Excerpt: ... we have been told of your Majesty's great Goodness towards your Subjects, and the Precedent pg 042 you have given of an extraordinary Clemency, in granting them your general Amnesty (some few only excepted, of those whom the Blood of their King, and that of his People, cry aloud to Heaven for Revenge against). We could not but let your Majesty know, that we were extremely surprized to hear, that the Catholicks of Ireland were excluded from that Act of Oblivion, and, by that Means, put into the Number of the ...
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Excerpt: ... we have been told of your Majesty's great Goodness towards your Subjects, and the Precedent pg 042 you have given of an extraordinary Clemency, in granting them your general Amnesty (some few only excepted, of those whom the Blood of their King, and that of his People, cry aloud to Heaven for Revenge against). We could not but let your Majesty know, that we were extremely surprized to hear, that the Catholicks of Ireland were excluded from that Act of Oblivion, and, by that Means, put into the Number of the most criminal ! This News has so much the more excited our Compassion towards them, that we have been informed, that, in all the Changes which have hitherto happened in your Dominions, and in the almost general Defection of your Subjects, none stood more constant to their lawful Sovereign, even in the greatest Streights, than the Catholicks: So that, if they are now branded for their Religion, it may be said, for their Honour, that, in Times past, none could be found readier, or more cheerfully disposed, than they, to serve and assist their Prince; and that with so much Ardour, that their Zeal then for the Royal Family was reckoned a certain Mark of their true Religion. It is for that Reason that we now become their Intercessors to you: For, otherwise, had they failed in the Fidelity they owe you, instead of interceding for them, we would join with you in using them with all imaginable Rigour; and it would never come into our Thoughts to concern ourselves, as we do, for the Catholicks of Ireland; though we were obliged to it, by the last Treaty of Peace made with the Marquess of Ormond, and which was granted them by our Mediation. And, as we are well assured, pg 043 that, since the Conclusion of that Peace, they have done Nothing which can be called a Failure of their Duty to you, we find ourselves under so much the greater Obligation to conjure you, to make good that Treaty to them, in that they religiously observed it on their Side, ...
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