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A47738 Considerations of importance to Ireland in a letter to a member of Parliament there; upon occasion of Mr Molyneaux's late book: intituled, The case of Ireland's being bound by Acts of Parliament in England, stated. Printed anno 1698. Leslie, Charles, 1650-1722. 1698 (1698) Wing L1125; ESTC R216404 9,161 10

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over me which he Claims And such sort of Submission no doubt there is and has been so Rul'd in all Ages and Cases Therefore the present Enquiry is Whether this Submission of the Parliament of Ireland be of this sort or not And what shou'd hinder it For here is a Submission and intire Obedience of Two Parliaments in Ireland to a Right and Jurisdiction which the Parliament of England does Claim over the Kingdom of Ireland And what can be an Owning of this Claim of the Parliament of England if this be not Here is no Caveat or Reserve put in by the Parliament of Ireland to save this Jurisdiction now Claim'd and put in Practice by the Parliament of England from being a Precedent for the Time to come But as Mr. Molyneux Words it an intire Obedience paid to the Jurisdiction of the Parliament of England Suppose a Man Claims a Paramount Right to my House and Estate and Pretends That I am but his Steward or Baily and hold only at his Pleasure And in pursuance of their pretended Right shall issue his Orders to me Limiting me what Servants I shall keep and Admit such and such for Tenants and no other And if I pay intire Obedience to these Orders without the least Interposition in behalf of my own Right and shou'd Execute these Orders as his Orders and not at all as my own or as deriving any Authority from me will it serve to say afterwards That this was purely Voluntary in me and that I only did what I had a mind to do my self Wou'd such an Excuse pass Wou'd it not appear extreamly Ridiculous But especially if I durst not make any such Excuse for my self only another pretended this for me The Parliament of Ireland has not Adventur'd to say any Thing of this in their own Behalf to enter the least Protest or Salvo for their own Rights and Independency upon the Parliament of England Therefore what is said on their Behalf by others not any way Authoriz'd by them cannot be taken as a keeping up of their Claim It is none of their Act and as they are not Answerable for it neither can they keep any Advantage by it The next Thing Mr. Molyneux Advances in Behalf of the People of Ireland to save their Rights from the Consequences of this Act is Page 113. Where he says That the Right of being Subject only to such Laws to which Men give their own Consent is so inherent to all Mankind and Founded on such Immutable Laws of Nature and Reason that 't is not to be Alien'd or Given up by any Body of Men whatsoever This strikes at the Power of the Irish Parliament to Give up the Rights of the People of Ireland as they have done by their intire Obedience to this Act of the English Parliament And this upon two Considerations First As supposing that the People never meant to Give up their Rights so intirely to their Representatives in Parliament as to Impower them to Betray them and Deliver them up to whom they thought ●it And therefore That any such Act or Concession of the Parliament is Void and not to be Own'd by the People Secondly That supposing the People had Granted their Representatives such a Power yet that the Grant was Void because that it was not in the Peoples Power to make such a Grant as being against the Immutable Laws of Nature and Reason I will not enter upon the Disquisition of these Topicks as being equally against the Power of all Parliaments as well in England as in Ireland And the Recurring to the Original Rights of Mankind antecedent to all Constitutions and Frames of Government carrys with it such long Consequences as I am not willing to meddle with at present But shall content my self with this which seems to be granted by this Argument That as far as it is in the Power of a Parliament to Give up the Rights of a People so far has the present Parliament of Ireland Given up the Rights of that People to the Parliament of England by their intire Obedience to this Act. And what Other or Better way there is for a People to Give up their Rights than by their Representatives in Parliament I leave it to the Learned to Dispute I am sure it is a more Authentick way than what Mr. Molyneux does next lay the Stress upon p. 114. viz. The general Application of the Chief part of the Irish Protestants that were at that time in London to the Parliament at Westminster for obtaining these Laws Which he wou'd improve to infer a Consent of the People of Ireland But this can never do For First This can in no Sense be Constru'd so Regular and Authorized a Representation of the People of Ireland as a Parliament freely Chosen and sitting in Ireland Secondly The Application of these Irish Protestants in London to the Parliament at Westminster for obtaining of these Laws was a Giving up of the Cause and Acknowledging this Contested Right of the Parliament of England over Ireland as much as was in these Irish Protestants Power to do it And I am sure some of them were minded of it at the same time And withal told That it was to no manner of Purpose For that if K. James of whom they were afraid should Return and should think fit to Assert the Laws made in in that Parliament he held in Ireland the Repeal of them by a Parliament in England which he did not Acknowledge would signify nothing And till he did not Return they were in no Danger of those Laws made to their Prejudice in his Parliament But they have Verify'd the Proverb Too Fast too Loose And would not Rest till they had Given this Precedent against Themselves The rest that Mr. Molineux says to save this Act Appointing the New Oaths from being a Surrender of the Rights and Liberties of Ireland is only by way of Complaint P. 114 115. That if some such Considerations as these before-mentioned may not Plead for Vs says he we are of all his Majesty's Subjects the most Vnfortunate Then he Appeals to the King's Justice to Protect the Rights and Liberties of Ireland and of their Parliaments as of England and Scotland c. But he may be told That Justice does not Relieve any but Infants and Idiots against their own Act and Deed. And that the Question is not now What Rights the Parliaments of Ireland had Formerly which Mr. Molineux has made appear Plain enough but whether they have not Surrendred them Particularly by their intire Obedience to this Act of the English Parliament Appointing the New Oaths and Abrogating the Old Enacted by Acts of Parliament in Ireland Let me here take Notice of the Difference betwixt the Two English Acts the one for Imposing the Oaths in England and the other for Imposing them in Ireland This Latter has set such Prodigious Penalties more than the Former as plainly shew the Difference they make twixt the Condition of Subjects