at this day have been gain'd or Extorted from the Ancient Authority or Just Prerogatives of the Crown but that they are due to us from the first Constitution and Time immemorial and that such Violations which have been made upon our Constitution by means of what was call'd the Conquest or otherwise have been justly retriev'd so that in respect of Matters which regard the Right and Authority of the Kingdom we may judge according to what is visible and without Controversie admitted at this day The Right and Reason of Things ever were and ever must continue to be the same according to these Principles then can it ever be admitted that any acquisition obtain'd in Ireland by an English Army under the Conduct of King Henry the Second could be appropriated to the King distinct from the Kingdom We do indeed freequently find in History and we practice it no less in our Common Discourse that the Name of the King is us'd by way of Eminency to signifie things done under his Authority and Conduct as Head and Chief when it is never intended to be applyed to his Person for if I should say the King of England took Namure in sight of the French Army every Body would know that I meant the Confederate Army under the Conduct of King William took it In like manner we say such a King made such Laws when indeed the Parliament made them And if it will but be allow'd that the Irish submitted to King Henry not out of fear to his Person but for fear of his Army I can make no doubt but that the Submission was made to him as King and Head of the Kingdom of England and not as Duke of Normandy If he should lay stress upon their Submitting to the King and his Heirs that can import no more than what the Words us'd at this day to the King his Heirs and Successors do better explain The Second Argument is to shew That Ireland may not properly be said to be conquered by Henry the Second or in any succeeding Rebellion I shall not dispute with him in how many differing Senses the Word Conquest may be taken I will grant to him that Ireland was not Conquered by Henry 2d in such a sense as to enslave the People or subject them to an absolute Power and yet for all that the Word Conquest meaning a forcible gaining is much more applicale to Henry the Second's acquisition of Ireland than to William the First 's obtaining the Crown of England he had a pretence and came not to Conquer but to Vindicate his Right he was encourag'd to come over abetted and assisted by a great Number of the People who hated Harold's Government he fought against Harold who was not generally consented to by the People as a Lawful King and his Abettors but not against the Body of the People of England he pursu'd not his Victory like a Conqueror but receiv'd the chief of the People that came to him with Respect and Friendship they chose him for their King he swore to conserve their Laws and Liberties and to govern them as their Lawful Prince according to their own Form of Government On the other hand King Henry had no such Pretence of Right to the Kingdom of Ireland his Descent was a prrfect Invasion he was not call'd in by the People of Ireland and his Business was nothing else than to Conquer and Subdue the Kingdom 'T is true the People made no Opposition but 't was because his Power was dreadful to them what 's the difference between yielding to an Invader without fighting or after the Battel more than that one shews want of Courage the other of Success but are not both alike to the Gainer when he hath got his point The Irish made no Terms for their own Form of Government but wholly abolishing their own they consented to receive the English Laws and submitted entirely to the English Government which hath always been esteem'd as one of the greatest Signs of a Conquest But if he will be satisy'd in what sense the People of that time understood it let him but look again into his Giraldus Cambrensis and see how he can translate the words Hibernia Expugnata and what 's the Meaning of Qui firmissimis fiidelitatis subjectionis vinculis Domino Regi innodarunt But what may put it out of all doubt that the Body of the People of Ireland made an intire Submission to the Kingdom of England in the Person of King Henry the Second is his own Quotations Omnes Archiepiscopi Episcopi Abbates totius Hiberniae receperunt eum in Regem Dominum Hibernieae jurantes ei haeredibus suis fidelitatem et regnandi super eos potestatem in perpetuum et inde dederunt ei Chartaes suas Exemplo autem Clericorum praedicti Reges Principes Hiberniae receperunt simili modo Henricum Regem Angliae in Dominum Regem Hiberniae et sui devenerunt et ei et Haeredibus suis fidelitatem contra omnes iuraverunt And in another Nec alicujus fere in Insula vel nominis vel ominis er at qui Regiae Majestati et debitum Domino Reverentiam non exhiberet And yet after he hath made these and more such like Quotations 't is strange to see the same Man come and say From what forgoes I presume it appears that Ireland cannot properly be said so to be Conquered by Henry the Second as to give the Parliament of England any jurisdiction over us He makes out an entire Submission to the King of England and yet allows no Jurisdiction to the Parliament of England Let him shew us if he can by what Right a King of England may take to himself a separate Dominion over a Country brought into Subjection by the help of an English Army so as that it shall be no way subjected to the Parliamentary Authority of England But such arguing as this must either render him very Ignorant of the Constitution of our Government which I believe he would not be thought or wilfully guilty of maintaining an Opinion destructive to the Rights and Priviledges of the People of England I think him very much out in asserting the Rebellions of Ireland to be of the same Nature with the Commotions that have happen'd in England However Historians may make use of the word Rebellion to please the Party that 's uppermost yet there 's an easie distinction to be made between a Rebellion and a Civil War when two Princes contend for the Supream Government and the People are Divided into opposite Parties they fight not against the Established Government of the Kingdom the Dispute being no more but who hath most right to be in the supream administration of it Or if the People find themselves opprest and their Liberties and Properties invaded by their Prince and they take up Arms to restore the Government to its right Basis in both these Cases it may most properly be term'd
AN ANSWER TO Mr. Molyneux HIS CASE of Ireland 's being bound by Acts of Parliament in England Stated AND His Dangerous Notion of Ireland's being under no Subordination to the Parliamentary Authority of England REFUTED By Reasoning from his own Arguments and Authorities Rom. 12. 3. For I say through the Grace given unto me to every Man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think c. Gal. 6. 3. For if a Man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself LONDON Printed for Rich. Parker at the Vnicorn under the Piazza of the Royal Exchange 1698. THE EPISTLE Dedicatory By way of PREFACE To the Modern English Nobility Gentry and Protestant Inhabitants of Ireland Right Honourable Honourable c. ALthough you are by far the least in Number you are yet to be esteemed as the much more considerable part of the Inhabitants of that Country in respect of your Power and the Authority which you bear there 'T is true that upon the first Subduction of the Irish Nation to the English Government the Laws and Liberties of Englishmen were granted unto them equally with the Colony of the Old English that were planted among them but as they were a people that had been always us'd to a sort of wild aud barbarous way of Living they did not affect to embrace the more Civiliz'd Customs and Manners of the English but for the most part kept themselves off from uniting and joining with them in the Management of the Government which by the Concessions made to them they might freely have acted in yet they continued as a distinct and separate people sway'd and influenc'd by their own petty Princes or Chiefs of Clans even to the breaking out into frequent Insurrections and Rebellions against the English Government which therefore continued all along to be chiefly administred by the Inhabitants of the English Pale And in this state the Affairs of Ireland remain'd until the Reformation of Religion from whence sprung such a Revolution as produc'd a great Change in the Administration of the publick Affairs there For after the Reformation had obtain'd in England the Ancient English of Ireland did generally remain of the Roman Communion and consequently when 't was found dangerous to continue them in the Execution of publick Trusts they also as well as the Irish of the â—ame Religion were in process of Time by the Influence and Authority of England utterly disabled from acting any thing in the Government of the State and 't is in their rooms that you have since succeeded and are therefore look'd upon and treated by England as the governing part and effective Body of the Kingdom of Ireland But when I came to consider Mr. Molyneux's Book I thought it very strange that he who design'd so Elaborate a piece in your Favour should yet give you no stronger a Title to the preheminence which you bear in that Country than what would devolve upon you from those Concessions which were anciently made to the Native Irish and Old English which as he would perswade us did amount to no less than the establishing them upon the Foundation of an Absolute Kingdom distinct and separate from the Kingdom of England and wholly Independent thereon the Consequence of which if it had been so would have stood you in very ill stead for as you cannot make any pretensions to such Concessions because you are not generally speaking descended from either of those People but their Progeny are still in being and acknowledged to be such all the Rights and Priviledges which Mr. Molyneux hath so strongly contested for should be due to them if the Case must be taken as he hath stated it and nothing can be more plausibly offered in their Iustification for the cutting the Throats of the Modern English than this Notion And Mr. Molyneux is so fond of â—ixing you upon this Old Foundation that â—e even disputes the possibility of their forfeiting or the reasonableness of our retractiâ—g those Concessions I believe indeed that he might forsee that if it should be admitted that the frequency of their rebelling and our reducing them by force of Arms did amount to a Reconquering of this their Independent Kingdom as he makes it that would have dissolv'd that ancient Concession and spoyl his Design of entailing it upon you However it be I think this sort of Title does naturally fall under an inextricable Dilemma For If Ireland was granted to the Native Irish and Old English as an Absolute Independent Kingdom and was never since re-conquered by England the Right of administring the publick Affairs of that Government under the King ought to remain in them since 't was never given up to you by their Consents and then they have no reason to consider you otherwise than as having no Title more than Usurpers and Oppressors and that you may justly be treated as such whenever they are in a condition to do it But if this Independent Kingdom hath been reconquer'd the former Concessions are actually dissolvâ—d and neither you nor they can have any more pretence to an Independent Kingdom until you can procurea New Grant for it And thus Mr. Molyneux in labouring to raise you higher than your proper Basis hath quite unhing'd you But I have yet no doubt of your being as well Entituled to the Power and Authority which you enjoy and exercise in that Country as any People in Europe are and that it is justly deriv'd to you from a much more certain Original than what Mr. Molyneux hath assign'd and I have therefore undertaken in the following Papers to controvert his Notion through every point and to shew in Opposition to his Arguments First That Henry the Second having subdu'd Ireland by the means of an English Army that Country came to be annex'd to the Imperial Crown or Kingdom of England but not to the Person of King Henry in any separate propriety from the Kingdom Secondly That the Subduing of Ireland by the people of England under the Conduct of their King Henry the Second was then esteem'd to be a Conquest and is much more to be accounted so than William the first 's acquisition of the Crown of England and that Ireland was thereby most certainly brought under the Iurisdiction of the Parliamentary Authority of England Thirdly That King Henry's Descent upon Ireland was a just Undertaking and that the intire submission of the People to the Government of England their receiving its Laws and being endoâ—'d in all the priviledges of Englishmen made them become a Member of and annex'd to the English Empire and gave England a just Title to exercise a perpetual Iurisdiction over them Fourthly That all the many Concessions made to Ireland empowering them to hold Parliaments c. can be understood no otherwise than that they should be enabled to devise and enact such Laws when Occasion required as were suitable to the Circumstances of that Country But
that no Grant ever did or could make Ireland an Absolute Distinct Separate Kingdom and wholly Independent of England or invest it with such a supream Legislature as is inherent in the Head of the Government only which with respect to the Body of the English Empire can never reside any where else than in the King by and with the Advice and Consâ—nt of the Lords and Commons of England in Parliament assembled Fifthly That the Presidents and Opinions quoted by Mr. Molyneux do not by any means assist his Argument but do most of them support mine against him And Sixthly That his Reasons and Arguments offered on one side and t'other are as little to his purpose but that the English Settlements in Ireland always were and ever must be properly accounted as a Colony of England and hath ever been by her protected and supported as such By these Principles then and no other but such as these can the English be justify'd in their Conduct towards the Irish whereas if they had been an absolute distinct independent People the former and latter Disturbances they have given us could not have been Rebellions but were just Attempts to vindicate their Rights against a People that had without Reason violated them their Lands had not been legally Forfeited but forcibly taken from them against all Iustice and Reason and the Spilling of so much of their Blood must lye heavy upon those that provok'd them to take up Arms in Defence of their just Liberties and Properties Is it not much more for your Interest then to put this matter on the right bottom upon which our Actings towards them were always grounded by considering the Irish as a People that had been subdu'd and brought into Subjection to the English Government and were united to it in the Nature of a Province of its Empire and to esteem the English that have been settled there as a Colony of England which we were oblig'd to protect and defend against any Insults and Violences offered them by the Natives For this must justly subject them to the Forfeitures and Penalties due to Rebels vindicate us in the Severities we have exercis'd upon them support you in the possession of the Estates which were taken from them and return the the Guilt of all the Blood that hath been shed in the Irish Wars upon their own Heads as being the Aggressors These things are so Obvious that I believe there are many of you that can have no good Opinion of Mr. Molyneux's Book yet I am told that there are others and some of good Rank among you that are very fond of it does indeed with respect to you carry the face of a Popular Argument and is artfully written and he that can take the Latitude of advancing his own Imaginations and mistaken Conjectures with the Confidence of Realities and Certainties suggest Falsities with the utmost Assurance and omit Material Truths may impose much upon an unwary Reader especially if be thinks what 's offer'd is for his Interest Quod volumus facile credimus But any thoughtful Man that will give himself leave to Consider it impartially will find it to be one of the weakest and most mistaken Books that ever was written with such a flourish of Language and shew of Learning and Integrity The Story of King John's being made an absolute Independent King is the main Prop on which he lays the greatest stress of his Reasoning aud yet it proves but a meer Imagination The Writers indeed of these Times do say he was made King of Ireland but it looks but like a Complement to him for the Grant it self shews plainly that 't was but feudatory Donation and that 't was never intended to make him an Independent King because he was limited to use no higher Stile than that of Lord of Ireland Mr. Molyneux also deals very unfairly in many other particulars and it appears that he had more regard to the point he contests than to discover the genuine Truth of the matter for he hath not only stretch'd in favour of his Argument beyond what any Authorities can warrant but he has also conceal'd divers obvious Instances that make against him of which I shall observe to you some Particulars which have occur'd to me since I had gone through with my Answer I have accidentally met with Sir Richard Bolton's Statutes which he quotes wherein I Observe that there are several Acts that declare in most express Words that the Kingdom of Ireland is appending united knit and a Member rightfully belonging to the Imperial Crown of England And yet Mr. Molyneux observes this to us with such a Diminution as represents it but as it were united and which he conceives effects no more than that Ireland shall not be alienâ—d or separated from the King of England c. but I cannot imagine that he is so ignorant of our Constitution as not to know that we can have no Notion of uniting or annexing to the Imperial Crown of England as appropriated to the King's Person distinct from the Kingdom which if it can be sence any where else is yet perfect Nonsence in England But I have met with one Prevarication so notorious that I must not omit shewing it Mr. Molynex in page 41. hath these words For the Dominion and Regality of Ireland was wholly and separately vested in King Iohn being absolutely granted unto him without any Reservation And he being created King in the Parliament at Oxford under the Style and Title of Lord of Ireland enjoy'd all manner of Kingly Jurisdiction Preheminence and Authority Royal belonging to the Imperial State and Majesty of a King as are the express words of the Irish Statute 33 H. 8. cap. 1. I must confess that I believ'd that this Statute had been as express in the matter as he delivers it but 't is so far from it that there is no mention made of King John or his Grant in it The words of the Act are Forasmuch as the King our most gracious Sovereign Lord and his Grace's most noble Progenitors Kings of England have been Lords of this Land of Ireland having all manner of Kingly Jurisdiction Power Preheminencies and Authority Royal belonging or appertaining to the Royal Estate and Majesty of a King by the Names of Lord of Ireland We deny not that King Henry the Eighth's Progenitors the Kings of England had this Royal Sovereign Authority over Ireland but his Insinuation that John had it before he was King of England is plainly false and not warrantable by this Statute Again he mightily imposes upon the World in â—sserâ—ing That before the Year 1641. there was no Statute made in England introductory of a New Law c. but those which he had before-mentioned And though while I am dealing with Mr. Molyneux I confine my self to mention no Authorities but his own yet I will here presume for a proof of his Ignorance or Disingenuity to name some other old Acts binding Ireland which have been
will never think the publishing a Book to the World which is little better than Sheba's Trumpet of Rebellion to be a fair way of stating Grievances but that 't is a part of their Business and their Glory when they think it worth their while to call such Authors to account for their Boldness I begin now with his Book which as near as possible I shall follow in order and for the Authorities which he hath quoted I shall leave them to him very little disturb'd but take them as he gives them whether they are right or wrong only making such Observations as may result therefrom or from his own Reasonings He begins with a very fine Complement again to the Parliament of England and then take upon him to give them Due Information in matters wherein as he says another People are chiefly concern'd and tells them that he could never imagine that such great Assertors of their own could ever think of making the least breach upon the Rights and Liberties of their Neighbours unless they thought that they had Right so to do and that they might well surmise if these Neighbours did not expostulate the matter and this therefore seeing all others are silent he undertakes to do but with the greatest deferrence imaginable because he would not be wanting to his Country or indeed to all Mankind for he argues the cause of the whole Race of Adam Liberty seeming the Inherent Right of all Mankind Now it seems from Children of the same Parent we are become another People and Neighbours the Irish may be said to be another People though they have not been very good Neighbours to us sometimes but the English we may justly challenge to be our own and not another People and we shall hardly admit them to be our Neighbours in such a sense as that we should transact with them in Matters of Government upon the same foot and at equal distance with our Neighbours of France Holland c. If they expect this from us I hope they 'll shew us the respect of sending their Ambassadours to us and do this Champion of their Liberties the Honour to let him be the first Can he think the Parliament of England will believe themselves to be civilly treated by him because of his fine Words when he is Suggesting to the World as if they acted so unadvisedly in their Councils as to proceed upon Surmises and to take upon them to do what they do but think they have a Right to when indeed they have none at all But doubtless Manking will ever have a higher Veneration for those August Assembles than to think them as subject to be mistaken in these Matters as one presuming single Gentleman But he argues for Liberty the right of all Mankind A Glorious Topick indeed and worthy of the utmost Regard especially from such great Assertors of it as an English Parliament But if People should ask for more then ever was their Due and challenge a Liberty of acting every thing they should think for their own profit thought it were to the Damage and Injury of others to grant this would be an Injustice and a sinful Liberty may as well be pleaded for such Expostulations as these are abominable and to assume such an equality with our Superiours as was never granted us is an Arrogance that might rather have been expected from 〈◊〉 Irish than an English Man And after all this 't is not enough for a Man to say If the great Council of England resolve the contrary he shall then believe himself to be in an Error and with the lowest Submission ask Pardon for his Assurance and he hopes he shall not be hardly censured by them when at the same time he declares his Intention of a submissive Acquiescence in whatever they resolve for or against Such Subjects as these as I have said before are beyond the Bounds of Modesty and cannot admit of any such Apologies He comes now to tell us the Subject of his Disquisition shall be how far the Parliment of England may think it reasonable to intermedâ—le with the Affairs of Ireland and bind up those People by Laws made in their House This is certainly a very odd stating the Question What need has he now to enquire since he knows already how for the Parliament of England have thought it reasonable to intermeddle Another Blunder as bad as this is his Talking of Laws made in their House Dotâ— he not know that our Laws are not made without the Concurrence of Two Houses and the Assent of the King also as the Third Estate But we will take his Meaning to be to enquire how far it may be reasonable for the Parliament of England to intermeddle c. and join Issue upon that Next he gives us fix Heads from which he undertakes to argue that they can have no such power For the First He pretends to give us the History of the first Expedition of the English into Ireland his Design being to shew That the first Adventurers went over thither yet with the King's License upon a private Vndertaking in which they were successful but that afterwards when King Henry the 2d came over with an Army the Irish generally submitted to him and received him to be their King without making any Opposition from whence he seems to suggest that Ireland subjected it self only to the King but not to the Kingdom of England But he should have considered that the Government of England was a limited Monarchy which was sufficiently acknowledg'd even by William the 1st commonly call'd the Conqueror in his Swearing to preserve the Liberties and Privileges of the People at his Coronation and confirming the same to them by his Charter and though he did indeed afterwards violate them in a greater measure than ever they had been before or since yet neither he nor his Successors did ever take upon themselves to be absolute Monarchs The great Power and Prerogative of an English King then can only be due to them as to the Supream Magistrate and Head of the Kingdom and not in any seperate propriety annext to their Persons as distinct from the Common-Wealth If then Henry the Second carried over an Army of English into Ireland it ought to be considered as the Army of the Kingdom for it is held as a Principle with us that no King of England may raise any Forces in this Kingdom but what are allow'd to be the Forces of the Kingdom I am not here arguing whether ever any King did or did not take upon him such an Authority but 't is sufficient for me to offer that he could not by right and according to this Authors own way of arguing what may not be done of Right ought not to be argued or brought into President if our Rights have at at any time been invaded and usurp'd upon this Nation hath had many Opportunities of Vindicating them and we do not believe that what we enjoy
it may be really so or may be not so for all its Venerable Ancient Appearance we can conclude with no more Certainty than he leaves it only we may believe from the Credit of the Arguments produced by his Nephew Samuel Dopping 's Father the Reverend and Learned Doctor Dopping late Bishop of Meath that this old Modus was found in the Treasury of Waterford by my Lord Longford's Grandfather My Reader may perhaps think me as impertinent in this Repetition but I do it to shew that I have in this abbreviated about nine of his pages which offers no more of Argument to the Matter than that Henry the Second settled the Kingdom of Ireland under the very same Coustitution of Governmâ—nt with England and this we should as readily have granted as he could have propos'd and 't is sufficiently to our purpose that he hath abundantly prov'd That all Ranks and Orders of the Irish did unanimously agree to submit themselves to the Government of the King of England That they did thankfully receive the Laws of England and swear to be governed thereby and I know not what hath releas'd them from any part of that Obligation to this day himself owning that There cann't be shewn a more fair Original Compact than this between Henry the Second and the People of Ireland and we have desired no more from them than that they should continue to be so governed He tells us It is manifest that there were no Laws imposed on the People of Ireland by any Authority of the Parliament of England nor any introduced by Henry the Second but by the Consent and Allowance of the People of Ireland and that both the Civil and Ecclesiastical State were settled there Regiae Sublimitatis Authoritate not only this but the manner of holding Parliaments also to make Laws of their own which is the Foundation and Bulwark of the Peoples Liberties and Properties was directed and established there by Henry the Second as if 〈◊〉 were resolved that no other Person or Persons should be the Founders of the Government of Ireland but himself and the Consent of the People who submitted themselves to him against all Persons whatsoever Was it fit for the King to have carried a Parliament about with him or because he had not a Parliament there must it follow therefore that their Authority could never have any concern in what was done The King was now abroad with the Forces of the Kingdom and 't is not to be suppos'd that his own Authority was not sufficient to make Terms with the Enemy if they submitted we do not pretend that the Power of our King is limited at that rate yet whatever Submission is made to his Person on such Occasions is doubtless virtually made as to the Supream Authority of the Kingdom and that I believe every Body will allow to be in our Constitution the King Lords and Commons in all whom the Legislature resides and not in either separate from the rest The King may be said to be vested with the Power of the whole in the Civil and Military Administration of the Government and yet whatsoever is acted or acquired under his Authority as King of England must doubtless be esteemed to be for the Account of the Nation and not in any Propriety peculiar to himself To talk then As if the Parliament had nothing to do in this Transaction and that King Henry the Second acted in it as if he were resolv'd that no other Person or Persons should be the Founders of the Government of Ireland but himself is Language not becoming an Englishman and I wonder that this Author could have so little Sense of what he was about when he said this for in the very next Paragraph but one he gives us an Instance which shews beyond all Contradiction that King Henry himself had no such Opinion of his own Seperate Authority And now he comes to the Matter and tells us that King Henry about the 23d â—ear of his Reign and five Years after his Return from Ireland creates his Younger Son John King of Ireland at a Parliament held at Oxford and that by this Donation Ireland was most eminently set apart again as a seperate 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 after the Death of his Brother Richard the First which was about 22 years after his being made King of Ireland during which time and whilst his Father and Brother were successively reigning in England he made divers Grants and Charters to his Subjects of Ireland wherein he stiles himself Dominus Hiberniae and in some Dominus Hiberniae Comes Meritoniae by which Charters both the City of Dublin and divers other Corporations enjoy many Privileges and Franchises to this day We know that diâ—ers of our Kings have at several Times granted out Parcels of their Dominions to their Sons or Subjects and endowed them with many Royal Privileges yet always as Feudatories of the Empire after the same manner so much anciently practised in most Kingdoms of Europe such have been in England the Principality of Wales the Counties Palatine of Chester Lancaster and Durham and what was much less considerable than these the Isle of Man was given with the Title of King in Man which was more than King Iohn had which continues in the Earls of Darby at this day In like manner also have Proprietoryships been granted to the Settlers of Colonies in America in our time and such and no other was this Grant of King Henry the Second to his Son Iohn but what is very remarkable in this Case is that this Grant was made in Parliament Did ever Man so expose himself in Print what he hath been endeavouring to prove is that the Irish were never so conquered by Henry the Second as to give the Parliament of England any Jurisdiction over them and yet here he tells us that this same King Henry created his Son Iohn King of Ireland in a Parliament at Oxford which to word it in the Stile of this time is to say that about the twenty third Year of Henry the 2d an Act of Parliament was made at Oxford by which Iohn the younger Son of the said King was Created King of Ireland Is it possible to think upon a greater Instance in which the Authority of a Parliament over a People can be exerted than this of creating a King to rule them and that without ever asking their Consent and is it not plain from this that King Henry himself did never esteem the Submission of the Irish to have been made to him in respect of his Person according to this Author 's New Doctrine but in respect of the Kingdom which he govern'd otherwise why did he not make a King of Ireland by his own Authority rather than thus eclipse his Power and Right if he had it by submitting it to be
thus we see that how great soever that Jurisdiction was which the King in Parliament granted to his Son Iohn he yet remain'd no more than a Subject of the Kingdom of England and was treated accordingly in his being Try'd and Condemn'd by the Laws thereof Moreover it may be noted that upon his accession to the Imperial Crown of England whatever Feudatory Royalty he had before became now merg'd and extinguisht in his own Person which by reason of it's being Head and Supream could not at the same time be capable of any Feudatory Subjection so that there was an absolute determination of the Former Grant which could not agâ—in be reviv'd but by a New Donation upon another Person I hope I have now so far remov'd this main Pillar of Mr. Molyneux's Structure that I may take the Liberty as often as I shall have Occasion hereafter to deny positively that King Iohn was ever made absolute King of Ireland without any Dependance on England Here Mr. Molyneux had brought his Argument up to a pitch and concluded us under a perfect real Seperation and thus he puts it upon us let us suppose That King Richard had left Issue whose Progeny had governed England and King John 's Progeny had governed Ireland where then had been the Subordination of Ireland to the Parliament or even to the King of England Certainly no such thing could have been then pretended But this is but a Supposition and fit for none but People of his size who take up Matters by Appearances and Presumptions and assume the Confidence from thence to be positive in their Assertions giving no allowance for the possibility of being mistaken But we need not suppose in this matter but may be confident that the Supream Authority over Ireland must always have continued in the Kingdom of England as it does at this day and he hath made nothing appear to the contrary De non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio Yet I cann't but remark how he enjoys himself in this Supposition when he thought he had gain'd his Point Where then had been the Subordination if any such there be it must arise from something that followed after the descent of England to King John for by that descent England might as properly be subordinate to Ireland as the Converse because Ireland had been vested in King John twenty two Years before his accession to the Crown of England Yes and 't was the ancienter Kingdom too Is it likely that King Iohn who had not before thought so well of his Kingdom of Ireland as to make it his residence but chose rather to remain where he was but a Subject when he was now become a real King of England should be so far taken with the Fancy of the ancientest Kingdom if it were so as to put the greater and by many degrees the more powerful more pleasant and more civiliz'd Kingdom in subordination to the less which was then of no Power or Consideration in the World and that he should be better pleas'd with the Stile of Lord of Ireland and King of England than that of King of England and Lord of Ireland or is it likely that England who in that very Age had subdued Ireland and added it to its Empire should now be contented to submit it self and become subordinate to Ireland so as that the Administration of the Government there should direct the grand Affairs of England is not this perfect Jesting and Fooling with Argument But he tells us If perhaps it will be said that this Subordination of Ireland to England proceeds from Ireland 's being annext to and as it were united with the imperial Crown of England by several Acts of Parliament in both Kingdoms since King John 's time This is well acknowledged for it makes out clearly that Ireland is a Kingdom as firmly united to the Kingdom of England as the Legislature of both Kingdoms could do it If he would yet distinguish between the Imperial Crown as his words are and the Kingdom I have shewn before how there cannot be any such distinction in England But though in the former Passage of Iohn's being created an Independent King by Act of Parliament he shews himself to be quite overseen and blinded by his depending so much upon it through the rest of his Argument yet he perceives plainly that a fair Inquiry into this Annexing will not turn to account for him and therefore although he is not wanting to be very particular and exact in his Numerous Quotations of other Authorities yet here he is cautious of imparting any further Light into this matter than just to tell us there are several such Acts of Parliament both in England and Ireland Surely these English Acts might be said to be binding upon Ireland and therefore too they must be conceal'd and we shan't have one Word of them anon when he pretends to reckon up all those Statutes that the English Parliaments have made to affect Ireland And I cann't find that he meddles with it any more tho' he says that He shall enquire more fully hereafter how this operates But for the present he only tells us That he conceives little more is effected by these Statutes than that Ireland shall not be alien'd or seperated from the King of England who cann't hereby dispose of it otherwise than in Legal Succession along with England and that whoever is King of England is ipso Facto King of Ireland and the Subjects of Ireland are oblig'd to obey c. Doth not this strongly assert the Parliamentary Authority If he had said that it should not be alienated or separated from the Kingdom he had spoken English and set the matter right but if he will insist upon so fine a Conceit as to divide between the Political Capacity of the King and the Kingdom if it be not bad English is however Language that cann't be understood in England Now he tells us of King Iohn's going again into Ireland about the Twelfth year of his Reign of England where above Twenty little Irish Kings did again do Homage and Fealty to him and he constituted the English Laws and Custâ—â—s among them placing Sheriffs and other Ministers for the Administration of Iustice to the People according to the English Laws This is a further Proof of the intire Resignation and Submission of the Irish to the Government of England He goes on King Henry the Third his King Iohn's Son in the first year of his Reign granted to Ireland one or two Magna Charta's but he owns that 't was by the Advice of his English Privy Council Let it again be Observ'd that this King did not transact this Matter by any seperate Authority but did it in his Privy Council which is exactly according to our Constitution and that being the same Method in which all the Administration of the Government of the Kingdom of England was directed it shews that those Kings govern'd
Mother Country must not be hindred from acting what they shall find necessary for the Common Good because of their absence even although it should respect themselves and this without depriving them of any their Just Rights because their Liberty and Privilege still remain'd to them of choosing their Representatives to the Supream Legislature and they might have exercis'd it if they had stay'd at home and may again whenever they 'll please to come in place They have indeed an Authority delegated to them from the Head to Enact such Laws in their Settlement as may be requisite for the Circumstance of that place but no such Privilege can ever be extended to rescind and abrogate their Allegiance and Subjection to the Head of the Empire But I shall come to Enlarge further upon this by and by And now to go on with Mr. Molyneux He speaks of two Acts made by the Parliament of Ireland viz. 10th Hen. 4. and 29th Hen. 6. wherein it was Enacted That the Statutes made in England should not be of force in that Kingdom unless they were allow'd and published there by Parliament It is not impossible but that in those days there might be some People there who were of this Gentleman's stamp for assuming as much power as they could right or wrong if they could but colour it under the specious pretence of their Ancient Rights and Privileges and they might think the Reigns of those two Princes a Favourable Conjuncture for such an Attempt The first of them got the Crown of England by his Sword and manag'd things as smoothly and easily as possible and perhaps never thought himself so secure as to exert the utmost Authority of his Government on every Occasion that might offer Henry the Sixth was a weak Prince govern'd and manag'd at different times by the two Factions of York and Lancaster from whence arise Civil Wars and his own Deposing A better time could never happen than during the Troublesome Reign of this King to attempt such Innovations But what if the Parliament of Ireland did enact a Law derrogating from the Authority of the Parliament of England could this abate any thing of that Right which England had before But 't is plain that if they did any such thing they did but think that English Acts of Parliament could not in any case bind Ireland for 't is certain both from the Reason of the thing and former Practice that in some Cases they might and did and even in the Second Year of this King Henry the Sixth as he quotes it the Staple Act expresly naming Ireland was made surely the Parliament of England must consist of much more Considerable Men than the Parliament of Ireland in those days could and they were most likely to know best what they had to do And it seems as if the People of Ireland themselves had no Opinion of the Validity of these invalidating Acts in Mr. Molyneux's Sense because they did not plead them in Bar of the Staple Act in the Case of the Merchants of Waterford which he gives us hereafter There is yet much more reason to believe that these Statutes were made on the very Occasion which he hints to remove Scruples or satisfie the Judges in relation to some Laws for the administration of Justice that were extant in England and they might have some doubt whether they ought not also to obtain there since the generality of the English Statutes were reciev'd in Ireland and therefore the Parliament of Ireland for the clearing any such difficulty for the future might possibly declare that such Statutes were not of force there 'till they had been establisht by them And I may easily grant him that the End and Intent of the Institution of a Parliament in Ireland was that as they were separated from England by the Sea they should have Authority to make and adapt Laws among themselves suitable to their own Circumstances and fit for the well-ordering of the Affairs of that Kingdom and therefore the Parliament of England did not think fit to impose upon them such Laws as were from time to time enacted suitable to the Occasioâ—s of the Realm of England but left the People of Ireland at Liberty to choose or refuse such as they thought fit and from this Reason it must be that so many of the English Statutes as he instances have been introduc'd into Ireland by passing them into Laws in their own Parliament The generous English Constitution doth not impose any Laws of this Nature or for raising Taxes upon any of the Subjects of their Dominions without their own Consent by their Representatives this is The Great Charter of English-men And because 't was thought that the People of Ireland could not conveniently send Representatives to the Parliament in Englaand they were therefore authorized to hold Parliaments among themselves for the tranâ—acting such Affairs we allow it to all our Colonies in America and even Wales after their submitting to the Government of England was not Taxt 'till they were admitted to send their Representatives to Parliament This I speak of such Laws which regard the administration of Commutative Justice regulating their own particular Affairs or raising Taxes But there is yet a higher kind of Law inherent in the Constitution whether it may be call'd the Law of Parliaments or the Common Law I leave it to Men of more Judgment in these Matters than my self to define it but I mean that which comprehends the Subjects of the whole Empire and must be of Authority to ordain certain Regulations which shall be binding upon the Whole in extraordinary Cases where the well-being of the Universality is concern'd England must be allow'd to be the Head of this Empire from whence all its Members do derive their Being and must depend for their Support and Protection the Riches which she attracts from the Benefit of her Forreign Trade is the only means she hath to support her Power and maintain such Fleets and Armies as are requisite for the Defence of all her Territories she must therefore prosecute all justifyable Methods for the preserving her Commerce and hath the utmost reason to restrain her Members from any prejudicial interfering with her in her Trade because this hath a direct Tendency to weaken her Power and render her incapable of supporting the great Charge of her Government For this end then or the like Extraordinary Occasions those Laws have been made by which the distant Dominions are bound and such have been the Acts of Navigation the Acts for hindering the Transportation of Wools from Ireland to Forreign Parts c. And though these Statutes are enacted when the Occasion requires yet they are not so much to be lookt upon as New Laws to use his own Expression as it were declaratory of the Supream Authority virtually inherent in and inseparably united to the Imperial Constitution and which hath been always exercis'd by this Kingdom and all other Governments that have had Colonies
their Jurisdiction be much less than that of Ireland yet it is a certain Jurisdiction so firmly establisht as that it 's held that it cannot lawfully be taken away or altered by any Power in England but the Supream Legislature and that it must stoop to and the same the Lord Chief Justice Cook says of this distinct Dominion of Ireland that notwithstanding it hath a Power Jurisdiction and Authority which is compleat within it self yet it must pay Obedience to the Supream Legislature of England whenever any Extraordinary Occasion shall make it needful for that to name it specially and therefore the Tenour of his Judgment upon this whole Matter shews that by his terming them no part of the Kingdom of England because they have such a distinct administration among themselves he does not in the least intend that they should be lookt upon so separated as to be out of all Reach of the Supream Imperial Authority of England so that in all this there appears no Inconsistency he never asserts what Mr. Molyneux assumes that the King and Parliament in Ireland is a Legislature equally as Supream as that of the King and Parliament in England and it must be very unaccountable in any one to do so who knows that all Irish Acts of Parliament must be approv'd in the Privy Council of England I 'll warrant him they 'll take care that they shall never Enact different or contrary Sanctions so that he need not from this fear the Consequence of Ireland's having two Supreams He hath one Touch more at the Lord Chief Justice Cook he quotes him saying If a King hath a Christian Kingdom by Conquest as King Henry the Second had Ireland after the Laws of England had been given them for the Government of that Country c. no succeeding King could alter the same without Parliament Which by the way seems nothing contradictory to all that Mr. Molyneux hath quoted of what he says concerning Ireland but is a farther Indication that his Opinion was always steady that the King and Parliament of England and not the King alone held the Supream Authority over Ireland And now he Hath done with this Reverend Iudge and I am very glad on 't because I doubt I have tyr'd my Reader with such an abundance that I have been forc'd to say for the Judg's Vindication but to make amends I 'll try to divert him a little by telling a short Story upon my self When I was a Boy I thought once that I had espy'd a fault in a performance of my Master's and I had the assurance to tell him on 't he first fairly convinc'd me that I had not taken the thing right and then very gravely told me with a bent Brow that 't was more like my Boyish Confidence to find Faults where none were than the Solidity of his stronger Judgment to commit such Now for Pilkington's Case The King first grants a Patent for an Office in Ireland to be held by Pilkington or his Deputy but after this the same King grants the same Office to A who who sues for it and pleads an Act of Parliament in Ireland that no Person might execute any Office there but in his own Person on pain of Forfeiture he proves that Pilkington acted by a Deputy the Iudges thereupon decide in favour of A. What 's this to the Parliament of England's Jurisdiction over Ireland it shews no more than that the Judges of Ireland were of the Opinion that the Kings Letters Patents could not over-rule an Irish Act of Parliament Indeed he tells us that in the Pleadings 't was offer'd That Ireland time out of mind had been a Land separated and distinct from England and ruled and governed by its own Customs that they could call Parliaments within themselves c. It seems two of the five Judges held this Prescription void and thô I will not dispute as it seems they did about the Word Prescription yet 't is well known that what Jurisdiction they had was granted them by the Supream Authority of England and I know no Body denies it them only we cann't admit them to strain it beyond what was ever intended It says further that Two of the Iudges affirm'd and the other three did not deny that a Tax granted in England could not affect Ireland except it be approv'd in the Parliament in Ireland This is not what we Contest about I never heard that England did ever raise Taxes upon any Members of her Empire without the Consent of their Representatives As for the Merchants of Waterford's Case we have both said enough to that already That of the Prior of Lanthony in Wales comes next He sues the Prior of Mollingar in Ireland for an Arrear of an Annuity and obtains Iudgment against him both in the Common-Pleas and Kings-Bench in Ireland Mollingar Appeals to the Parliament in Ireland and they Revers'd both Iudgments upon this Lanthony removes all into the King's Bench in England but that Court would not meddle in it as having no Power over what had pass'd in the Parliament of Ireland Lastly He Appeal'd to the Parliament of England and it does not appear that they did any thing in it What of all this The Court of King's-Bench in England although they had Authority to determine upon Matters brought before them by Writ of Error out of Ireland yet they did not believe they had any Power over the Parliament of Ireland Doubtless they were in the right but it seems 't was then believ'd that the English Parliament had else Lanthony had never Petition'd but it does not appear that they did any thing upon this Appeal the Petition only being entered at the end of the Roll Why that 's a plain Sign that 't was the very last thing of the Session and the Parliament was Dissolv'd Prorogu'd or something before they could go upon it or perhaps the Matter was agreed or the Prior's dead before next Sessions or fifty Reasons more that might be offer'd against his sleeveless Suggestion That the Parliament of England did not think themselves to have a Right to enquire into this Matter because nothing more than the Petition is found upon Record but I 'll tell him a better Reason of our side 't is not probable that they would have receiv'd the Petition if they did not believe they had Right to decide upon it The next thing is about the Acts of Recognition and this he begins with an ingenious Confession That the Kingdom of Ireland is inseparably annext to the Imperial Crown of England and the Obligation their Legislature lies under by Poyning's Act makes this Tye indissoluble This is enough to make out all our Pretensions upon them 't is strange to see a Man writing a Book against the Natural Consequences when yet he so easily agrees upon the Premises The Imperial Crown of England denotes the Supream Authority of the Kingdom the Material Crown is but a Badge of this
or Colour from Reason or Record does it not manifestly appear by the Constitution of Ireland that 't is a Compleat Kingdom within it self I say No 't is but the Form of a Kingdom for since 't was first subdu'd to England Governours have always been set over it by England and it never had Authority of it self to Exercise a Legislature but by Directions from England But now he 's resolv'd he 'll confute us though Bellarmine stood in the way Do not the Kings of England bear the Stile of Ireland and why did he not mind the Arms too among the rest of their Kingdoms Is this agreeable to the Nature of a Colony do they use the Title of Kings of Virginia New-England or Maryland Don't the Great Turk bear the Title of a great many Kingdoms Yes and some of them have a more Compleat Dominion among themselves than ever we gave Ireland are they therefore all Compleat Kingdoms within themselves The Kings of Spain have so many Titles of Kingdoms that they have quite lost the Knowledge where some of them grow they have us'd the Stiles of King of the East and West-Indies and yet their acquisitions there have been but Colonies Mexico and Peru are not Compleat Kingdoms within themselves though they have that Title yea and their Governours have the Style of Vice-Roys and that 's a higher Feather than ever those of Ireland wore I should have excepted their absolute King Iohn The Kings of England have never call'd Virginia New-England or Maryland by the Name of Kingdoms is there such a deal of weight in that The Potuguez gave the Style of a Kingdom to Goa in the East-Indies but they never did to Brazil thought it be much the more Considerable Colony And now I think on 't we were once about making our Dominions in America into a Vice-Royalty under the Duke of Albermarle sure then they must have made as Compleat a Kingdom as Ireland for they have as absolute a distinct Dominion within themselves and I beleive are endow'd with Authority for the regulating the Affairs of their own Governments as ample in all Respects as Ireland excepting only the Punctilio of a Titular Kingdom and the Denomination of a Parliament to the very same thing that in the others is call'd an Assembly Are not all these things done or not done according to the Humour or Fancy of Princes Is there any thing of Essence or Reality in them If the English of Ireland are in all other respects under the Circumstances of a Colony of England will any Body besides Mr. Molyneux imagine that this Title of a Kingdom doth exempt them But he has more to say Was not Ireland given by Henry the Second in a Parliament at Oxford to his Son John and made therby an absolute Kingdom separate and wholly independent on England till they both came united again in him after the Death of his Brother Richard without Issue No he continued a Subject of England and was Try'd for his Life as such the Parliament of England limited him from using the Style of King Can the King of a Separate Kingdom be limited and yet his Kingdom remain wholly Independent He continues Have not multitudes of Acts of Parliament both in England and Ireland declared ireland a Compleat Kingdom but never Independent Is not Ireland stiled in them all the Kingdom or Realm of Ireland Do these Names agree to a Colony Yes are not the Names of Colonies agreeable to Mexico and Peru because the Acts of State in Spain stile them Kingdoms Have we not a Parliament and Courts of Iudicature Do these things agree with a Colony Yes and other Colonies have effectually the same Neither doth this involve so many absurdities as he thinks if we do but consider what sort of a thing a Colony is When People began to multiply in the World and fill those Tracts that were first inhabited they were necessitated to spread themselves farther and farther for the better Conveniency of Living and thus the remoter Parts came in process of Time to be peopled with such as are call'd the Aborigines of Nations In the first and innocent Ages of the World these liv'd in an undisturb'd Quiet contented in the Enjoyment of such things as with their own easie Cultivation Nature plentifully bestow'd in an abundance sufficient for the Support of all Mankind 'till the Malice and Enmity of the Devil operating upon the deprav'd Minds of Men through the Curse entail'd upon on them for the Disobedience of our First Parents stirr'd up in them the Unnatural Desire of living according to their own Wills without regard to the Principles of Reason and the Laws of Nature which God had eternally stampt upon their Minds This soon began to break the first Harmony and good Order of the Creation and came in time to change the whole Face of Humane Affairs and introduce a very different kind of Oeconomy among Men. Hence it was that the more powerful Communities if they found their own Borders too strait for them would not give themâ—elves the Trouble of removing to distant uninhabited parts of the Earth but took the Liberty to incroach upon their Neighbours and possess themselves of what the Industry of other Men had made their own just Right and Property These Violations of the Law of Nature taught the more scatter'd People to enter into Societies and unite together for their Mutual Defence against the Invasions of others and for the Well-ordering of Matters and preventing private Injuries that might occur among themselves they thought upon the constituting Laws for the defining of Liberty and Property and executing Justice upon such as should offend against them they apply'd themselves also to the inventing of all such further Policies as might be conducive to the acquiring and preserving the Good of the whole Society and whether they thought best to commit the Chief Conduct of their Government to one Person as Supream to rule them with the assistance of subordinate Ministers or that they plac'd this Supream Authority to govern in several with joint Power the end and intent was still one and the same to procure and conserve the Good of the whole People though the Names were differing as that of Kingdom Common-wealth c. Those that instituâ—ed the best Policies and most suitable to their Circumstances generally became the most powerâ—ul a Sense of their Strength and an Opinion of their Skill in Politick Managements made them Ambitious to gain Dominion and Rule over others Some united through Fear or for Convenience and others were subdu'd by Force thus from small Beginnings grew up Mighty Empires who apply'd their whole Power to bring and keep all they could reach under their own Dominion by which means the Frame and Constitution of many Kingdoms and Countries came to be altered from their Original Settlements There were yet another sort of Invaders whose Manner was only to make room for the too Numerous Broods of their