the Common-wealth of England which by vertue of that conquest have therein Placed Garrisons and English Colonies according to the Roman Rule to contein them in subjection peace and union But to apply my Pen to the other rule which is the union by laws and though it is in the power of the Conqueror at his pleasure to alter and change the laws of the conquered Kingdom Cok. L. 7. Calvins case f. 17. and that without a Parliament as Edward the first did by his Charter of Rutland but until he doth make an alteration of laws the ancient laws of that Kingdom do still remain yet certainly it is the greater victory to alter and change the Laws of the conquered with their consent that there may be a more intimatc and intire union between them And therefore did the Parliament in December 1651. to the end that the people of Scotland should be united with the people of England into one Commonwealth and under one Government send Commissioners into Scotland to invite the people of that Nation unto such an happy union who proceeded so far therein that the Shires and Burroughes of Scotland by their deputies appearing at Dalkeith and again at Edenborough did accept of the said union and assent thereunto which was seconded by the late Protector of the Commonwealth of England who by the advice of his council ordained April 5. 1654. That all the Dominions of Scotland of the Isles and Territories thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby incorporated into constituted and confirmed one Commonwealth with England and in every Parliament held successively for the said Commonwealth thirty persons shall be called from and serve for Scotland which Ordinance was confirmed by the Parliament in the year 1657. So many Knights and Burgesses as before was expressed who were called and summoned according to the said Ordinance were admitted to sit in the said Parliament and did vote joâ—n with the English in the making and enacting of Laws which Laws so made or hereafter to be made by them in Parliament do bind and oblige the Commons of Scotland as well as the Commons of England because the Knights and Burgesses of both Countries being chosen by the Assent of the Commons of either Countrey do represent the estates of the several and distinct Commons of either Countrey And therefore as St. German saith every statute there made Doct. Slud li. 2. c. 46. is of as strong effect in law as if all he commons were then present personally at the making thereof There are many more particular clauses in the aforesaid Ordinance contained which concurr to the more full effecting of the said union all which I refer to the consideration of the supream council of this Nation And though the constitutions of the countreys of England and Scotland be such that there can hardly in all things be such an obsolute reconciling and uniting of their laws no more then there hath been between other country's subject to the obedience and allegiance of the Kings of England as Normandy and Aquitany had several lawes different to the lawes of England Garnesey and Jersey have yet their several lawes which for the most part were the antient lawes and customs of Normandy Kent and Cornwall have also their several Laws and customs and so hath the county of Palatine of Chester yet do not these several Laws make any differences in matter of subjection and obedience and are no markes of disunion or several allegiances Howsoever as Sir Francis Bacon saith Discourse of the union of England and Scotland it is to be wished that the Scottish Nation was governed by our Lawes which with some conducement are worthy to govern if it were the world or else that Scotland be in the like degree and conditions with Wales as hath been for many hundred years those Laws and customs onely being in force which are reasonable and agreable to the Laws and customs of England for it is a matter too curious to extirpate all particular customs which are consonant to reason and it sufficeth that there be a uniformity in the fundamental Laws For language it is not needful to infist upon it because both Kingdomes are of one language though of several dialects and the difference is so small between them as Sir Francis Bacon saith Ibid. that it promiseth rather an enriching of our language then a continuance of two so as it may seem convenient that as they Originally participate of one language they should likewise be under one Government as heretofore by antient Histories they are reported to have been which is now revived and like to continue the premised Roman rules being observed But now to waft Englands conquering forces over into Ireland which though it was first conquered is placed in the Arrear for that it is more remote and separated from it by the Sea yet is it by Ptolomy stiled Britaunia Minor as an adjacent Island and is another Brittain as Brittain is said to be another world it being not inferiour to any part of Britanny for affinity and fertility as Tacitus solum Coelumque ingenia haut multum a Britannia differunt Vita Agr. And indeed is endowed with many dowries of nature with the fruitfulness of the soyl and plenty of all provision with the ports the quarries the woods and other worthy materials But yet it is under question what King first subjugated that Island Sir Edward Coke maketh mention of an antient Charter of King Edgar Cokes pre l. 4. 4th Book of Reports in which he blesseth the altitonant and omnipotent God for all his victories and that he had subjected all the Kingdomes of the Island of the Sea unto Norway with their fiercest Kings and the greatest part of Ireland with its most noble City of Dublin to the Kingdome of England and Henry of Huntington saith there were five Kingdomes in Ireland of which the great or greatest part was conquered by King Edgar Gambd Britttan â— which Cambden also affirmeth Quod maximam Hiberniae partem devicit yet because Henry the second made a more absolute conquest of it the honor of that conquest is ascribed to him and was the first was intituled Rex Angliae Dominus Haberniae and as Henry of Huntington Historieth it at his Arrival with a potent Army into Ireland the King of Cork the King of Limmerick the King of Oxery and the King of Meth submitted themselves to his summons recognizing him to be totius Hiberniae dominum only the King of Conagh stood out which Pope Alexander confirmed to him and his Heirs and which afterwards by his power was possessed and detained by English Colonies Yet was there no alteration of their Lawes till the reign of King â—ohn who as Sir Edward Coke saith 〈◊〉 the twelfth year of his raign went â—â—to Ireland and there by advice 〈◊〉 grave and learned men in the â—â—aws whom he carried with him 〈◊〉 a Parliament de
the Parliament of England to do this homage And escuage was first invented for them and the Scots as Ployden saith against whom War was made by the Kings of England as rebels not as enemies for that they were subject to England and were within the Sea And so those of Wales were subject to the King of England Vide Ploid fol. 129. B. though they were not parcel of the body of the Realm of England And hence was it that Henry the third upon the often revolts of the Welch endeavoured to assume the territory of Wales as forfeited to himself and conferred the same upon Edward the Longshank his Heir-apparent who took upon him the name of Prince of Wales yet could not obtain the possession or any profit thereby for the former Prince of Wales continued his government for which cause between him and the said Edward Wars did rage whereof the said Edward complaining to King Henry his Father An. 1257. fol. 914. who made him this answer as Mathew Paris reciteth it Quid ad me tuâ— terra ex dono meo est Exerce vires primitivas famam excita juvenilem de caetero timeant inimici c. What is your territory to me it is of my gift Advance your primitive forces stir up your juvenile renown and as for the residue let your enemies fear you c. which according to his Fathers Heroical incouragement he fortunately enterprised for as the Comaedian to that purpose Vt quisque filium suum vult esse Terent. ita est And not long after sundry Battails were fought between the said Edward both before and after he was King of England with Leolan the last Prince of the Welch blood and David his brother until both the said Prince and his said Brother were overcome by the said Edward after he was King of England who thereby first made a conquest of Wales and afterwards annexed it to the Crown of England The territory of Wales being thus united the said King Edward used means to obtain the peoples good will thereby to strengthen that which he had gotten by effusion of blood with the good will and affection of his subjects who promised their most harty and humble obedience if it would please the King to remain among them himself in person or else to appoint over them a governour that was of their own Nation and Countrey Whereupon the cunning King projecteth a pretty policy and sendeth his Queen being then great with child into Wales where she was delivered of a Son in the Castle of Carnarvon The King thereupon sent for all the Barons of Wales and remembred them of their submiss assurance tendred according to their former proffers if they should have a governour of their own countrey and who could not speak one word of English whose life and conversation no man was able to stain or blemish and required their offered obedience whereunto they yeilding the King presented unto them his said Son born at Carnarvon Castle whom thereupon the Barons unanimously embraced for their Prince and afterwards made their homage to him at Crester Anno. 29. Edw. 1. as Prince of Wales And though the Welch Nation do not willingly acknowledge the aforesaid conquest but refer it rather to this composition yet as Sir John Davis saith Edward the first made a conquest of the Dominion of Wales Davys vep fol. 41. B. as it is expressed in his charter or statute of Rutland where it is said Divina providentia terram Walliae cum incolis suis prius nobis jure feodali subjectam in proprietatis nostrae dominium convertit coronae Regis nostri annexit And thereupon according to the course and power of conquerours as the same Author saith he changed their Laws and customs as it is also expressed in the said charter or statute For as to the Laws and customs he saith Quasdam illarum de concilio procerum regni nostri delevimus Quasdam correximus etiam quasdam alias adjiciendas faciend as decrevimus c. Some of them by the council of the Peers of our Realm have we expunged some have we corrected and also some have we determined to be made and added and as another saith divided some parts thereof into shires and appointed Laws for the government of that people Yet though the King had gained the property of that Kingdom and that the Inhabitants of it de Alto Basso as it is recited in the said charter had submitted themselves to his will yet it appears that he did admit all those who would be ruled and governed by the common Law of England which he had established among them by the said charter to have Frank Tenement and Inheritance in their Lands for there he prescribeth a form of the writ de Assize de novel disseisin de mort Dauncaster de dower to be brought of Lands in Wales according to the course of the common Law of England and when they wanted a writ of form to supply the present case they used the writ Quod ei deforceat 2. E. 4.12 A. Thus was the Dominion of Wales united to the crown of England by the valour and wisdome of Edward the first and the principality of it hath constantly since appertained to the Eldest Sons of the Kings of England Ployd Com. fol. 126. B. as Ployden saith from all time that there hath been a Prince of Wales or as Sir John Doderidge to the eldest Son or the next succeeding Heir For Henry the third first made Edward the first his eldest Son Prince of Wales and gave to him the Dominion and dignity of it and also Edward the second after he was King of England created Edward the third in his life time Prince of Wales and the Lady Mary eldest Danghter of King Henry the eight Doderidge principality of Wales fol. 39. and afterwards Queen of England did carry the title of Princess of Wales Et Sic de Similibus Yet notwithstanding this conquest by Edward the first and general submission of the Welch were there divers insurrections fomented by them against the former established Government and especially one which happened in his Raign raised by Rice up Meredick who rebelled against the King upon which all the lands of the said Meredick were confiscated as forfeited and seised by the said King Doderidge Prince of Wales fol. 8 and nominally given by his successour Edward the third to Edward the black Prince Prince of Wales for his better maintenance and honourable support and though after the death of the Father they assisted Edward the second his son in his Wars against the Scots Herbert Hen. 6. and got victories for Edward the third and stood firm during all the differences in this realm to his Grandchild Richard the second yet when the unfortunate and fatal Wars happened between the two Houses of York and Lancaster the Welchmen fell from their fidelity to the Crown hoping upon that disasterous
have the benefic of the English laws for things done in Wales as the English shall have for things done in England and by a Quodei deforceat the Welch shall take advâ—ntage of all actions real aswel given by the common law as the statutes of this Realm Vide Com. Ployd Beckleys case Fo. 128. Fo. 129. and befides because the Welch use a speech nothing like or consonant to the Mother tongue used within this Realm that some rude and ignorant people did make a distinction and diversity between the subjects of this Realm and the subjects of the other whereby great division variance did grow between the said people as in the preamble of the said act is expressed therefore more naturally toconjoyn those dissonant Nations as well by Language as by Laws it was also by that statute enacted that none that use the Welch Language shall enjoy any office or fees within the Kings Dominions but shall forfeit them unles they use the English Language by which exception the Welchmen who before much gloried in the Antiquity and simplicity of their British Language were stirred on to bend their study and practice to the knowledge and pronunciation of the English Dialect To the propriety of which most of them within few years attained and at this day generally affect and use it with delight which hath been an instrumental means of a more amicable union between these two Nations And for the execution of the laws it was ordained that the County of Monmouth formerly being a shire of Wales should be governed from thenceforth in like manner by the same ludges as other shires of England were And for the other tâ— elue shires a speciall Iurisdiction and Officers were ordained yet in substance agreeable after the manner of the English laws And finally by that Statute Gavelkind and all other sinister customes of Wales were abolished but all customes which are reasonable and agreeable to any customes of England preserved For by the same Statute it is provided that a Commission shall issue to examine the Welch customs and that those that shall be found reasonable upon a Certificate of the said Commissioners shall be allowed Davis Rep. f. 40. And accordingly whereas there was a Custome in Denbigh that a Feme Covert with her husband might alien land by surrender and examination in Court Wray and Dyer were of opinion that it shall bind the feme and heirs of the feme as a fine though th feme after issue make such an alienation and die and the reason there given why the custome is not taken away is for that it is reasonable and agreeable to some customs in England for the assurance of purchasers for the title of the Act is for Laws and Justice to be ministred in like form as in this Realm Vide Dyer 363. pl. 26. In like manner was it holden 19. Eliz. Dyer f. 345. pl. 13. that whereas before the subjection of Wales to the Crown of England a man did hold lands of the Prince of Wales by service to go in his War it was no tenure of which the Common Law might take notice for the principality of Wales was not governed by the Common law but was a Dominion of it self and had their proper laws and customs and for that reason when that Countrey was reduced under the subjection of the Crown of England such tenure as was of the person of the Prince of Wales could not become a Capite â—enure of the King of England In this manner and by the means of the said Act of 27. H. 8. were the Welch Nation and the English more entirely united by lows then before of which union ensued a greater peace tranquility and civility and infinite good to the inhabitants of the Countrey of Wales and so continued during the Reign of Six succeeding Kings and Queens until the horrid and irreconcileable War broke out between the King and Parliament wherein the Welch upon changes being always Changelings in the beginning levied Forces in Defence of the Parliament against the KING in which War though a prosperous event succeeded the royal Brigades being totally vanquished and the King himself under the power of the Army yet assumed they unto themselves their ancient animosity and being possessed with a conceit that they were never conquered but by composition now adventured once more to make trial of their Brittish valour under the Commission of Prince Charles and under the command of Major General Rowland Laughorn Colonel Rice Powel and Colonel John Poyer who before had been Commanders for the Parliament and in a warlike and hostile manner possessed themselves of divers Garrisons and Towns against the Parliament and Laughorn being a General of great esteem in those parts raised an Army which in a small time increased to the number of 8000 Horse and Foot which by Colonel Horton who was sent by the Parliament to suppress that insurrection through the assistance of the Almighty was totally routed a great slaughter committed and three thousand prisoners taken with all their ammunition A happy Victory for the Parliament their Forces consisting meerly of three Thousand men and a disasterous commencement for the Welch who nevertheless persisted in their resolution For Laughorn and Powel escaping by flight got to Poyer into lembroke Castle who before kept that strong Hold for the Parliament and now having fortified it with a company of malignants with great courage maintained it against them so great was the danger and difficult the enterprise that Lieutenant General Cromwell himself was sent with some Regiments into Wales to impede the Welch as well from rallying collecting their fugitive and dispersed Forces as to dispossess them of the Towns Garrisons and Castles they had treacherously surprised who first resolved to besiage Chepstow Castle but hastning to Pembrook which was more considerable he left Colonel Eure there who within fifteen days took that Castle and slew Kemish to whom before it had been betrayed But Pembroke Castle was not so facile to be vanquished and by Poyer deemed impregnable who relying on the strength of the place refused all conditions â—he Cromwell not enduring the repulse with an assured confidence besieged it and through the accommodation of Sir Ceorge Ascue who furnished him with great Guns from the Seâ— and all things necessary for a siege forced Foyer and Laugâ—orn at the last being brought to extremist though it had been long stouth maintained by them to surrender and deliver up the Castle without conditions rendâ—ing themselves prisoners at mercy for which deliveries by order of Parliaments publick thanksgiving to God was Solemnized And why should I now expostulate the question with the Welch whether they ever were conquered by the English when as now the best and most knowing of them have ingeniously acknowledged that they were never conquered before Jamque habemus Confitentes victos But what may seem to be the cause why the insurrections of the Welch were so frequent but
our common Laws that as we are one and the same common-wealth so we may be governed by one and the same Laws and they participate of the same honours and priviledges which is the surest means for the consolidation of such a union for the more entire the union is the less apt will they be upon any occasions to break and the imperfection of such a union being oftentimes the Origine and cause of Revolts a direful example of which is recorded in the Annals of the Roman Republick which as it was the best estate in the world so is it the best example which as in the frontispice we have followed so will we not forsake to the end Aneus Martius was the first that conquered the Latins who having by force taken many of their Towns received many thousands of them into the City of Rome as one body but because they were not equally intreated they joyned Armes with the Tarquinians against the people of Rome and though after a bloody battail they were reunited yet was not that union durable because not entire for that the people of Rome had not inserted them in their Tribes nor admitted them to participate of their immunities and honours for which reasons the Latins conceiving themselves to be undervalued and vilified were bold to demand the freedom of the city of Rome and that one of their consuls be of their countrey which being denyed they converted their demands into Armes Yet afterwards being again reconciled upon hopes to be enfranchised first by Fabius Flaccus one of the consuls who attempted the prorogation of the Law though impeded by the Senate and afterwards by Livius Brusus who was also opposed by the people at which exasperated seeing themselves deluded they made an association with the Hetrurians and the Sabius who because they were all by affinity of promiscuous marriages consanguineans and as Florus saith Florus l. 3. c. 18. unum corpus with the people of Rome and that they had augmented that city by their valour and yet were dispised they jointly made War against the City of Rome as well those who lived in the City as those who abided in Italy which was called Bellum sociale but indeed bellum civile Ibid acivil and destructive War both to the people of Rome and the Cities of Italy that as Florus saith Nec Annibalis nec Pyâ—rhi fuit tanta vastatio the devastation and depopulation of Hanniball and Pyrrhus was not soe great such were the fatall fruits of an imperfect union Whereupon the people of Rome instructed by fad experience did condiseend to a more intire union with them and permitted them to participate of the priviledges and honors of Rome being according to their worth preferred and placed in the Senate which Claudius in Tacitus urgeth in the like case for the bringing in of the chiefest of the French into the Senate in these words Neque enim ignoro Iulios Alba Tacit. l. 11. Caruncanios Camerio Portios Tusculo ne vetera scrutemur Etruria Lucaniaque omni Italia in Senatum accites Caeter a quis neseit And needs no application But in this case the sovereign use of the Law hath almost made me to omit the necessity of Arms and to demonstrate how through the insufficiency and debility of English Colonies and the Militia in Ireland a detestable and infernal design was hatched and contrived by the rebellious and bloody Papists whereby all the Forts and Magazins in that Kingdom were to be surprized in one day and all the English Protestants massacred and all Ireland in one day to be lost had it not through the providence of God the very night before been discovered by one only Irish man servant to one Sir John Clotworthy whom Macmahon had unadvisedly trusted with the Plot by which Dublin was saved and the seizure of the Castle the Kingdomes chief Magazine prevented to which purpose many rebels of great note came to the City the day before who upon the apprehension of Macmahon escaped with the Lord Macquire that night to do more mischief with the rest of the conspirators that were that day in all the country round about within two months space murthered 200000 protestanes many of them being by intollerable tortures brought to their end besides infinit numbers who were robbed and spoiled of all they had and daily driven naked and almost famished to Dublin for reliefe with whom the City was soc filled that they were enforced for the preservation of themselves and the lives of their wives children and families to fly for succour into the severall parts of the Dominions of England and Wales O nullo scelus credibile in avo Quodque posteritas negot Sen ' câ— Toyest It equalling if not exceeding in number and cruelty the execrable and perfidious Massacre of the Protestants in France and Paris For Ireland being destitute of a Deputy and military guards Hinc Hiberniae calamitas the Lord Justices Sir William Persons and Sir John Borlace were driven to take those Arms which they found in Dublin and to arm whom they could of a â—â—â—dain to defend themselves and the places near against the approach of the enemy In this dangerous streight and perillous condition did the estates of the English in Ireland stand who for want of a setled station of English Colonies were at the point to have lost themselves and that Countrey for the English were so involved in homebred civil Wars that the Parliament of England for a present aid could send them but twenty thousand pounds and though afterwards they transported some Regiments yet for the space of ten years were they unable to free that countrey from that malignant and pestilent enemy The Trojan Wars being incomparable to it for cruelty for through our daily discords and distractions their cursed cruel crue continually augmented almost to the overwhelming and destruction of the English But when all the malignants were quelled in England and the Royalists debelled in Scotland and that Dublin was besieged by the Irish with a formidable Army and in danger of a surrender General Cromwell was sent by the Parliament of England to relieve Dublin and suppress the Irish Rebels at whose approach Colonel Jones encouraged made an unexpected and suddain sally on the enemy and valiantly repelling them put them all to flight which the General pursuing within a short space bysnarp siedges regained those strong Towns and Garrisons which the Irish had surreptitiously surprized and by degrees cleared the countrey of such seditious Irish as seduced and corrupted the well affected of that Nation and having setled it in peace and safety at his return was honoured with the thanks of the Parliament And now the provident Parliament apprehending it more safe and advantagious to prevent commotions then to suppress them ordained and appointed English Colonies to be deduced into Ireland which they committed first to the charge of Lieutenant General Ireton and after his death to the Marshalling of Lieutenant General Charles Fleetwood who afterwards for his singular care and vigilancy was by the Lord Protector made Deputy of Ireland both of them being successively Commanders in chief of a competent Army and of all the Garrisons sufficiently fortifyed and to strike the more terror into Delinquents they censured the ringleaders of that Rebellion with Capital punnishment Vt poena ad paucos metus ad omnes perveniat Cok. Com. And confiscated all the lands and goods of some and sequestrated others to the use of the Commonwealth by which Roman Model Ireland ever since hath been ruled and preserved in peace and unity the English language also being through continual commerce the common speech among them To draw all to period By this I hope it is made perspicuous that unions of Kingdoms upon conquest upon which basis the most parts of such unions have been founded being purchased by valour are possessed and setled by the sweetness of clemency power of Armes severity of clemency power of Armes severity of Laws and communication of language which is fully demonstrated by that universal union of the Roman Orb as by the particular union of England Wales Scotland and Ireland which is by those means so compleatly perfected and by the prowess and prudence of the Parliament and it's Conquering Champions fetled that as it was worthily vowed by the late King James faciam cos In gentem unam which indeed he did endeavour to have effected so it may be truly averred of the Common-wealth of England Quod fecit cos in gentem unaâ— that it hath made those several Countries one Nation which the premised Roman course being observed may so remain and continue Dum coelum stellae eandem rationem obtinent whilst the Sun and Stars run the same course With this hypothetical caution if union be softred and cherished among our selves and ambitious and envious discord shnaned which as a swelling and eminent Rock â—â—sheth in pieces the firmest commonwealth approaching it which was the ruine of the Roman commonwealth it self as the Venusine Poet. Suis ipsa Roma viribus ruit Hor. e. 15. And therefore let us lay aside all occasions of diffidence and suspition which may breed discord and dissention and remember the animadversion of St. Paul that if you bite and devour one another take heed you be not consumed one of another for humana Consilia Castig antur ubi divinis praeferuntur Thus hath the Author rudely woven a difficult work which deserves a finer thread and a neater Artist yet proposing truth for his end he hopeth it may countenance the simplicity of the stile Cok. li. 10. ep for veritatis sermo simpleâ— and his labour whatsoever it is Tacit. Agr. for the profession of truth aut laudatus aut excusatus erit yet respecting himself he is so far from the imagination of praise that he shall conceive himself favourably dealt withal if he may find pardon for his presumption FINIS
mutation to regain their pristine liberty For as Sir John Baker Hist of England fol. 139. It was always a custom with that Nation at every change of the Princes of England to try conclusions hoping at one time or another to have a day of it and to change their yoke of bondage into Liberty as upon the aforesaid opportunity they began to lift up their hands and heads and under the aspiring command of Owen Glendoer waged a terrible War with Henry the fourth who through the combination and confederacy of the Earl of March and the Lord Firrcy swallowed in his ambitious mind all Wales and the Lands beyond Severn Westwards which were assigned to him for his part but the King being a skilful souldâ—er having ordered and disposed his Army suddenly marched towards the Lords having aâ—â—especial care that they should by no means join with the Welch and so encountering the Lords singly obteined an universal victory and the Welch thereupon abandoned Owen Glendoer who hirking in the Woods was there famished And after the Fate of Henry the fourth Henry the fifth his son knowing the fashion of the Welch Bakers Hist f. 241 that in time of change they would commonly cake advantage to make Inroads upon the borders caused forts and bulwarks in fit places to be erected and placed Garrisons in them for the preventing or repelling any such Incursions yet so prompt and captious were they continually upon the least opportunity to such insurrections Vt nullo modo induci potuerunt as Cambden saith ut servitutis jugum subirent nec ulla ratione res componi Funestissimum inter gentes odium restingui potuit donec Henricus 7. ab illis oriundus salutarem manum jacentibus Britannis perrexerit Henr. 8. eos in parem juris libertatisque conditionem atque nos ipsi Angli sumus acceperit that by no means they could be induced to undergo the yoke of servitude neither by any reason could matten be compounded and the moâ— mortal hatred between those two Nations be extinguished until Henry the Seventh descended of them had extended his soveraign hand to the forlorn Britans and Henry the Eight had received them into the equal condition of right and liberty even as we Englishmen are And indeed Heâ—â—y the Seventh was descended of Owen Tuder who is said to be descended of Cadwallader a Prince of Walâ— wherein the Welch prophecy seemed to them now to be fulfilled that one of the Princes of Wales should be Crowned with the Diadem of Brute which Prince Leolin before vainly aferibed unto himself who therefore was chearfully assisted by the Welchmen to the title of the Crown Herbert H. 8. f. 369 they being desirous according to the former pâ—oposition made by them to Edward the first to have a Prince of their own Nation to rule over them Yet were not the Welchmen fully satisfied with this union but expected a more entire union by laws for notwithstanding the Laws which were established in that Country by Edward the 1. there were 141 Lordships of Marchers which were then neither any part of Wales though formerly conquered out of Wales neither any part of that Shire of England who by the license of the Kings then Reigning Davis cep f. 61. B. had Royall signiories in their severalter itories 9. H. 6.12 152. 11. H. 4.40 and a kind of Palatine jurisdiction and a power to administer Justice to their tenants in every of their territories revoking their own Laws and customs at their pleasure that the writs of ordinary justice out of the Kings court were not for the most part current among them and substituted Officers at their pleasure Herb. H. 8. fo 369. who practised strange and discrepant customs and committed such rapins that nothing was almost safe nor quiet in those parts for by reason of the flight of the offendors from one Lordship to another they had escaped due and condign punishment whereupon the noblest and eldest of that Nation supplicating Henry the eight Herb. ibid. did crave to be received and adopted into the same Laws and priviledges which his other subjects of England enjoyed which moved the King to make the statute of 27. H. 8. c. 26. by which is ordained and enacted that the Principality and Dominion of Wales shall be incorporated united and annexed to the Realm of England altering in many parts the former jurisdiction and Government thereof bringing the same to the like administration of justice as was and yet is usual in England appointing that the Laws of England should take place there and all Welch Laws sinister customs and tenures not agreeing to the laws of England should be thenceforth ever abrogated and abolished and therefore whereas before there had been eight several Shires in Wales besides the County of Monmouth and that some other territories in Wales were then no Shire grounds by reason whereof the laws of England could have no currant passage therein by the said Act there were erected in Wales four other namely the several Shires of Radnor Brecknock Mountgomery and Denbigh by which means the Laws of England there also might be put into execution And further the said Lord Marchers grounds by the same Act were annexed and united partly to the Shires of England and partly to the Shires of Wales next adjoyning as thought then by reason of the vicinity of the place and otherwise most convenient to prevent the perpretating of the aforesaid enormities and odious offences by just and lawful punishments And to make the Union the more honourable and that the noblest of the Welch Nation might participaâ—e of the highest priviledges and chiefest dignities of England according to the Roman precedent it was also ordained that out of the said Shires of Wales there should be one Knight and out of every of the Shire Towns in Wales named in the said Act there be one Burgesse elected after the English manner which Knights and Burgesses so elected and duely upon summons of every Parliament in England returned should have place and voice in the Parliament of England as other the Burgesses and Knights of England used to have And though the said statute doth not make mention of the penalty given upon the Sheriffs false return for such Knights and Burgesses as shall be lawfully elected in Wales and not returned but that those were given by the statute of 23. H. 6. c. 15. against the Sheriffs of England yet shall the Knights and Burgesses of Wales so elected and not returned have the benefit of it by the statute of 27. H. 8. because that statute grants that the Countrey of Wales shall have enjoy inherit all rights priviledges laws within it's Dominions as other subjects of the King born in this Realm for the general words of the statute make all the laws of England aswel Common laws as Statute laws to be of effect in Wales and shall take place there and that the Welchmen shall
death of the King eveening which was juridically inflicted on him for his tyranny to prevent succeeding tyranny As in the Declaration of Parliament is express'd the Parliament was necessitated to the alteration in Government and to the setling the Government in a way of a free state which according to the practise of the Romans whom in this tractate we have chosen for a president was adjudged convenient and conducible for the good of this Nation as it was for theirs when for the tyranny of Tarquinius Superbus they did change their royal rule into the free commonwealth neither doth such a transmutation alter the substance and essence of a state for the form of a commonwealth or city being changed the commonwealth or city remaineth the same Neque enim as Grâ—tius saith refert quomode gubernetur an rege Grotius de I B. P. l. 2. c. 9. an plurium an multitudinis imperio Idem enim est populus Romanus sub Regibus Consulibus Imperatoribus Neither is it material how it is governed whether by a King or by the command of more or a multitude but the formal difference consisteth in the quality and vertue of the Governours for as learned and Judicious Patricius who was born in a free City and did compose two elaborate and accurate Volumes the first being in commendation of a free State and the second in praise of Principality comparing the one with the other affirmeth that if a Commonwealth be governed by one good man that kind of Government as it was the first so it is the best Patric dâ— Rep. l. 1. tit 1. but if through the vices and tyranny of the Prince is be devolved into a free State such Government is also to be approved and extolled lest the people being factious and carried away with lust and avarice ruine the estates of the best deserved Citizens and will not be satisfied without the effusion of blood or banishment which as the same Author saith was the overthrow of the Athenian Commonwealth and concludeth with the determination of Xenophon Patric de princ l. 1. tit 3. Omnes civiles civitates vitio eorum ruere qui illis praesunt that all civil Cities are ruined by the vices of those that have authority over them for if they be rightly governed they may be omnino perpetuae immortales altoâ—ether perpetual and immortal But to return to the point whence my Penstarted the Scors incensed with the dismal and ignominious death of their King and total deprivation of his issue from the inheritance of the Crown of England began to muster up in their mindes hostile thoughts of revenge and to dream of the conquest of England they having a title to it by their King and many Cavaliers and Royalists dormant in that State vigorously to assist them And therefore his Father being deprived of this life they treated with CHARLES his Son and Heir being then in Forreign parts upon certain Presbyterian Covenants to come and succeed his Father in that Crown which he accepting was royally by them received and solemnly crowned KING of Scotland And now the Scots proud of their Native King he being indeed a gallant Gentleman and by reason of the civil Wars brought up in the field of Mars began to prepare an Army for the Invasion of England of which the circumspect Parliament having intelligence all the actions of the Enemy being as equally known to them as their own to prevent the imminent danger which was esteem'd great they being unanimously united under one Head who before were divided and besides aided by forreign Princes upon a serious debate created Oliver Cromwell for their General as a man equivalent to so perilous a Design Sueton. who Elatus gaudio as Caesar was when by the consult of the Senate he was decreed to march against the Gaules the ancient terror of Rome to give him his due without envy or flattery with the Caesarean celerity and a compleat and well disciplined Army marched up into the bowels of Scotland wisely projecting to make it the miserable Seat of War and by provoking the Enemy to increase confidence in his Commilitons and to dishearten theirs with whom was conjoined Lieut. Gen. Lambert due fulmina belli who in the end thundered them all in pieces but they in the beginning though exceeding them in number would not adventure to hazard a battel but endeavoured by Fabian cunctations and deprivation of necessaries to weaken and diminish their forces continually retreating and drawing them into moorish and unsound places whereby many perished and divers fell into pernicious diseases so as the General was constrained to retire with the reliques of his Army towards the Sea with an intention to ship them for England which the numerous Scottish Army conceiving being well accomplished and furnished with sound and able men and sufficient necessaries pursued them at the heels and having cooped them up within a Nook of land and encompassed them within the Arms of the Sea thinking themselves sure of spoil and victory they boldly offered them battel which the General and Lambert his Lieut. General though environed with desperate extremes Veget. de mili l. 3. cheerfully and couragiously embraced Clausis in desperatione crescit audacia and with more then ordinary vigour and audacity piously excited their Commilitons being but a wearied and sick handful of men to that desperate encounter who resolving to die or gain the victory rushed with them into the battel And the General animating the Foot and the Lieut. General Lambert the Horse under the Word and Name of the Lord of Hosts obteined a glorious and wondrous Victory most of that mighty Army being slain or taken prisoners Dignos laude viros Musa vetat mori Whereas if the Scots had permitted them to passe and not forced them to fight upon such desperate straits and followed the military precept cum desperatis non est pugnandum they had made an inglorious return and the Scots had gained a fortunate opportunity upon a consequent Invasion to have subdued England 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homcr Ibâ—ad 1. But God's will was done and the General skilful how to use his Victory with his victorious Army like an irresistible inundation over-ran the whole Countrey took Edenburgh and the Castles of Leith Dundee Brent Island as also St. Johnstons and Sterling Castle a place of incredible strength and in conclusion forced their hopeful KING with the remainder of his forces secretly to fly into England for Refuge upon vain hopes of second supplies but by the divine providence being prevented and stopping his course at Worcester was by the invincible General and his couragious Commilitons who with tedious and irksome marches at the length overtook him totally deseated and utterly vanquished many Nobles of Scotland being taken and committed with many thousand other inferiour persons By which Victory the conquest of Scotland was absolutely accomplished and ever since hath been subject to
according to it in the several Governments of Thomas Earl of Sussex Sir Henry Sidney and Sir John Perott not only the Irish territories in the confines of Lemster but also the entire provinces of Conagh and Vlster being out of all Shire ground before were divided and distinguished into several Counties and hundreds several Sheriffs Coroners and justices of peace and other Officers and Ministers of the Law of England have been from time to time constituted in those Counties by several patents and commissions under the great seal of England and by this means has the common Law of England been communicated to all persons and executed throughout all that Realm for many years passed and so continued unto the reign of the late King James who also by a special proclamation in the third year of his reign declared and published that he had received all the Natives of the Realm of Ireland into his royal protection c. By which it was clearly resolved that the common Law of England was established universally throughout the Realm of Ireland and that all persons and possessions within that Realm ought to be governed by the rules of that Law and that every subject shall inherit his Lands in Ireland by the just and honourable law of England in that manner and by the same law that the King inherited the Crown of Irelaud and by these degrees was the common law of England introduced and established in Ireland And in the same year of that King accordingly it was by the special order of the deputy of Ireland and the justices resolved and declared that because all the Irish counties and the Inhabitants of them were to be governed by the rules of the common law of England Vid. Davis re f. 51.52 the Irish customs were void in law not only for the inconvenience and unreasonableness of them but for that they were meer personal customes and could not alter the descent of inheritance For all the possessions of the Irish territories before the common law of England was established did run either in the custome and course of Tanistry whereby every Lordship or chiefty with the portion of land which did pass with it did go without partition to the tanist and not to the next Heir of the Lord or chieftye but to the elder and more worthy of that linage who oftentimes was removed and expelled by another who was more active and more strong then he Besides the wives of the signiory claimed to have a sole property in a certain portion of goods during the coverture with power to dispose of them without the assent of their husbands Or in the course and custom of Gavel kind whereby all the inferiour tenancies were partible among the males in this manner the Causeny or chief of that linage who was commonly most antient after the death of every tennant which had a competent portion of land did assemble all of that linage and having put all their possessions in Hotch Potch did make a new partition of all in which partition he did not assign to the Sons of those that dyed the portion that the Father had but he allotted to every one of that linage according to his Antiquity the more and greater part by whom also a new partition upon the death of every inferiour Tenant was made at his will and discretion And so by reason of those frequent partitions and translation of Tenants from one portion to another all the possessions were uncertain and the uncertainty of the possessions was the true cause that no civil habitation were erected no inclosure or improvement was made of Lands in the Irish counties where this custome was in use especially in Vlster which seemed throughout to be a Wilderness before the new Plantation made by the English Undertakers there Also by that custome bastards had their purparty with the English the women were utterly excluded from Dower the daughters were not Inheritable though their Father died without Issue male and therefore for the aforesaid inconveniences and unreasonableness of those customes were they utterly abolished As the customs of Gavel kind in North-Wales by Edward the first and Henry the 8. which were semblable to the customs of the Irish and therefore was it adjudged that the lands in Ireland should descend according to the course of the the common law that women shall be endowed that daughters shall be inheritable for defect of issue male and the property of such goods should be in the Irish Lords and not in the feme coverts according to the Irish usage which resolution of the Judges by Order of the Deputy was registred among the acts of the Council but this provision was added to it That if any of the meer Irish had possessed and enjoyed any portion of land by these customs before the commencement of the reign of the late King James that he shall not be disturbed in his possession but shall be continued and established in it but that after the commencement of his reign all land shall be adjudged to descend to the Heirs by the Common Law and shall hereefter be possessed and enjoyed accordingly And yet were not the laws of England fully and rotally established in Ireland one of the main triangles of the laws of England being yet excluded for as Sir Edw. Coke Cok. Gom. on Litt. 110. B. the laws of England are devided into common Law Customs and Statute law and though the common law of England was introduced and the Irish customes abolished in Ireland yet were not the Statutes made in the Parliament of England currant in that countrey for the Land of Ireland had Parliaments made Law and changed laws and those of that land were not obliged by the Statutes of England because they did not send Knights to it as Sir Edw. Coke observeth Cok. Com. f. 141. B. And though Sir Edward Poynings having both Martial and Civil power given him by the commission of Henry the seventh above the Earl of Kildare then Deputy of Ireland Bacon Hen. 7. f. 138. called a Parliament in Ireland wherein was made that memorable Act which at this day is called Poynings Law whereby all the Statutes of England were made to be of force in Ireland yet before they were not neither are any now in force in Ireland which were made in England since that time but have had Parliaments since holden there wherein they have made divers particular Laws concerning the Government of that Domiuion wherefore in this particular Ireland was still a Dominion divided and separated from England and the union between those two Nations in that respect not absolutely perfect and therefore did it seem a worthy Act in the late Protector to have ordained by the advice of his Council that thirty Knights and Burgesses out of Ireland should be elected to sit in the Parliament of England thereby to oblige those of that countrey to be subject and obedient to our statute as well as