or expedition upon the Roman Empire And came not as Rovers to carry away prey and be gone again but planted themselves in a number of fruitful and rich Provinces where not only their Generations but their Names remain till this day witness Lombardy Catalonia a name compounded of Goth and Alane Andaluzia a name corrupted from Vandelicia Hungary Normandy and others Nay the fortune of the Swizzes of late years which ate bred in a barren and mountainous Countrey is not to be forgotten who first ruined the Duke of Burgandy the same who had almost ruined the Kingdom of France what time after the Battail of Granson the Rich Jewel of Burgandy prized at many thousands was sold for a few pence by a common Souldier that knew no more what a Jewel meant then did Aesops Cock. And again the same Nation in revenge of a scorn was the ruine of the French Kings Affairs in Italy Lewis the 12 th For that King when he was pressed somewhat rudely by an Agent of the Swizzes to raise their Pensions brake into words of choller What said he will these Villains of the Mountains put a Tax upon me which words lost him his Dutchy of Millain and chased him out of Italy All which examples Mr. Speaker do well prove Solons opinion of the Authority and Mastery that Iron hath over Gold And therefore if I shall speak unto you mine own heart Methinks we should a little disdain that the Nation of Spain which howsoever of late it hath grown to Rule yet of ancient time served many Ages first under Carthage then under Rome after under Saracens Goths and others should of late years take unto themselves that Spirit as to dream of a Monarchy in the West according to that devise Video Solem Orientem in Occidente only because they have ravished from some wild and unarmed People Mines and store of Gold And on the other side that this Island of Brittany seated and manned as it is and that hath I make no question the best Iron in the world that is the best Souldiers of the world should think of nothing but reckonings and audits and Meum and Tuum and I cannot tell what Mr. Speaker I have I take it gone through the Parts which I propounded to my self Wherein if any man shall think that I have sung Placebo for mine own particular I would have him know that I am not so unseen in the world but that I discern it were much alike for my private Fortune to rest a Tacebo as to sing a Placebo in this Business But I have spoken out of the Fountain of my Heart Credidi propter quod locutus sum I believed therefore I spake So as my Duty is performed the Judgement is yours God direct it for the best A Speech used by Sir Francis Bacon in the Lower House of Parliament by occasion of a motion concerning the Union of Laws ANd it please you Mr. Speaker were it now a time to wish as it is to advise no man should be more forward or more earnest then my self in this wish That his Majesties Subjects of England and Scotland were governed by one Law And that for many Reasons First because it will be an infallible assurance that there will never be any relapse in succeeding Ages to a separation Secondly Dulcis tractus pari jugo If the Draught lye most upon us and the yoke lightest upon them it is not equal Thirdly the Qualities and as I may term it the Elements of their Laws and ours are such as do promise an excellent temperature in the compounded Body For if the Prerogative here be too indefinite it may be the Liberty there is too unbounded If our Laws and proceedings be too prolix and formal it may be theirs are too informal and summary Fourthly I do discern to my understanding there will be no great difficulty in this work For their Laws by that I can learn compared with ours are like their Language compared with ours For as their Language hath the same roots that ours hath but hath a little more mixture of Latine and French So their Laws and Customs have the like grounds that our have with a little more mixture of the Civil Law and French Customs Lastly the mean to this work seemeth to me no less excellent then the work it self For if both Laws shall be united it is of necessity for preparation and inducement thereunto that our own Laws be reviewed and compiled Then the which I think there cannot be a work that his Majesty can undertake in these times of Peace more Politick more Honourable nor more Beneficial to his Subjects for all Ages Pace datâ Terris Animum ad Civilia vertit Fura suum Legesque tulit justissimus Auctor For this continual heaping up of Laws without digesting them maketh but a Chaos and confusion and turneth the Laws many times to become but snares for the People as is said in the Scripture Pluet super eos Laqueos Now Non sunt pejores Laquei quam Laquei Legum And therefore this work I esteem to be indeed a work rightly to term it Heroical So that for this good wish of Union of Laws I do consent to the full And I think you may perceive by that which I have said that I come not in this to the opinion of others but that I was long ago settled in it my self Nevertheless as this is moved out of zeal so I take it to be moved out of time as commonly zealous motions are while men are so fast carried on to the End as they give no attention to the Mean For if it be time to talk of this now it is either because the business now in hand cannot proceed without it or because in time and order this matter should be precedent or because we shall leese some advantage towards this effect so much desired if we should go on in the course we are about But none of these three in my judgement are true And therefore the motion as I said unseasonable For first that there may not be a Naturalization without an Union in Laws cannot be maintained Look into the example of the Church and the Union thereof you shall see several Churches that joyn in one Faith one Baptism which are the points of spiritual Naturalization do many times in Policy Constitutions and Customs differ And therefore one of the Fathers made an excellent observation upon the two Mysteries the one that in the Gospel where the Garment of Christ is said to have been without seam the other that in the Psalm where the Garment of the Queen is said to have been of divers colours And concludeth In veste variet as sit scissura non sit So in this case Mr. Speaker we are now in hand to make this Monarchy of one piece and not of one colour Look again into the examples of forraign Countries and take that next us of France and there you shall find that
in use or effect And this is the first Answer that I give to this main inconvenience pretended of surcharge of People The second Answer which I give to this Objection is this I must have leave to doubt Mr. Speaker that this Realm of England is not yet peopled to the full For certain it is that the Territories of France Italy Flanders and some parts of Germany do in equal space of ground bear and contain a far greater quantity of People if they were mustered by the Poll. Neither can I see that this Kingdom is so much inferiour unto those forraign parts in fruitfulness as it is in population which makes me conceive we have not our full charge Besides I do see manifestly among us the badges and tokens rather of scarceness then of press of people as drowned Grounds Commons Wastes and the like Which is a plain demonstration that howsoever there may bean over swelling throng and press of people here about London which is most in our eye yet the body of the Kingdom is but thin sown with People And whosoever shall compare the ruines and decayes of ancient Towns in this Realm with the erections and augmentations of new cannot but judge that this Realm hath been far better peopled in former times It may be in the Heptarchy or otherwise For generally the Rule holdeth The Smaller State the greater Population proratd And whether this be true or no we need not seek further then to call to our remembrance how many of us serve here in this place for desolate and decayed Burroughs Again Mr. Speaker whosoever looketh into the Principles of Estate must hold it that it is the Mediterrane Countries and not the Maritime which need to fear surcharge of People For all Sea-Provinces especially Islands have another Element besides the Earth and Soil for their sustentation For what an infinite number of people are and may be sustained by Fishing Carriage by Sea and Merchandizing wherein I do again discover that we are not at all pinched by multitude of people For if we were it were not possible that we should relinquish and resign such an infinite benefit of Fishing to the Flemmings as it is well known we do And therefore I see that we have wastes by Sea as well as by Land which still is an infallible Argument that our Industry is not awaked to seek maintainance by any over great press or charge of People And lastly Mr. Speaker there was never any Kingdom in the Ages of the world had I think so fair and happy means to issue and discharge the multitude of their People if it were too great as this Kingdom hath in regard of that desolate and avasted Kingdom of Ireland which being a Countrey blessed with almost all the Dowries of Nature as Rivers Havens Woods Quarries good Soil and temperate Climate and now at last under his Majesty blessed also with obedience doth as it were continually call unto us for our Colonies and Plantations And so I conclude my second Answer to this pretended inconvenience of surcharge of People The third Answer Mr. Speaker which I give is this I demand what is the worst effect which can follow of surcharge of People Look into all Stories and you shall find it none other then some honourable War for the enlargement of their Borders which find themselves pent upon foreign parts Which inconvenience in a valourous and warlike Nation I know not whether I should term an inconvenience or no For the saying is most true though in another sense Omne solum forti Patria It was spoken indeed of the patience of an exil'd man but it is no less true of the valout of a warlike Nation And certainly Mr. Speaker I hope I may speak it without offence That if we did hold our selves worthy whensoever just cause should be given either to recover our ancient Rights or to revenge our late wrongs or to attain the Honour of our Ancestors or to enlarge the Patrimony of our Posterity We would never in this manner forget considerations of Amplitude and Greatness and fall at variance about Profit and Reckonings fitter a great deal for private Persons then for Parliaments and Kingdoms And thus Mr. Speaker I leave this first Objection to such satisfaction as you have heard The second Objection is that the Fundamental Laws of both these Kingdoms of England and Scotland are yet divers and several Nay more that it is declared by the Instrument that they shall so continue and that there is no intent in his Majesty to make innovation in them And therefore that it should not be seasonable to proceed to this Naturalization I hereby to endow them with our Rights and Priviledges except they should likewise receive and submit themselves to our Laws And this Objection likewise Mr. Speaker I allow to be a weighty Objection and worthy to be well answered and discussed The Answer which I shall offer is this It is true for mine own part Mr. Speaker that I wish the Scots Nation governed by our Laws for I hold our Laws with some reducement worthy to govern if it were the world But this is that which I say and I desire therein your attention That according to the true reason of Estate Naturalization is in order first and precedent to Union of Laws in degree a less matter then Union of Laws and in nature separable not inseparable from Union of Laws For Naturalization doth but take out the marks of a Forraigner but Union of Laws makes them entirely as our selves Naturalization taketh away separation but Union of Laws doth take away distinction Do we not see Mr. Speaker that in the administration of the world under the great Monarch God himself that His Laws are divers one Law in Spirits another in Bodies One Law in Regions Coelestial another Elementary And yet the Creatures are all one Mass and Lump without any vacuum or separation Do we not see likewise in the State of the Church that amongst people of all Languages and Linages there is one Communion of Saints and that we are all fellow Citizens and naturalized of the Heavenly Hierusalem And yet nevertheless divers and several Ecclesiastical Laws Policies and Hierarchies According to the Speech of that worthy Father In veste varietas sit scissura non sit And therefore certainly Mr. Speaker the Bond of Law is the more special and private Bond and the Bond of Naturalization the more common and general For the Laws are rather Figura Reip. then Forma and rather Bonds of Perfection then Bonds of Entireness And therefore we see in the experience of our own Government that in the Kingdom of Ireland all our Statute-Laws since Poyning-Laws are not in force and yet we deny them not the benefit of Naturalization In Gersey Guernsey and the Isle of Man our Common Laws are not in force and yet they have the benefit of Naturalization Neither need any man doubt but that our Laws and Customs must
said and Portugal of which there is not yet sufficient Trial. And lastly we see the effect in our own Nation which never rent assunder after it was once united so as we now scarce know whether the Heptarchy were a Story or a Fable And therefore Mr. Speaker when I revolve with my self these examples and others so lively expressing the necessity of a Naturalization to avoid a relapse into a separation and do hear so many arguments and scruples made on the other side It makes me think on the old Bishop which upon a publick Disputation of certain Divines Christians with some learned men of the Heathens did extremely press to be heard and they were loath to suffer him because they knew he was unlearned though otherwise an holy and well-meaning Man But at last with much ado he got to be heard and when he came to speak in stead of using Arguments he did only say over his Belief but did it with such assurance and constancy as did strike the minds of those that heard him more then any Argument had done And so Mr. Speaker against all these witty and subtile Arguments I say that I do believe and would be sorry to be found a Prophet in it That except we proceed with this Naturalization though not perhaps in his Majesties time who hath such Interest in both Nations yet in the time of his Descendants these Realms will be in continual danger to divide and break again Now if any man be of that careless mind Maneat nostras ca cura Nepotes Or of that hard mind to leave things to be tryed by the sharpest Sword sure I am he is not of St. Paul's opinion who affirmeth That whosoever useth not fore-sight and provision for his Family is worse then an unbeliever Much more if we shall not use fore-sight for these two Kingdoms that comprehend so many Families but leave things open to the peril of future divisions And thus have I expressed unto you the inconvenience which of all other sinketh deepest with me as the most weighty Neither do their want other inconveniences Mr. Speaker the effect and influence whereof I fear will not be adjourned to so long a day as this that I have spoken of For I leave it to your wisdom to consider whether you do not think in case by the denyal of this Naturalization any pike of alienation or unkindness I do not say where should be thought to be or noised to be between these two Nations whether it will not quicken and excite all the envious and malicious humours wheresoever which are now covered against us either forraign or at home and so open the way to practices and other engines and machinations to the disturbance of this State As for that other inconvenience of his Majesties engagement into this Action it is too binding and pressing to be spoken of and may do better a great deal in your minds then in my mouth or in the mouth of any man else because I say it doth press our Liberty too far And therefore Mr. Speaker I come now to the third general part of my division concerning the Benefits which we shall purchase by this knitting of the knot surer and streighter between these two Kingdoms by the communicating of Naturalization The Benefits may appear to be two the one Surety the other Greatness Touching Surety Mr. Speaker it was well said by Titus Quintius the Roman touching the State of Peloponnesus That the Tortois is safe within her shell Testudo intra tegumen tuta est but if there be any parts that lye open they endanger all the rest We know well that although the State at this time be in a happy Peace yet for the time past the more ancient enemy to this Kingdom hath been the French and the more late the Spaniard and both these had as it were their several postern Gates whereby they mought have approach and entrance to annoy us France had Scotland and Spain had Ireland For these were the two accesses which did comfort and encourage both these enemies to assail and trouble us We see that of Scotland is cut off by the Union of both these Kingdoms if that it shall now be made constant and permanent That of Ireland is likewise cut off by the convenient situation of the North of Scotland toward the North of Ireland where the sore was Which we see being suddainly closed hath continued closed by means of this Salve So as now there are no parts of this State exposed to danger to be a temptation to the ambition of Forraigners but the approaches and avenues are taken away For I do little doubt but those Forraigners which had so ill success when they had these advantages will have much less comfort now that they be taken from them And so much for Surety For Greatness Mr. Speaker I think a man may speak it soberly and without bravery That this Kingdom of England having Scotland united Ireland reduced the Sea Provinces of the Low-Countreys contracted and Shipping maintained is one of the greatest Monarchies in Forces truly esteemed that hath been in the world For certainly the Kingdoms here one Earth have a resemblance with the Kingdom of Heaven which our Saviour compareth not to any great Kernel or Nut but to a very small Grain yet such an one as is apt to grow and spread And such do I take to be the constitution of this Kingdom if indeed we shall refer our Counsels to Greatness and Power and not quench them too much with consideration of Utility and Wealth For Mr. Speaker was it not think you a true Answer that Solon of Greece made to the rich King Cresus of Lydia when he shewed unto him a great quantity of Gold that he had gathered together in ostentation of his Greatness and Might But Solon said unto him contrary to his expectation Why Sir if another come that hath better Iron then you he will be Lord of all your Gold Neither is the Authority of Machiavel to be despised who scorneth the Proverb of Estate taken first from a Speech of Mucianus That Moneys are the Sinews of War And saith There are no true Sinews of War but the very Sinews of the Arms of valiant men Nay more Mr. Speaker whosoever shall look into the seminaries and beginnings of the Monarchies of the world he shall find them founded in Poverty Persia a Countrey barren and poor in respect of the Medes whom they subdued Macedon a Kingdom ignoble and mercenary until the time of Philip the Son of Amyntas Rome had poor and pastoral beginnings The Turks a Band of Sarmatian Scythes that in a vagabond manner made impression upon that part of Asia which is yet called Turcomania Out of which after much variety of Fortune sprung the Ottoman Family now the terrour of the world So we know the Goths Vandals Alanes Huns Lombards Normans and the rest of the Northern people in one Age of the world made their descent
they have this distribution Pais du droit Escript and Pais du droit Constumier For Gascoign Languedock Provence Daulphenie are Countries governed by the Letter or Text of the Civil Law But the Isle of France Tourrain Berry Anjou and the rest and most of all Britain and Normandy are governed by Customs which amount unto a Municipal Law and use the Civil Law but only for Grounds and to decide new and rare cases and yet nevertheless Naturalization passeth through all Secondly that this Union of Laws should precede the Naturalization or that it should go on pari passu hand in hand I suppose likewise can hardly be maintained but the contrary that Naturalization ought to precede Of which my opinion as I could yield many reasons so because all this is but a digression and therefore ought to be short I will hold my self now only to one which is briefly and plainly this That the Union of Laws will ask a great time to be perfected both for the compiling and for the passing dureing all which time if this mark of Strangers should be denyed to be taken away I fear it may induce such a habit of Strangeness as will rather be an impediment than a preparation to further proceeding For he was a wise man that said Opportuni magnis conatibus transitus Rerum And in those cases Non progredi est regredi And like as in a pair of Tables you must put out the former writing before you can put in new and again that which you write in you write Letter by Letter but that which you put out you put out at once So we have now to deal with the Tables of mens Hearts wherein it is in vain to think you can enter the willing acceptance of our Laws and Customs except you first put forth all Notes either of Hostility or forraign Condition And these are to be put out simul semel at once without gradations whereas the other points are to be imprinted and engraven distinctly and by degrees Thirdly whereas it is conceived by some that the communication of our Benefits and Priviledges is a good hold that we have over them to draw them to submit themselves to our Laws It is an Argument of some probability but yet to be answered many wayes For first the intent is mistaken which is not as I conceive it to draw them wholly to a subjection to our Laws but to draw both Nations to one uniformity of Law Again to think that there should be a kind of articulate and indented Contract that they should receive our Laws to obtain our Priviledges it is a matter in reason of Estate not to be expected being that which scarcely a private man will acknowledge if it come to that whereof Seneca speaketh Beneficium accipere est Libertatem vendere No but courses of Estate do describe and delineat another way which is to win them either by Benefit or Custom For we see in all Creatures that men do feed them first and reclaim them after And so in the first institution of Kingdoms Kings did first win people by many Benfits and Protections before they prest any yoke And for Custom which the Poets call imponere Morem who doubts but that the Seat of the Kingdom and the example of the King resting here with us our manners will quickly be there to mak all things ready for our Laws And lastly the Naturalization which is now propounded is qualified with such restrictions as there will be enough kept back to be used at all times for an Adamant of drawing them further on to our desires And therefore to conclude I hold this motion of Union of Laws very worthy and arising from very good minds but not proper for this time To come therefore to that which is now in question It is no more but whether there should be a difference made in this priviledge of Naturalization between the Ante-nati and the Post-nati not in point of Law for that will otherwise be decided but only in point of Convenience as if a Law were now to be made de novo In which question I will at this time only answer two Objections and use two Arguments and so leave it to your judgement The first Objection hath been that if a difference should be it ought to be in favour of the Ante-nati because they are persons of merit service and proof whereas the Post-nati are infants that as the Scripture saith know not the right hand from the left This were good reason Mr. Speaker if the question were of Naturalizing some particular persons by a private Bill but it hath no proportion with the general For now we are not to look to respects that are proper to some but to those which are common to all Now then how can it be imagined but that those that took their first breath since this happy Union inherent in his Majesties person must be more assured and affectionat to this Kingdom then those generally can be presumed to be which were sometimes Strangers For Nemo subitò fingitur the conversions of Minds are not so swift as the conversions of times Nay in effects of Grace which exceed far the effects of Nature we see St. Paul makes a difference between those he calls Neophites that is newly grafted into Christianity and those that are brought up in the Faith And so we see by the Laws of the Church that the Children of Christians shall be baptized in regard of the Faith of their Parents But the Child of an Ethnick may not receive Baptism till he be able to make an understanding Profession of his Faith Another Ojection hath been made that we ought to be more provident and reserved to restrain the Post-nati then the Ante-nati because during his Majesties time being a Prince of so approved Wisdom and Judgement we need no better caution then the confidence we may repose in him But in the future Reigns of succeeding ages our caution must be in Re and not in Persona But Mr. Speaker to this I answer That as we cannot expect a Prince hereafter less like to erre in respect of his Judgement So again we cannot expect a Prince so like to exceed if I may so term it in this point of Benificence to that Nation in respect of the occasion For whereas all Princes and all men are won either by merit or conversation there is no appearance that any of his Majesties Descendents can have either of these causes of Bounty towards that Nation in so ample degree as his Majesty hath And these be the two Objections which seemed to me most material why the Post-nati should be left free and not be concluded in the same restrictions with the Ante-nati whereunto you have heard the Answers The two Reasons which I will use on the other side are briefly these The one being a Reason of Common Sense the other a Reason of Estate We see Mr. Speaker the time of the Nativity is in