to raise a Cloud of Witnesses and alarum people with a great noise of Resumptions in former times tho there be nothing at all in them On the miscarriage of these anothor Act is made 10 Edw. IV. But 't is with such provisions and exceptions as by the K. shall be made who tells the Commons he will reward every of his Subjects for their merits We are told by this Author that a great number of exceptions are brought by the King but these don't seem of that nature as if 't were design'd they should defeat the intentions of the House of Commons This Gentleman in giving an account of these Resumptions had done well if he had told us how they happen'd this would sufficiently inform us what they were Every one knows how Edward the IV. came to the Thrown that he was Crown'd several years before the Death of Hen. VI. Our History tells us that to raise some with the ruin of others he distributed the Lands and Possessions of those that sided with King Henry amongst his own Favourites and Followers having the better to paliate his own proceedings firâ—t made Proclamation that whosoever of the contrary Faction would come in and submit should be received to Grace and restor'd to their Patrimonies Trust. Hist pag. 183. In the 10th Year of his Reign we find King Henry gets the ascendent again K. Edward IV. 1. Proclaimed an Usurper is forc'd to quit the Kingdom Then the Parliament was assembled at Westminster wherein King Edward and his Friends and Followers are Attainted of High-Treason and their Goods and Lands seised to King Henry's use Trust Hist pag. 194. This accounts for the Resumption made three Years after 13. Edward VI. last mention'd when King Edward got the better again 'T was an Act to re-invest Crown-Lands and Goods which King Edward IV. had in the beginning of his Reign which as I 've shewn were afterwards seiz'd by Parliament for King Henry's use and had by him been disposed of among his Friends So that this it seems was only an Act to resume from King Henry's Friends to vest them in the Crown and in effect to give them to King Edward's Favourites for giving the Royal assent he told the Commons That the Bill should not withstand that Right and Equity which obliged him to do to every of his Subjects according to their Merits Anno 1. Henry VII Another Act of Resumpiion passes by this the K. is to seize and assume into his hands whatever Henry VI. his Unkle had the 2 d. day of October in the 34 th Year of his Reign and it makes void all Grants made by King Edward IV. King Edward V. and Richard III. By Authority of Parliament or otherwise Here is an excellent precedent for Resumptions one that shews how a great deal of Money may be raised if we will but Copy after this Exemplar For this looks backward thro' three entire Reigns and seizeth what was given even by Act of Parliament Either this is a Regular Resumption or it is not If it be not why is it mentioned If it be this Gentleman shews where England may raise a vast Sum upon an extraordinary occasion 'T will be only resuming what has been forfeited in Ireland since 1641 or if that should be too little carrying the Act up to Queen Elizabeth's time which according to what he has delivered in his Doctrine of Resumptions and Conquest together may very well be done This Gentleman when he in order to influence the Parliament to resume deliver'd this among his many other excellent Precedents ought to have told us the true cause of this very extraordinary Act. 'T was in the 1 st of Henry VII who was Nephew to Henry VI. depos'd by Eward IV. in the 34th year of his Reign This Edward together with Edward V. his Son and Richard III. kept Henry VI. and his Heirs out of the Throne for many Years When therefore the Crown return'd into the Lancastrian Line and Hen. VII was Crown'd the Parliament call'd in the first year of his Reign made all the Grants of the former Usurpers void and vested in the King all that his Unkle possessed at the time he was Depos'd Is this any thing to the purpose in the present Case and is taking from Usurpers and their Favourites and vesting it in the King any invasion upon the King no Hen. VII in giving the Royal assent reserv'd a power to himself to make what exceptions he pleas'd and to reward the Merits of his Friends The last Resumption of Crown Lands made by the Kings of England was in this Kings Reign After this now mentioned our Author tells us there were some particular ones as anno 11. Henry VII An Act of Resumption of divers Castles Mannors Lands and Tenements which were formerly given by King Edw. III. and King Richard II. to Edmond de Langley Duke of York Though this would suit better with times which some expect hereafter but I hope never will see yet it ought not to be omitted here because it affords a Precedent for looking further backward and shews that when we are resuming we may rake deep into Antiquity and grasp at things that were given 120 years before This our Author is not for he is for confining his Resuming Act within the Grants of the present Reign this we can't ascribe to any extravagant respect he has for His Majesty nor can I tell whether we owe it to his Moderation for had he advised a large retrospect he had perhaps been too disobliging and defeated the designs of his Book If we would follow him 't is hard to know what measures to take when he proposes a Pattern for us to imitate in our retrospection he lays before us the Example of those Kings who resumed their own Grants without assistance of Parliament vid. pag. 428. In another he tells us that these are irregular and when he comes to give account of the regular he mentions such as either had no manner of effect at all or else took a very large compass and went very far back in their way breaking over Acts of Parliaments On the whole matter these Observations may be made First That all his noise about Resumptions has been of Grants of Lands and Revenues of the Crown Secondly That such Grants as these are not contrary to the Common or Statute Laws of this Kingdom Thirdly That they were never complained of but in the lowest and most deplorable Circumstances of the Crown and then not upon the account of their being illegal but upon the account of the indigency of the Prince and the necessities of his Family Fourthly That the first Regular Resumption as 't is call'd was in the reign of a Prince who had committed the most wasts upon the Crown and had lessen'd almost all the revenues of it And yet neither this nor those that follow'd had any manner of effect Fifthly That the Resumptions afterwards in the Reigns of Edw. IV. and H. VII
THE THE CASE OF THE Forfeitures IN IRELAND Fairly Stated c. THE CASE OF THE Forfeitures IN IRELAND Fairly Stated WITH The Reasons that induced the Protestants there to Purchase them LONDON Printed in the Year 1700. THE CASE OF THE Forfeitures IN IRELAND Fairly Stated c. SInce the Expedition of King Henry II. into Ireland now about 530 years the Lands of that Kingdom have by reason of the many Rebellions frequently chang'd their Proprietors insomuch that there are very few Acres in that Country which have not more than once been vested in the Crown by Forfeitures All the Lands forfeited in that Kingdom since that time except what in the Rebellion of 1641 was by Act of Parliament secur'd to the Adventurers for the Money they then rais'd in the necessity of Affairs here have all along been bestow'd by the Kings of England according to their own pleasure His present Majesty following the Example of those who went before him has been pleas'd to grant Lands to several great Persons and others whom he esteem'd deserving of his Favour on which all the Chief Judges of that Kingdom other Judges and Great Men in the Law and others encourag'd by their Example have as Purchasers laid out considerable sums of Money This they did because they knew that a Grant under the Great Seal is a good and legal Title and That by which the English there have all along held their Estate In regard of the Bill that is offer'd to resume those Grants 't is humbly represented to the Lords and Commons in Parliament that they in making Laws are in their Great Goodness and Wisdom always very tender of every Man 's Right That the Grantees and those who purchas'd under them have a just and legal right to the Lands granted by his Majesty that barring an Irish Act of Parliament which in this case is not consider'd as appears by the E. of Athlone's Grant the Duke of Ormond's and all the Estates granted since 41 and in former times may as well be resum'd as those given by his Majesty since we are told that no time occurs to the King and Parliament 'T is said that Grants have frequently been ressum'd by Parliaments therefore they have a just right to do it And if so neither the Grantee nor Purchaser has reason to complain since the former is depriv'd of that which Parliaments have frequently dispos'd of and the later suffers as one who purchas'd under an uncertain and bad Title and forgot what the Law says Caveat Emptor If this were so it might perhaps be decent not to urge it in the present Case considering the infinite Obligations His Majesty has laid upon us and how reasonable it is he should be allowed to reward those whom he knew deserved great marks of his bounty and Favour But laying these considerations aside I will allow that if indeed the nature of our constitution be such that a Person who holds a Forfeited Estate by the Kings Grant and he that purchases under that Grant has but an uncertain and bad Title and that it appears to be so by the frequent resuming of Estates then there is some weight in the Objection But if the Parliament has never declar'd That the King has no right to dispose of such Forfeitures to the Crown if the Judges the Interpreters of our Laws have always agreed That such Titles are good in Law if they are the Titles by which the Lands of that and this Kingdom have always been held I humbly conceive the Case is otherwise A Late Author has taken a great deal of pains to shew that Parliaments in former times have made such Resumptions He says which he could not avoid owning That Our constitution seems to have been that the Kings always might make Grants and that those Grants if pass'd according to the forms of prescribed by Law were valid and pleadable not only against him but his Successors If the Kings may make Grants and they are valid Does not an Act of Resumption deprive a man of that which he has a Just and Legal right to And will it not be too great a hardship on the King as well as the Persons concern'd in his Grants to force him to take away what he has granted and so to injure his Subjects whom he has always tenderly protected and with the hazard of his blood preserved That Author is of another opinion for he tells us ' T is likewise manifest that the Legislative Power has had an uncontested right to look into those Grants and to make them void whenever they are thought EXORBITANT If ' t is only Exorbitant Grants that are to be look'd into and made void Will not a general Resumption which voids all Grants without examining what the Merits or Rewards of Persons are be still a Hardship What an Exorbitant Grant is I don't understand nor has the Legislative Power ever determin'd the exact boundaries between a Grant that is and is not Exorbitant Because this Author would have His Majesties Grants voided 't is plain he thinks them Exorbitant But if many former Kings have made Grants vastly greater which never were look'd into or made void If many of His Majesty's greatest Grants put together will not equal the value of one Grant made by the Parliament since His Majesty's Reign to one Person and a Foreigner too for which he is not the more in our Author's esteem can they with any decency be reckoned amongst those Exorbitant Grants which ought to be resum'd 'T is hard to say what the Legislative Power can't do Id potest quod jure potest So that whosoever affirms they have power to resume the King's Grants if they please I believe will not deny that they may likewise Repeal former Acts of Parliament and consequently dissolve the Right that Men enjoy by them He has indeed in his List of resumptions which are nothing to the present purpose instanced one such as it is whereby Grants were made void altho' confirmed by Parliament This Author when he says That they have had such a Power must mean only that they have exercised such a Power and frequently resumed Estates which being vested in the Crown by Forfeiture have been granted away by the Kings of this Realm His Impartial and Intelligent Reader I believe will own That he has demonstrated nothing of this He has he says taken a vast deal of pains but to what purpose Has he in his laborious search discovered any Act that voided the vast Grants made after the Rebellion in 1641 or that resum'd the escheated Counties and other Lands disposed of by King James the First or that broke the many and great Grants of Forfeitures made by Queen Elizabeth Does he know of any Resumption of the great multitude of Estates given by King Henry the VIIIth No though they were acquired by Act of Parliament and not by the King in War yet the King dispos'd of them as he pleas'd and the Grantees and
had done so many Heroick Actions and had so valiantly fought for the Honour of his Country had but 100 l. per. ann Pension for his Life and some Lands in Ireland then of no value the said Earl having ' had no other recompence for his long services which moderation of his is a reproach to the avarice of the present times I must with this Gentleman own that the Heroick Actions of that Noble Earl whose name carries merit in it deserved the greatest recompence that could be given But considering the Poverty of those times and the great value of Money the Recompence tho' not equal to the Merits of the Man yet was greater than he represents it He adds that he had besides some Lands in Ireland then of no value the words of the Act are Till then yeilding nothing being in the hands of Rebels I can assure this Gentleman that the Lands of that noble Lord of which afterwards his Family was deprived by the Statute of Absentees made in Ireland were more than all the Irish ferfeitures disposed of by his present Majesty put together This considered he might with more Justice have said That this shews the moderation of his Grace the present Duke of Shrewsbury who notwithstanding the great Services of his Ancestors in Ireland notwithstanding his own great Merit has not beg'd any Grant of the King in that Kingdom where he had so good a claim But since in comparing Grants made formerly with those of the present time he has mentioned the favours conferred on a Noble Lord of that Great and Honourable Family to make His Majesty's Grants look the greater and more exorbitant I will tell him what I find in my Lord Coke's 12th Report E. of Shrewsbury's Case that King Henry VIII did grant to George E. of Shrewsbury and his Heirs the Abbey of Rufford with the Lands thereto belonging in the County of Nottingham the Lordship of Rotheram in the County of York the Abbeys of Chesterfield Shirbrook and Gossadel in the County of Derby with divers other Lands and Tenements of great value This I mention here being led into it by the Author to shew that there were great Grants in former times Of which more hereafter What this Act of Henry VI. was what force and operation it had whether that which this Gentleman would suggest the Reader may guess from what follows Had all the Crown Lands dispos'd of by that King except those that were secured to the Grantees by the several reservations made by the Commons and the King himself by that resuming Act been re-invested in the Crown there could have been no place left for the complaints and several resuming Acts or Petitions that follow'd By them the nature and validity of this Act as well as their own force and operation is discover'd The very next year 29 th Hen. 6. Another appears of the same nature with this In it there are great complaints made by the Commons of their Poverty of many unportable charges laid upon them and of there being no benefit of the former Resumption how so I wonder if 't was a positive resuming Act Therefore in the most lowly wise to us possible we say the Commons beseechen you most noblay graciously and tenderly to consider the great benefits that should grow unto you and to this your Roialme by the means of this resumption The King in answer to the Petition tells them that by the advice of his Lords Spiritual and Temporal his exellency is agreed to resume c. But 't is with Provisions and Exceptions for all that he pleases as appears by the assent Four years after this 33. Hen. 6. another Act of Resumption passes which shews what kind of Acts these were The Commons set forth That not withstanding their large Grants of Goods he was indebted in outragious Sums that the Revenue of his Land did not suffice to sustain his houshold whereof the People say they lament and sorrow piteously What became then of the Lands vested in the Crown by the former Resumptions The King assents to this Petition as before but with a Reserve for his Prerogative and savings for what he pleased This shews the meaning of those Acts They were only Prayers and Petitions to the King to pity them and the low Estate of his Crown and to resume as much of the Revenues he had given away as was sufficient to support his Family What could there be more in such a Resuming Act wherein the King in the Royal Assent inserts a saving for his Prerogative This I think is plainly manifest by the effect and operation of these Acts. These were the Acts Resumption made by Henry VI. Some may object says this Author that Henry VI. under whose Reign these three Resumptions were made was a weak Prince unfortunate abroad ingaged in Factions at home and kept under by the house of York I would ask that Gentleman what need there is of such an objection for what effect had all these Petitions what was this weak King forced to do Did not he assert his Prerogative Were there any resumptions by what followed 't will appear whether there were or no. This Gentleman was not aware that the insinuating this Objection makes greatly against him For what opinion had the People of Resumptions at that time or of their right of claiming them when in the Reign of so weak a Prince their Acts as they are called avail'd no more About five years after 1 Edw. IV. as soon as that King came to the Crown his Subjects desir'd a Resumption By this all Grants were to be resum'd that were made since the latter end of Rich. II. which was above sixty years The reasons will be clear to any one that knows the History of England This Gentleman does well to name this among the other Precedents to let us know the moderation of those times and to shew that no Prescription will secure Men against a resuming Act. This resumption he says was too large to have any good effect Why so The more Lands it seiz'd the better the effect But it seems it did no execution For Three years after Anno 3 and 4 Edw. IV. there pass'd another Act. This Act as well as the former pass'd with such exceptions as it should please the King to make A prodigious number of these savings it seems there were in so much that our Author says they seem intirely to defeat the design and intention of the Act. Therefore Three or four years after 7 Edw. IV. we are told of another this the King desires for he tells them he is resolv'd to live of his own and not be a charge to his Subjects This passes with what Provisions and Exceptions the King is pleas'd to make but as ill luck would have it the Exceptions our Author tells us frustrated the good intentions of the Commons Thus according to him each of these three Acts was a Felo de se Why then are they produc'd 'T is
in nor any time after to vest the forfeitures of that Kingdom in His Majesty to help to defray the charges of the War 't is humbly represented that it will be too great a hardship to do it now Whilst the Lands were the Parliaments own that is before the King made them the Properties of others they might have done with them what they would The Case is now otherwise they have been suffered to go into other hands Men have laid out great Sums in Building in Improving in Purchasing in making good their titles at Law These considerations and many more that could be named make a Resumption a greater severity than ever the Lords and Commons of England who have been always not only Just but Generous and Merciful can practice on any people They will not resume forfeitures when Men of English Blood and Religion are to suffer so much by it they will not suffer an inquisition to go into that Country which will set every Man at variance with his Neighbour and turn many thousand Protestant Families out of their habitations But this will not satisfie the Gentleman whom I have mentioned so often He says the War of Ireland has cost England a vast Sum of Money I know it has cost a great deal but little in comparison of what he mentions But what if it has Why then he says 't is reasonable that the forfeitures there should go to pay part of the reckoning If the forfeitures in Justice ought to go to them that the troubles of Ireland have been most chargeable to England would find when they came to a fair reckoning that the Protestants of Ireland have the best claim to them For the whole War that we were so long ingag'd in has not cost us near so much as the Troubles of Ireland have cost them I mean in proportion to the People and Wealth of the Kingdom This reckoning will be easily understood when we consider how long the Protestant Gentlemen of Ireland lost the whole income of their Estates how many years after and even to this day their Estates yield but part of their ancient Rent how almost all the Herds Flocks and Goods and Wealth of the Protestants were plundr'd and seis'd by their Enemies This will shew how reasonable it is by a resumption to make them pay again for what they have so severely paid for already Had one of the old Irish Kings rul'd absolutely in that Kingdom England would have been satisfied in this War to lay out a much greater Sum to keep it out of the hands or Alliance of France without desiring to be reimburs'd any more than in Savoy or Flanders But 't is said the K. has been misinform'd in the value of his Grants therefore a resumption is highly reasonable If he has there is an old way chalk'd out to redeem that The custom was to desire the King to consider the Merits of those whom he had given to But has he been misinform'd in all No sure why then a General Resumption But wherein has he been impos'd on In the Persons or the Grants There can be no great mistake in the Persons some might have been recommended to his favour and by their solicitations and importuning procure Grants who had no great Merit But the most considerable are persons whose Merits he knew and what rewards they deserv'd such as have accompanied him in his dangers and have serv'd him in his Wars and particularly in his Great and Glorious Expedition to restore our Laws and Religion and to secure the Liberty of Europe Against some of these 't is objected by some that they are Foreigners if they that came in to our Succour to deliver us from Slavery are to be called Foreigners I can't tell how the Samaritan in the Gospel could be call'd a Neighbour Some without excepting against very many of the persons say the Grants are Exorbitant They are not sure too Great for his Majesty to give Many of the Kngs of England have given much more than all them put together to private persons in Ireland in former times Henry Cromwell's Phsician pass d Patent for very near as many Acres of Land as are even by the Commissioners return'd in the two best Grants of Forfeitures made by his Majesty But supposing the Grants to be great as they are represented I humbly am of opinion that 't is more for the Honour and Interest of England that they should stand than that Roch who by swiming into Derry with the hazard of his Life preserved that place should in a General Resumption lose his little Grant Examples of our liberality in rewarding may be of advantage to us but it cannot be either profitable or honourable to tell the world we will not reward We may have occasion for the assistance of our Neighbours again for the things of this world are very instable This consideration may make it seem greater Wisdom in us to let the Monuments of our Liberality stand to encourage others hereafter if occasion should be to come to our Succour than to deprive those of the Rewards of their Prince who follow'd his Fortune and Dandangers in his undertaking to Deliver and Preserve us But after all let us see whether these Grants are so extravagant or no. When we say they are too great we mean that there is too much taken from the Publick that they might have been sold for much and the price given to help to bear the expences of the War When we talk of what is given from us we are to take things as they were when we call'd them ours Had the Forfeitures in Ireland been sold for the use of the Publick in the year 1690 or some years after 't is certain they would not have rais'd near 200000 l. What then are the Exorbitant Grants that the King has given from us Has he given to all his Friends all that serv'd and suffer'd in that Ringdom twice as much as what the Parliament here gave to Duke Schomberg 'T is true the Grants now are represented to be much greater 'T is no wonder 't was the interest of those who did it to make large returns otherwise the Commission would have had an end The Sum might very well be large when they return'd forfeited Acres one with another about trible what they were valued by Sir W. Petty who had as computing a head as other Men this is plain likewise in the private Estate which is return'd at 26000 l. per annum when 't was never set for above 8000 l. when they have returned so small incumbrances on Estate when there are but four Intails return'd in all the forfeitures when the Rent of 12000 l. per annum reserved to the Crown on those Grants is not consider'd when the number as well as value of Acres is magnified If it shall happen that four or 500000 l. could be now rais'd which sure is the very utmost that can be 't is hardly worth England's while considering how it s gotten It may be construed by some as a particular slight put upon the K. many must suffer who have deserv'd well of the Kingdom legal Rights must be made void great injury must be done to Purchasers and Improvers and a grievous inquisition must afflict and unsettle that unhappy Kingdom This paper is written by a private disinterested person one who inoffensively to each particular sincerely desires the general happiness and prosperity of this Kingdom one who heartily wishes a firm and immutable establishment of this Government and the Protestant Religion in opposition to the incouragement of either Popery or Papist whether Outlaw'd or others to which we have reason to fear that we may be once again obnoxious unless prevented by great Wisdom and care FINIS ERRATA PAG. 16 Line 15. for assumption resumption P. 17. l. 8. dele still Pag. 21. l. 1. read a plain demonstration that c. Pag. 36. l. 20. read most extravagant Pag. 41. l. 8. for solid read valid