, Attorneys, and others of the Long Robe, met with Practice and Promotion; Clerks, Accountants, and Men of ingenious Education, were gratified with Employments; the younger Sons of the English Nobility and Gentry, were honoured with Military Commands; and thousands of the meaner sort trained up in the Discipline of War. All which must have met with a Check in their Fortunes, and been subjected to a less generous course of Living, and remained as Shrubs in their own Soil; while by this Transplantation they grow up to tall Trees, shoot out their Branches, and bring forth abundant of Fruit.    

The Advantage to the Trade of England.  
Hitherto I have endeavoured by a few short Hints, to represent the many valuable Benefits and Advantages accrueing to the Kingdom of England in general, by the Conjunction and Preservation of Ireland. I shall now proceed to set down how palpably and remarkably it doth contribute to the Advancement of Trade, which is the Glory, Strength, and Security of the English Nation; the Fountain and Source of the Riches, Wealth, and Plenty, which render it the Envy and Astonishment of all the Neighbouring Kingdoms: and without which, it were impossible to provide Sustenance for the innumerable Company of Inhabitants, wherewith the Country is sufficiently furnished, and the Cities and Towns are absolutely crowded. It is Trade that preserves the Body Pelitick in health, by Recreation and Exercise; by Evacuation and Repletion, carrying off such Things as are unnecessary and redundant, and bringing in a constant supply of whatsoever is useful and profitable. It is Trade that ransacks the Indies, joins remote Islands in an imaginary Contiguity with England, and makes the whole World but a large Mart for Negotiation and Traffic. Trade is the Blood that Circulates in the Veins and Arteries of the Commonwealth, and disperseth the animal Spirits to all the Limbs and extreme parts of the Body.  
This so necessary an Ingredient to the Honour and Felicity of England, has been signally augmented and improved by the Trade of Ireland co-incident with it, will suffer a mighty Detriment by the present Obstruction of Commerce, and will as eminently gain by its Revival and Recovery. The Advantage to Trade arising from Ireland is demonstrable by these Particulars.  

1. The Situation.  
2. The Exportation.  
3. The Importation.  
4. The Ingenuity of the Inhabitants.  
5. The Benefit to the King.   

I. The Situation.  
In the Description of Ireland I might expatiate in recounting the many Benefits and Advantages which it enjoys in Common with her Neighbour Countries, and the several Immunities which God and Nature have indulged to it in peculiar above other Places; in its exemption from poisonous Infects, and noxious Vermin, as Frogs, Toads, Snakes, and Adders, Neuts, Effs, and hurtful Spiders; but above all, in the Freedom from Moles, which are the Epidemical Nuisance of England, and are so sensibly injurious to Orchards, Gardens, Meadows, and Pastures; in a temperate and benign Air; in an infinite number of Fountains, Springs, Loughs (or Lakes) and fresh Rivers; in an incredible store and variety of Land and Sea-Fowls; (among which I would mention the incredible Number of Woodcocks, and how the Parson of Clownish farms the Tithe of the Woodcocks catcht in his Parish at thirty Pounds per annum; where they are generally sold at Twelvepences per dozen; the innumerable Flocks of Swans and Barnacles that haunt the River of Loughfoyl, but that it would exclude the wonder due to the rest.) But because these Privileges are inherent to the Soil, and not communicable to the Use and Benefit of the Neighbours, I shall pass over the further commemoration of those Matters, and apply myself to the Rehearsal of such Particulars only, as render Ireland in its happy Situation a most desirable Country, and highly advantageous in its Accession to the Crown of England.  
Possibly there is not a Country in the whole World so admirably accommodated with convenient Bays, safe Harbours, large Havens, and useful Creeks; and that not only in some Sides and Corners, but quite round the Island. To describe the Harbours of Carlingford, Strangford, the Lough of Carricfergus, Donaghadee, Loghlern, Raghlin, Portrush, Loughfoyl, Lough-swilly, Sheep-Haven, Castledow, Killebeggs, Ballyshannon, Sligo, and Black-Sod in the North and West Parts; Galway, Lymerick, Trallee, Dingle, Kilmar, the Great Bay of Bantry, (including Bear Haven, and many others) Ship-Haven, Crook-Haven, Baltimore, Castle-Haven, Castlemain, the matchless Haven of Kinsale, the noble River of Cork, Yoghal, Dungarvan, Waterford, Slade, Wexford, Arclo, Dublin, etc. in the South and Eastern Parts; beside almost innumerable Creeks, Ports, and commodious Landing-Places, would take up more room than I have allowed to the discharge of this brief Narration; my Purpose is only to mention them, referring the Account of their Beauty, Strength, Security, and Conveniency, to Historians and Geographers. I shall only take notice, that as they are most advantageously placed for the proper Trade of that Kingdom; so they are upon many Accounts a secure Refuge and Safeguard to their Friends and Allies, which is briefly demonstrated in this, that none of the Neighbouring Countries can manage a Trade into the South, North, or Western Seas, but they must be under great Danger of Ireland, if they be Enemies to England, or be beholding to it if they be in Amity; where upon every Turn they may meet with a safe Retreat from Storms and Tempests, and a ready Protection from Pirates and Robbers; it being set as a Watch-Tower in the Sea, within whose view all Ships must come that sail and trade that way to any part of the World; an Island commodiously seated for the Dominion of the Seas, so long as she is in one Interest with England.  
It is beyond the Power of Expression to repeat the Advantages arising to the English Trade by the relief and shelter of the Irish Harbours, where the several Fleets bound for the straits, and for the East or West Indies, or returning from thence, meet with Refreshment and Security from all sorts of Danger. This the Merchants find in their daily Voyages: This the Commanders of the King's Ships can evidence upon frequent Experience; but I shall produce only one undeniable Instance, how highly and indespensably it imports the Safety, as well as Trade of England, to preserve Ireland to themselves: That in the time of King Charles II. when England was embroiled in an unlucky War with the States of Holland, not only a Fleet of Merchantmen, consisting of an hundred Sail or thereabout, bound homeward from the West-Indies and the straits, but also forty Men of War (under the Command of Sir Jeremy Smith) after that unfortunate Business at Chatham, came all into the Harbour of Kinsale, where they continued in that Safety and Security, which they could not promise to themselves in any Harbour or Port of England.   

2. The Exportation of Irish Commodities.  
As Ireland is placed as an Out-guard to watch all Interlopers in the Trade of England, so lately it was a Storehouse and Magazine to furnish it. It sent over yearly vast quantities of Wool, shipped from the several Ports in Munster and Lemster, which mightily supported the Staple in England, by the old and new Draperies, and other woollen Manufactures wrought and made in the West Country: whereby not only a numerous Train of Families were fed and maintained, but an extraordinary addition was made to the King's Revenue, by the Importation of it, when raw and unwrought, into England, and the Exportation of it, after it was wrought, into several Countries, to the great enriching of Merchants and Adventurers.  
The Islands and Plantations in America are in a manner wholly sustained by the vast quantities of Beef, Pork, Butter, and other Provisions of the Product of Ireland: from whence an unspeakable Benefit redounds to England by the vast Cargoes of the Goods of the said Plantations returned thither, and the Great Consumption of those Goods being shipped out of England into Ireland, than which nothing more evidently tends to the enriching the Merchants who trade into those Parts, or to the increase of Shipping, or encouragement to Navigation.  
The mighty Quantities of Tallow, Hides, tanned Leather, Skins of several sorts, Yarn, Hemp, Linnen-Cloth, Coney-skins, and other Furs, yearly shipped from Ireland, and exported into England, supply that Kingdom with the said Commodities at very reasonable Rates (which otherwise would prove excessive dear) to the great conveniency of the Inhabitants in general, and the particular Advantage of the Merchants and such as trade in them.  
The Cargoes of Salmon, Herrings, Pilchards, (and those the best and fairest to be had in any Part of the World) Eels, and other Fish made up yearly in Ireland, and transported into several Parts in Spain, to Venice, and all the Ports in the Mediterranean Sea, would startle common Belief. I have heard from faithful Relation, and I spoke of it before, that in the South of Ireland, they have made in a year near Eight hundred Tuns of Pilchards: A Person of great Quality, (whose Judgement and Credit no man will dispute) did aver to me, that in one Season 16000 l. was paid for the Pilchards taken on the South side of Cork, and the most of it by Sir John Frederic of London. That in one Port in the North, called Dunfanaghan, they have made in one Season Two thousand Tuns of Herrings. And I was told by a very honest and intelligent Person, (who in the Reign of Charles the Second was Collector of the Port of London-Derry) that in that one Place there was shipped off in one Season 450. Tuns of Salmon, 400. Tuns of Herrings, and 80. Tuns of Eels: The Benefit and Profit of all which accrues to the Merchants of England, on whose sole Account almost all the forementioned Commodities are shipped off and sent away, to the great increase of their Shipping, and the manifest encouragement of Navigation,  
These things being undeniable, and perfectly true in matter of Fact, and which I am constrained by the necessity of the Argument to mention over again, it is evident beyond Contradiction, that the Trade of Ireland is of inestimable Advantage to the Trade of England, highly contributing, if not wholly subservient to it.   

3. The Importation of English Commodities.  
The great multitudes of Goods and Commodidities continually exported out of Ireland into England, did not more apparently tend to the Advantage of Trade there, than the continual Importation of all kinds of Wares and Merchandise from thence. The People of Ireland did not deal like Niggard's, or Rooks, to vend and put off the Product of their own Country, and not be instrumental to promote the Consumption of what their Neighbours had to spare; on the contrary they maintained a constant Correspondence, and an universal Commerce, and hugely advanced the Trade of England.  
The Wool which they from time to time sent into England, they received again (and perhaps with it much of the growth there) transformed into the old and the new Drapery, and all sorts of Woollen Manufactures, and thereby doubly advanced the English Trade, by the Outlet, and by the Return, by selling the one, and buying the other  
Silks wrought, and un-wrought; Gold and Silver Lace; Buttons; Ribbons, etc. all sorts of Grocery, Spicery, Haberdashers and Milliners Beware; beaver's and other fine Hats; Tobacco cut and dried, in Rowl, and in Leaf; white Salt; Coals; and many foreign Commodities, were daily and hourly brought into all the Ports of Ireland, being purchased by the Merchants there from the Merchants of London, Bristol, Chester, Leverpool, Plymouth, and other Towns and Cities in England; the Quantities whereof must be prodigiously great, to supply not only the Necessities, but the Vanity and Luxury of so populous and opulent a Kingdom, (the Rate of whose Expenses was no way regulated by the instinct of Thrift, or Parsimony) and consequently the Gains and Profit redounding to the English Merchants must in reason bear some Proportion with the Vent and Consumption; the estimate whereof in a few years is beyond Credit, if not past Numeration.  
I could appeal to particular Men by Name, whose Books and Accounts will justify my Position, that England received incredible Advantage by their Trade with Ireland, and their sensible disappointments in the present Cessation of Trade from thence, do too unhappily confirm it; but I will not do that prejudice to them, to discover the Secrets of their Dealing, or raise a Spirit of Envy at their prosperous Proceed: I honour them for their Ingenuity; I applaud their Industry, and hearty wish them reinstated in their former Course of Traffic, that all Men may be convinced by their Experiment, how advantageously the Trade of Ireland co-operates to the Advancement of the Trade of England.   

4. The Ingenuity of the Inhabitants.  
I am now brought to a hard Dilemma; I must either renounce the Country, from whence I came, or retract my Assertion: For when I go about to illustrate the Ingenuity of the Inhabitants, I confute myself, by a Discourse so void of it. But there is no general Rule without some Exceptions; and I hope that my particular Defects shall not be imputed as a derogation from the Credit of the rest.  
It is an ungrateful Employment to make Comparisons, and I do not in the least intent any unkind Reflection upon the Common People of England, when I allege, that the ordinary and vulgar sort of the British Inhabitants in Ireland are much more Ingenious and quick, more docible, more intelligent in the Laws and Customs of the Country; more active, sedulous and inquisitive; disposed to handle the Sword as well as the Plough, and notably capable to serve upon Juries, and to discharge the Duty incumbent on them at Assizes and Sessions. But I shall only insist on that Qualification which is more proper and pertinent to the Argument in hand, viz. their natural Disposition to Trade, and an undefatigable Industry in promoting it, and all for the advantage of the Trade of England. For the Petty Chapmen, Traders in small Towns, and Country Dealers, are only Hawkers, Procurers, and Brokers for the greater Merchants in Cities and big Towns; and they ordinarily make themselves Factors for the Merchants in England; sending over to them the most Part of what they gather; or bringing back from them the Commodities of England in return of what they adventure, and gain upon their own Account. Thus I have observed the Chapmen in a small Village (belonging to myself) with great Art and Ingenuity negotiating with the Neighbours about them, making up many Tuns of Butter, and Tallow, gathering great quantities of Yarn, Linen cloth, Salt, Hides, and Tanned Leather; which soon after they sell to the Merchants in the next City or Seaport, who either deal by Commission from the Merchants in England, or export them on their own Account, but certainly bring home the Produce, in the Wares and Merchandise of England, (and I know one particular Man, who in one Town in one Season, made up Eleven hundred Tuns of Butter by Commission, and as a Factor for some Merchants there) but which way soever it be, the Ingenuity and Diligence of the Inhabitants of Ireland does indisputably advance the Trade of England, and the whole Labour of the one centres in the Benefit of the other.   

5. The Benefit to the King.  
Tho' I propose the King's Benefit in the last Place, yet it is not the least of my Care and good Wishes; and I persuade myself that the Loyal and Loving Subjects of England will on that very Consideration (if there were no other Motives to incite them) account Ireland worth the keeping, and accordingly will employ their Wealth, and exert their Courage and Strength for the speedy Reduction and Restitution of it. To enforce this, I need produce no other Arguments, than the repetition of what was before remonstrated; That the annual Revenue of Ireland coming into the Treasury and the King's Coffers, amounted to Three hundred and forty thousand Pounds, out of which, beside the necessary Exhibition; for supporting the State and safety of the Kingdom, a very considerable Sum was yearly laid at the King's Feet, therewith to gratify such Servitors and Favourites in England, as the Revenue there would not reach to supply. To which let me add, that though under Charles the Second, the protestant Interest in Ireland received as little Encouragement as could be expected under a Protestant King; yet thriving by their Pruning, taking deeper Root by their being shaken, and growing more strong by their Depression; they had, beyond all Doubt, added before this time a very valuable Augmentation to the Public Revenue, by their Trade and Improvements, had not Popery nipped them, and Arbitrary Power blasted them.    

3. The danger of falling into the hands of the French.  
Let us now reflect upon what has been said, and Re capitulate the scattered Arguments hinted in this abrupt and immethodical Discourse. If neither the sense of Shame, the Pursuit of Fame and Glory, the Influence of Brotherly Charity, the Sympathy with Blood and Kindred, the Respect to Religion, the Acquisition of Wealth, the Support of Trade, the Increase of the Public Revenue, nor the irresistible motive of Self-Preservation, can prove Inducements sufficient to dispose the People of England to a hearty, affectionate, and vigorous espousing of the Protestant Cause in Ireland, by a timely Prosecution of a War there, and rooting out the last Remains of Popery; let us change the Scene, and suppose Ireland subdued by the present Invaders, and become a Province to France, (which God of his infinite Mercy avert) then without all peradventure these mischiefs will inevitably ensue.  
1. The French King having an insatiable Thirst after the universal Monarchy of Europe, and retaining an implacable Resolution to destroy all sorts of Protestants, and utterly to root out that Pestilent Northern Heresy; abounding in Wealth and Treasure, followed by mighty Armies, strengthened by a numerous Fleet of Ships; as nothing in humane Probability can defeat his execrable Designs of Aggrandising himself by the Ruin of his Neighbours, but the scarcity of convenient Ports and Havens in any of his Dominions; so it must be his Principal Aim and endeavour to be Master of Ireland; whereby he will be sufficiently accommodated with excellent good Harbours, in which he may securely place his Fleet, to extend his Sovereignty over the Seas, and opportunely annoy his Enemies.  
2. This being accomplished, not only the Revenue and Trade of Ireland will be utterly lost, the Auxiliary Aid of two hundred thousand Protestants diverted and taken away, and many thousands of them forced to depend upon the Charity of England: the Trade to America, and all the Western Islands will not only be intercepted, but in a short time those Countries be wholly conquered and reduced to the Possession of the French, and annexed to his Dominion, and made a Prey to glut his restless Ambition.  
3. The French King will make Ireland a Magazine and Storehouse for the victualling His Ships, and the Harbours as so many Docks to shelter them, where his Fleet riding in safety, an Opportunity will be given him, not only to engross all manner of Trade, but that of England will be entirely interrupted, if not infallibly destroyed; since no Ships can peep out from thence in their Navigation toward the straits, or to the Indies, but they must pass within view of some Ports of Ireland, or very near them, and consequently must be exposed to the Attacks of that rapacious Leviathan, or be necessitated to sail in great Fleets, and very strong Convoys under Frigates and Men of War, to the inestimable charge of the State, and detriment to the Merchants of England.  
4. Let it be considered, that since Wool and Woollen Manufactures are the ancient Staple of England, and a main support to their trading into all Foreign Countries, if it should so come to pass, that Ireland be alienated from it, which abounds with that Commodity, and from whence it may be exported at far cheaper Rates than can be afforded in England; how unspeakable a Prejudice will it be to the Trade? How will it impoverish the People, and bring an unavoidable ruin on many Towns and Families?  
5. Tho it is to be hoped that the Power of France, with the Addition of Ireland, shall never be able to make a Conquest of England; nevertheless by such an  Neighbourhood, it is more than probable the French King may discompose the Peace and Quiet of Great Britain, when at any time of the year he can transport an Army from Ireland, or land small Forces in North Wales in six hours' time, in South-wales in twelve, or in the space of four Hours in the West of Scotland: And this not to be prevented by the English Fleet, or by all the Art and Contrivance of Mankind.   

The CONCLUSION.  
I wish the People of England may see now in this their Day, what belongs to their Peace, before it be hid from their Eyes; That they may not be deluded by false Glosses, and sinister Interpretations of Public Acts, nor be cajoled by jealous Misprisions and groundless Censures on private Councils: That they may understand, and consider how much their safety and the Interest of the Protestant Religion is concerned and involved in the Fate of Ireland; and that if the Enemy chance to possess the Outworks, the City will be in great danger: That they may not be abused by Chimerical Notions of Obeying without Reserve, or being destroyed without Resistance: That they would rest contented with obtaining their Desires, in being happy under the Establishment of a Protestant King and Queen, and not hanker after a Change, or be bewitched to make a wanton Experiment of Indulgence and Protection under a Popish Government.   
FINIS.