Communi omniâ—â— de Hibernia consensu enjoyned and established that Ireland should be Governed by the Laws of England Cok. Com. f. 1. a. 6. which he left in writing under his seal in the Exchequer of Dublin and which afterwards was confirmed by the Charter of Henry the third Davis rep f. 37. a 6. in the thirtieth year of his reign wherein is declared that for the common utility of the Lands in Ireland and the unity of those Lands that all the Laws and customs that are holden in the Kingdome of England be holden in Ireland and that the same Lands be subject to the same Laws and be ruled by them as King John when he was there did firmly enjoyn and therefore willed that all the writs of the common Law which run in England likewise run in Ireland and accordingly was it resolved Trin. 13. Edw. 1. Coram rege in Thesaurie in lenge placite that the same Laws ought to be in the Kingdome of Ireland as in the Kingdome of England and therefore as Sir John Davis saith every County Palatine as well in Ireland as in England was originally parcel of the Davis rep f. 6 7. B. same Realm and derived of the Crown and was alwaies governed by the Law of England and the Lands there were holden by services and tenures of which the common law took notice although the Lord had a several jurisdiction and a signiory separated from the Crown upon consideration of which Sir Edward Coke inferreth this conclusion Cok. Com. f. 14. B. that the unity of Laws is the best means for the unity of Countries as before hath been premised Yet many of the Irish soon after absolutely refused the English Laws preferring their Irish customs which they call their Brehon Law because the Irish call their Judges Brehons and therefore in the Parliament Anno 40. Ed. 3. Cok. ib. In the Parliament holden at Kilkenny in Ireland before Lionell Duke of Clarence being the Lieutenant of that Realm the Brehon Laws were declared to be no Law but a lewd custom which fot that reason were abolished Quia malus usus est abolendus And though that by that statute the Brehon Law which was the common Law of the Irish was declared to be no Law yet was it not absolutely abolished among the meer Irish Davis reports f. 39 but only prohibited and forbidden to be used among the English race and the meer Irish were left at large to be ruled by their barbarous customs as before And therefore for that by those customs bastards had their part with the legitimate women were altogether excluded from Dower that the daughters were not inheritable though their Fathers dyed without Males by the same statute it was Enacted that no compaternity Education of Infants or Marriages be made or had between the English and others in peace with the King with the meer Irish And though the statute made by King John in Ireland and the Ordinance and writ of King Henry the third were general yet is it manifest by all the antient Records of Ireland that the Common Law of England was onely put in execution in that part of Ireland which was reduced and devided into counties and possessed by the English Colonies Vid. Davis 39. a. o. and not in the Irish Counties and territories which were not reduced into Counties until the time of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth For King John made but twelve Counties but the other provinces and territories which are divided into 21. Counties at large being then inhabited for the most part by meer Irish were out of the limits of any Shire ground by the space of three hundred years after the making of the former twelve Counties for it was impossible that the common Law of England should be executed in those Counties or territories for the Common Law of England cannot be put in execution where the writ of the King doth not run but where there is a County and Sheriffe or other Ministers of the Law to serve and return the writs of the King and for this cause were the meer Irish out of the protection of the King because the Law of the King and his writs as Littleton saith Littl. Tom. f. 43. are the things by which a man is protected aided and therefore the meer Irish who had no the benefit of the Law until the time of Henry the eight where any mention is made of the Wars of Ireland are culled enemies the english rebels but by the 33. H. 8. c. 1. by which it is recited that because the King of England did not assume the name stile of King the Irish Inhabitants have not been so obedient to the King of England and his Laws as of right they ought to have been It was Enacted that King Henry the eight his Heirs and Successors shall be for ever Kings of Ireland and shall have the name stile and title of the King of that land with all the honors prerogatives and dignities appertayning to the State and Majesty of a King as united and annexed to the imperiall Crown After which royall union the said difference of the English rebells and Irish enemies is not to be found on Record but all those meer Irish were afterwards reputed and accepted subjects and Leigemen to the Kings and Queens of England and had the benefit and protection of the law of England And afterwards the Irish were more averse from Rebellions and more ready to forsake their Brehon laws and to be ruled by ours the stile and title of the King of Ireland being more pleasing acceptable to them then Lord of Ireland the one denoting a tyrannical arbitrary Government Tholos Syntag. li. 13. c. 1. the other a limited power according to law and equity For such Princes as arrogate to themselves the name of Lords seem to usurp an arbitrary and plenipotentiary power over their subjects which are Proprietors of nothing but at the will of their great Lord. And therefore did the wisest of the Boman Emperors refuse to take upon them that arrogant and absolute title Davis f. 40. B. it properly appertaining only to God but under a King the subjects are free men and have property in their Goods and Frank tenements and inheritance who doth not domineer over them according to his will and pleasure but ruleth them according to Law for as Bracton Non est Rex ubi dominatur voluntas Lib. 1. c. 4. fol. 9. non Lex And accordingly the Kings and Queens of England to the intent that the Laws of England might have a free course in and through all the Realm of Ireland as is expressed in the statute of 11. Eliz. c. 9. did they provide in several Parliaments to wit 3. 4. Ph. and Mary c. 3. and 11. Eliz. c. 9. that Commissions should be awarded to reduce into Shires and hundreds all the Irish Land which were not Shire ground before And
the Parliament of England to do this homage And escuage was first invented for them and the Scots as Ployden saith against whom War was made by the Kings of England as rebels not as enemies for that they were subject to England and were within the Sea And so those of Wales were subject to the King of England Vide Ploid fol. 129. B. though they were not parcel of the body of the Realm of England And hence was it that Henry the third upon the often revolts of the Welch endeavoured to assume the territory of Wales as forfeited to himself and conferred the same upon Edward the Longshank his Heir-apparent who took upon him the name of Prince of Wales yet could not obtain the possession or any profit thereby for the former Prince of Wales continued his government for which cause between him and the said Edward Wars did rage whereof the said Edward complaining to King Henry his Father An. 1257. fol. 914. who made him this answer as Mathew Paris reciteth it Quid ad me tuâ— terra ex dono meo est Exerce vires primitivas famam excita juvenilem de caetero timeant inimici c. What is your territory to me it is of my gift Advance your primitive forces stir up your juvenile renown and as for the residue let your enemies fear you c. which according to his Fathers Heroical incouragement he fortunately enterprised for as the Comaedian to that purpose Vt quisque filium suum vult esse Terent. ita est And not long after sundry Battails were fought between the said Edward both before and after he was King of England with Leolan the last Prince of the Welch blood and David his brother until both the said Prince and his said Brother were overcome by the said Edward after he was King of England who thereby first made a conquest of Wales and afterwards annexed it to the Crown of England The territory of Wales being thus united the said King Edward used means to obtain the peoples good will thereby to strengthen that which he had gotten by effusion of blood with the good will and affection of his subjects who promised their most harty and humble obedience if it would please the King to remain among them himself in person or else to appoint over them a governour that was of their own Nation and Countrey Whereupon the cunning King projecteth a pretty policy and sendeth his Queen being then great with child into Wales where she was delivered of a Son in the Castle of Carnarvon The King thereupon sent for all the Barons of Wales and remembred them of their submiss assurance tendred according to their former proffers if they should have a governour of their own countrey and who could not speak one word of English whose life and conversation no man was able to stain or blemish and required their offered obedience whereunto they yeilding the King presented unto them his said Son born at Carnarvon Castle whom thereupon the Barons unanimously embraced for their Prince and afterwards made their homage to him at Crester Anno. 29. Edw. 1. as Prince of Wales And though the Welch Nation do not willingly acknowledge the aforesaid conquest but refer it rather to this composition yet as Sir John Davis saith Edward the first made a conquest of the Dominion of Wales Davys vep fol. 41. B. as it is expressed in his charter or statute of Rutland where it is said Divina providentia terram Walliae cum incolis suis prius nobis jure feodali subjectam in proprietatis nostrae dominium convertit coronae Regis nostri annexit And thereupon according to the course and power of conquerours as the same Author saith he changed their Laws and customs as it is also expressed in the said charter or statute For as to the Laws and customs he saith Quasdam illarum de concilio procerum regni nostri delevimus Quasdam correximus etiam quasdam alias adjiciendas faciend as decrevimus c. Some of them by the council of the Peers of our Realm have we expunged some have we corrected and also some have we determined to be made and added and as another saith divided some parts thereof into shires and appointed Laws for the government of that people Yet though the King had gained the property of that Kingdom and that the Inhabitants of it de Alto Basso as it is recited in the said charter had submitted themselves to his will yet it appears that he did admit all those who would be ruled and governed by the common Law of England which he had established among them by the said charter to have Frank Tenement and Inheritance in their Lands for there he prescribeth a form of the writ de Assize de novel disseisin de mort Dauncaster de dower to be brought of Lands in Wales according to the course of the common Law of England and when they wanted a writ of form to supply the present case they used the writ Quod ei deforceat 2. E. 4.12 A. Thus was the Dominion of Wales united to the crown of England by the valour and wisdome of Edward the first and the principality of it hath constantly since appertained to the Eldest Sons of the Kings of England Ployd Com. fol. 126. B. as Ployden saith from all time that there hath been a Prince of Wales or as Sir John Doderidge to the eldest Son or the next succeeding Heir For Henry the third first made Edward the first his eldest Son Prince of Wales and gave to him the Dominion and dignity of it and also Edward the second after he was King of England created Edward the third in his life time Prince of Wales and the Lady Mary eldest Danghter of King Henry the eight Doderidge principality of Wales fol. 39. and afterwards Queen of England did carry the title of Princess of Wales Et Sic de Similibus Yet notwithstanding this conquest by Edward the first and general submission of the Welch were there divers insurrections fomented by them against the former established Government and especially one which happened in his Raign raised by Rice up Meredick who rebelled against the King upon which all the lands of the said Meredick were confiscated as forfeited and seised by the said King Doderidge Prince of Wales fol. 8 and nominally given by his successour Edward the third to Edward the black Prince Prince of Wales for his better maintenance and honourable support and though after the death of the Father they assisted Edward the second his son in his Wars against the Scots Herbert Hen. 6. and got victories for Edward the third and stood firm during all the differences in this realm to his Grandchild Richard the second yet when the unfortunate and fatal Wars happened between the two Houses of York and Lancaster the Welchmen fell from their fidelity to the Crown hoping upon that disasterous
mutation to regain their pristine liberty For as Sir John Baker Hist of England fol. 139. It was always a custom with that Nation at every change of the Princes of England to try conclusions hoping at one time or another to have a day of it and to change their yoke of bondage into Liberty as upon the aforesaid opportunity they began to lift up their hands and heads and under the aspiring command of Owen Glendoer waged a terrible War with Henry the fourth who through the combination and confederacy of the Earl of March and the Lord Firrcy swallowed in his ambitious mind all Wales and the Lands beyond Severn Westwards which were assigned to him for his part but the King being a skilful souldâ—er having ordered and disposed his Army suddenly marched towards the Lords having aâ—â—especial care that they should by no means join with the Welch and so encountering the Lords singly obteined an universal victory and the Welch thereupon abandoned Owen Glendoer who hirking in the Woods was there famished And after the Fate of Henry the fourth Henry the fifth his son knowing the fashion of the Welch Bakers Hist f. 241 that in time of change they would commonly cake advantage to make Inroads upon the borders caused forts and bulwarks in fit places to be erected and placed Garrisons in them for the preventing or repelling any such Incursions yet so prompt and captious were they continually upon the least opportunity to such insurrections Vt nullo modo induci potuerunt as Cambden saith ut servitutis jugum subirent nec ulla ratione res componi Funestissimum inter gentes odium restingui potuit donec Henricus 7. ab illis oriundus salutarem manum jacentibus Britannis perrexerit Henr. 8. eos in parem juris libertatisque conditionem atque nos ipsi Angli sumus acceperit that by no means they could be induced to undergo the yoke of servitude neither by any reason could matten be compounded and the moâ— mortal hatred between those two Nations be extinguished until Henry the Seventh descended of them had extended his soveraign hand to the forlorn Britans and Henry the Eight had received them into the equal condition of right and liberty even as we Englishmen are And indeed Heâ—â—y the Seventh was descended of Owen Tuder who is said to be descended of Cadwallader a Prince of Walâ— wherein the Welch prophecy seemed to them now to be fulfilled that one of the Princes of Wales should be Crowned with the Diadem of Brute which Prince Leolin before vainly aferibed unto himself who therefore was chearfully assisted by the Welchmen to the title of the Crown Herbert H. 8. f. 369 they being desirous according to the former pâ—oposition made by them to Edward the first to have a Prince of their own Nation to rule over them Yet were not the Welchmen fully satisfied with this union but expected a more entire union by laws for notwithstanding the Laws which were established in that Country by Edward the 1. there were 141 Lordships of Marchers which were then neither any part of Wales though formerly conquered out of Wales neither any part of that Shire of England who by the license of the Kings then Reigning Davis cep f. 61. B. had Royall signiories in their severalter itories 9. H. 6.12 152. 11. H. 4.40 and a kind of Palatine jurisdiction and a power to administer Justice to their tenants in every of their territories revoking their own Laws and customs at their pleasure that the writs of ordinary justice out of the Kings court were not for the most part current among them and substituted Officers at their pleasure Herb. H. 8. fo 369. who practised strange and discrepant customs and committed such rapins that nothing was almost safe nor quiet in those parts for by reason of the flight of the offendors from one Lordship to another they had escaped due and condign punishment whereupon the noblest and eldest of that Nation supplicating Henry the eight Herb. ibid. did crave to be received and adopted into the same Laws and priviledges which his other subjects of England enjoyed which moved the King to make the statute of 27. H. 8. c. 26. by which is ordained and enacted that the Principality and Dominion of Wales shall be incorporated united and annexed to the Realm of England altering in many parts the former jurisdiction and Government thereof bringing the same to the like administration of justice as was and yet is usual in England appointing that the Laws of England should take place there and all Welch Laws sinister customs and tenures not agreeing to the laws of England should be thenceforth ever abrogated and abolished and therefore whereas before there had been eight several Shires in Wales besides the County of Monmouth and that some other territories in Wales were then no Shire grounds by reason whereof the laws of England could have no currant passage therein by the said Act there were erected in Wales four other namely the several Shires of Radnor Brecknock Mountgomery and Denbigh by which means the Laws of England there also might be put into execution And further the said Lord Marchers grounds by the same Act were annexed and united partly to the Shires of England and partly to the Shires of Wales next adjoyning as thought then by reason of the vicinity of the place and otherwise most convenient to prevent the perpretating of the aforesaid enormities and odious offences by just and lawful punishments And to make the Union the more honourable and that the noblest of the Welch Nation might participaâ—e of the highest priviledges and chiefest dignities of England according to the Roman precedent it was also ordained that out of the said Shires of Wales there should be one Knight and out of every of the Shire Towns in Wales named in the said Act there be one Burgesse elected after the English manner which Knights and Burgesses so elected and duely upon summons of every Parliament in England returned should have place and voice in the Parliament of England as other the Burgesses and Knights of England used to have And though the said statute doth not make mention of the penalty given upon the Sheriffs false return for such Knights and Burgesses as shall be lawfully elected in Wales and not returned but that those were given by the statute of 23. H. 6. c. 15. against the Sheriffs of England yet shall the Knights and Burgesses of Wales so elected and not returned have the benefit of it by the statute of 27. H. 8. because that statute grants that the Countrey of Wales shall have enjoy inherit all rights priviledges laws within it's Dominions as other subjects of the King born in this Realm for the general words of the statute make all the laws of England aswel Common laws as Statute laws to be of effect in Wales and shall take place there and that the Welchmen shall
according to it in the several Governments of Thomas Earl of Sussex Sir Henry Sidney and Sir John Perott not only the Irish territories in the confines of Lemster but also the entire provinces of Conagh and Vlster being out of all Shire ground before were divided and distinguished into several Counties and hundreds several Sheriffs Coroners and justices of peace and other Officers and Ministers of the Law of England have been from time to time constituted in those Counties by several patents and commissions under the great seal of England and by this means has the common Law of England been communicated to all persons and executed throughout all that Realm for many years passed and so continued unto the reign of the late King James who also by a special proclamation in the third year of his reign declared and published that he had received all the Natives of the Realm of Ireland into his royal protection c. By which it was clearly resolved that the common Law of England was established universally throughout the Realm of Ireland and that all persons and possessions within that Realm ought to be governed by the rules of that Law and that every subject shall inherit his Lands in Ireland by the just and honourable law of England in that manner and by the same law that the King inherited the Crown of Irelaud and by these degrees was the common law of England introduced and established in Ireland And in the same year of that King accordingly it was by the special order of the deputy of Ireland and the justices resolved and declared that because all the Irish counties and the Inhabitants of them were to be governed by the rules of the common law of England Vid. Davis re f. 51.52 the Irish customs were void in law not only for the inconvenience and unreasonableness of them but for that they were meer personal customes and could not alter the descent of inheritance For all the possessions of the Irish territories before the common law of England was established did run either in the custome and course of Tanistry whereby every Lordship or chiefty with the portion of land which did pass with it did go without partition to the tanist and not to the next Heir of the Lord or chieftye but to the elder and more worthy of that linage who oftentimes was removed and expelled by another who was more active and more strong then he Besides the wives of the signiory claimed to have a sole property in a certain portion of goods during the coverture with power to dispose of them without the assent of their husbands Or in the course and custom of Gavel kind whereby all the inferiour tenancies were partible among the males in this manner the Causeny or chief of that linage who was commonly most antient after the death of every tennant which had a competent portion of land did assemble all of that linage and having put all their possessions in Hotch Potch did make a new partition of all in which partition he did not assign to the Sons of those that dyed the portion that the Father had but he allotted to every one of that linage according to his Antiquity the more and greater part by whom also a new partition upon the death of every inferiour Tenant was made at his will and discretion And so by reason of those frequent partitions and translation of Tenants from one portion to another all the possessions were uncertain and the uncertainty of the possessions was the true cause that no civil habitation were erected no inclosure or improvement was made of Lands in the Irish counties where this custome was in use especially in Vlster which seemed throughout to be a Wilderness before the new Plantation made by the English Undertakers there Also by that custome bastards had their purparty with the English the women were utterly excluded from Dower the daughters were not Inheritable though their Father died without Issue male and therefore for the aforesaid inconveniences and unreasonableness of those customes were they utterly abolished As the customs of Gavel kind in North-Wales by Edward the first and Henry the 8. which were semblable to the customs of the Irish and therefore was it adjudged that the lands in Ireland should descend according to the course of the the common law that women shall be endowed that daughters shall be inheritable for defect of issue male and the property of such goods should be in the Irish Lords and not in the feme coverts according to the Irish usage which resolution of the Judges by Order of the Deputy was registred among the acts of the Council but this provision was added to it That if any of the meer Irish had possessed and enjoyed any portion of land by these customs before the commencement of the reign of the late King James that he shall not be disturbed in his possession but shall be continued and established in it but that after the commencement of his reign all land shall be adjudged to descend to the Heirs by the Common Law and shall hereefter be possessed and enjoyed accordingly And yet were not the laws of England fully and rotally established in Ireland one of the main triangles of the laws of England being yet excluded for as Sir Edw. Coke Cok. Gom. on Litt. 110. B. the laws of England are devided into common Law Customs and Statute law and though the common law of England was introduced and the Irish customes abolished in Ireland yet were not the Statutes made in the Parliament of England currant in that countrey for the Land of Ireland had Parliaments made Law and changed laws and those of that land were not obliged by the Statutes of England because they did not send Knights to it as Sir Edw. Coke observeth Cok. Com. f. 141. B. And though Sir Edward Poynings having both Martial and Civil power given him by the commission of Henry the seventh above the Earl of Kildare then Deputy of Ireland Bacon Hen. 7. f. 138. called a Parliament in Ireland wherein was made that memorable Act which at this day is called Poynings Law whereby all the Statutes of England were made to be of force in Ireland yet before they were not neither are any now in force in Ireland which were made in England since that time but have had Parliaments since holden there wherein they have made divers particular Laws concerning the Government of that Domiuion wherefore in this particular Ireland was still a Dominion divided and separated from England and the union between those two Nations in that respect not absolutely perfect and therefore did it seem a worthy Act in the late Protector to have ordained by the advice of his Council that thirty Knights and Burgesses out of Ireland should be elected to sit in the Parliament of England thereby to oblige those of that countrey to be subject and obedient to our statute as well as
Illorum alterum alterius auâ—ilio semper eget tani res militarâ— legibus quam ipsae leges armoruâ— praesidio servatae sunt The oâ—â— hath always wanted the aid of thâ— other and as well military matterâ— are preserved by Laws as the Lawâ— themselves by the force of Arms without which they are but as a dead letter or as a bell without a clapper without life or sound By whose mutuall assistance and power the Roman Commonwealth and Empire was established and maintained in peace and union And for that reason are they by the exquisite Poet Claudian conioyned in his Commendations of Rome Claudian Stillicon Armorum legumque potens quae fundit in omnes Imperium primique dedit cunabulae juris But now to treat of them distinctly and first of armes which seem to have the prerogative as well in the retaining as in the gaining of an Empire for as Salust the great Judge of matters of State and manners of Men Fulb. l. 1. fo 64. as Mr. Fulbeck stileth him Imperium facile his artibus retinetur quibus partum est an Empire is easily retained by those Arts it was first gained And as Pansa and Hirtius advivised Caesar in Paterculus ut Principatum armis quaesitum armis teneret that he should keep that principality by Arms that he had gotten by Arms which afterwards he lost by the dismission of the Praetorian souldiers and laying his life open to his enemies perished through his clemency and security which therefore is called by that elegant Author Laudandum experieutia Consilium A councel commended by experience And therefore the Romans generally mingled clemency with safety and prudently by Colonies secured themselves from contingent commotions For usually upon their conquests did they immediately appropriate the seventh part of the territories of the conquered upon old beaten souldien in way of remuneration for their faithful service which was called Coloniarum deductio and the place 〈◊〉 self Romana Colonia and as Seneca Hic populus speaking of the Romanâ— Colonias in omnes provincias misâ—â— Lyps Pol. li. 4. fo 7. ubicunque vicit Romanus habitat Which as Lipsius saith was soliduâ— firmum respublicas provehenâ— munimentum the solid and firm fortification of promoting Common-wealths For the Roman Colonieâ—â— were fortified with trenches Rampirs and Bulwarks to defend themselves against the assaults of the Inhabitants as Danaeus colonies werâ— not deduced into the fields of the vanquished without great grief Danaeut Aphoris fol. 138. and fear of the inhabitants Itaqâ—â— vallis muris praesidio firmandae nam insidiis armis primo quoque tempore ab indigenis petuntur And therefore are they to be fortified with trenches walls and bulwarks for especially upon the first sertlement are they by force or fraud assaulted by the natives who naturally abhorring servitude use all their stratagems to undermine and overthrow them And as Florus disertly non assuetae fraenis servitutis tumidae gentium inflataeque cerâ—ices Florus li. 4. c. 12. facile alias ab imposito nuper jugo resilirent The swelling and arrogant necks of nations not accustomed to the reins of servitude would easily otherwise skip back from their new imposed yoke As the Germans did who as Florus saith were vieti magis quam domiti Florus ib. were vanquished rather then tamed Vita agricol jo 66 Grotius de J. B. P. lib. 2. cap 9. and in the end Tacitus saith did shake off the Roman yoke 〈◊〉 the valor of Arminius who defeated and slew Varus and his legions and as Grotius saith were out of the compasse of the Roman Empire whom the Britans did also seem to emulate who disdaining the Roman servitude Domiti ut pareant non ut serviant as Tacitus saith did stoutly attempt under the conduct of that valiant Queen Vaodica to regain their naturall freedom and though in that kingdom they had planted their Colonies fortified with walls and castles which they could never attain to in Germany yet they universally concurring in one resolution joyntly took Arms and on a suddain did set upon the Roman souldiers dispersed in their castles and having beaten them from their forts invaded the Colonie it self as the seat of servitude and having obtained the victory omitted no kind of rigor and cruelty in somuch as Tacitus saith if Paulinus had not incontinently repaired to their reliefe amissa Britannia foret Britanny would have been lost and could hardly be suppressed and reclaymed untill Petronius Turpilianus was sent by the Senate a man of a milder temper who by his lenity and clemency composed all differences and were from time to time more humanly and freely intreated by the succeeding Legates who by their humanity so prevailed with them as many thousands of the stoutest listed themselves in their Legions and were faithful auxiliaries to them Insomuch as when the Romans were called from Britanny into France to suppresse the Huns who molested that Countrey they were drawn to accompany them in that expedition and to assist them in their Battails and for their valour were gloriously planted in that part of France which from their name is called Brittain Thus did the Romans through the sweetness of their clemency and rigour of their Colonies transplanted and dispersed among their subdued Nations keep them in quiet and subjection and reduced them into a sociable union which Colonies Scorborerius polit lib. 10. c. as Scorbonerius a noble observer of the affairs of State were as it were a small effigies and portraiture of the Amplitude and Majesty of the people of Rome For there were one hundred threescore and three Colonies deduced and dispersed among the Roman Provinces which did sway and rule them by their power and jurisdiction and as Learned and Laborious Mr. Selden saith it is clear that divers Colonies deduced from Rome were in Britany In Foites c. fo 9. Of which he rendereth the names of four in which as Sir John Baker Historieth it Fol. 3. were contained no fewer then fourscore thousand Souldiers in pay Tuntae molis erat Romanam condere gentem Now followeth the imposition of Laws for though they inter arma silent yet after victory and conquest they conduce much to the union of Nations which the Romans also used for the compleating of the same and this is a prerogative inseparably incident to a conquerour to give and impose Laws on the conquered Coke li. 7. Calv. case fo 17. B. as Alexander in Curtius Leges a victoribus dari accipi a victis Of which Sir Edward Coke giveth this reason That seeing he that cometh to a Kingdom by conquest hath vitae necis potestatem he may at his pleasure alter and change the Laws of that Kingdom Seneca Troas for as the Tragaedian Quodounque libuit facere victori licet Which was the perpetual practise of the Romans to send their Praetors Proconsuls and Praefects into those places which
by force and power of Arms they had subdued and to govern them according to their Laws but quo Jure saith Minius Livy l. 35. Nihil aliud praefecto dicatis quam armis superatis vos iis has leges impofuisse Surely you can say nothing else but they being overcome by Arms ye have imposed those Laws upon them by which means as by the nerves the Romans conjoyned other Nations with them and made one civil body of them For as Livy multitudo cealescere in unius populi corpus Livy li. 1. nulla alia re quam legibus potest Coke Com. in Littl. fo 141. a multitude by no other means can grow together into the body of one people but by Laws and as Sir Edward Coke the unity of Laws is the best means for the unity of Countries In which the Romans excelled all other Nations insomuch as their Laws in their flourishing estate were almost the Laws of all the world And yet as the Lord Chauncelor Elsemore saith Postnati fo 55. the Roman civil Law is taken to be the most universal and general Law Such a deep impression did they make in all Nations who were under the Roman jurisdiction But to come to our Countrey though some Zelots of our Common Laws have laboured to clear them from any commixture with the Laws of other Nations notwithstanding the several conquests of the same yet Vincat amor veri Vincat amor patriae And the truth is as Matheus Westmeriensis saith Britannia Romani Britanuiam per Julium Caesarem in latas leges jurare compulsam magna dignatione coluerunt and Camden Britannis nec legibus suis patriis uti permissum sed magistratus a populo Romano cum imperio securibus missi qui jus dicerent The Romans had Britanny in great estimation being compelled by Julius Caesar to swear to their Laws neither were they permitted to use their Countrey and municipal Laws but Magistrates were sent from the people of Rome with command and authority to make Laws and command them to be kept whence came the saying of the Ancient Poet quoted by Mr. Selden Ib. fo 11. Cernitis ignotos Latia sub lege Britannos Neither is it a disparagement to our Laws to have participated of the Laws of other Nations as some supose but rather an Elogy for the Roman Laws themselves were composed of the Grecian Laws and as Sir Francis Bacon though our Laws be mixt as our Language compounded of Britan Saxons Danes and Normans yet did not this add lesse to them then those who would have them to stand out the same in all mutations for no tree is so good at the first sett as at transplanting But to proceed I suppose it not altogether immaterial to add a fourth instrument which the Romans used to unite their subjected Nations to wit the Communication of their Language which as Aristotle saith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Organ of society by whose Communication necessary affairs passe between man and man Lib. 1. Polit cap. 2. And though Catil fo 5. as Salust saith many of different kind and Languages convening in one City facile coalescunt may easily grow into one body and Language Yet in remote Cities and Nations it fareth otherwise which moved the Romans to Communicate their language to forraign Nations by rejecting theirs thereby forcing them to apply their minds to the knowledge of that without which they could have no comunication or correspondence with them which did very greatly conduce to the Majesty utility and unity of the Roman Commonwealth with other Nations Valer. lib. 2. cap. 2. And therefore as Valerius relateth among other Ceremonies of keeping state this did they also with great perseverance observe that they should not give any answer to the Graeciaus but in Latine and also compelled them to speak by an interpreter not onely in the City of Rome but also in Greece and Asia Quo scilicet Latine vecis honos per omnes gentes venerabilior diffunderetur By which means also the glory of the Latine language should be more honourably diffused through all Nations and Phavorinus said that an Emperour might give the freedom of Rome to Barbarous Nations but in Barbarous words and language he could not because those things which receive their force and property from that natural usage of Citizens cannot be changed by the authority of the Senate And in such an especial esteem had the Romans their proper and mother Tongue that in their publique Assemblies they abstained from the use of Forreign Languages though they were not ignorant of them Suetonius vita Tiber. fo 216. as Suetonius writes of Tiberius that though he could speak the Greek tongue readily and fluently yet he abstained fro the use of it in the Senate in so much as being about to name the word Monopolium he first craved pardon quod sibi peregrino vecabule utendum esset that he was to use an Outlandish word By which means the subjugated minds of all Nations began to succumbe and fashion themselves according to the patern and example of the Romans who were then Terrarum Domini Lords of the world as the Panegyrical Poet Compâ—nitur orbis Regis ad exemplum Claud. 4. Houo and did not onely submit themselves to the observance of their laws but also to the practice of their Language For though the Britains were as Tacitus acknowledgeth them validissima gens a most valiant Nation and more fierce then the French and molested the Romans with more dangerous Revolts being of all Nations the last that was conquered and the first were freed and also at the beginning did Linguam Romanam abnuere reject the Roman language yet did they at the length Vita Agric. concupiscere linguam Romanam indeque habitus nostri honor frequens toga as Tacitus speaks affect the Roman language Rhetorique the Roman habit and the like And so deep a tincture and impression did the Roman Language stamp make in these occidental parts that to this day for the most part they retain an Etymological sense of it and in our parts of Britany after the departure of the Romans we deemed it a glory to draw and express all our writs declarations and other proceedings in suits of Law in the Latine language until in these latter times they were abroâ—â—ted by Acts of Parliament as a badge of our antient servitude which Tacitus himself intimateth in these words Itaque humanitas apud imperitos vocabatur cum pars servitutis erat Ibid. and that was called a favour and curtesie by the ignorant which indeed was a part of servitude A fifth may be added though lesse pertinent that is the transmutation of names when the victor doth change the name of the conquered Countrey and calls it by the name of his own Countrey Of which among the Roman Writers I find some change to be made but not by the people of
have the benefic of the English laws for things done in Wales as the English shall have for things done in England and by a Quodei deforceat the Welch shall take advâ—ntage of all actions real aswel given by the common law as the statutes of this Realm Vide Com. Ployd Beckleys case Fo. 128. Fo. 129. and befides because the Welch use a speech nothing like or consonant to the Mother tongue used within this Realm that some rude and ignorant people did make a distinction and diversity between the subjects of this Realm and the subjects of the other whereby great division variance did grow between the said people as in the preamble of the said act is expressed therefore more naturally toconjoyn those dissonant Nations as well by Language as by Laws it was also by that statute enacted that none that use the Welch Language shall enjoy any office or fees within the Kings Dominions but shall forfeit them unles they use the English Language by which exception the Welchmen who before much gloried in the Antiquity and simplicity of their British Language were stirred on to bend their study and practice to the knowledge and pronunciation of the English Dialect To the propriety of which most of them within few years attained and at this day generally affect and use it with delight which hath been an instrumental means of a more amicable union between these two Nations And for the execution of the laws it was ordained that the County of Monmouth formerly being a shire of Wales should be governed from thenceforth in like manner by the same ludges as other shires of England were And for the other tâ— elue shires a speciall Iurisdiction and Officers were ordained yet in substance agreeable after the manner of the English laws And finally by that Statute Gavelkind and all other sinister customes of Wales were abolished but all customes which are reasonable and agreeable to any customes of England preserved For by the same Statute it is provided that a Commission shall issue to examine the Welch customs and that those that shall be found reasonable upon a Certificate of the said Commissioners shall be allowed Davis Rep. f. 40. And accordingly whereas there was a Custome in Denbigh that a Feme Covert with her husband might alien land by surrender and examination in Court Wray and Dyer were of opinion that it shall bind the feme and heirs of the feme as a fine though th feme after issue make such an alienation and die and the reason there given why the custome is not taken away is for that it is reasonable and agreeable to some customs in England for the assurance of purchasers for the title of the Act is for Laws and Justice to be ministred in like form as in this Realm Vide Dyer 363. pl. 26. In like manner was it holden 19. Eliz. Dyer f. 345. pl. 13. that whereas before the subjection of Wales to the Crown of England a man did hold lands of the Prince of Wales by service to go in his War it was no tenure of which the Common Law might take notice for the principality of Wales was not governed by the Common law but was a Dominion of it self and had their proper laws and customs and for that reason when that Countrey was reduced under the subjection of the Crown of England such tenure as was of the person of the Prince of Wales could not become a Capite â—enure of the King of England In this manner and by the means of the said Act of 27. H. 8. were the Welch Nation and the English more entirely united by lows then before of which union ensued a greater peace tranquility and civility and infinite good to the inhabitants of the Countrey of Wales and so continued during the Reign of Six succeeding Kings and Queens until the horrid and irreconcileable War broke out between the King and Parliament wherein the Welch upon changes being always Changelings in the beginning levied Forces in Defence of the Parliament against the KING in which War though a prosperous event succeeded the royal Brigades being totally vanquished and the King himself under the power of the Army yet assumed they unto themselves their ancient animosity and being possessed with a conceit that they were never conquered but by composition now adventured once more to make trial of their Brittish valour under the Commission of Prince Charles and under the command of Major General Rowland Laughorn Colonel Rice Powel and Colonel John Poyer who before had been Commanders for the Parliament and in a warlike and hostile manner possessed themselves of divers Garrisons and Towns against the Parliament and Laughorn being a General of great esteem in those parts raised an Army which in a small time increased to the number of 8000 Horse and Foot which by Colonel Horton who was sent by the Parliament to suppress that insurrection through the assistance of the Almighty was totally routed a great slaughter committed and three thousand prisoners taken with all their ammunition A happy Victory for the Parliament their Forces consisting meerly of three Thousand men and a disasterous commencement for the Welch who nevertheless persisted in their resolution For Laughorn and Powel escaping by flight got to Poyer into lembroke Castle who before kept that strong Hold for the Parliament and now having fortified it with a company of malignants with great courage maintained it against them so great was the danger and difficult the enterprise that Lieutenant General Cromwell himself was sent with some Regiments into Wales to impede the Welch as well from rallying collecting their fugitive and dispersed Forces as to dispossess them of the Towns Garrisons and Castles they had treacherously surprised who first resolved to besiage Chepstow Castle but hastning to Pembrook which was more considerable he left Colonel Eure there who within fifteen days took that Castle and slew Kemish to whom before it had been betrayed But Pembroke Castle was not so facile to be vanquished and by Poyer deemed impregnable who relying on the strength of the place refused all conditions â—he Cromwell not enduring the repulse with an assured confidence besieged it and through the accommodation of Sir Ceorge Ascue who furnished him with great Guns from the Seâ— and all things necessary for a siege forced Foyer and Laugâ—orn at the last being brought to extremist though it had been long stouth maintained by them to surrender and deliver up the Castle without conditions rendâ—ing themselves prisoners at mercy for which deliveries by order of Parliaments publick thanksgiving to God was Solemnized And why should I now expostulate the question with the Welch whether they ever were conquered by the English when as now the best and most knowing of them have ingeniously acknowledged that they were never conquered before Jamque habemus Confitentes victos But what may seem to be the cause why the insurrections of the Welch were so frequent but
that Edward the first contrary to the Roman Garbe upon his first conquest did admit all of them to the possession and inheritance of their Lands and goods which would be ruled and governed by the common law of England and did forbear to settle a Militia or deduce Colonies among them thereby to restrain them from future Commotions which the Parliament of England prudently observing were induced to put in practise the old Roman rule Parcere subjeciis debellare superbos And ordained that all persons whatsoever that were in actual Rebellion in the said insurrections and all other persons that have willingly by council or force assisted the same or contributed any money's horse or armes amuâ—ition or other aid or assistance thereof are adjudged delinquents and that their estates be sequestred and that the Commissioners named and appointed in the said ordinance or such persons as they shall appoint do seize the estates real and personal of all and every the said persons delinquents aforesaid and also to make sale receive and dispose of all and every the Goods Chattels Debts Rents and personal estates of all and every the said Delinquents and let set and improve their Lands at the best rate they can according to the ordinance of sequestration c. And on some of their Ieaders did they inflict capical punishment therein also pursuing the justice of the antient Roman Empire Grot. de J. B. P. l. 9. c. 11. Qui de captis hostium civibus vindictam morte sumebant who did take revenge of the Captains of their enemies which were taken by death for which Constans the Son of Constantine is commended in the Panegyrick And further for the securing of the Parliament and mutual defence and safety of each other did they settle and constitute the Militia in those parts which had a resemblance of the Roman Colonies and at this present are there military Garrisons continued in the chiefest Cities of Wales by which means ever since that countrey hath been kept and maintained in peace and tranquility without the suspicion of any insurrection and a constant unity setled between these two Nations The conquest of Scotland in regard of it's vicinity with England is in the next place to be considered and especially for that deadly feud and perpetual wars have time out of mind raged between these two Nations Nam rara est inter eos pax dum illi propagari Hist Britâ— fol. 7. hi retinere imperium student for peace was rare between them while they endeavoured to propagate their Empire and these to retein it which though the English for many Ages with all their skill and force have contended to vanquish yet could they not until these latter times accomplish So difficult a task it was to conquer that valiant Nation and by force to bring it to an union for as the same Author saith Eadem utrisque in bellâ— ferocia And as an other Gens virorum fortium fuit quam frugum feracior It was a countrey more abounding in proper men then in goodly fruits A fierce Nation indeed which was never subjugated by the Romans as Tertullian who lived in the second Age according to the Christian computation intimateth Apolog. saying Evangelium diffusum est in omnes orbis partes etiam in Britanniam usque eamque Insulae partem quâ—m Romanae vires nunquam penetrarunt The Gospel was diffused through all the parts of the world also into Britany and even into that part of the Island which the Romans never pierced meaning that part of the Island which is now called Scotland But the Romans attempting it were continually rebutted and repulsed by them and in fine were foreed to frame walls trenches and bulwarks to defend their Province from their terrible incursions which were first built by Adrian as Aelius Spartianus then by Antoninus Pius as Julius Capitolinus and thirdly by Severus thereby to stop the furious invasions of the Scots of which Claudian doth mention Venit extremis legio praetentae Britannis Quae Scoto dat fraena truci But whereas Buchanan a partial Trumpeter of his countrey praises De jure regni apud Scot. saith Nos regnum exiguum quidem sed jam bis mille annos ab exterarâ—m gentium imperio liberum tenemus we hold our Kingdom a little one indeed but now for the space of two thousand years free from the Dominion of forreign Nations yet to the contrary saith Matthew of Westminster Quod Reges Angliae Jure Superioris directi Dominii ab antiquissimis temporibus regno Scotiae ipsius regibus praefuerunt ab ipsiâ— illorum prâ—ceribus regalia homagia receperunt fidelitatis debita juramenta that the Kings of England by the right of a more superior direct Dominion from the most ancient times had their preheminence over the Kingdom of Scotland and their Kings and have received legall homages from them and their Nobles and due Oaths of fidelity For after the Saxons had made a Conquest of the Britans and reduced their Heptarchy into a Monarchy changing it's name into England Scotland by the power of their victorious Armes Hollingshed Ed. 3. was compelled to do homage and fealty to England and to be tributary to their sueceeding Kings for Edward the son of Alured â—ad it under his Dominion Herb. Hen. 8. And Athelstane made one Constantine King thereof Eldreck took homage of Ericus and Edgar of Kinulph Kings of Scots Malcome did homage to Knuto and Edward the confessor gave the Kingdom to Malcome who did homage to William the Conquerour and to William Rufus and Edgar did homage to Henry the first and David did homage to Matilda the Empress which were without intermission transacted by the succeeding Kings of Scotland to the succeeding Kings of England Herb. ib. even to the reign of Henry the seventh which incited Henry the eighth to claim homage and fealty of James the fourth which was partly the cause of the quarrel and famous Battail between him and the King so as the aforesaid homages fealties made by the Kings of Scots were not only for the Earldom of Huntington as the Scots pretend For David King of Scots having married the Daughter and Heir of the Earl of Huntington and Northumberland and received the investiture thereof did not onely do homage and owe fealty for the Earldom of Huntington as also his son Malcome did but the said David did also homage and made fealty for the Kingdome of Scotland to Matilda the Empress as also all the succeeding Kings of Scotland did according to the former expression But of all the Kings of England none equalled Edward the first and none as Sir Francis Bacon saith is more celebrated with the commendations of War and Wisedome and especially for his purpose and enterprise for the conquest of Scotland bending his mind not to glorious conquests abroad but to the setlement by conquest of a solid union between those
our common Laws that as we are one and the same common-wealth so we may be governed by one and the same Laws and they participate of the same honours and priviledges which is the surest means for the consolidation of such a union for the more entire the union is the less apt will they be upon any occasions to break and the imperfection of such a union being oftentimes the Origine and cause of Revolts a direful example of which is recorded in the Annals of the Roman Republick which as it was the best estate in the world so is it the best example which as in the frontispice we have followed so will we not forsake to the end Aneus Martius was the first that conquered the Latins who having by force taken many of their Towns received many thousands of them into the City of Rome as one body but because they were not equally intreated they joyned Armes with the Tarquinians against the people of Rome and though after a bloody battail they were reunited yet was not that union durable because not entire for that the people of Rome had not inserted them in their Tribes nor admitted them to participate of their immunities and honours for which reasons the Latins conceiving themselves to be undervalued and vilified were bold to demand the freedom of the city of Rome and that one of their consuls be of their countrey which being denyed they converted their demands into Armes Yet afterwards being again reconciled upon hopes to be enfranchised first by Fabius Flaccus one of the consuls who attempted the prorogation of the Law though impeded by the Senate and afterwards by Livius Brusus who was also opposed by the people at which exasperated seeing themselves deluded they made an association with the Hetrurians and the Sabius who because they were all by affinity of promiscuous marriages consanguineans and as Florus saith Florus l. 3. c. 18. unum corpus with the people of Rome and that they had augmented that city by their valour and yet were dispised they jointly made War against the City of Rome as well those who lived in the City as those who abided in Italy which was called Bellum sociale but indeed bellum civile Ibid acivil and destructive War both to the people of Rome and the Cities of Italy that as Florus saith Nec Annibalis nec Pyâ—rhi fuit tanta vastatio the devastation and depopulation of Hanniball and Pyrrhus was not soe great such were the fatall fruits of an imperfect union Whereupon the people of Rome instructed by fad experience did condiseend to a more intire union with them and permitted them to participate of the priviledges and honors of Rome being according to their worth preferred and placed in the Senate which Claudius in Tacitus urgeth in the like case for the bringing in of the chiefest of the French into the Senate in these words Neque enim ignoro Iulios Alba Tacit. l. 11. Caruncanios Camerio Portios Tusculo ne vetera scrutemur Etruria Lucaniaque omni Italia in Senatum accites Caeter a quis neseit And needs no application But in this case the sovereign use of the Law hath almost made me to omit the necessity of Arms and to demonstrate how through the insufficiency and debility of English Colonies and the Militia in Ireland a detestable and infernal design was hatched and contrived by the rebellious and bloody Papists whereby all the Forts and Magazins in that Kingdom were to be surprized in one day and all the English Protestants massacred and all Ireland in one day to be lost had it not through the providence of God the very night before been discovered by one only Irish man servant to one Sir John Clotworthy whom Macmahon had unadvisedly trusted with the Plot by which Dublin was saved and the seizure of the Castle the Kingdomes chief Magazine prevented to which purpose many rebels of great note came to the City the day before who upon the apprehension of Macmahon escaped with the Lord Macquire that night to do more mischief with the rest of the conspirators that were that day in all the country round about within two months space murthered 200000 protestanes many of them being by intollerable tortures brought to their end besides infinit numbers who were robbed and spoiled of all they had and daily driven naked and almost famished to Dublin for reliefe with whom the City was soc filled that they were enforced for the preservation of themselves and the lives of their wives children and families to fly for succour into the severall parts of the Dominions of England and Wales O nullo scelus credibile in avo Quodque posteritas negot Sen ' câ— Toyest It equalling if not exceeding in number and cruelty the execrable and perfidious Massacre of the Protestants in France and Paris For Ireland being destitute of a Deputy and military guards Hinc Hiberniae calamitas the Lord Justices Sir William Persons and Sir John Borlace were driven to take those Arms which they found in Dublin and to arm whom they could of a â—â—â—dain to defend themselves and the places near against the approach of the enemy In this dangerous streight and perillous condition did the estates of the English in Ireland stand who for want of a setled station of English Colonies were at the point to have lost themselves and that Countrey for the English were so involved in homebred civil Wars that the Parliament of England for a present aid could send them but twenty thousand pounds and though afterwards they transported some Regiments yet for the space of ten years were they unable to free that countrey from that malignant and pestilent enemy The Trojan Wars being incomparable to it for cruelty for through our daily discords and distractions their cursed cruel crue continually augmented almost to the overwhelming and destruction of the English But when all the malignants were quelled in England and the Royalists debelled in Scotland and that Dublin was besieged by the Irish with a formidable Army and in danger of a surrender General Cromwell was sent by the Parliament of England to relieve Dublin and suppress the Irish Rebels at whose approach Colonel Jones encouraged made an unexpected and suddain sally on the enemy and valiantly repelling them put them all to flight which the General pursuing within a short space bysnarp siedges regained those strong Towns and Garrisons which the Irish had surreptitiously surprized and by degrees cleared the countrey of such seditious Irish as seduced and corrupted the well affected of that Nation and having setled it in peace and safety at his return was honoured with the thanks of the Parliament And now the provident Parliament apprehending it more safe and advantagious to prevent commotions then to suppress them ordained and appointed English Colonies to be deduced into Ireland which they committed first to the charge of Lieutenant General Ireton and after his death to the Marshalling of Lieutenant General Charles Fleetwood who afterwards for his singular care and vigilancy was by the Lord Protector made Deputy of Ireland both of them being successively Commanders in chief of a competent Army and of all the Garrisons sufficiently fortifyed and to strike the more terror into Delinquents they censured the ringleaders of that Rebellion with Capital punnishment Vt poena ad paucos metus ad omnes perveniat Cok. Com. And confiscated all the lands and goods of some and sequestrated others to the use of the Commonwealth by which Roman Model Ireland ever since hath been ruled and preserved in peace and unity the English language also being through continual commerce the common speech among them To draw all to period By this I hope it is made perspicuous that unions of Kingdoms upon conquest upon which basis the most parts of such unions have been founded being purchased by valour are possessed and setled by the sweetness of clemency power of Armes severity of clemency power of Armes severity of Laws and communication of language which is fully demonstrated by that universal union of the Roman Orb as by the particular union of England Wales Scotland and Ireland which is by those means so compleatly perfected and by the prowess and prudence of the Parliament and it's Conquering Champions fetled that as it was worthily vowed by the late King James faciam cos In gentem unam which indeed he did endeavour to have effected so it may be truly averred of the Common-wealth of England Quod fecit cos in gentem unaâ— that it hath made those several Countries one Nation which the premised Roman course being observed may so remain and continue Dum coelum stellae eandem rationem obtinent whilst the Sun and Stars run the same course With this hypothetical caution if union be softred and cherished among our selves and ambitious and envious discord shnaned which as a swelling and eminent Rock â—â—sheth in pieces the firmest commonwealth approaching it which was the ruine of the Roman commonwealth it self as the Venusine Poet. Suis ipsa Roma viribus ruit Hor. e. 15. And therefore let us lay aside all occasions of diffidence and suspition which may breed discord and dissention and remember the animadversion of St. Paul that if you bite and devour one another take heed you be not consumed one of another for humana Consilia Castig antur ubi divinis praeferuntur Thus hath the Author rudely woven a difficult work which deserves a finer thread and a neater Artist yet proposing truth for his end he hopeth it may countenance the simplicity of the stile Cok. li. 10. ep for veritatis sermo simpleâ— and his labour whatsoever it is Tacit. Agr. for the profession of truth aut laudatus aut excusatus erit yet respecting himself he is so far from the imagination of praise that he shall conceive himself favourably dealt withal if he may find pardon for his presumption FINIS