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*citly directed, continue still as hostile to their Protestant મંદ "fellow-subjects (whom they call Heretics) as they were at "the time of the detestable massacre of them in the year "1641. And surely, if this be the case, it ought not to be "considered as a breach of the principles of Toleration and religious Liberty (as many persons have lately called it), "but as a mere necessary act of common prudence, dictated

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by the principles of self-defence, to refuse to admit Roman "Catholics to offices of Magistracy and Power in the State, "without taking the same oath of Abjuration of the Spi"ritual or Ecclesiastical authority of the Pope, which is required of all the other subjects of the Crown (whether "members of the Church of England, or Presbyterians, or Independents, or Anabaptists, or Quakers, or Jews, Turks, "or Infidels) before they are admitted to the same Offices. "I therefore hope the attentive perusal of the Historical "pieces here reprinted which set forth, so fully, the horrid " events that have resulted from the belief entertained by the Papists, both of England and Ireland, of the Spiritual Authority of the Pope, will prevent all the true friends of the present wise and happy settlement of the Govern"ment of this Nation, both in Church and State (which was "made by the Bill of Rights at the glorious Revolution in "the year 1688, and was confirmed by the subsequent Act of "Parliament, passed in the latter part of the reign of the "great King William, for calling the Princess Sophia, Duchess "dowager of Hanover, and her descendants, being Protest"ants, to the succession to the Crown of these Kingdoms) "from weakly giving their consent to so injudicious and dangerous a measure."

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In a note to p. 45, MR. DALLAS steps aside from his Defence of the Jesuits to defend THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN IRELAND; this is however perfectly consistent with his main object. It is impossible that any man who holds up the Jesuits to universal esteem and admiration, can think ill of the Catholic Priests in Ireland.

It had been stated in the "Brief Account of the Jesuits, "that great venality and corruption of morals prevailed in the "Catholic Priesthood of Ireland"-Now, how does MR. DALLAS attempt to confute this? By referring to a favourable character of that body given by a Popish Bishop (DR. MILNER): and does MR. DALLAS really believe that the good character given by that Prelate of his own Clergy, will serve to refute the voluminous and incontrovertible proofs of sedition and rebellion, of bigotry and intolerance, which every man in any degree conversant with the modern history of the Catholic Priesthood in Ireland is acquainted with? But MR. DALLAS calls for these proofs; a volume must be written if they are to be detailed. A few, therefore, must suffice as a specimen.

First, with respect to their Sedition and Rebellion:

The following particulars, from Sir Richard Musgrave's History of the Irish Rebellion in the year 1798, will shew the part taken by the Catholic Priests in that Rebellion. Quigley, a Priest, displayed the greatest activity in preparing the way for this revolt by joining "THE DEFENDERS" (as they were called), who began it, and which body he organized; he passed frequently over to France for his purposes, and was a United Irishman. He was afterwards hanged at Maidstone.

Sir Richard Musgrave further states, that the Popish Clergy (many of whom have been bred in France) never fail to inspire their flocks with admiration of the French nation, and with the most inveterate hatred towards the English, whom they brand with the odious appellation of Heretics.

The same Writer, in the account which he gives of the dreadful Massacre at Scullabogue, in June, 1798, when the Rebels destroyed a great multitude of Protestants, by enclosing them in a Barn, and then setting fire to it, expressly states that the Rebels did not begin to act in that affair, until they received regular orders from a Priest named Bryan Murphy of Taghmon; and he confirms this statement by Affidavits. The whole account of the Massacre at Scullabogue, as given at large in Sir Richard Musgrave's History, is perhaps

one of the most horrid on record-199 Protestants perished there by the fire, or by being shot at the door of the Barn. See the Affidavits of William Fleming, Catherine Poer, Frances Miller, Elizabeth Dobbyn, Michael Askins, and Robert Mills. Catherine Poer, and Frances Miller, both whose husbands were massacred at Scullabogue, were compelled to be christened by the Priests, in order to save their own lives. The Husband and three Sons of Elizabeth Dobbyn were burnt in the Barn; the Rebels broke her collar-bone, and cruelly used her mother, who was upwards of eighty years old. All the above Affidavits shew the Rebellion to have been founded on an abhorrence of Protestants, and a thirst for their blood.

Shaillow, the Parish Priest of the union of Adamstown and Newbawn, was sworn by David Neville to have been active in promoting the Rebellion in Carrickbyrne Camp [see Neville's Affidavit for much valuable information]. Shail low liberated from the Barn at Scullabogue, and saved by his clerical authority, a young man of the name of Lett. Bryan Murphy, the Priest, saved the life of William Fleming, by furnishing him with a regular pass. Roche the Catholic Priest, Commander in Chief of the Rebel Camp at Shievekelta, publicly exhorted the Rebels, in the hearing of Fleming (who made Affidavit of the fact), assuring them, that "they were fighting for their religion, their liberty, and the rights of their ancestors, and that they must persevere;” and Sermons of the same tenour were daily preached by Priests at the head of the rebel columns in their camps. Roche also headed the Rebels in conjunction with Bagenal Harvey at Three Rock Camp, near Wexford; and in a public harangue at Carrickbyrne, he denounced all Protestants as Heretics, in the hearing of a Protestant Gentleman, who was taken prisoner, and afterwards related it to Sir Richard Musgrave, with this additional information, that Bagenal Harvey, the Rebel Chief, who heard the harangue, lamented to him that the war turned out to be purely religious, and that the Priests had got absolute sway. This deluded Chief, Bagenal

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Harvey, was a man of honour and humanity, though aban doned to absurd political speculations: he was filled with horror on hearing of the massacre at Scullabogue, and the day after, issued General Orders denouncing the punishment of death on all who should murder their Prisoners; for which praiseworthy act he was deposed, and Roche the Priest was elected in his stead, as more suited to carry into effect the sanguinary objects of his employers.

Kearnes the Catholic Priest was a Chieftain of the Rebels at Enniscorthy. He, with others, took prisoners Dr. Hill and his Brother, and kept them as hostages; and in the course of the march, said Mass for his brother Rebels, having a broadcross belt, and a dragoon's sabre, under his vestment; and when Mass was over, he publicly exhorted the Rebels, but his drunkenness and ignorance prevented his proceeding to any great length.

When Roche the Priest, the Commander in Chief, was encamped on Lacken Hill, he wrote the following Letter to Doyle, another Priest:

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"Rev. Sir,

"You are hereby ordered, in conjunction "with Edmund Walsh, to order all your Parishioners to the camp on Lacken Hill, under pain of the most severe punishment; for I declare to you and to them, in the name "of the people, if you do not, that I will censure all Sutton's "parish with fire and sword. Come to see me this day.

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"Lacken Hill, June 14th.

"To the Rev. James Doyle."

ROCHE

- Andrew Sheppard, a Corporal in the Irish Artillery, swore, that while a prisoner at Wexford, he was taken out into a small square in the gaol to be shot, and on his being placed against a wall in the square, the Rebels burned priming four times at him with a musket: on which the Catholic Priest John Murphy (who had entered the gaol) cried out, "Let the "Heathen go back to prison, and be damned:"-that on the

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morning of the day that the Rebels marched from the camp of Gorey to attack the Town of Arklow, Murphy the Priest, who was killed at the battle of Arklow that day, ascended a car, and preached a Sermon of exhortation to the Rebels, in which he assured them that they were fighting in the cause of God; that the more of the Heathens (meaning the King's Army) they should kill, the sooner they would go to heaven; and that if any of them died in battle, they would be sure of immediate salvation: that the same Priest took some bullets out of his pockets, shewed them to the Rebels, and assured them that they had hit him at the battle of Gorey, in different parts of his body and limbs, and that they could not do him any injury that he said further in the same Sermon, that he would take the gravel off the road, and throw it at the Heretics, and that he could kill them with it. This witness further deposed, that another Priest of the name of Dixon declared to the Rebel General Roche, that they should take the Town of Arklow in half an hour; that then they should be joined by twenty thousand men; and would then proceed to Wicklow, and from thence to Dublin. He further deposed, that the Rebels, wherever they marched, put to death such Protestants as fell into their hands; saying often on such occasions, that the kingdom was their own, and that there should be but one Religion that the Rebels, on their arrival at Gorey, after the battle of Arklow, put many Protestants to death, though they had served with the Rebels in that battle, and that when they were on the point of executing one Walker a blacksmith, some of the Rebels pleaded in his favor, saying that he had made many Pikes, and fought well with them; but the Priest John Murphy said "that if there was but one drop of Protestant "blood in a family, they ought to put that family to death;" and that the said Walker was accordingly put to death.-See Shepherd's Affidavit, which was sworn before the Lord Mayor of Dublin, on the 7th of September, 1798, and to whose veracity and credibility a Lieutenant General, a Major Gene

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