T H E . riT, u. 3
Mantle Thrown oiF:
OR, THE
Jfrifljman JDtCfttttU*
I N A
LETTER
From a Gentleman to his Friend in
LONDON
L I C E N S'D,
siugitft the 2 16S9
LONDON,
Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Black Bull in
the Old Baily.M DC LXXXIX.





(?)
^—p—
— —
THE
Mantle Thrown off:
j ? r . .... , v- , . • . • \ .. j
O R, THE
SIR,
I Have heard that it hath been the Imployment
of fome days among the Exiles of Ireland, to
.frame a Proclamation for Pardoning the Irifh
Rebels.
Both the Subject and Authors, I confefi, to me
feem Novel. I hardly thought thofe men that are
up to the Elbows in EngliJhSfhould be treat¬
ed like Children, whopettifbly quambat each others
.Intereli in:their Father, whole Emulous Contenti¬
ons deferve a linaller Chaiiilement. Nor did: I ex-
pe£t to fee lb great Condefcention in ,a as
to advife with every individual man of that King¬
dom, how he may feciire himboth is demonftra-
iion of what we all believed.
God hath fent him to do his own work;, and gi¬
ven him his own Spirit, wonderful in Power, yet
illadowed with Mercy.
A % Which


The Mantle thrown off]
Which however the Irijh can little eithe'r efteem,
or deferve, is well enough known to the
Proteflants of that Kingdom, as perhaps it would
be to thole of England^ if conlidered by them.
I will here in Ibrne few Inftances, give my
thoughts, why it is lb, as briefly as the fubjedt will
admit, referving what more fhould be faid, to a
larger Dilcourle, which I defign on this fub-
jedh
The innate Averfion the ever had to the
glifb, even when Religion and Intereft were the
lame, Hiftory witnefleth.
That when the English were called over by their
own Kings, and fought their. Battles; yet at the
fame time were they murdered by thole whom they
had delivered.
And no Indulgence could ever prevail with them,
to be true to the Crown of , no not Titles
of Honour, Marriages with Grants, and
Imployments from the Crown: ail was (upon the
leaft opportunity) trampled under foot by them,
whole Venom covered all the Antidotes of Clemen¬
cy, Honour, and Profit.
Luft fbmetimes prevailed lo with them, as to oblige
their Grandees, When they could not by indirect
means obtain their latisfaftion, to gain it by Mar¬
riage with the Englijh; and though their delight in
the Beauty and Humour of their Loves was great,
yet could it not reftrain their Inhumane Barbarity
to the Parents of the Child they had in their Bo-
fom. It becomes not the eyes of a Chriftian to fee
the Cha^a&er of thfir Beftiality but they who
are inquificive nfiay -read fame of it in the Hiftory
of Ireland;but greater Examples were in the Re¬
bellion of Forty One. I


Or, the Iriffiman ViJfeSled. $
But they of Ireland, had not fo much as that, when
they committed their Barbarity in Ireland. And to
make them more evidently notorious, their own Go¬
vernment made Proclamation againfi: it, though no
doubt their chief Men fet them under hand upon it,
though it was too lavage, and cruel to own.
But to end this Argument, relating to Scotland,
they are of one Nation, and Intere(l; and his Majeftie's
Mercy when given to fuch, may be laid to extend to
all : For their Religion, Friends and Relations are
in a great meafure univerfal among them, and what
thofe Rebels do, is under a pretended Commiffiony
and may fo be under the Conftru£tion of War, and
then more proper for pardon.
But they of Ireland, not to enumerate particulars,
are in every one of thefe circumftances foreign to the
Brittifh Proteftants there.
I will now trouble you with the reafons that
are perfwafive with one, that this General and Free
Pardon will not prevail, to the end defigned, that
is, for the fpeedy reduction of Ireland. We that
know th<z genius of the Ir/fb, are not ignorant, that
they were never prevailed with by Civilities, and
Indulgence; they are like their Boggs, never to be
trufted to by going gently over, nor fafely but
by cutting your way to the bottom.
If you offer to them either, in War, or Peace, terms
of Accommodation, they think themfelves of the
ftronger fide, and will never fubmit.
I could give feveral Inftances in this prefent Rebel¬
lion, where Gentlemen have fent to fome of their
Grandees upon the alTurance of forme r Friendfhip,
and promifes, of returning whatever kindtiefe was
fhew% at this time .* but their return was nothing:
but infultings, and commanding their Horfesaway ;
B when*


The Mantle thrown off:
when in two or three days after upon a Meflage from
the fame Englijh Gentleman , threatning the lnjh
Don, he had them lent back.
I cannot fee how it will affe£t them to the
general laying down of Arms, but to the contrary
incourage them , in their Rebellion for thefe Rea-
fbns,
Fir ft, If it be an Argument on our fide to haften
the Conqueft, for fear of the French affiftance, or
our other imbroyls, it is the fame on theirs. For
incouragement to hold out, in expe£tation of it.
The Ir/jh Underftanding and Courage is obferved
to be by themlelves underftood, and depended upon,
by negatives: the Enemy fay they are afraid of us,
therefore they know we are wife in Council
and ftrong in Arms; if not, they would never offer
us fuch terms, they have a Proverb, ;
and they conclude he is in that doth.
The next ground for my opinion, is, That the giving
pardon to all that lay down Arms, &c. will be
means to enlarge the War. For no doubt, moft of
the men of Eftates will come in, and be thereby
the more ferviceable to their Party, both as to
giving them Advice, and Intelligence, and alfoMony
which they may receive out of their Eftates, in the
Englijh Quarters, and their Friends of that in the
Irijh.
It feemsa great miftaketo believe, that by taking
away the Men of Eftates from the lnjh, will oblige
the reft to lay down Arms : it will have the quite
contrary effect, and I verily believe^ that the
defire no better than to have them in the Englijb
Quarters.
It makes them confiderable in the Opinion of their
own Party, that they fhould be fo courted, and gives
affurance


Or, the Irifli-man Vijfetted.
aflurance to the common People, that when the worft
is upon them, they have them to go to.
It may be thought a Maxim of War, from the
World of the Moon, that upon a Rebellion the men of
Eftates, and Leaders into it, as foon as they have form¬
ed an Army and headed them, until they had got ait
the Ehgl/fb Eftates, fhould then be invited to Pardon,
and fo wait not only the prelent fuccefs of this, but
for another Rebellion.
And this hath been too much the pra&ice of the En-
glifh Conqueft of Ireland, which proving fo often fatal
to the Englifh, 'tis wonderful the fame meafures fhould
be taken again : It really feems a Licence for the Irtfk
to rebel, thus to pardon them that are only able to call
them to it.
The Populace could never make a head, but by the
afliftance of their Grandees ; but when they are once
in a body, then they are better commanded without
them ; and it is a favour to their common intereft, to
receive them into protection, and prelervation againft
another attempt.
To me it feems more reafbnable to believe the par¬
doning the Populace, and excluding their Command¬
ers, would be a readier way to have the Kingdom gi¬
ven up; for though the lrtfb heads of Clanns influence
the common people, whilft the Lands and Herds fol¬
low them;yet that ceafeth when they are ftript of both*
It was a true Aphorifm of the Bell wether, Neagle, in
his Letter from Coventry, That the Natives of Ireland
followed the Lords : you, and I know it in our own ex¬
perience, how carelefs, and unnatural the common
Irifh of our Province are to their old Lords, when they
often refuled a days labour to them; and however the
common Vogue runs of the command of the old Irifh
Proprietors have over the bchohgues, I never law it but
B 2 where