Molyneux’s Dublin Experiment
Irish government was closely tied to political shocks across the Irish Sea. In June 1683 the Rye House Plot, an alleged plan to kill Charles II and his brother James, duke of York, was uncovered in England. Its discovery unleashed a royalist reaction against political opponents and Protestant dissenters. There is no responsible basis for treating Ireland as a principal theatre of the plot, but its consequences were felt there. The Dublin administration was expected to identify potentially disaffected people, especially those linked by religion, family or correspondence to English nonconformist networks.