on the same reason may the rest of Adam's Children expect it But if this be taken with relation to the present Governments in the world then suppose this Gentleman hold a Commonwealth to be the freest state of mankind to be uniform he must believe that no Monarchies ought to continue longer than the people should think fit because according to his Maxim the People of a Monarchy have the same right to Liberty that the others maintain and directly to the present question no nation ought to have any dependence upon any other Nation And perhaps others will say neither ought they to have any protection 'T is certain that whether we consider the people of the same Nation or the relation which one Nation has to another their state or condition must depend upon Constitutions and Agreements express or tacit Indeed what Constitutions and Agreements are binding and for what time will fall under the consideration of Reason either of it self or aided and assisted by Revelation S. Paul having taught us That the Powers that are are ordained of God I should think that the common practice of the world which this Gentleman admits to be against his Notions is no small evidence of the right of Acquisitions made by one Nation upon or over another But if these could in right be carried no further than the damage sustained by the injured Nation the bounds of the Acquisitions would be very uncertain and desultory That no true Principle opposes the Power which England claims and exercises over Ireland might be shewn in a very narrow compass Yet when many glittering Arguments are made use of to support an unseasonable as well as groundless complaint it may be requisite to give direct Answers to those things which may seem most plausible and to lay such Foundations as may supersede the particular consideration of the rest to which end I shall shew 1. The nature of Mr. Molineux his Complaint 2. The true Foundation and Nature of that Right of which England is possessed in relation to Ireland and Mr. Molineux's Mistakes Omissions and wrong Comparisons and Inferences concerning it 3. That the Right which was at first acquired is so far from being departed from that 't is rather strengthened and confirmed and has been duly exercised as the good of England has required and in subordination to that and even in the greatest Instances now complained of 4. That his Politicks and seeming popular Notions are wrong and misapplied 1 st Mr. Molineux would insinuate into his Majesty's belief in his Dedication to him that some of late endeavour to violate those Rights and Liberties which the Irish or English there have enjoyed for above five hundred years And he plainly enough charges both Kings Lords and Commons of England and that acting Parliamentarily not only with this endeavour but with actual violations of that which to him seems the inherent Right of all mankind His Service to his Country and to all the Race of Adam he supposes to be call'd for by the present juncture of Affairs when the business of Ireland is under the consideration of both Houses of the English Parliament that is as his Margin explains it the Case of the Bishop of Derry in the House of Lords and the prohibiting the exportation of the Irish Woollen Manufacture in the House of Commons He complains That Acts of Parliament in England before the 10 th of H. 4. and 29 th of H. 6. had pretended to bind Ireland without any confirmation there tho they have not expresly claim'd this Right that there are modern Precedents of English Acts of Parliament pretending to bind Ireland but these are Innovations tho of his own shewing no more than was done before the 10 th of H 4. But he is sorry to reflect that since the late Revolution in these Kingdoms when the Subjects of England have more strenuously than ever asserted their own Rights and the Liberties of Parliaments it has pleased them to bear harder on their poor Neighbours than has ever yet been done in many Ages foregoing The first attempt which this Gentleman complains of since his Majesty's happy accession to the Throne of these Kingdoms is an Act made in great compassion for Relief of the Protestant Irish Clergy The next is one prohibiting all Trade and Commerce with France while England was engaged in an actual War of which Ireland was a miserable Seat Another is the Act for the better security and relief of their Majesties Protestant Subjects in Ireland wherein K. James's Irish Parliament at Dublin and all Acts and Attainders done by them are declared void And 't is further provided That no Protestant shall suffer any Prejudice in his Estate or Office by reason of his absence out of Ireland since December 25. 1685. And that there should be a remittal of the King's Quit-Rent from Decemb. 25. 1688. to the end of the War And the last is That for abrogating the Oath of Supremacy in Ireland and appointing other Oaths These are the Acts of Parliament by the suppos'd submission to which he will have it that the Rights of the People of Ireland have received the greatest weakening under his Majesty's Reign and they are made of all his Majesty's Subjects the most unfortunate These Acts are complained of as Violations of the Rights of a Kingdom compleat and absolute in it self without any subordination to England especially in relation to Parliaments That they are contrary to that amity which should be maintained between distinct Kingdoms or the Children of one common Parent which have distinct Rights and Inheritances absolutely within themselves and inconsistent with the Royalties and Preeminence of a separate and distinct Kingdom Against the common Laws of England which are in force both in England and Ireland by the original Compact Against the Statute Laws both of England and Ireland Against several Charters of the Liberties granted to Ireland Against the King's Prerogative Against the practice of all former Ages Against several Resolutions of the learned Judges of former times Destructive of Property Introductive of the greatest confusion and uncertainty imaginable And lastly inconvenient for England being likely to make the Lords and People of Ireland think they are not well used and may drive them into discontent And yet this Complaint must be thought very modest because if the Great Council of England shall resolve the contrary he declares he shall then believe himself to be in an Error and with the lowest submission ask pardon for his assurance I cannot in the least question but that august and wise Assembly will use that Method which he refers to for his Conviction yet since they are employed in Affairs of more immediate consequence than the asserting and clearing the grounds of that Authority which they have long been possessed of I shall think that I may
the Crown of England since as King he could have no other Heir But as this may manifest that the Parliament which made John King of Ireland design'd him no more than a subordinate and vicarious Authority 't is plain he himself did not think he had more in the Seal which he used he stiled himself Son of the King Lord or who is Lord of Ireland Nor is there the least footstep of any Coronation Oath taken by John as King of Ireland or that he ever wore an Irish Crown Notwithstanding that share in the Government of Ireland which John had in his Father's life-time Ireland upon the Father's death fell to R. 1. and the Archbishop of Dublin was assisting at his first Coronation before he went to the Holy War Nor did John ever pretend to be King of Ireland while R. 1. lived more than of England which having attempted while his Brother was in Foreign parts far remote upon his Brother's return he was by Parliament deprived of all his Honours and Fortune And thus at least he lost his suppos'd Royalty of Ireland if it did not expire upon the death of H. 2. and this shews how rightly Polidore judged in calling him Regulus or Viceroy I will therefore admit Mr. M's supposal that R. 1. had not died without Issue but his Progeny had sat on the Throne of England in a continued succession to this day but cannot admit the other part of his supposal that the same had been in relation to the Throne of Ireland since John never had such Throne either before he was King of England nor after and therefore I may well conclude that the subordination of Ireland to the Parliament or even to the King of England need not arise from any thing that followed after the descent of England to King John Nor indeed was John King either of England or Ireland by descent but that Election of the States of the Kingdom of England which made him their King preferring him before Arthur an elder Brother's Son drew after it the Lordship of Ireland as an Appendant to the Crown of England And however if H. 2. had not sufficiently brought the Irish under the English Laws John did after he came to be King of England In the 9 th of his Reign he imposed Laws upon them in a Parliament of England not indeed without the desire and counsel of such English Lords who had Lands in Ireland but then their consent would have been involved in the consent of the majority here tho those Lords should have expresly dissented But the Authority was derived from the consent of the King 's faithful People which is mentioned as distinct from the desire or petition which occasioned the Law then made in a Parliament of England for the expelling Thieves and Robbers out of the King's Land of Ireland For the effectual execution of this Act of Parliament King John's Expedition seems to have been undertaken the next year when he entirely subdu'd his Enemies and confiscated the Estates of some of the English great Men in Ireland Which Confiscation seems to have been after his return to England but before that or at some other time in his Reign he made a Law in Ireland which he commanded to be observed there That all the Laws and Customs which are in force in England should be in force in Ireland and that Land be subject to the same Laws and be govern'd by them This was before any pretence to their having any Charter for a Parliament other than the supposed sending over the modus tenendi Parl. by H. 2. and is before the time that Mr. M. takes a regular Legislature to have been established among them Therefore according to himself we must repute them to have submitted not only to such Laws as had before that time been made in Parliaments of England but such as should be made till they of Ireland should have the establishment of a regular Legislature However Mr. M. will have it that John gave Laws to Ireland not as King of England but as Lord of Ireland and forms a pretty sort of an Argument from the stile of Lord of Ireland as if this were an Argument that 't is not dependent upon the Crown of England so excellent a faculty has he of making contraries serve his purpose But 't is very unlucky that John's retaining this stile is not only an Argument that Ireland is a Dominion or Land appendant to the Crown of England but that John was never King of Ireland which he would certainly have kept up as a distinct Interest if he ever had such a Title separate from the Crown of England H. 3. being made K. of England by the like choice of the States which preferr'd him before Arthur's Sister as they did John before the Brother in concurrence with these States truly acted as Lord of Ireland as might be shewn by numerous Instances In the 18 th of his Reign upon matters signified to him out of Ireland he summoned the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons and all the great Men or Nobility of the Kingdom of England to a Parliament at London to treat about the State of his Kingdom and of his Land of Ireland And in the 21 of his Reign he sends a Writ to the Archbishops and others of Ireland acquainting them that by the common consent of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls and Barons of the Kingdom of England alterations of the Law of England were enacted as to the Limitations of several Writs which were then required to be observed in Ireland in pursuance of the Statute of Merton In the 37 th of his Reign an Irish man having pleaded that he and his Brother and their Ancestors had always bin faithful to the Kings of England his Predecessors and served them in the CONQUEST OF THE IRISH they are by peculiar licence under the Great Seal of England admitted to enjoy by descent as Englishmen Which was an alteration of the Law and Custom of Ireland as to those particular Persons without any Act of Parliament there Indeed but four years after 't is recorded that 't was long before and many Ages past which must reach beyond the Expedition of H. 2. provided and yielded by the assent and desire of the Prelats and great Men of the Land of Ireland that they should be bound by the Laws us'd in the Kingdom of England Yet the same Record restrains this to the consent of only the English of the Land of Ireland However 't is beyond dispute that the English Laws both made and to be made in England were then held to reach as far as the English Interest in the Land of Ireland and this according to the Record 18 H. 2. above referr'd to was provided de communi Consilio Regis by the King 's Common Council tho by what
Council it must have been provided will more fully appear afterwards I may here explain it by an Instance in that Reign All must agree that the Provisions of Oxford in the 43 d of H. 3. and referr'd to in the Records of the next year were made in as true a Parliament as any in that Reign before the 49 th 't is call'd a Parliament by good Authors and the word is used in the Records of the next year in relation to a meeting on the Borders of Wales The Ordinances and Provisions made at Oxford were drawn up by 12 chosen by the King and 12 by the Commons concerning which the Record has these words Anno ab incarnat domini 1259. Regni autem H. Regis fil Regis J. 43. in quindena St. Mic. conven ips domino Rege magnatibus suis de communi consilio consensu dictor Regis magnatum factae sunt provisiones per ipsos Regem Magnates In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 1259. but of the Reign of K. Henry Son of K. John the 43d the said King and his great Men being assembled in the Quinzism of St. Michael Provisions were made by the Common Council and consent of the said King and great men And yet some of the Entries in the same Roll mentioning Provisions then made are per magnates nostros qui sunt de consilio nostro By our great Men of our Council Others Per magnates de Consilio meo By the great Men of our Council As if 't was by the sole Authority of the King and such noble Men as were of his Privy or Private Council wheâ— those Provisions were certainly made in full Parliament and this was the Council from whence Ireland then receiv'd its Laws However from a Charter in the first of that King's Reign Mr. M. would infer that the English there had their independent Parliaments then established or confirmed tho he afterwards admits that during that King's Reign they might have been bound by Laws made here for want of a regular legislature establish'd amongst them The Charter or rather Writ with which a Charter was sent runs thus Rex Archiepisc Episc Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Militibus omnibus fidelibus suis per Hiberniam constitutis salutem fidelitatemvestram in Domino commendantes quam Domino Patri nostro semper exhibuistis nobis estis diebus nostris exhibituri volumus quòd in signum fideliâ—aâ—is vestraetam praeclarae tam insignis libertatibus Regno nostro Angliae à patre nostro nobis concessis de gratiâ nostrâ dono in Regno Hiberniae gaudeatis quas distinctè in scriptum reductas de'communi consilio omnium fidel nostrorum vobis mittimus signatas Sigillis Domini nostri G. Apostolicae sedis Legati fidelis nostri Comitis Mareschalli Rector is nostri regni nostri quia sigillum nondum habuimus easdem processu temporis de Majori consilio proprio Sigillo signatur Teste apud Glost 6. Feb. The King to the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons Kts. and all our faithful Subjects constituted throughout Ireland Health Commending your fidelity in the Lord which you always shewed to your Lord our Father and are about to shew to 〈◊〉 in our days we will that in sign of your fidelity â—o remarkable so eminent you enjoy in our Kingdom of Ireland the Libâ—rties granted to our Kingdom of England by our Father us which distinctly reduced into Writing we send you by the Common Counsel of all our faithful People Sealed with the Seals of the Lord G. Legate of the Apostolick See of our faithful Subject W. Earl Marshal Regent of us and our Kingdom because we have not yet a Seal intending in process of time by consent of a greater Counsel to seal them with our own Seal Teste at Gloster 6. Feb. How specious soever this may seem 't will neither prove Ireland to have been a Kingdom so early nor to have had a grant of the English Liberties in the same manner as the English enjoyed them that is so as to have no Law imposed upon them without their express and immediate consent to that very Law For 1. 'T is not to be suppos'd but that if Ireland had been a Kingdom before this Charter H. 2. and other Kings of England would have stiled themselves Kings of Ireland rather than Lords because of the greater Dignity of Kingship unless Lord was chosen as implying more absolute Power which would argue that Ireland did not enjoy the English Laws with equal Freedom 2. This Writ mentions no Liberties granted to Ireland but what had been granted to England which besides the improbability that Ireland should 1 H. 3. have a Charter of the same form with that which did not pass in England till 8 Years after shews the spuriousness of the suppos'd Charter preserved in the red Book of the Exchequer at Dublin as dated the November before the Charter sent the 6th of February and however the constant method of sending Laws from hence to be applyed to the use of the Irish without any alteration may sufficiently detect that Charter which has the City of Dublin instead of London 3. The method of sending to Ireland the Laws made here besides what appears upon the face of the Record 6. Feb may satisfie any Body that 't was only a Writ which went along with a Charter or Charters of Laws passed in Parliament here 4. This Writ was before any confirmation of the English Liberties by H. 3. other than general at his Coronation and therefore bating such Confirmation the Charter of Liberties then sent into Ireland must have been King John's which if it be read according to the due distinction of Periods and that Translation which the course of Records both before and after enforces and which the prevalence of Truth has obliged Dr. Brady to yeild to the giving up his whole Controversie with Mr. Petyt and the Author of Jani Anglorum Facies Nova makes express Provision for the City of London all Cities Burroughs and Vills of the Kingdom of England to enjoy all their Liberties and Free-Customs and among the rest to be of or to be represented in the Common Council of the Kingdom But Ireland had no City of London to claim this Privilege nor could any City of Ireland be included any otherwise than as part of the Kingdom of England and therefore subject to the Laws which should be made here 2. This could not be as extensive to Ireland as 't was to England since it could not have extended beyond the English Pale there and such particular Districts as enjoy'd the English Laws of special Favour Therefore the Charter then sent by H. 3. could as to this Matter be no more than a Memorial of that Supreme Law according to which England with all the Dominions belonging to it was
quibusdam videlicet ad hostes caeteris ad loca extranea fugientibus Diversaeque partes dictar Marchiar taliter desolatae derelictae per hostes eosdem occupatae nostraque ejusdem terrae negotia incongruè inutiliter leges approbatae consuetudines minus debite observatae populo nro bonis rebus suis contra justitiam legem formam Statutor inde editor diversimode spoliat paxque nostra laesa minime custodita Ac proditores Latrones Malefactores non sicut convenit castigati Quorum malorum aliorumque occasione majora damna irreparabillia evenire quod absit timentur nisi praemissis opportunis reme diis occurrat Nos desiderantes utili regimini quieti eorund terrae populi providere quae sequuntur propterea deassensu consili nostri ordinanda duximus firmiter observanda In prim viz. volumus praecipimus quod sancta Hibernica ecclesia suas libertates liber consuetudines illaesas habeat eis liberè gaudeat utatur Item volumus praecipimus quod nostra ipsius terrae negotia ardua in consiliis per peritos consiliarios nostros ac praelatos magnates quosdam de discretioribus probatioribus hominibus de Partibus Vicinis ubi ipsa consilia teneri contigerit propter hoe evocandos In Parliamentis vero per ipsos Consiliarios nros ac Prelatos Proceres aliosque de terra nostra proutmos exigit secundum justitiam legem consuetudinē rationem tractentur deducantur fideliter timore favore odio aut pretio postpositis discutiantur etiam terminentur Because from the frequent Relations of Persons to be credited we understand that our Land of Ireland and the Irish Church and the Clergy and People subject to us thro' defect of good Government and by the negligence and carelesness of the King's Officers there both great and small has hitherto been manifoldly troubled and aggriev'd and the Marches of that land plac'd against the Enemies wasted the Marches being kill'd and despoil'd their Houses enormously burnt and the rest being forc'd to forsake their habitations some flying to the Enemies and others to Foreign Parts And divers parts of the said Marches so desolated and forsaken have been possess'd by those Enemies and the Affairs of us and that Land are incongruously and unprofitably and the Laws and approved Customs not duly observed our People being in divers manners spoil'd of their Goods and things contrary to Justice Law and the form of Statutes in those cases provided And our Peace is broken and not in the least kept And Traytors Robbers Malefactors not punish'd as they ought By occasion of which and other Evils greater irreparable Damages which God forbid are feared as likely to happen unless the Premises meet with opportune Remedies We desiring to provide for the convenient Government Quiet of that Land People therefore we by the consent of our Council have thought fit to provide these following Particulars to be ordain'd and observ'd In the first place that the Holy Irish Church have its Liberties free Customs unhurt and enjoy usethem freely Also we will and command That the Affairs and Arduous Matters of us and that Land in Councils by our Learned Counsellors and Prelates and great Men and some of the more Discreet Honest of the parts neighbouring upon the place where those Counsels shall happen to be held to be summoned for this purpose But in the Parliaments by those our Counsellours and Prelates Peers and others of our Land as custom requires be according to Justice Law Custom and Reason brought and faithfully Fear Favour Hatred or Price being disregarded discussed and also determined Then particular Provisions are made here notwithstanding the Allowance of Parliaments there Among which 1. That Men guilty of Broakage should be Punished by the Justice and Council of Ireland and fined and amoved from their Offices as should seem reasonable to the Justice and Counsel 2. That no Purveyance be taken contrary to the form of Statutes and Articles made and published for the profit of his People in Parliaments and other great Councils But if there be any force in Mr. M's way of Arguing the Statutes against Purveyors were not binding to Ireland till 18. H. 6. when 't is Enacted By a Statute made in Ireland that all the Statutes made in England against the Extortions and Oppressions of Purveyers are to be holden and kept in all points and put in Execution in this Land of Ireland 3. It provides against Robberies and for Hue-and-Crys according to the Statute of Winchester 4. That no Pardon be pass'd but in Parliaments or Councils by the assent and counsel of the said Parliaments and Counsellors And that there be no general Pardon but that the Offences be specified and expressed according to the tenor of a certain Statute by the King and his Council of England publish'd and sent to Ireland to be observed 5. The Charter taking Notice that false intelligence us'd to be sent from Ireland to England forbids it under grievous Forfeiture declaring that if for the future the Prelates the great Men Commonalty or any other should misinform the King and his Council they should be duly Punished 6. Whereas they us'd to Exhibit against one another several scandalous and vexatious Libels and Bills it provides that they being reduced to Writing be under the Seal of the Chancellor for the time being transmitted to the King's Justice Chancellor and Treasurer of Ireland who are thereby impowered to do Justice but this is by virtue of the great Seal of England 7. It Impowers the Justice calling to him the Chancellor and Treasurer with some Prelates and Earls whom he shall know to be fit or that they ought to be summoned to determine the Differences between the English of Irish Extractions and which were or should afterwards be of English 8. It requires the Justice and his Associates when there was any special Cause to certifie to the King his Council of England the Names of all Persons guilty and their Offences Since Mr. M. having as he fancied clearly made it out that for Ireland to be bound by Acts of Parliament of England is against several Charters of Liberties granted unto the Kingdom of Ireland thinks he had no need to add any other Authority than a piece of that Charter of the substance of which I have given an Account with all the distinguishing Expressions I might well enough close here and leave it to himself to consider whether when a Parliament is granted or allowed to the Land of Ireland in the fullest terms that ever it was in any King's Reign that can be shewn there was not at the same time a full exercice of the Power of the Crown and Kingdom of England in making Laws and requiring the Execution of others made in England without any