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
do some service to my Country in shewing 2 ly The true Foundation of that Right which England is possessed of in relation to Ireland and what are Mr. Molineux's principal Mistakes Omissions and wrong Comparisons and Inferences concerning it Here I hope to make it evident 1. That he mistakes the Grounds for the submission of Ireland to H. 2. as well as the Nature of it and omits material Passages which may illustrate that matter 2. That if he had been as conversant in Histories and Records as he would be thought he could never have had assurance enough to assert that England may be said much more properly to be conquer'd by W. 1. than Ireland by H. 2. 3. That he is as much mistaken in his comparison between Scotland and Ireland and that matter of his own shewing or admission might have convinced him of an essential difference 1. This Gentleman pretends to give the History of the Expedition of the English into Ireland which he supposes to have been in the Reign of H. 2. and that all the Right which has been acquired by England to have any Government or Superiority over that Nation was derived from within that King's Reign Which manifests his having seen very little of our English Antiquities and his not attending to what Irish Acts of Parliament might have taught him The Confessor's Law under the Title of the Rights and Appendages or Dependencies of the Crown of England expresly names Ireland as one which it supposes to have been first annexed to the Crown of England by King Arthur Accordingly besides other Authorities which might be produced a very Antient Manuscript in Latin Verse in the Cotton Library ascribed to a Gildas who lived in the Year 860. speaking of several things done by that King in this British Kingdom says His ita dispositis in regnum tendit Ybernum These things thus settled he for Ireland goes Another Manuscript in the Cotton Library treating of the number of the Courâ—ies of England and the Countrys and Islands which of Right and without doubt belong to the Crown and Dignity of the Kingdom of Britain and the several Laws or Customs by which they were governed among the places subject to the Danelege mentions Man the Orcades Gurth and the other Islands of the Western Ocean about or in the way towards Norway and Danemark within which we may well think Ireland to have been meant since the Isle of Man is one of the Islands there taken to be about bordering upon or in the Road to Norway and Denmark Tho the Confessor's Law places the Foundation of the Right of the Crown of England to Ireland in the acquisition of King Arthur it must be agreed that this was so antiquated and so many Changes had happened in the State of this Nation between his time and King Edgar's that he might well have no regard to any Right from King Arthur And however might suppose himself to have been the first of the Anglo-Saxon Kings who had subjected Ireland or the greatest part of it to the Crown of England which that he did we have the Testimony of his memorable Charter Ego Eadgarus Anglorum Basilius omniumque Regum insularum quae Britanniam circumjacent cunctarumque nationum quae infra eam includuntur Imperator Dominus Gratias ago Deo Omnipotenti Regi meo qui meum Imperium sic ampliavit exaltavit super Regnum patrum meorum qui licet Monarchiam totius Angliae adepti sunt à tempore Ayelstani qui primus Regum Anglorum Nationes quae Britanniam incolunt sibi armis subegit nullus tamen eorum ultra ejus fines Imperium suum dilatare aggressus est Mihi autem concessit propitia divinitas cum Anglorum imperio omnia Regna Insularum Oceani cum suis ferocissimis Regulis usque Norvegiam maximamque partem Hiberniae cum suâ nobilissimâ civitate Dubliniâ Anglorum regno subjacere Quos etiam Armis meis imperiis colla subdere Dei juvante gratiâ coegi I Edgar King of the English and Emperor and Lord of all the Kings of the Islands which lie about Britain and of all Nations that are included within it give Thanks to God Almighty my King who hath so inlarged and exalted my Kingdom above the Kingdom of my Ancestors who altho they had gain'd the Monarchy of all England from the time of King Athelstan who was the first of the Kings of the English that brought under him by Arms the Nations which inhabit Britain yet none of them attempted to stretch his Empire beyond its bounds But the propitious Divinity has granted me with the Empire of the English to put under the Dominion of the English all the Kingdoms of the Isles of the Ocean with their fiercest little Kings as far as Norway and the greatest part of Ireland with its most noble City Dublin Even all those by the help of God's Grace I have compell'd to submit their Necks to my Commands From this time 't will be evident to any who observe the stiles of our Kings till H. II's time that the Authority of England over Ireland was taken to be included under the stile of King of the English Saxons of Britain of the Island of Albion or the like not but that for several Reigns before the time of H. II. Parliaments in which the King's Charters pass'd were often careful to have the stile more expressive of the Title to the Dominions out of England For instances of both kinds Edgar after the Charter above cited stiles himself Basileus dilectae Insulae Albionis subditis nobis sceptris Regum Scottorum Cumbrorumque ac Britonum omnium circumcirca Regionum King of the Beloved Island of Albion the Scepters of the Kings of the Scots the Cumbers and the Britons being subject to us and of all the Regions round about In another Basileus Anglorum Imperator Regum Gentium King of the English and Emperor of the Kings of Nations After this King Ethelred stiles himself sometimes Ego Adelred totius Albionis Monarchiam gubernans I Athelred governing the Monarchy of all Albion Subscribes Rex Anglorum King of the English Sometimes Ego Athelred totius Britanniae Basileus I Athelred King of all Britain Sometimes Ego Ethelred Britanniae totius Anglorum Monarchus I Ethelred Monarch of all the Britain of the English Sometimes Ego Ethelred totius Insulae I Ethelred King of the whole Island Subscribes Rex Rector Angulsexna King and Ruler of the Anglo-Saxons That Ireland and other Kingdoms and Dominions were included within this stile will appear by other Charters of the same King Thus he stiles himself Totius Anglorum Gentis Basileos caeterarumque Nationum in circuitu persistentium primatum gerens King of all the English Nation and having the Supremacy over the other Nations living round about At another time he stiles
himself Ego Ethelred Rex Anglorum aliarumque gentium in circuitu persistentium I Ethelred King of the English and other Nations living round about And the same stile he uses in the Year 1001. tho as appears above in another Charter of the same Year he stiles himself only King of the whole Island And in another at the beginning of his Reign only King of the English W. I. generally stiles himself no more than King of the English or King of the English and Duke of Normandy Yet as one of his Charters has it he was the most powerful of all the Kings of that time ruling the greatest Empire of England That other Nations were then held to be Dependencies upon the Kingdom of England appears by a Charter of his in the 15 th of his Reign which begins Ego Gulielmus Deo disponente rex Anglorum caeterarumque gentium circumquaque persistentium Rector Dux Normannorū I William by God's Disposal King of the English and Ruler of the rest of the Nations round about and Duke of Normandy After his time his Successors till H. 2. left the Dependencies of England out of their Stile adding only other Dominions which they had as distinct and independent Thus H. 1. to mention no other stiles himself King of the English and Duke of Normandy but before the death of his Brother Robert only King of the English Not here to bring other Evidences of the continuance of the Superiority over Ireland to turn Mr. Molineux his Argument upon him if I shew the Church of Ireland to have been then dependent upon or under the Church of England he must not deny but the State was too Archbishop Parker who must be allowed to have seen and understood the Evidences of the Rights of the See of Canterbury and is agreed to be a faithful Collector speaking of the time of H. 1. shews that upon the vacancy of the Bishoprick of Waterford Murchertach King of Ireland with the Bishops all the Nobility and the Clergy and People of the Island sent to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury desiring Quatenus ipse primatûs quem super eos gerebat potestate quâ fungebatur Apostolicâ fretus Authoritate sanctae Christianitati ac necessariae plebium utilitati eis subveniret That by the Power of the Supremacy which he had over them and the Apostolical Authority which he enjoyed he would be aiding to holy Christianity and the necessities of the people At their request he upon the death of the Bishop of Dublin consecrated one Malchus whose Bishoprick Pope Eugenius raised into an Arbishoprick But notwithstanding the Popes Eugenius and Adrian had constituted Archbishops there yet they all acknowledged the Supremacy of the See of Canterbury in all things And after Archbishop Parker had enumerated 33 Bishopricks in Ireland he adds Hi omnes 33 Episcopatus usitato antiquissimo regni jure ac instituto Cantuar sedi ut Metropoli parent All these 33 Bishopricks by the accustomed and most antient Right and Constitution of the Kingdom obey the See of Canterbury as the Metropolis If it were doubtful whether he meant that this Right was by the antient Constitution of the Kingdom of England the former Authorities make it evident that it was However I shall confirm them with two more Gervace of Canterbury who lived in the time of H. 2. speaking of Lawrence Archbishop of Canterbury who succeeded the reputed English Apostle Austin says He not only took care of the new Church gathered out of the English but of the old British Inhabitants and also took care of his pastoral Charge over the Scots who inhabit Ireland an Island very near Britain Bromton an Author who is cited by Mr. Molineux mentioning the Dispute about Superiority in the Great Council or Parliament at Winchester in the beginning of the Reign of W. 1. between Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury and the then Archbishop of York says Ubi Historia Bedae perlectâ monstratum est à tempore primi Augustini usque ad ultima Bedae tempora quod circiter centum quadraginta annos erat Cantuar. Arch. primatum super totam Britannicae Insulam Hiberniae gessisse Where the History of Bede having been read 't was shewn that from Austin's first coming to the end of Bede which was about 140 years the Archbishop of Cantorbury held the Primacy over the whole Island of Britain and of Ireland Thus I think 't is past dispute that a superiority of Government both in Church and State was vested with the English and by consequence in the Crown of England as the Head from the 6 th of King Edgar at the latest to the year 1151. when the Jurisdiction of Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury was submitted to by the Irish as the antient and undoubted Right of that See Nor can it be imagined without some account of the Circumstances that the Superiority and Authority of England should have been lost in less than 22 years when Mr. M. supposes the Pretensions of England to have had their first ground He will have H. 2. his landing in Ireland to have been occasioned only by a fortunate Expedition thither by some of his Subjects a little before in assistance of some of the Princes or Kings of Ireland who had been oppress'd by a too powerful Neighbour and would insinuate as if the Deliverers were only entituled to be paid for the assistance which they gave and he is so bountiful as to allow that England ought to be repaid all their Expences in suppressing the late Rebellion But as England has supprest that Rebellion against the English Crown it appears by what has been above cited that the disputes between the Kings of Ireland only gave H. 2. opportunity and encouragement to assert the Authority of the English Nation and to restore to the Crown the possession of the City of Dublin and so much of the English Pale as could then be gained with such addition as they could make in a just War to secure those Bounds which had been invaded and usurped upon by a barbarous Enemy In this H. 2. was not to be blamed for that Ambition which has carried Princes to make Conquests since his Expedition was no more than he was obliged to as King of England For as the Confessor's Law has it Debet vero de jure Rex omnes terras honores omnes dignitates jura libertates coronae regni hujus in integrum cum omni integritate sine diminutione observare defendere dispersa dilapidata omissa regni jura in pristinum statum debitum viribus omnibus revocare But the King ought of right to keep and defend all the Lands and Honours all Dignities Rights and Liberties of the Crown of this Kingdom with all integrity and without diminution with all his might to bring back
Parliaments of its own as free and independent as England or that it should be governed by the Laws made and to be made by England Mr. Molineux confesses that H. II. within five years after his Return from Ireland created his younger Son John King of Ireland at a Parliament held at Oxford he might have learn'd from the same Authority that in that Parliament he not only disposed of several petty Kingdoms there to hold of him and John his Son but Hoveden has these words which comprehend Lands as well as Governments Postquam autem Dominus Rex apud Oxenford in praedicto modo terras Hiberniae earum servitia divisisset fecit omnes quibus earundem custodias commisserat homines suos Johannis filii sui devenire But after the Lord the King had at Oxford in manner aforesaid divided the Lands of Ireland and their Services he caused all those to whom he had committed the Custody of them to do homage to him and his Son John to swear Allegiance and Fidelity to them Bromton says Apud Oxoniam idem Rex Angliae Johannem filium snum coram Episc regni sui Princip Regem Hiberniae constituit Et postea fecit quosdam familiares suos sibi Johanni filio suo ligantias fidelitates homagia contra omnes homines facere jurare Quibus terras Hiberniae dedit distribuit in hunc modum c. At Oxford the said King constituted his Son John King of Ireland before the Bishops and Princes of his Kingdom And afterwards he made some of his Courtiers to do and swear Allegiance Fidelity and Homage to himself and his Son John against all men To whom he gave and distributed the Lands of Ireland in this manner c. If what the King did in a Parliament was a Parliamentary Act here was an Act of the English Parliament which by Mr. Molineux's Confession impos'd a King upon Ireland to whom they had not sworn any otherwise than as they swore to submit to the English Laws and he should have observed that herein according to his own inference of the making Ireland a separate Kingdom the English Parliament undertook to discharge the Oath which the Irish had taken to be true to H. 2. and his Heirs and sutably to the Legislative Authority over Ireland in this Particular the same Parliament at Oxford disposed of and distributed the Lands of Ireland without expecting any Ratification from thence Here 's a Parliamentary and cotemporary Exposition of what this Gentleman calls the Original Compact between England and Ireland I must agree tho he has not observ'd it that notwithstanding H. Il's Acquisition in Ireland an Irish Native had quiet possession of a Kingdom which he seem'd to claim as chief King over the Irish This was Roderic King of Connaught who upon paying his Tribute and performing his appointed Service was according to Hoveden to hold his Land as he held it before H. II. enter'd Ireland which could not be true in a strict sense unless he were dependent upon the Crown of England before and however this was a Grant after a more absolute Acquisition and three years after Girald holds as do the Irish Statutes that he had conquer'd the whole Land of Ireland Abbat Benedict an Author of that time to be seen in the Cotton Library speaking of H. II. says Concedit Roderico ligio suo Regi Conautae quamdiu ei fideliter serviet ut sit Rex sub eo paratus ad servitium suum salvo in omnibus jure honore Domini Regis Angliae suo He grants to Roderic his Leige-man King of Connaught that as long as he faithfully served him he should be a King under him ready for his Service saving in all things the Right and Honour of the Lord the King of England and his As it appears by Record by the 7 th of King John the King of Connaught had two thirds duly taken from him for not performing his Service or else he never had more than a third of that Kingdom granted for then he acknowledged that he held a 3 d part in the name of a Barony and for the other two thirds proffers the King Duos Cantredos cum Nativis eorundem Cantredorum de praedictis duabus partibus ad firmandum in eis vel faciendum inde voluntatem suam Two Cantreds with the Natives of those Cantreds to let 'em to farm or to do with them what he pleased Thus I take it his Kingdom was as much dependent upon the Crown of England as any Barony in Ireland or England and as subject to Forfeiture And 't is probable that this King was the head of the O Conoghors of Connaught who are 3 E. 2. admitted to be entituled to the English Law But tho the Law of England was not current beyond the English Pale or those Cantreds and Divisions of Irish who continued under Obedience to the English yet the Crown of England has from very antient times not only laid claim to the Lordship over the whole Land of Ireland but their Parliaments have recognized this Right more than once Mr. M. if he had pleased might have found that Acts of Parliament made in Ireland lay a much earlier Foundation of the Right of the Crown of England to the Land of Ireland even than our Confessor's Law does A Statute made in Ireland 1 Eliz among sundry Titles which the antient Chronicles in the Latin English and Irish Tongues alledge for the Kings of England to the Land of Ireland derives one from Gormond Son of Belin King of Great Britain This King our Historians call Gurgunstus and is said to have reign'd in Great Britain 375 years before the Christian Aerd Grafton agreeing with the Irish Statute tells us that in his return from Denmark he met with a Fleet of Spaniards which were seeking for Habitations to whom the King granted the Isle of Ireland to inhabit and to hold of him as their Sovereign Lord. The Statute made in Ireland 13 C. 2. recognizing his Title has these words Recognitions of this nature may seem unnecessary where your Majesty's Title to this your Realm is so clear as that it is avowed in sundry Acts of Parliament heretofore made within this Kingdom in the times of your Majesty's Royal Progenitors of famous memory and SO ANTIENT AS IT IS DEDUCED NOT ONLY FROM THE DAYS OF KING H. 2. your Majesty 's Royal Ancestor BUT FROM TIMES FAR MORE ANTIENT AS BY SUNDRY AUTHENTICK EVIDENCES MENTIONED IN THE SAID ACTS AND RECORDS OF THIS YOUR MAJESTY'S KINGDOM MAY EVIDENTLY APPEAR Since Mr. Molineux allows Acts of Parliament made in Ireland to have full Authority I hope he will confess that he has given a very imperfect and undue account how Ireland became a Kingdom annexed to the Crown of England and thus not here to observe that he need not have gone
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which the Statute in England placed in the See of Canterbury are become English Archbishops And with the like way of reasoning he would infer that Acts of Recognition in England are of no Force in Ireland till the Irish have recognized the same King and yet confesses That whoever is King of England is ipso facto King of Ireland and the Subjects are obliged to obey him as their Leige Lord That they in Ireland are so annexed to England that the Kings and Queens of England are by undoubted Right ipso facto Kings and Queens of Ireland To use Mr. M's own Expression I am sure there 's an end of all Speech if he does not confess that a Prince rightfully possest of the English Throne is thereby King of Ireland before any Recognition made by a Parliament there and yet not withstanding this generous Concession he immediately subjoins And from hence we may reasonably conclude that if any Acts of Parliament made in England should be of force in Ireland before they are receiv'd there in Parliament they should be more especially such Acts as relate to the Succession and Settlement of the Crown and Recognition of the King's Title thereto and the Power and Jurisdiction of the King And yet we find in the Irish Statutes 28 H. 8. c. 2. An Act for the Succession of the King and Queen Ann. And another c. 5. declaring the King to be supreme Head of the Church of Ireland Both which Acts had formerly pass'd in the Parliament of England So likewise we find amongst the Irish Statutes Acts of Recognition of the King's Title to Ireland in the Reigns of H. 8. Queen Elizabeth King Charles 2. K. William and Q. Mary by which it appears that Ireland tho annexed to the Crown of England has always been look'd upon to be a Kingdom compleat within it self and to have all Jurisdiction to an absolute Kingdom belonging and subordinate to no Legislative Authority on Earth Tho 't is to be noted those English Acts relating to the Succession and Recognition of the King's Title do particularly name Ireland Before I enter into the enquiry how this can be made consistent with a Kingship ipso facto before the Recognition in Ireland 't will be requisite to inform him that we have had Settlements of the Crown by Acts of Parliament here which never were formally received by any Parliament in Ireland and yet such Act of Parliament here has ever been held to bind Ireland tho 't was not expresly named and that tho the Settlement has carried the Crown from the elder Branch of the Royal Family for instance 7 H. 4. at the request of the Lords and Commons in Parliament 't was enacted That the Inheritance of the Crown and of the Realms of England and France and of all other the King's Seigniories or Lordships beyond Sea with the appurtenances be put and remain in the Person of the said King and the Heirs of his Body issuing and 't was ordain'd established pronounced expressed and declared that Prince Henry the King 's eldest Son be Heir apparent to succeed him in the said Crown Realms and Seigniories to have them with all their Appurtenances after the King's decease to the Prince and the Heirs of his Body with Remainders over to the King 's 2 d and 3 d Sons and the Heirs of their respective Bodies successively And according to this Form 1 H. 7. 't was ordain'd established and enacted by Authority of Parliament that the Inheritances of the Crowns of the Realms of England and France with all the preheminence and dignity Royal to the same appertaining and all other Seigniories belonging to the King beyond Sea with the Appurtenances in any manner due to them or appertaining do stand and remain in the most noble Person of their said Sovereign Lord H. 7. and the Heirs of his Body lawfully issuing for ever with the Grace of God to endure and in no other Persons Not to trouble Mr. M. with an enquiry whether these or any other Acts of Parliament in England of former Reigns united Ireland to England otherwise than as they declared their intention for that Seigniory or Dominion to go along with the Government of England or what Act of Parliament in Ireland since the first submission to H. 2. created an Annexation of the Land of Ireland to the Crown of England I must entreat him to explain How it should come to pass that the King of England ipso facto by his being made King here is King of Ireland and yet that those Acts of Parliament here by which the King is declared King without and against a strict courst of descent are of no force till the King is recognized by Act of Parliament in Ireland If a King of England as such is ipso facto King of Ireland is he not so before any Act of Recognition there And if so what can that or other Acts repeating the Laws made in England signify more than a full publication of what was the Law before If the Election or Declaration of a King by a Parliament in England gives a Law in this matter to Ireland and such a King is to be obey'd by virtue of that Law ipso facto before he is received and acknowledged by a Parliament in Ireland do their subsequent Recognitions in the least infer that Ireland is a compleat Kingdom Is it any better than a Contradiction to hold that a King of England as created or declared in a Parliament of England is thereby or at the same instant King of Ireland and yet that Ireland is a Kingdom so compleat in it self that he is no King till the Act of Parliament creating or declaring him King is confirm'd by a Parliament in Ireland Or take it the other way No Act of Parliament in England is of any force till confirmed in Ireland and yet a King declared by a Parliament of England tho he was not King before such declaration is thereby or ipso facto King of Ireland that is an Act of Parliament of England is not of force in Ireland till confirm'd there and yet 't is of force ipso facto by the being enacted here Does it not therefore follow that such an annexation of Ireland to the Crown of England as makes the King of England ipso facto King of Ireland destroys the supposition that their Parliaments have Authority to confirm or reject Laws made by the Legislature in England Or otherwise that the supposition of such an Authority in the Parliament of Ireland destroys that annexation which Mr. M. himself yields Further yet 't will appear that even after a Parliament of Ireland had as far as it could annex'd that Land as a Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England an Annexation here was requisite for the ratifying what had been done in Ireland Therefore 34 and 35 H. 8. an Act was made by the Parliament of England for
ratification of the King's Majesty's Stile by the King with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in that Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same enacting that all and singular his Grace's Subjects and Resiants of or within this his Realm of England Ireland and elsewhere with other his Majesty's Dominions from thenceforth accept and take the King's Stile in manner and form following H. 8. by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and also of Ireland in Earth the supream Head And 't is enacted that the said stile shall be from thenceforth by the Authority aforesaid united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of his Highness's Realm of England This related to all Ecclesiastical Power as well as Civil in Ireland as well as England In pursuance of this the Statute 1 Eliz. for the extinguishing all usurped and Foreign Power and Authority Spiritual and Temporal which had been used within this Realm or any other her Majesty's Dominions or Countries enacts That no Foreign Prince or Prelat shall enjoy any Power Jurisdiction Superiority Authority or Privilege Spiritual or Ecclesiastical within this Realm or within any other her Majesty's Dominions or Countries but that such Power c. shall be abolished out of this Realm and all other her Highness's Dominions And that all Power of visiting and correcting for Heresies Schism c. shall for ever by Authority of that Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm Ecclesiastics were to swear that they would maintain all such Jurisdiction Privileges Preeminence and Authority as granted or belonging to the Queen's Highness her Heirs and Successors or united to the Imperial Crown of the Realm And the Queen is impowred to issue out Commissions for the executing that Act. This Statute bound Ireland by plain intention as that 34 and 35 H. 8. did in express words But Mr. M. will have it a mighty Argument that this was of no force in Ireland till received by a Parliament there because after it had bin repealed in England by one Act and another since the Revolution has declared such Commissions to be illegal yet the Chancellor and others in Ireland have held it to be still in force there But 1. He ought to have shewn that the Statute here repealing so much of the Statute of the Queen as plainly exprest an intention that no such Commission should be granted in Ireland as the Statute of the Queen did that Ireland should be subject to the same Ecclesiastical Authority and in the same manner that England was nor is it to any purpose for him to cite the Declarations in the late Statute of the illegality of such Commissions unless that Act had damn'd such Commissions not only as being contrary to the Act of Repeal but not to be warranted by the Statute of the Queen but then this would have condemned the Resolution which he cites of the Authority of such Commissions still in Ireland 2. Admit Mr. M. should prove that the Statute made in England taking away the Authority of such Ecclesiastical Commissions here as plainly intended to reach Ireland 't will afterwards appear that unless Mr. M. shew that this Act had been transmitted to Ireland under the Great Seal of England the supposition that such Commissions may still be legally executed in Ireland will not in the least derogate from the Authority of the Parliament of England 3 dly But how contrary his supposal of an independent Authority in the Parliament of Ireland is not only to the Laws of reasoning but the Authorities of all times from H. 2. downwards has already appeared in some measure and may farther by some Authorities out of many which will manifest that the Rights of the Crown of England to impose Laws upon Ireland by virtue of prior submissions and consent is so far from being departed from that 't is strengthned and confirmed by long exercice and submission to it Mr. M. considering the State of the Statute Laws of England under H. 2. King John and H. 3. agrees That by the Irish voluntary submission to and acceptance of the Laws of England we must repute them to have submitted themselves to these likewise till a regular Legislature was established among them in pursuance of that voluntary submission and voluntary acceptance Yet he soon forgets this Concession and would have it that the men of Ireland were not bound by new Laws but that the Grants of Liberties from Edward the Confessor's time down to H. 3. were only declaratory Laws and confirmations one of another and that thus Ireland came to be govern'd by one and the same common Law with England I must confess I could not but smile at his Marginal Note upon the proceedings of the Parliament at Oxford in the Reign of H. 2. by this Ireland made an absolute separate Kingdom And in the Body of his Book he says We shall observe that by this donation of the Kingdom of Ireland to King John Ireland was most eminently set apart again as a separate and distinct Kingdom by it self from the Kingdom of England and did so continue until the Kingdom of England descended and came unto King John But to help him to understand this matter I shall mind him of another passage in Hen. II's Reign As he placed his Son John in Ireland he to secure the Succession of the Imperial Crown of England to his eldest Son Henry caused him in a Parliament to be chosen and made King of England while Henry the Father was alive Now did the Father by this separate England from his own Jurisdiction No certainly and indeed in the Oath to the Son and the homage perform'd both at the Coronation and afterwards by the King of Scots there was a particular saving of the Allegiance and Homage due to the Father Thus both Hoveden and Bromton shew that 't was in relation to the constituting John King of Ireland as they call him they are express that they to whom the Lands of Ireland were distributed in that very Parliament which gave John his Office and Authority were sworn to the Father and the Son And Mr. M. might have observ'd that a Charter pass'd in that Parliament and cited by Sir John Davis grants to Hugh de Lacy large Territories in the County of Methe to hold of H. 2. and his Heirs Whereas if Ireland had been given as Mr. M. will have it to John and that thereby 't was made an absolute Kingdom separate and wholly independent on England The Tenure must have been of John and his Heirs The Oath of Allegiance which in those days used to have no mention of Heirs was to H. 2. as King of England and went along with the Crown but the Tenure reserved was expresly to the Heirs of H. 2. which must relate to the legal Successors to
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
King's Realm of England and of Ireland And it enacts the form of a Writ upon that Statute which was to be current in Ireland upon several accounts 1. By the Letter of that Law which was ordain'd for the Benefit of Merchants in Ireland as well as in England 2. If it had not been named the being transmitted to Ireland from a Parliament here was a sufficient ground for their observing it 3. Such observance was included in the terms of their Submission above one Hundred Years before 4. The Writ without any particular Provision became a legal and current Writ in Ireland by virtue of an Act of Parliament here 30 H. 3. which for the common Profit of the Land of Ireland and unity of the King's Lands provided that the Common Law Writs should have the same currency in Ireland that they have here Without enquiring what Records they have in Ireland of Statutes Staple from the 13 th of E. 1. when this Statute which settled them was sent thither 't is certain that from that time the English in Ireland were bound by it and so held to be in subsequent Statutes of this Realm confirming this Statute or supplying its defects But what pity 't is that neither Judge Bolton nor Mr. M. thought of an Act of Parliament in Ireland to confirm that Statute 12 E. 1. This was enacted in the Year 1284. which was above 350 Years before that fatal Aera of Innovations 1641 from whence it seems Calamities of all kinds are to be dated But I should think here is at least one positive Precedent before that time of an English Act of Parliament's binding the Kingdom of Ireland And to me it seems as plain that in the Judgment of the Parliament 13 E. 1. Ireland tho not named was bound by a Statute made here for which I shall refer him to the Interpretation then made of the extent of the Statutes of Gloster which had been enacted in the 6 th of that King's Reign Some would think those Statutes to have been no more than Ordinances made by the King and his Counsel only and that our Kings thus made Ordinances of that kind some may gather from Fleta who speaks of the King's Counsel in which not only erroneous Judgments were corrected but new Remedies provided yet Fleta speaks this of the King's Counsel in his Parliaments and thus tho' the Statute of Westm 2. seems to restrain the making that of Gloster to the King and his Council the Statute of Gloster it self shews that the Counsel was to be taken as acting in conjunction with the Prelates Earls and Barons and that under the word Barons the Commonalty were included as as lower Nobility or dignified by their Election to Parliament accordingly the Statute of Gloster says suitably to latter Writs of Summons the more discreet of the Kingd as well Great as Small were Summon'd So that the Statutes of Gloster were made as other Statutes 3 E. 1. by that King's Counsel and by assent of the Commonalty where the Lords were manifestly included under the word Counsel agreeably to the ancient form of Writs of error or other Writs returnable into Parliament before us and our Counsel in our Parliament or at our next Parliament after or at such a time there to do what the King shall think fit to ordain by advice of his Counsel For evidence that this did not exclude the Lords I may refer to the Roâ—â—s of Parliament of several Reigns and particularly to those of the 20 th and 21 st of E. 3. In the 20 th the Commons are desired to deliver such Petitions as were then ready to the Clerk of the Parliament which Petitions are said to be brought before the Great Men of the Counsel That they were but of the nature of a Committee to inform the King and Lords of the Bills or Petitions which came from the Commons appears by the Proceedings of the next Year when the Commons having made Petitions of an extraordinary nature the King answers He will advise with the Lords To return to the Statute of Gloster there the King by such advice as I have shewn made Laws for the amendment of his Realm and for the plenary exhibition of Right as the profit of the Regal Office requires and to remedy mischiefs dammages and disherisons suffer'd by the People of the Realm of England without the least mention of Ireland And yet we have the judgment of the Parliament in the 13 th of that King that Ireland was within the remedy of that Statute as part of the Realm of England as appears by this Preamble Where of late our Lord the King in the Quinzisme of St. John Baptist the Sixth of his Reign calling together the Prelates Earls Barons and his Counsel at Gloucester and considering that divers of this Realm were disherited by reason that in many cases where remedy should have been had there was none provided by him nor his Predeceâ—sors ordained certain Statutes right necessary and profitable for his People whereby the People of England and Ireland under his Government have obtained more speedy justice in their oppressions than they had before and certain Cases wherein the Law failed remain undetermined and some remained to be enacted that were for the reform of the oppressions of the People Our Lord the King in his Parliament after the Feast of Easter holden the 13 th of His Reign at Westminster caused many Oppressions of the People and defaults of the Laws for the supply of the defects of the said Statutes of Gloster to be rehearsed and made Statutes as will appear here following This rehearsal of the Grievances was for certain by the Petition of the Commons of this Realm and the Statutes there made as the Register of Writs has it were by the Common Counsel of the Kingdom And this Counsel not only declared Laws which were binding to Ireland but made new tho' Mr. Molineux will have it that from the time of Magna Chata to the 10 th of H. 7. no Laws were or are in force in Ireland unless allowed of by Parliament in that Kingdom except only such as are Declaratory of the Common Law of England and not Introductive of any new Law And whereas he is pleas'd to say As to such English Statutes as seem to comprehend Ireland and to bind it under the general words of all his Majesty's Dominions or Subjects whatever has been the opinion of private and particular Lawyers in this Point I am sure says he the Opinions of the Kings of England and their Privy Council have been otherwise I may say upon much better grounds if any King and His Privy Council did any thing to Warrant this Assertion the Judgment of E. 1. and His Council in Parliament was to the contrary and is of greater Authority And 't is to be remembred as I before shewed that
the Statutes of Gloster which do not Name Ireland and the Statutes of West â— which do were both delivered to the Clerk of the Justice of Ireland in order to their being published and observed there And 't is evident that Ireland's being bound by Parliaments in England without any consent expressed in Ireland was not merely the Judgment of the times above referred to but the setled Judgment of that King and His Council in His Parliaments Thus in the 8 th of that King there 's a Writ taking notice that the Irish had desired to be governed by the Laws of England upon which the King requires all the English of the Land of Ireland to Certifie whether this might be granted without pre judice to them declaring that the King would make such Provision as should seem expedient to Himself and His Council which plainly enough referred to His Council in Parliament If upon their Certificate a general Law had passed to grant the Irish their Request the mentioning the consent of the English there could not be thought to derogate from the Legislature here the Authority of which was intimated in that very reference and was fully asserted in that Kings Reign by an Act of Parliament made here after that time and the Proceedings thereupon both in England and Ireland By the Case of mixt Monies in Ireland we are informed that 29 E. 1. when by the King 's sepecial Ordinance the Pollards and Crochards were cry'd down and made of no Value the same Ordinance was transmitted into Ireland and Enrolled in the Exchequer there as is found in the Red Book of the Exchequer there And agreeably to this it appears by the Statute Roll here that this Ordinance which in truth was an Act of Parliament or else an other of the same kind was sent to John Wogan then Chief Justice of Ireland or to his Lieutenant This is only a short Entry referring to the known usage But the very next Record of a transmission to Ireland of a Statute made here which was that about Juries is more express Mem. quod istud Statutum de verbo ad verbum missum suit in Hib. T. R. aput Kenynt 14. die Aug. Rni sui 27. Et mandatum fuit J. Wogan Justic Hib. quod praed Stat. per totam Hib. in locis quibus expedire videret legi publicè proclamari firmiter teneri faciat Mem. That that Statute word for word was sent into Ireland Teste the King at Kenynton 14. Aug. in the 27th of his Reign Command was gito John Wogan Chief Justice of Ireland to cause it to be read in those places in which he shall think it expedient and to be publickly Proclaimed and Observed This Statute does not name Ireland nor has general words which seem to include it But it seems some years after to have been Enacted that this Statute should be transcribed and sent to Ireland for a Law given them by Parliamentary Authority In the 35 th of E. 1. Will. De Testa was Impeach'd in Parliament for grievous Oppressions and Extortions upon the People by Colour of Authority from the See of Rome This upon the Petition of the Earls Barons and other Great Men and the Commonality of the whole Realm of England occasioned general Law and Provision for the State of the King's Crown and also of His Lands of Scotland Wales and Ireland The Remedy was Enacted by the Assent of the King and the whole Council of Parliament and 't was Enacted that for the future such things should not be permitted within the Realm That Ireland was then included as part of the Realm appears not only by the intention before declared but agreeably thereunto The Statute then made is by Authority of Parliament sent to the Justice of Ireland as well as to the Chief Governors of other the King's Dominions enjoyning them to enquire and proceed against those who had offended in that kind and to cause the Provision Agreement and Judgment of that Parliament to be Firmly and Inviolably observed in those Lands Mr. M. having as he thinks answer'd an Objection from the Ordinance for the State of Ireland Printed in our Statute-Books not only that of 1670. but even in others much more Ancient as made 17 E. 1. I shall shew him some new Matter which may deserve his farther Consideration and yet tho' he thinks he has prov'd 1. That this Ordinance was never receiv'd in Ireland 2. That 't was meerly an Ordinance of the King and His Privy Council in England it might be enough to observe That the Clause which he Instances in forbidding the King's Officers to purchase Lands there upon pain of Forfeiture has an Exception for the King's Licence and tho' he has not been at the pains to examine whether there were any such Licences from England I can shew him in the very next Year a confirmation under the Great Seal of England of a grant of Land 's there before made from hence which were sufficient security against the forfeiture 2. If 't were admitted that the Ordinance were made by the King and his Privy Counsel 't would be very difficult for him to prevail upon many to believe that a Land or Kingdom which in all the principal Parts of Government was under the controul of the Great Seal of another Kingdom was as he pretends a complete Kingdom within it self or a Kingdom regulated within it self the contrary of which appears in numerous instances of the time of which we are at present enquiring as of leave from hence to chuse Ecclesiastical Governors Pardons Directions for the Proceedings of the Courts of Justice and Council in Ireland the appointing distinct Courts of Judicature Grants of Lands Offices Liveries out of the King's Hands of Lands held in Chief of the Crown of England Licences of alienation and the like Further than all this there 's a Precedent of taxing Communities by Authority from hence It must be agreed that 't was frequent for Kings to grant to Cities and Towns in England power to raise Customs or Duties for Murage the building or repairing their Walls to be levyed upon Goods and Merchandizes brought thither in these Grants there was no mention by what advice or consent they issued but 't is to be presumed that the Great Seal was not rashly affixed nor were they extended farther than to the Walls which secured the Persons and Goods of those who paid the Duty yet the Great Seal of England has been applyed much more absolutely to the binding the property of the Subjects in Ireland as may appear by this Record R. Ballivis probis hominibus sâ—is Dublin Salutem Cum in subsidium villae claudendae vobis nuper per literas postras Pat. concesserimusquod quasdan consuetudines usque ad certum tempâ—s de singulis rebus venalibus ad eandem villam
be executed even in Palatinates nor does it appear that the King's Council in Parliament disallowed of their Proceeding â— for nothing was done upon this â—etâ—tion any more than referring it to the next Parliament In the Case of one Allen Fitzwaren they Ordered a Writ from the Chancellor of England to require the Justice of Ireland to examine whether a Judgment about Title of Land had been given while a Man was absent and under the King's Protection requiring that if any thing was done contrary to Protection it should be amended in due manner And as the Lords in Parliament then exercis'd a Jurisdiction over Ireland it appears that out of it the High Admiral of England had Conuâ—ance of all maritime Causes as well throughout Ireland as England from the time then beyond the memory of Man which must relate to the general Prescription which is at this day as far since as the beginning of R. 1. Son to H. 2. That during the Reign of E. 1. Irel. was govern'd as a part of England or appurtenant to it and that the Laws made here wanted no other Publication than what was in obedience to the Great Seal of England affixed to Writs and Charters or Exemplifications of our Acts of Parliament by Authority from hence I think may be beyond dispute which might excuse my not dwelling upon the unfortunate Reign of E. 2. and yet there are some evidences not to be neglected of England's being then possess'd of its ancient Authority over Ireland and that tho' at least from the 3 d. of that King's Reign Mr. M. supposes that they had a regular Legislature in Ireland In the 10 th of that King the English in Ireland petitioned him for a Constitution that a Parliament should be holden there once a Year Upon this and other things then desired the King under the Great Seal of England commands the Justice of Ireland to Summon a Parliament there to consider what was sit to be done and to certifie the result into England upon which the King declared that he would by the advice of his Counsel ordain what should be sitting but nothing more appears of that matter which was the farthest step towards settling an Annual Parliament in Ireland In the 12 th of that King an Act of Parliament was made in England with this Preamble Forasmuch as divers People of the Realm of England and of the Land of Ireland have hereto fore many times suffered great Mischiefs Damage and Disherisons by reason that in some Cases where the Law failed no Remedy was ordained and also forasmuch as some points of the Statutes heretofâ—re made had need of Exposition our Lord King Edward Son to King Edward desiring that full Right may be done to his People at his Parliament holden at York the third Week after the Feast of St. Michael the 12th Year of his Reign by the Assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and the Commonalty of his Realm there assembled hath made these Acts and Statutes following the which he willeth to be observ'd in his said Realm and Land Though Ireland is in some sense part of the Realm of England yet here 't is distinguished as a Land intended to be bound tho it had no Commonalty of its own to represent it in Parliament and there is new Remedy provided where the Law had failed as well as the explaining what was Law before that part at least which creates a Forfeiture of Wine and Victuals sold by any Officer appointed to look after the Assises of them was absolutely new This Statute was transmitted to Ireland by the following Writ under the Great Seal of England and the Name of the Party who received it is enter'd upon Record Rex Cancel suo Hibern ' Salutem Quaedam statuta per nos in Parl. nostro nuper apud Ebor ' convocato de assensu Prel Com. Bar. totius Communitatis regni nostri ibid ' existentis ad Commun util regni nostri ac terrae Hibern ' edita vobis sub sigillo nostro mittimus consignata Mandantes quod Stat illa in dicta Cancel lariâ custodiri ac in rotulis ejusd Cancel irrotulari sub sigillo nostro quo utimur in Hiberniâ in forma patenti exemplificari ad singulas placeas nostras in ter praed singuloâ— comitat ejusd ter mitti facias brevia nostra sub dicto sigillo minist nostris placearum illar Vicecom dict Com. quod statuta illa coram ipsis publicari ea in omnibus singulis suis artic quantum ad eor singulos pertinet â—irmiter faciant observari Teste R. apud Clarendon 10 die Sept. An. quarto decimo The King to his Chancell of Ireland Greeting We send you under our Great Seal certain Statutes made by us in our Parliament lately called together at York with the Assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and all the Commons of our Kingdom there assembled for the Common Vtility of our Kingdom and Land of Ireland Commanding you that those Statutes be kept in the Rolls of the said Chancery to be enroll'd and exemplified in the Form of a Patent under our Seal which we use in Ireland and thaâ— you cause it to be sent to every one of our Places in the said Land and every County of the same And our Writs under our said Seal commanding our Officers of those Places and Sheriffs of the said Counties to cause those Statutes to be published before them and in all and singular their Articles which to every one of them appertain to be firmly observ'd Teste the King at Clarendon the 10th of Sept. in the 14th of his Reign In the same Roll there 's another Writ of the same Form dated at Nottingham 20 Nov. sending to the Chancellor of Ireland the Stature of York and another made before at Lincoln These Entries explain the general Transmissions and shew what was to be done by the Justice of Ireland in order to the publication of Laws made in Parliaments here and sent to him but yet he had no need nor authority to call a Parliament in Ireland for the publishing any Law made here unless particularly required under the Great Seal of England Yet I cannot but admire the force of Mr. M's Imagination in framing an Argument on that very Year that those Statutes were sent to Ireland That the Parliament of England did not take upon them to have any jurisdiction in Ireland because the King sent his Letters-Patents to the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland commanding that the Irish Natives might enjoy the Laws of England concerning Life and Member to which he had been moved by his Parliament at West-minster which is as much as to say they used no Jurisdiction because they did That after this time that King and his Parliament exercised Jurisdiction over Ireland appears by the Ordinance made for the State of Ireland in a Parliament held on the Octaves of St. Martin in the
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
in the same bottom as the King does in England I say almost on the same bâ—ttom for the Irish Parliament have not only a Negative as the King has in England to whaâ—ever Laws the King and his Priâ—y Councils of both or either Kingdom shall lay before them but have also a liberty of proposing to the King and his Privy Council here such Laws as the Parliament of Ireland think expedient to be pass'd which Laws being thus proposed to the King and put into form and transmitted to the Parliament here of Ireland according to Poyning's Act must be pass'd or rejected in the very words even to a little as they are laid before our Parliament we cannot alter the least Iota In this Narrative of their Constitution under that Law he has omitted the mentioning what is very material that the Kings answer to what they propoâ—e is to be transmitted under the great â—eal of England and this is to be the Licence and Authority for the holding a Parliament in Ireland and therefore their Acts of Parliament since that settlement mention their being held by Authority under the Great Seal of England And there were two obvious ends and effects of this Law as Mr. M. himself owns 1. The preventâ—on of any thing passing in the Parliament of Ireland surreptitiously to the prejudice of the King or the English Interest of Ireland to which I must add or of England 2. To take from the Irish there all colour of pretence of holding Parliaments as an independent Kingdom by virtue of any Authority within that Land But how the King's Prerogative in the Legislature was advanced by this I do not understand since long before as well as notwithstanding this supposed Constitntion of an Independent Parliament held by Authority from the Great Seal of England the King had and has the Prerogative not only to dissolve the Irish Parliaments at his Pleasure but never to call any which this Gentleman ought to fear least such a claim as he makes might occasion and I would gladly know what part of their Constitution provides for the frequent holding of Parliaments in Ireland yet frequency of Parliaments in England is an undoubted part of the Fundamental Constitution of the English Monarchy Farther is it any advance to the Prerogative in the Legislature that a Prince who has the full exercise of an absolute Legislature at home is only possessed of a Provision against having any attempt made to the lessening that his settled and indubitable Prerogative I must needs say this Gentleman has a way of arguing beyond my apprehension for I cannot see the consequence how the Prerogative should be advanced if as he will have it the Irish Parliament is put almost on the same bottom as that the King stands on in England if it be so I should think it a lessening of the Prerogative to have an Irish Parliament almost coordinate with him which Mr. M. is very fearful least an English Parliament should pretend to And I as little understand the reason he gives why the Parliament of Ireland stands almost upon the same bottom with the King for says he they have not only a Negative Vote as the King has in England but liberty to propose yet the Laws must be pass'd or rejected without alteration This I take to be Foreign to the bottom on which either the King or that Parliament stands If it be meant that they are in a manner as absolute in this negative and liberty of purposing as the King is in England since it relates only to Law first desired from Ireland either by the Privy Council or Parliament there this Constitution of their Parliament is so far from giving them a negative to the Laws pass'd in England with declared intention to bind them in Ireland that the Authority of England is wove into the very Constitution and the Parliaments of Ireland own that Authority by their very Sitting and Enacting Mâ— M. having represented that Constiâ—ution of their Parliaments by which he thinks they stand almost upon the same bottom as the King did here makes this strong assumption If therefore the Legislature of Ireland stand on this foot in relation to the King and to the Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of England do remove it from this bottom and assume it to themselves where the King's Prerogative is much narrower and as it were reversed for there the King has only a negative Vote I humbly conceive 't is an encroachment on the King's Prerogative But he might consider 1. That as here by the Parliament he takes Lords and Commons without the King he mistakes the Fact in relation to their exercice of Power for they do not assume to themselves the Power of making any Law but with and under the King 2. Neither do they in the highest exercice of their Power take from the Irish any thing allowed or directed by Poyning's Law or any other Constitution 3. They do but assert the Chief Prerogative of the Crown of England by which due consent being bad our Kings give Laws to this Realm and all the Dominions belonging to it 4. The ancient course of the Proceedings of the Parliaments of England and their making all manner of Provisions for the Government of Ireland evince that Poyning's Law was rather an Indulgence to the English there directing a Method for their maintaining the face of a Legislature among themselves than any restraint of Power before vested in the Parliaments of England And after all this Law was never as I take it confirm'd by a Parliament of England I must not here omit the consequences which Mr. M. draws from the Parliament of England's pretending Power to impose any one Law upon Ireland 1. That 't will naturally introduce the Taxing them without their consent 2. That 't will leave the People of Ireland in the greatest confusion imaginable that they are not permitted to know which is the Supreme Authority which they are bound to obey whether the Parliament of England or that of Ireland or both and that the uncertainty is or may be made a pretence for disobedience 3. That 't will be highly inconvenient for England may make the Lords and People of Ireland think they are not well used and may drive them into Discontent 1. Not here to consider how far the Lordship of the Land of Ireland may infer the Taxing it if it should refuse to concur as it ought to its own Preservation since the Law of necessity is no farther to be used or considered than while the necessity is apparent I may say that this is no consequence to be apprehended and that as the Right of Taxing does not follow from the Right of Governing and the Nature of the Government depends upon the first Submission and that Interpretation and Confirmation of it which both the governing Nation and the governed have put upon it I must infer with deference to the National Authority that the
Power which England has from the time of H. 2. claimed and exercised over Ireland does not naturally introduce the Taxing them without their con-Consent yet if the Modern Precedents of English Acts of Parliament alledg'd against Mr. M's Notion are Innovations and only of Thirty seven Years standing depriving them of the Rights and Liberties which they enjoyed for five hundred Years before and which were invaded without their consent such an Invasion would naturally introduce the Taxing them without their Consent But since England uses no Power which it has not generally used for these 500 Years he should avoid putting it to the necessity or temptation to go farther 2. As to the supposed uncertainty where the Supream Authority resides he might have found that pass'd dispute in their own Statutes and yet their Denyals could be of no weight till they had absolutely renounced the Protection of England and indeed must be thought to have come in surreptitiously without the due care of the Governours there under the Crown of England as well as without the notice of the Nation which has hitherto protected and supported them However the Obedience which that Nation has from H. 2d's Time pay d to the Laws of England after they had been duly pubiished by Authority under the Great Seal of England might have sufficiently taught them where the real Legislature is vested and by them and their Forefathers acknowledged And since he admits that till a Regular Legislature was established in Ireland by the Irish voluntary Submission to and acceptance of the Laws and Government of England we must repute them to have subâ—itted themselves to the Statute Laws made under H. 2. King John and H. 3. and their Predocessors If a Kingdom can have no Supreme within it self and a Subordinate Parliament is no Parliament as he would infer he must thank himself for the Consequence that therefore they have neither a Kingdom nor a Parliament and then by his own confession they are as much to be govern'd by the Statutes now made in England as their Predecessors were in the Times of King John and H. 3. 3. As to the imagined Inconvenience to England and almost threatned Defection from the Crown of the Kingdom this Gentleman's Undertaking makes it evident that the Authority ought the rather to be exerted to help some Men's Understandings least such a shew of Arguments and popular Flourishes should encourage them to act as if they were a compleat Kingdom within themselves with a King at the Head of them during whose Absence or professing a Religion contrary to that which the generality of the People profess they might assert the Right of a Free Kingd subject to no Man's Laws but what they had consented to immediately or permitted to grow into a Custom Since this Gentleman thinks he has silenced all the Patriots of Liberty and Property by his warm Appeals to them and wheadling Notions of the inherent and unalienable Rights of Mankind and howevre that he has engag'd the Crown of his side by adorning it with a Prerogative to govern Ireland without any relation to the puâ—lick good of that Kingdom the rightful Possession of which caâ—â—ies Ireland as an Appendant to the Imperial Crown I must desire him to consider whether in this as well as other Particulars before observed the Charge of Inconsistency will not fall upon him more justly than upon the Lord Coke A little to qualifie this heat upon the suppos'd Injury to Prerogative or common Right I shall recommend these Heads to his serious Consideration 1. Whether he does not yield that if there were a Submission and Consent to such Laws for Government as England should from time to time publish to be obeyed in Ireland this would be no injury to the Common Rights of Mankind 2. Whether his Tragical Exclamations against those who have acted contrary to what he takes to be the Right of the English Proprietors in Ireland are not founded upon the Supposition that those Acts of Parliaments there which have been made of late Days with express intention of binding Ireland are Innovations 3. Whether it being evident that the Laws made here have for so many Ages been enforced and submitted to as binding Ireland an English-man in Ireland has more reason to complain of a Law made here than a Wealthy Merchant Free of no Corporation or any English-man whoâ—e Profit obliges him to a continuance in Foreign Parts 4. Whether all the English Treasure which has been spent and Lives lost for the Reduction of Ireland were absolutely at the Disposal of the Princes or directed by any of their Parliaments 5. Whether a Law Book digested in the Time of H. 2. as 't is suppos'd by Publick Authority does not shew that in the Notion of that very Time when Mr. M. supposes that the Right of the Crown of England over Ireland was first acquired there was or might be Treason against the Kingdom of England as well as against the King 6. Whether the submitting to take the English Laws from the King implyed the taking them from him alone unless he made Laws in England without the Consent of the States of the Kingdom of England 7. Whether if the English modus tenendi Parliamenta being as Mr. M. thinks he has proved transmitted to Ireland by H. 2. stiling himself Conqueror of Ireland after that a Parliament of Ireland held in that form should have Voted themselves independant upon the Parliament of England would not every Member have been liable to an Impeachment for Treason against the King and Kingdom of England 8. If by Municipal Laws or the Provision of the Common Law of England in Cases not particularly express'd the Son may justly suffer in the Consequence of his Father's Forfeiture for Treason may not the same Reason hold for a dependent Nation 9. Whether Jurists universally agreed to be well skill'd in the Law of Nations and even such as hold the People or Community to be the common Subject of Power do not maintain that as well the Dominion or Power vested in the People as that which was in the Prince may be acquired by another Prince or State 10. Whether they do not hold that such acquisition made in one Age and continued lays an obligation upon Posterity to submit to it 11. Whether they do not generally hold that Protection is a good foundation of Power and that this confirms the Submissions of Publick Societies anciently made to the Nature of that Government which they had subjected themselves to and to the governing Families 12. Whether the Protection which the stronger Kingdom has continued to give to a weaker is not at least as forceable an Argument for Obedience as that protection which any Nation does or can receive from the Prince who is at the Head of it 13. Whether our Saviour's Observation upon the Roman penny and St. Paul's Epîstle to the Romans did not establish a general Rule of
Subjection 14. Whether the Jews and other Nations subject to the Roman Empire had not much more plausible pretences for casting off the Roman Yoak than the Irish have for disowning the English Legislature 15. Whether our Victorious and Heroical Kings E. 3. and H. 5. thought it any diminution to the Prerogative of the Crown of England for their Parliaments to be joyn'd with them in giving Terms to those Parts of France which were brought under the Crown of England in Wars carried on at a National Expence 16. Whether notwithstanding his Concession that every King of England is ipso facto King of Ireland the contrary does not follow from his Notion of Prerogative of Irelands being a compleat Kingdom regâ—â—â—â—ed within it self and the Supposition that Acts of Parliament in England cannot bind Ireland till confirmed by Parliament there 17. Whether therefore according to his way of arguing the Subjects of Ireland who fought under King William before he was recognized by a Parliament in Ireland then served their Lawful and Rightful King 18. Whether to dedicate to His present Majesty a Book of such consequences as the direct Answer to these Questions would manifest argues a due Opinion of His Majesty's Judgment and Penetration FINIS a Anciently there was but one House and sometimes one undivided Body sub dio Thus one of K. Edgar 's Charters An. 970. Non clam in angulo sed sub Divo palam evidentissimè scientibus totiâ—s regni mei Primatibus d Dr. Brady's Answer to Mr. Petty l. p. 1 2 â—o rescue these sacred things from groundless and designing iâ—â—eâ—pretations I follow his own Method and do affirm 1. Thaâ— the Commo s of England represented by Knights Citizens and Burgesses in parliament were not introduced not were one of the three Estates in Parliament before the 49th of H. 3. 2. That before that time the body of the Commons of England or Freemâ—n as now understood or as we nâ—w frequently call them collectively taken had not any share or votes iu making of Laws for the government of the Kingdom nor had any comâ—unication in Affairs of State unless they wâ—re represented by the Tex nts in Capite a Vid Jani Anglor faciem nov ed. An. 1680. b Vid. Dr. Brady 's Append to his Coâ—pleat History cited in f. c Dr. Brady's Introtuct f. 3â—6 Speâ—à ing of Seditious Pieces defign'd as he says to overturn the Government and publish'd on purpose to usher in Anarchy and Confusion leaving a Blank for Mr. Pâ—tyt's Name whom be sufficiently describes these and other such stuff says he did mightily contribute to the Sedition and Rebellious Practices of a Great Man who laid violent Hands upon himself to prevent the Hand â—nd Stroak of Justice And like to this Piece are Jâ—ni Anglor â—acies nova Jus Anglorum ab antiquo Reflections upon Antidptum Brit. c. All written and timed to promote Sedition and in expectation of Rebellion and the destruction of the Establish'd Government d Jus Anglorum ab antiq Votes Lunae 27 Junii 1698. Vid. Mat. Par. Addit f. 281. De foris facturâ regni per Johannem regni vacatione per ejusdem demissionem in manus Papae * Mr. Molineux his Book p. 3. I venture to expose my own weakness rather than be wanting at this time to my Country I might say indeed to mankind for 't is the Cause of the whole Race of Adam that I argue c. Pag. 3. Vid. Plin. Pan. Quà m nunc juvat provincias omnes in fidem nostram deditionemque venisse Postquam contigit Princeps terrarum c. Pag. 25. * 'T is only damage sustain'd that gives title to another man's goods * Mr. Molineux his complaint against the Parliament of England Vid. Dedication Pag. 3. P. 64 66. P. 68 99. P. 105. P. 107. Nay but one Throne the two Kingdoms P. 108. P. 111. Pag. 114. a P. 128. b P. 129 133 139. c P. 147. d P. 163. e P. 154. f P. 157. g P. 161. h P. 166. i P. 168. Vid. e Cont. sup p. 64 66. k P. 170. l Ibid. m P. 171. n Ibid. o P. 172. Pag. 3. The true Foundation and Nature of the Right of England over Ireland Vid. p. 3. P. 14. Pag. 6. of the first annexation of the Land of Ireland to the Crown of England Lambard's Archainomia f. 148. de Jure Appendiciis Coronae Regni Britanniae a Bibliâ—â—h Cot. sub effigie Julii B. 11. b Claudius D. 2. Na. c Guernsey 〈◊〉 I take it Circa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rot. Cart. 5. E. 2. m. 12. n. 25. 3 E. 3. m. 10. n. 23. Pro Priore Conventu Wigorn per inspeximus An. 964. regni sui 6. Rot Pat. 12. E. 2. m. 13. n. 42. Rot. Cart. 2 E. 3. m. 23. n. 78. An. 970. Cart. Antiq. in Turr. Loud B. n. 11. a Rot. Carâ— 5. E. 2. m. 12 n. 25. b Rot. Cart. 5. E. 3. m. 1â— n. 17. per Prior Convent sanctae Frischeswide Oxon. An. 1084. reâ—â—iâ— 25. a Rot. Cart. 5. E. 3. m. 32. n. 85. A. 979. b Rot. Cart. 36. E. 3. m. 7. n. 3. A. 964. c In Bib. Cot. An. 1001. d Monast 1. vol. f. 94. a. A. 983. a Rot. Cart. 5. E. 3. m. 32. n. 85. pars unica A. 987. b Hist Elyens in Bib. Cotton c Vid. Rot. Cart. 2. R. 2. m. 13. n. 5. Bib. Cot. sub effig Claudil c. 9. Hist Eccles Abind Cart. Antiq. B. n. 4. K. n. 22. d Cartae Antiquae in Turri Lond. D. n. 12. Coenob de Salebiâ— e Cart. An tiq Q. n. 2 An. 1081. * Bib. Cot. sub Effigie Claudii 9 Regist Abind dehund de Hormmere †P. 129. If our Church be free and absolute within it self our State must be so too Of the Superiority and Authority of the Church of England over the Church of Ireland * Parker 's Aâ—tiq Brit. Et quique Nobiles cum Clero * Petitioni â—orum Armuit †Fo. 23. Ann. 1151. Ibid. ð„ Ib. F. 23. Nihilominus Cant. Primatem in omnibus agnoscunt * Antiq. Brit. sup Inter decem script Gerv. Dorob Actus Pontif. Cant. F. 1633. Ann. 605. Nec non ScothoruÌ„ qui Hiberniam insulam Britanniae proximam incolunt pastoralem impendere sollicitudinem curabat Brompton F. 970 971. de An. 1071. * Not that the whole History need have been read in the Council but the chief Passages produced by them who had read it P. 8. An. 1172. P. 6 7 8. Of H. 2d 's landing in Ireland P. 144. The justification of H. 2d's Expedition Lambard's Archaionomia F. 138. De Regis Officio c. Vid. Leges St. Edw. Tit. Greve Ryley's Placita Parl. 29 E. 1. Vid. Inâ— Anglia sacra Giraldus Cambrensis de rebus a se gestis Pars 2. c. 14. Angl. sac sup pars 2. F. 485. speaking of King John Pater ipsius intrandi Hiberniam sibique
so far back to shew how it first became a Kingdom I think I have made it evident that he has fail'd in his first Undertaking 2. 'T will be as evident that he is no less injurious to the Right of the English Nation than unhappy in the comparison where he maintains that England may be said much more properly to be conquer'd by W. 1. than Ireland by H. 2. tho in this he has the Authority of Sir John Davis I will agree that the word Conquest was in the times both of W. 1. and H. 2. of a very innocent signification for which he rightly cites Sir Henry Spelman and might have observed a much greater and antienter Authority in a Record of the time of King John referr'd to by Mr. Petyt wherein a younger Brother in a Suit between him and his elder Brother about Title to Land pleads that his Father had it de Conquestu suo and gave it him according to the distinction in Glanvil who wrote in the time of H. 2. between Questus the same with Conquestus and Haereditas 'T is certain the word Conquestus did not in that age imply any thing of that Power which a Prince or State might acquire by Force or Terror of Arms over another Prince or State and therefore I shall make no use of his Admission that H. 2. took Conquestor Hiberniae into his stile contrary to the Authority of Mr. Selden cited in his Margin and to which I cannot but subscribe In truth tho H. 2. was stiled Lord of Ireland I am very well assured none can be found where he is stiled Conquestor Yet Girald an Author of that time calls him Triumphator Hiberniae which is tantamount to Conqueror But since Conquestor when first used signified no more than one who came to a Right which he claimed not by hereditary Descent according to which W. 1. acknowledged that he was made or created King of the English by hereditary Right that is as has elsewhere been shewn and may be more at large was duly let in to the Inheritance of the Crown however the word Conquestor has been in following ages applied both to W. 1. and to H. 2. Let 's consider a little 1. Whether the English Nation ever submitted to W. 1. as a Conqueror in a sense of larger signification than 't was antiently used 2. Whether the Irish Nation submitted to H. 2. or to any other of our Kings more absolutely than the English did to W. 1. 1. Mr. Molineux agrees that E. 3. was the first that us'd the Aera of post Conquestum which indeed was no more than to distinguish the Edwards after the time of W. 1. from the three Edwards which reign'd in England before that time but no body that I know of has yet pretended that W. 1. ever assumed the stile of Conqueror and I dare say no one Author of that time printed or in Manuscript ascribes it to him I must own in some of his Charters he says he gain'd the Kingdom by the Sword having subdued Harold and his Accomplices but besides that Puffendorf's Assertion is undeniable that after a Prince is overcome in a just War till the Subjects consent the State of War continues and there is no Obligation nor Faith and so no Dominion W. 1. did not come to civilize and subdue the People to Laws but to turn out 1 st An Usurper upon the Right of the People upon whom he had imposed himself without any true Election notwithstanding what several antient Authors have affirmed And 2 dly An Usurper upon the Right which W. 1. had by a full and a formal Election he having been elected Successor in the life time of the Confessor which I may hereafter shew with all the Circumstances but shall at present refer only to three Authorities out of many William of Poictiers an Author who lived in the very time informs us that the Confessor sent an Embassy into Normandy suorum assensu by the assent of his People to assure him of the Succession And Ordericus Vitalis has these words Edwardus nimirum propinquo suo W. D. N. primo per Rodbertum Cant. summum Pontisicem postea per eundem Heraldum integram Anglici regni mandaverat concessionem ipsumque concedentibus Anglis fecerat totius juris sui haeredem Edward sent an Embassy to William Duke of Normandy first by Robert Archbishop of Canterbury afterwards by Harold himself acquainting him with the entire Grant of the Kingdom of England and had made him Heir of all his Right with the Consent of the English Which shews in what sense Ingulph who was Secretary to W. 1. is to be understood when he says Eum sibi succedere in regnum voce stabili sancivit That the Confessor with a stable Voice ordained or appointed him to succeed him in his Kingdom 'T is not to be questioned but Ingulph who was an Anglo-saxon and well knew that a King could not dispose of the English Crown without the consent of the States of the Realm would be understood by this that the Confessor's voice or nomination had a Parliamentary Sanction when one of the Norman writers looks upon Harold as a mad-man for not staying to see what a publick Election should determine That W. 1. came only to turn out an Usurper is not all but having done this with a great force the People of England would not receive him for King upon his Victory till they had treated and agreed with him in a Convention at Berkhamstead where as Authors concur foedus pepigit he struck a League with them and was not only obliged to maintain the English Laws in virtue of a mutual Contract but part of the Contract with the Prelats and the Nobility of the Kingdom was That he should be crown'd as the manner of the English Government requires From those Authors who give the heads of his Oath administred by Aldred Archbishop of York 't is plain that he was crown'd according to the standing Ritual in use from the Coronation of King Ethelred and continued to the Reign of H. 1. without any material alteration And Authors as well as the Ritual shew that the people were solemnly ask'd whether they would have him to reign over them to which they exprest their consent in such terms as implied a Grant But the Coronation Oath being only in general terms that King was obliged once at least if not oftner to swear expresly that they should enjoy the Benefit of the Confessor's Laws that Digest of so much of the common Law of England as was in his time thought necessary to be reduced to writing to which some additions were made by that King in Parliament for the benefit of the English That there was nothing like this in the submission of the people of Ireland to H. 2. has appeard above and that he acted according to the import
Kingdom of England neither was this any diminution to the Prerogative of the Crown The instance of Chester I may well bring to this point being authorized by the Learned Judg Shardlow in the time of E. 2. In an Action of Debt in the King's-Bench here upon a Bond seal'd at Chester that learned Judg says Chester is out of our Jurisdiction here insomuch that there is not any Minister in that County answerable here for what he has done Of a Deed done out of the Jurisdiction here or out of the Realm as at Paris or elsewhere beyond Sea I ought not to answer The Counsel urges that the Power here extends throughout the Realm of England and to a Deed done within the Realm of England you ought to answer and Chester is within England But Shardlow insists upon his former Judgment and adds IRELAND IS WITHIN THE REALM and to a Deed committed there I shall not answer here Also Duresm is within England yet I shall not answer at all here because the Court cannot try the Fact if denied This shews plainly that at that time Ireland was as much part of this Realm as Chester that the distinction of Jurisdictions was not for want of Superiority This has been maintain'd over Chester and Ireland by Writs of Error upon Judgments in Law The reason of which is given by Chief Justice Vaughan that otherwise they may insensibly alter the Law appointed or permitted or give judgment to the lessening the Superiority Mr. Molineux will have it th◠this removal of a Judgment from the King's Bench of Ireland by Writ of Error into the King's Bench of England dos not infer the subordination of Ireland to the Kingdom of England but that this was a method appointed by an Act of Parliament of Ireland which is lost among a great number of other Acts which they want for the space of 130 years at one time and 120 a◠another 'T is easily supposed by him that they had Parliaments of their own for the most of those times but others will believe that they were generally governed by the Laws of England according to the Tenour of their submission to H. 2. and the interpretation then put upon that submission But methinks the force of his Argument in relation to the ordinary Jurisdictions the King's Bench of England exercises over that of Ireland is not to be fear'd He is pleased to say erroneous Judgments might have been removed from England into the King's Court in Ireland for so certainly it must be since the Court travelled with the King For which I need only mind him of his own quotation of Sir Richard Pembrough's Case according to which for the King to have required the attendance there of the Tenants in chief who were the Judges in his Court here would have bin a banishment But 't is certain this could be no part of their Duty declared by the constitutions of Clarendon 10 H. 2. in affirmance of the antient customs of the Realm of England under that clause which requires 'em to be at the Trials and Judgments of the King's Courts Besides I shall shew that the King's Court in England which when not meant of the Parliament did manifestly in those antient times relate either to a Counsel chosen in Parliament and acting out of it by Authority from thence or to the Body of the Tenants in chief the Great Lords for whose easing themselves of such troublesome attendances the later Jurisdiction of the present King's Bench has sprung up was possess'd of the Superiority of ordinary Jurisdiction over Ireland before Mr. M. can shew that they had any Acts made in Ireland of any kind except that wherein they first gave themselves up to obey and depend on the English Legislature and unless they can produce Acts of their Parliaments for raising Aids to the Crown of England In the 37 th of H. 3. one Baret complain'd to the King of injustice done him by Justices itinerant at Limbrick Upon which the Justices of Ireland were commanded to send the Record before the King Where the Record was commanded hither per saltum without any regard to the King's Bench of Ireland And another Record in the same Year before Shardlow and other Justices at Dublin as I take it of the Common Pleas there was by Writ of Error from hence transmitted to the Justice of Ireland Without which it seems he was then held to have no Authority to proceed in Ireland In the 20 th of E. 1. a Writ of Error had removed out of Ireland a Record of a Judgment of Felony Which indeed was remanded not for want of Jurisdiction to correct the Error of the Judges in Ireland But 1. Because there was no notice to the King's Attorney General for Ireland or at least he did not attend 2. Because 't was a question of Fact Quia nullus venit ex parte Regis ad sequendum pro ipso qui veritatem sciverit ideo haec non potest ad examinationem set magis expedit domino Regi quòd in partibus Hiberniae ubi feloniae praed perpetrari debent examinentur modo debito terminentur Because no body who may know the truth comes of the part of the King to prosecute for him Therefore this cannot proceed to examination but 't is expedient for the King that the said Felonies should be examined and duly determined in Ireland where the said Felonies are suppos'd to have been committed However Mr. M. conceives it manifest that the Jurisdiction of the King's Bench in England over a Judgment in the King's Bench of Ireland dos not proceed from any subordination of one Kingdom to the other because the Judges in England ought and always do judg according to the Laws and Customs of Ireland and not according to the Laws and Customs of England any otherwise than as these may be of force in Ireland But 1. 'T is evident that the Judges neither will nor can judg according to any Law or Custom of Ireland which is contrary to the Rules of our Law or which has not been allowed there as no way prejudicial to the Law here According to his instance of a Declaration for an Acre of Bog a word not known in England but well enough understood in Ireland Which I may answer with a parallel case lately adjudged in the Exchequer of England One having spoken scandalous welsh words in Wales or in a part of England where the Welsh Tongue is used was libel'd against in the Ecclesiastical Court there Upon which the Court of Exchequer was moved for a Prohibition because the Words were insensible and of no signification But no Prohibition was granted because they were understood where they were spoken And thus 't is in relation to the particular Instances of Mannors or inferiour Courts Therefore 2. By the same reason that the judging according to the Law used in Ireland would
to be Governed and an assurance that they should have no Laws imposed upon them in any other manner than upon such of the English here as had no Votes in the making Laws But one end at least of the sending over that Charter must needs have been suitable to the declared end of a Subsequent sending King John's Charter when the Justice of Ireland was required to Summon not only the Great Men but the Free-holders of every County who after the Laws had been read to them were to swear to the observance of them beside which they were to be Proclaim'd in the several Counties 5. Admit the Charter sent to Ireland 1. H. 3. had given the Irish Liberty to hold Parliaments with Representatives from all parts of that Land according to the English Form This Liberty was derived from a Convention of the States of the Kingdom of England or Parliament in the Minority of a King who had no Judgment of his own was under the Government of a Subject whom the States had set over him and the Kingdom and that King was manifestly Chosen by them to the setting aside Eleanor who had the Right of Descent as far as that could avail So that the King could have no pretence to the imaginary divine Right of Succession and therefore that Charter must have been derived from the Grant of the People of England And besides the Record shews that this tho' sent by the advice of all the King 's faithful People was thought to want some Formality to make it a Parliament the Assembly in which it was advised being held by a Regent may be thought to have occasioned the reference to a greater or more solemn Council However such reference shews that 't was not their Intention to be concluded by what was then done and when a Charter is afterwards sent over in full Form then there 's not a word of Concession but an absolute Command that the Laws be publish'd and obey'd However take the Charter sent them 1. H. 3. in the utmost extent imaginable 't is not to be thought that while the English Parliament gave those of the English Pale or others in Ireland Liberty to hold Parliaments they divested themselves of that Authority by which they gave such Liberty To use the Words of the great Man Grotius Se per modum legis id est per modum superioris obgare nemo potest Et hinc est quod legum Auctores habent jus leges suas mutandi Potest tamen quis obligari suâ lege non directè sâ—d per reflectionem ex aequitate naturali quae partes vult componi ad rationem integri No Man can bind himself by way of Law that is as a Supâ—rior And hence â—tis that Law-makers have Right to change their Laws Yet one may be bound by his own Law not directly but by reflexion from natural Equâ—ty which requires the parts to be compos'd with respect to the whole 6. Admit the Charter sent 1. H. 3. being by consent of the States of the Kingdom of England should be taken for an absolute departure from Power before vested in them then it ought to be taken Strictiâ—juris and to confer no Rright beyond what is express'd And therefore 1. The Men of Ireland had a Grant only of such Liberties as were sent them distinctly reduced into Writing And unless the usual Practice of sending over the Laws made here be taken to explain this or they shew the very Charter then sent 't is to be supposed that only such Liberties were Expressed and Granted them as were proper for an Appendage to the Crown of England 2. If all King John's Charter were sent them which I may well admit according to the explanation of the following usage unless they can prove as we can here that before that time they had Common Councils of all the Land of Ireland for all Matters of Publick concern and that the Maxim here had obtain'd there Those things which concern all ought to be treated of by all the only end of Common Councils of the Kingdom of England expressed in King John's Charter being in relation to the principal Grievance about the raising of Aids to the Crown the Grants to Ireland could extend no further than a Liberty to have such a Council for the raising Aids And there 's no doubt but more Money may be rais'd by such National Consent than can be in the most Arbitrary way which abates the force of the Argument from H. 3. his desiring the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Knights Freemen Cities and Burroughs of the Land of Ireland to Aid him as much as they could with Men and Money And hence tho' 't would have been no breach of King John's Charter for the King to raise Aids of his Tenents in Chief for making his Eldest Son a Knight without calling for them to any Council that being one of the exceptions out of the Liberties expressed in that Charter yet H. 3. writ to the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Knights and all his Freemen of the Land of Ireland intreating them to give him such an Aid 6. After all to shew how little there is in his mighty Argument from the Writ 1. H. 3. Let him take his choice either that the English in Ireland had a Parliament granted or confirmed to them by the Charter sent along with the Writ 1. H. 3. or they had not If they had then those Laws which were made here after such Establishment in pursuance of the desire of them from Ireland shew that neither the Parliaments of England nor they of Ireland thought they had any Power to make Laws there If there was no Grant or Confirmation of any Parliament there then the Concession of English Laws and Liberties was no more than a Declaration that they should be governed by the Laws made and to be made by Parliament in England or receiv'd there by the consent of the People giving Force and Authority to their own approved Customs But since after all Mr. M.'s learned Flourishes about the Setling of Parliaments in Ireland by the Modus sent over in the time of H. 2. and subsequent Grants he admits that under the 3 Kings H. 2. King John and H. 3. and their Predecessors we must repute them to have submitted to the Laws made here in those Reigns for want of a regular Legislature establish'd among them And since whatever he admits there 's no Colour of such an Establishment by the end of H. 3. Let 's see what can be found in the next Reign E. 1. having in his absence from England upon the Death of H. 3. his Father been Elected and Declared King of England in a full Convention of the States of this Kingdom in a Writ sent by those States to Ireland 't is affirm'd that the Government of England and the Dominion or Lordship of the Land of Ireland belonged to
him by Hereditary Succession not that he was held to be King by a meer Right of Descent but as the Ritual of the Coronation of H. 1. and the Writ for Proclaiming the Peace of E. 1. in England and Authors of the time shew the Election of the States of England placed him in the Inheritance of the Crown therefore the States of England declare to the Subjects of Ireland that they were bound to take the like Oath of Allegiance as the English had done and this is required of them by the States here under the Great Seal of England nor is there colour to believe that there was any Summons to Ireland for any from thence to come to that Conâ—ention nor indeed was there time for such Summons and return before that meeting notwithstanding Mr. M's assertion of this Reign in particular that the Laws made in England and binding them were always enacted by their proper Representatives meaning Representatives chosen in Ireland the reason for which he there brings from supposed instances in the Reign of E. 3. seeming not to rely upon his Quotation from the White Book of the Exchequer in Dublin but the Page before which 9 E. 1. mentions Statutes made by the King at Lincoln and others at York with the assent of the Prelates Earls Barons and Commonalty of his Kingdom of Ireland Which if it implyed the presence of the Commonalty of Ireland would be an Argument that all their Rights were concluded by the Tenants in chief who had Lands in Ireland but were Members of the English Parliament by reason of their Interest here but in truth this shews no more than that at the request of those of Ireland the Parliament of England had enacted those Laws and the Record in their white Book is only a Record of the transmission from hence and proves that suitably to the practice both before and after that time they in Ireland had no Parliaments for enacting Laws but were forc'd to Petition to have them enacted here and what was enacted upon their Petition was truly with their Assent But then the Question will be whether in the Laws made in that King's Reign with intention to bind Ireland their Consent is generally expressed or implyed any otherwise than from the nature of their former submission to be govern'd by the English Laws But if our Acts of Parliament and Records concerning them are clear in any thing they certainly are in this that the Parliament of England then had and exercis'd an undoubted Right of binding Ireland without their immediate consent by any Representatives chosen there Mr. M. indeed tho' as I have before observ'd he admits that Ireland was bound by Acts of Parliament here till the end of the Reign of H. 3. for want of a regular legislature among themselves yet suitably to his usual inconsistencies upon the enquiry where and how the Statute Laws and Acts of Parliament made in England since the 9 th of H. 3. came to be of force in Ireland will have it that none of them made here without Representatives chosen in Ireland were binding there till receiv'd by a suppos'd Parliament 13 E. 2. yet it falls out unluckily that they have Statutes in Print 3 E. 2. which speak not a word of Confirming the Laws before that time made in England and yet no Man will question but Statute Laws of England made in the Reign of E. 1. were a Rule which the Judges in Ireland went by before the time of E. 2. And that all Judgments given in Ireland contrary to any Law transmitted thither under the Great Seal of England must upon Writs of Error have been set aside here as Erroneous But let 's see whether our Parliaments in the time of E. 1. had such a defference to the Irish Legislature or that the English in Ireland then made any such pretensions as Mr. M. advances If we Credit Judge Bolton our Statute Westm 1st which was 3 E. 1. was first confirm'd in Ireland 13 E. 2. and till then according to Mr. M.'s Inferences from their receiving or publishing Laws made here that Statute was of no force in Ireland being Introductory of a new Law in several particulars as among other things in Subjecting Franchises to be seized into the King's Hands for default of pursuing Felons and in Enacting not only the Imprisoning and Fining Malefactors in Parks and Vivaries but forcing them to Abjure the Realm if they could not find Sureties for their good Behaviour This Act does not Name Ireland but the King Ordain'd and Establish'd it by His Council and by the assent of the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and all the Commonalty of the Realm thither Summoned for the mending the Estate of the Realm for the Common profit of the holy Church of the Realm and as Profitable and Convenient for the whole Realm However that Ireland as part of the Realm was bound by this Law and by other Laws made 11 12 and 13 E. 1. without any regard to Parliamentary Confirmations in Ireland and that for enforcing Obedience to those Laws 't was enough to send them thither by some proper Messenger under the Great Seal of England if not without appears by the Proceedings of the Parliament at Winchester holden the Oct. after the Parliament of Westim 2. Mem. quod c. Mem. that on Friday in the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the 13 th Year of the King at Winchester there were deliver'd to Roger Brâ—ton Clerk to the Venerable Father William Bishop of Waterford then Justice of Ireland certain Statutes made and provided by the King and His Council viz. The Statutes of Westminster made soon after the King's Coronation and the Statutes of Gloster and those made for Merchants and the Statute of Westm provided and made in the King's Parliament at Easter to be carried to Ireland and there to be Proclaimed and Observed It appears that among the Statutes delivered to the Chief Justices Clerk in order to their being published and observed in Ireland one was the Statute concerning Merchants 12. E. 1. for the enforcing and improving a Statute made at Acton Burnel 11. of that King that of Acton Burnel provides a remedy for Debts to Merchants to be had by calling the Debtor before the Mayor of London York or Bristol or before the Mayor and a Clerk to be appointed by the King which as it seems 't was intended that the King should have Power to appoint in other Cities or Towns within his Kingdom Accordingly the Statute 12. E. 1. says the King had commanded it to be firmly kept throughout his Realm and that Parliament 12. for declaring or explaining some of the Articles of the former Statute names the Mayor of London or the Chief Governour of that City or of other good Town This Statute expresly Ordains and Establishes that it be thenceforth held throughout the
17th of his Reign and not of E. 1. for which I shall refer not only to what I before observed which may give reasonable satisfaction that no such Ordinance could have been made in the 17th of E. 1. but to the Statute-Rolls where this is entered among the Statutes of the time of E. 2. next above the Statutes of the time of E. 3. For maintaining the Jurisdiction of England that Statute of Nottingham ordains That no Pardon for Felony be granted by the Justice of Ireland nor Seal'd with the King's Seal there without special Command of the King under some one of his Seals of England 1. It being so manifest from undoubted Records that the Parliaments of England to the 17 th of E. 2. exercised an Authority in making Laws to bind Ireland and that there was a plain and known Method for publishing those Laws in Ireland by virtue of the Great Seal of England I hope it will be allowed that the Authority of Sir Richard Bolton's Marginal Note in an Edition of the Irish Statutes is not enough to induce Men to believe that in the 13 th of E. 2. the Statute of Merton 20 th H. 3. and some other Statutes made in England were confirmed in Ireland as being of no force there till then And that no other Statutes made in England were of force in Ireland till confirm'd there Can any Man think that no part of the Statute of Merton was received for Law in Ireland till the 13 th of E. 2. particularly will even Mr. M. believe that notwithstanding the Record 21. H. 3. of Transmission of so much at least of the Statute of Merton as relates to the Limitation of Writs yet till the 13 th of E. 2. the descent in a Writ of Right was to be lay'd from an Ancestor of the time of H. 1. which is 200 Years within One Or does he think that the Justice of Ireland for the time being would not have been turn'd out if not impeached had he not caused the Statutes of West 1. and 2. and the Statutes of Gloucester to have been Proclaimed and Observed in Ireland after they had been delivered to his Clerk in the Parliament at Winchester and yet if there be any thing in Mr. M s Quotation from Sir Richard Bolton these were not received for Laws in Ireland till 13. E. 2. But since 't is manifest that those and the other Statutes afterwards sent over in the time of E. 1. and E. 2. must needs have been put in Execution there if there were any such Act of Parliament 13. E. 2. as Mr. M. takes for granted upon no Authority in comparison with the Records which I have cited as to so much of any Acts of Parliament made here as was not transmitted in the form above shewn the Enacting them in in Ireland might be the first Publication there But as to what was contained in the Patent or Charter sent thither it could be no more than a Declaratory Law or rather Republication Sometimes there might have been a special form of Transmission which as one means of publishing the Laws might require their Parliament to meet to hear Laws read to them which would bind them whether they consented or no or by Writ from hence a Law or Charter pass'd there might be so republished Thus 't was beyond Contradiction 12. H. 3. when a Charter of King John's Sworn to by the Irish was either sent back or republished after it had lain there Rex dilecto fideli suo Ric. de Burgo Justic suo Mandamus vobis â—irmiter praecipientes quatenus certo die loco faciatis venire coram vobis Arch. Ep. Ab. Pr. Com. Bar. Mil. libere tenentes Ballivos singulor Comitat coram eis publice legi faciatis cartam Dni J. Regis Patris nri cui Sigillum sum appensum est quam fieri fecit jurari à Magnatibus Hib. de legibus consuetud Anglicis observandis praecipiatis exparte nostrâ quod leges illas consuetudines in carta praed contentas de caetero firmiter tenennt Et hoc idem per singulos Comitatus Hib. clamari faciatis teneri Prohibentes firmiter exparte nostrâ super forisfactur nostram ne quis contra hoc Mandatum venire presumat The King to his Beloved and Faithful Subject Richard de Burgh his Justice of Ireland we command you firmly requiring that at a certain day and place you cause to come before you the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Knights Freeholders and the Bailiffs of every County and before them cause publickly to be read the Charter of King John our Father to which his Seal is affixed which he caused to be made and sworn by the great Men of Ireland concerning the observing in Ireland the Laws and Customs of England And command them from us that they for the future firmly keep and observe the Laws and Customs in the said Charter contained And cause this same to be Proclaimed thro' every County of Ireland firmly Prohibiting in our Name and under our Forfeiture that no person presume to the contrary of this our Command All must agree that this Publication in so formal a Parliament and after that in the several Counties was not necessary to give Sanction to that Charter for that it had before And could be no more than a reminding them of their Duty or a more solemn Publication of the Law But that being a Law made here was held sufficient to make it a Law to the English in Ireland and that being transmitted thither under the Great Seal of England it became a Rule to the Judges there even in matters happening before the transmission appears by the following Precedents A Man having been redisseis'd after the Statute of Merton 20. H. 3. which had made a Redisseisour lyable to Imprisonment A Party who had been so injured applies to the King for Remedy and as the Writ to the Justice of Ireland has it Ideo vobis mittimus sub sigillo nostro constitutionem nuper factam coram nobis Magnatibus nostris Angliae de praedicto casu similiter de aliis artiâ—ulis ad emendationem rni nri Mandantes quat de consilio venererab Pat. L. Dublin Arch. constitutionem illam in Curiâ nostra Hib. legi de caetero firmiter observari faciatis secund eandem praed querenti plene justitiam exhiberi faciatis Therefore we send you under our Seal the Constitution lately made before us and our great Men of England concerning that Case and other Articles for the Amendment of this our Kingdom commanding That with the Counsel of the venerable father L. Arch-Bishop of Dublin you cause that Constitution to be read in our Court of Ireland and for the future to be firmly observed and that you fully dojustice to the Complainant according to the same In the Sense in which the Parliament
12. of H. 3. was to receive the Charter of King John and the King's Court or Bench in Ireland was to receive the Statute of Merton I will agree that Parliaments in Ireland may have received Laws in the time of E. 2. but there 's no colour to believe that they then pretended to more in relation to Acts of Parliament sent over to them at large under the Great Seal of England The Reign of E. 3. I may divide into Three Periods 1. Before 2. At 3. After the main and most express Charter for a Parliament in Ireland of any yet cited or appearing 1. In the Statute Roll of the beginning of E. 3. there are several entries in Latin of this kind Mem. that those Statutes were sent into Ireland in the form of a Patent with a certain Writ here following But the entry of the Writ is sometimes omitted it being look'd on as matter of common form In the 2 d. of that King a Statute was made at Northampton giving a command about Fairs to all Sheriffs of England and other Parts In the 6 th a Statute was made supplying the Defects of that Statute and creating the Forfeiture of double the Value of what should be sold in any Fair or Market beyond the time limited for them in the Charters In the 6 th of that King this last Statute and all other Statutes made in his Reign to that time are sent in the form of a Patent to Anthony de Lucy Justice of Ireland requiring that those Statutes and all the Articles therein contained be Proclaimed in the King's Land of Ireland as well within Liberties as without and that he should cause so much of them as concern'd the Justice and the People of that Land to be firmly kept and observed A Statute 11. of E. 3. provides That except the King and his Children no Person great nor small within England Ireland and Wales or so much of Scotland as was then under the King's power should wear any Cloth but what was made in England Ireland Wales or such part of Scotland upon pain of Forfeiture of the Cloth and being Punish'd at the King's pleasure And whereas Mr. M. according to the use which he makes of publications in or by Parliaments in Ireland of Laws made in Parliaments of England would infer that no Statutes made here against Provisors could be of force in Ireland till the 32 d. of H. 6. when 't was Enacted there That all those Laws made in England as well as in Ireland be had and kept in force 't is evident that E. 3 d's Parliament and his Council acting in Parliament held that there was no need of other publishing and enforcing those Laws than was usual by virtue of the Great Seal of England The Commons Petitioned that the Provisions and Ordinances made in the Parl. 17. of that King concerning Provisions and Reservations from the See of Rome be affirmed by a Statute to endure for ever And particularly that if any Arch-Bishop or other Spiritual Patron do not present within Four Months after Voidance by a Man's accepting any Benefice from the See of Rome the Right of Patronage should accrue to the King And they pray that Commissions and Writs be sent to all ports of England Wales and Ireland and other Places within every County as there should be occasion to Apprehend all those who should carry any of the Bulls Process or Instruments then complained of The Answer in French is thus 'T is accorded and assented by the King the Earls Barons Justices and other Sages of the Law that the Things above-written be done and in reasonable form according to the prayer of the Commons Upon which there 's no doubt but either a Writ was sent to Ireland with this Act of Parliament in the form of a Charter to warrant Commissions for that purpose in Ireland or otherwise Commissions might issue from hence to apprehend such Offenders as should be found there The Statute of the Staple 27. E. 3. taking notice of the Damages to the People of the King's Realm and of his Lands of Wales and Ireland because the Staples had been held out of the said Realm and Lands appoints places for the Staple in Ireland as well as in England and Wales and creates a Forfeiture of the Wool and other Staple Commodities which any English Irish or Welsh should carry out of the said Realm and Lands with the like Penalty if they should receive Gold or Silver for them elsewhere than at the respective Staples At which Staples 't is to be observed that there were paid Duties and Customs granted by Parliament in England Another Statute of the same Year appoints That all Wines in England Ireland and Wales be Gauged on pain of Forfeiture and further Punishment at the King's pleasure And but Two Years before the Statute of Treasons which does not name Ireland was made for a Law to the whole Realm and for Ireland as part of it But none of the King's Subjects in Ireland were within that Law unless they were to be adjudged Subjects of the Realm of England And yet this Statute is ordered to be published and observed in Ireland as well as England in this manner To the Sheriff of Kent greeting We send you under our Seal certain Statutes made in our Parliament assembled at Westminster on the Feast of St. Hillary last past by us the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and others of the Commonalty of our Realm of England to the said Parliament summoned Commanding that you cause the said Statutes to be read in your full County and that they be firmly observed and kept Teste the King at Westm the 6 th day of May. The like Writs of the same Date are sent to the Justice of Ireland what ought to be changed being changed But if the Parliaments of England had or exercised any Jurisdiction or Authority over Ireland hitherto at least 't is to be thought that 't was all taken from 'em by a Charter of E. 3. part of which he transcribes out of Mr. Prynn but for his satisfaction I shall give him more of it from the Record now to be seen in the Tower 't is a Charter of R. 2. of an Ordinance for the State of Ireland reciting and confirming the Charter 31. E. 3. beginning thus Quia ex frequenti side dignor insinuatione accepimus quod terra nra Hiberniae ecclesiaque Hibernica ac clerus populus ejusdem nobis subditus ob defectum boni regiminis ac per negligentiam in curiam Ministror regior ibin tam major quam minor hactenus turbati fuerint multipliciter gravati Marchiaeque terrae ipsius juxta hostes positae per hostiles invasiones vastatae occisis Marchionibus depraedatis eorum habitationibus enormiter concrematis caeterisque coactis loca propria deserere
of England was as much to be obeyed as their own Record shews that 't was 29. E. 1. The Authorities above cited having manifested the several Titles which the Crown and Kingdom of England have to the Land of Ireland and that from the 18 th of H. 2. at the latest downwards as far as Mr. M. makes any controversie neither the Irish Nation nor the English there have been govern'd without the interposition of the Parliament of England and that the Parliament of Ireland had all its Laws made here or derived under Authority from hence and that not from the King 's alone or the Kings and their Priâ—y Counsels but their Parliament that the Parliaments of Ireland have had no Provision for their being holden within any certain time nor ever had Authority given them to act as independent on the Parliament of England I may well conclude that the right of the Parliament of England to bind Ireland by Laws made here without any Members chosen for Ireland is so far from being departed from that 't is strengthened and confirmed by the continual usage of the Parliaments of England and submission of the Parliaments and People of Ireland to which 't will be needless to add the consideration of the inestimable Treasure spent in several Ages for maintaining the English Interest there and the late freeing it from an Universal Insurrection and Usurpation 4. Having us'd the proper means to convince Mr. M. by the true argumentum ad hominem shewing that the chief Weapons which he uses turn strongly against himself I need the less apprehend the natural force of his reasoning upon dry Notions The right says he which England may pretend to for binding us by their Acts of Parliament can be founded only on the imaginary Title of Conquest or Purchase or on Precedents and Matters of Record Wherein he admits that Precedents and Matters of Record may give a Right which is neither by Conquest nor Purchase and of this the Authors he refers to might satisfie him at large I 'll agree with him that on consent depends the obligation of all humane Laws insomuch that without it by the unanimous Opinions of all Jurists no sanctions are of any force But do any of them say that the consent is necessary to be exprest and that immediate if it were the Sons could not be bound by those Laws which their Fathers chose in restriction of natural liberty and he might have observ'd by his own Authors and even in the Words cited by himself that approbation not only Men give who personally declare their assent by Voice Sign or act but also when others do it in their names by right originally at least derived from them as in Parliaments Councils c. To be commanded we do consent when that Society whereof we are part hath at any time before consented Farther yet whatever Freedoms the Progeny of the English and Britains now in Ireland claim with the natural Born Subjects of England as being descended from them 't is certain every Man here does not as an English-man claim to be a Member of Parliament or to have a Voice in chusing one But there are many without this Privilege who have been concluded by the consent of their Forefathers and their own agreeing to stay within a Kingdom govern'd by such Laws to which they owe Obedience and Submission at least as long as they will receive the benefit of them and the protection which they assure This is the case of those Englishmen who chuse to live in Ireland under the Protection of England without which the Protestants there could not have subsisted in any Age since the Reformation and if the Irish Natives are not conquer'd or the Right of Conquest over them ought not to be carryed beyond the reparation of the Damages sustained from them or if a just conquest gets no power but only over those who have actually assisted in that unjust force and if the right of conquest extends little fâ—rther than over the Lives of the Conquer'd but their posterity can lose no benefit thereby If an outragious and Brutal Enemy may not be restrain'd from doing farther mischief by the taking from him that Power and Estate which would enable him to carry on his Designs if the posterity may not suffer in the consequence of this as the aggressor's property is become the Conqueror's if the Children may not be restrain'd from revenging their Father's Quarrel let the English in Ireland look to it how to juâ—â—ifie those Possessions which they enjoy by the help of the Crown and Kingdom of England and if their Consciences are squeamish let them renounce their Right to the Lands of the Natives but let them not bring in to question the Right of Engl. to all Foreign Plantations and let them never fear that equal Power here to which a great part of the English Nation are resigned without any other kind of consent than the People of Ireland have given to the Laws made in England with intention to bind them and be published there As to his notion of Purchase whenever Ireland will repay the value of the Purchase that inestimable and infinite expence of Men Money Victuals and Arms which their own Parliaments own to have protected and supported them for several Ages there 's no great question but England would be willing to leave 'em to their own ways Whereas he will suppose that the Authority which the Lords and Commons of England have exercised from Age to Age in relation to Ireland would imply that the Parliament of England have claim'd a coordinate Power with the King what is this but to argue that in relation to England the Parliament is coordinate however as by Parliament he means only the States of the Kingdom 't is evident this insinuation proceeds from his not observing the Gothick constitution for which he would be thought very zealous but might have known that the States of the Kingdom or the ordines regni are those who are entituled to meet the King in Person or by representation in his Parliaments where the King is a distinct Body Politick by himself and having the Supremacy is manifestly above the ordines regni But tho' the Head which Mr. M. raises about the suppos'd injury to Prerogative be only upon a pretended coordinate Power with the King he carries it farther and will have it that for the States of this Realm to use an Authority tho' subordinate to the King to introduce new Laws or repeal old establish'd in Ireland is a violation of the Constâ—tution of Ireland under Boyning's Act and of the Prerogative of the Crown of England which he supposes to have been highly advanced by that Statute speaking of the effect of which he says The King's Prerogative is advanced to a much higher pitch than ever was challeng'd by the King 's in England and the Parliament of Ireland stands almost