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A69845
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The Case of the forfeitures in Ireland fairly stated with the reasons that induced the Protestants there to purchase them.
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1700
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Wing C912aA; Wing C1073; ESTC N61326
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17,514
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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
were voidances of Grants made by Usurpers as they were call'd and vesting them in the prevailing Kings Sixthly That these Resumptions many of them brook through Acts of Parliament and uravel'd things for several Reigns backward Seventhly That these cou'd not properly be called Acts but rather Addresses to the King For had they been positive Acts of Resumption how cou'd they be defeated as our Author owns they were Eightly That However this be yet 't is certain that in all the resuming Acts the King's Prerogative was always reserv'd and Saving and Exceptions allow'd to as many as he pleas'd From what has been said it appears what weight there is in this Gentleman's Precedents what conclusions may be drawn from them and how justly they are propos'd to influence the Legislative Power at this time Former Kings impoveris'd the Crown by their extravagant Grants in the heighth of this misery the Commons pray'd the King wou'd resume into his hands the Revenues of the Crown for the support of his Family but preserve what he pleas'd for his Friends Therefore 't is reasonable that we shou'd now resume all that our King has dispos'd of all the Lands forfeited by Rebells whom he subdu'd with the hazard of his Life This is an extraordinary Inference 'T is the King's Prerogative his undoubted right to dispose of such Forfeitures 'T is a right that never was deny'd to any former Prince And a positive resumption of his own Grant is what has never been required from any King of England Before this Gentleman who seems to be mightily concern'd for the good of his Country had press'd it so violently I wish he had considered First Whether such a Resumption as this would not reflect too much on the avraice of the present age Secondly Whether his Majesty who has rescu'd us from Slavery and Popery who has Fought our Battles Abroad who has restor'd the Balance of Europe and thereby retriev'd the Honour and Glory of the English Nation ought to be deny'd that which was the undoubted Prerogative of his Predecesssors Thirdly Whether this be agreeable to our former Acts whether it will not sound odd here after in our Annals and make us seem to our Neighbours a wavering and uncertain People Fourthly Whether it be not dangerous and unpolitick to tell the World and our Posterity in so solemn a manner that is shall not be in the power of our King to reward the services of Men who hazard their Lives and Fortunes in the times of greatest danger Fifthly Whether it be not too great a hardship to turn Men out of the Possessions which they enjoy by the Laws of this Land and thereby ruine multitudes of Families To silence the murmuring and complaints of all Persons whether Grantees or Purchasers and to justifie a Resumption we are told of a claim made by the House of Commons and of His Majesty's promise If the Parliament claim'd these Estates to apply to the use of the War and His Majesty promis'd it should be so were not those who obtain'd Grants afterwards and laid out Money upon them very faulty are such practices to be encourag'd and do not they justly suffer This câ—ution here given this claim put in by the House of Commons cannot I humbly conceive in Equity be pleaded against the Earl of Rumney and those who Purchase under him not only because his Grant was before any such caution but because likewise there was afterwards a saving for him in the Bill that passed the Commons House The same may be said of the Earl of Athlone and those who purchased under him since besides an Irish Act of Parliament which has been always reckoned solid enough to settle Lands in that Country there were Addresses to the King in his behalf here in England But let us see what the claim was which the House of Commons made to these Estates and what 't was the King promis'd We find in Octob. 1690 't was the opinion of the Committee of the whole House that Ten Hundred thousand Pounds should be rais'd upon the credit or by sale of the forfeited Estates in Ireland 'T was resolved that a Bill should be brought in for applying the same to the charge of the War The Bill pass'd the Commons House but fell in the House of Lords His Majesty's promise was made just five days after it pass'd in the lower House The words were these I do likewise think it proper to assure you that I shall not make any Grant of the forfeited Lands in England or Ireland till there be another opportunity of settling the matter in Parliament in such manner as shall be thought most expedieent Here we see what the King's promise was 't was that he would not make any Grants till there was another opportunity of settling that matter in Parliament as should be thought most expedient To me it seems that the matter was settled by the Lords and that they by letting the Bill fall shew'd what they thought most expedient viz. To let things go in the ancient course not to break in upon the Kings Prerogative but suffer him to dispose of the Estates that were vested in him By this Fate of the Bill in the upper House to me it seems plain that the King Was discharg'd of his promise and that the claim as 't is call'd of the House of Commons was determin'd for with the Bill lost in the House of Peers the opportunity was lost of settling that matter in Parliament and this likewise concluded the Commons and put an end to their claim The next year another Bill was brought in to vest these forfeited Estates in their Majesties this Bill fell in the lower as the other had done in the upper House The same fortune had the several other Bills afterwards in the years following as 92 93 94 95 97 98. From this account it appears that this claim put in by the House of Commons which ought to have deterr'd people from meddling with the forfeitures was in the year 1690 That so long ago people saw the Lords thought it unreasonable by their letting it fall in their House that in all the years following when 't was propos'd which was in seven several Sessions and 't was rejected perpetually in the Commons House 'T was but reasonable that the English there who suffered for adhering to England and were miserably ruined by the rapine of their Enemies should be allow'd after a longer tract of time than we allot to the Life of Man at last to Plant the Country and settle themselves A Resumption they could not fear 't was what they never knew practiced to defrate the King's Title and they could not imagine that it would have its rise in this Reign or be let loose upon them to unsettle and ruin them again who had done so much and had been so long wasted by the miseries of War Since then the States of the Nation did not think fit nine years since when the Bill was brought