WILLIAM AND MAEY. 179

was one of the chief causes of the misery of the kingdom.A Committee of Grievances sate daily till eleven in the evening; ■and the proceedings of this inquest greatly alarmed the Castle.Many instances of gross venality and knavery on the part ofmen high in office were brought to light, and many instancesalso of what was then thought a criminal lenity towards thesubject nation. This Papist had been allowed to enlist in thearmy: that Papist had been allowed to keep a gun: a third hadtoo good a horse: a fourth had been protected against Pro-testants who wished to bring actions against him for wrongscommitted during the years of confusion. The Lord Lieutenant,having obtained nearly as much money as he could expect,determined to put an end to these unpleasant inquiries. Heknew, however, that if he quarrelled with the Parliament fortreating either peculators or Papists with severity, he shouldhave little support in England. He therefore looked out fora pretext, and was fortunate enough to find one. The Commonshad passed a vote which might with some plausibility be repre-*sented as inconsistent with the Poynings statute. Any thingwhich looked like a violation of that great fundamental lawwas likely to excite strong disapprobation on the other side ofSaint George’s Channel. The Viceroy saw his advantage, andavailed himself of it. He went to the chamber of the Lords atChichester House, sent for the Commons, reprimanded them instrong language, charged them with undutifully and ungrate-fully encroaching on the rights of the mother country, and putan end to the session.*

* The history of this session I have taken from the Journals of theIrish Lords and Commons, from the narratives laid in writing before theEnglish Lords and Commons by members of the Parliament of Ireland, andfrom a pamphlet entitled a Short Account of the Sessions of Parliament inIreland, 1G92, London, 1693. Burnet seems to me to have taken a correctview of the dispute, ii, 118. “The English in Ireland thought the govern-ment favoured the Irish too much: some said this was the effect of bribery,

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CHAP.

XJX.

JG93.