prove that either they did not and then to show when they first Usurp'd it or that it was an Usurpation from the Beginning therefore your first second and third general Heads seeming to be of no great Moment in this Dispute I shall say the less to them your fourth fifth and sixth seem more to relate to the matter before us Under the first of these speaking of Henry II. you say Page 11 and 12. That all the Archbishops Bishops and Abbots of Ireland came to the King of England and received him for King and Lord of Ireland swearing Fealty to him and his Heirs for ever the Kings also and Princes of Ireland did in like manner receive Henry King of England for Lord of Ireland and became his Men and did him Homage and swore Fealty to him and his Heirs against all Men and he received Letters from them with their Seals Pendent in manner of Charters confirming the Kingdom of Ireland to him and his Heirs and testifying That they in Ireland had ordained him and his Heirs to be their King and Lord of Ireland for ever This was Anno 1173. Now either this Resignation they made to him was Absolute or Limited if the latter I conceive it must be exprest in those Charters you mention and it had very much concerned your Argument to have got them perused if any there are and to have shewed how far the Parliaments of England have broke through those Original Compacts And herein I think I have granted as much as you desire in your second Head it seems to me all one as to the present Case whether Henry II. be considered Page 13. as Conquestor Hiberniae or as Dominus Hiâ—erniae I shall draw no Arguments from either a Submission you have acknowledged You say Page 15. That all came in peaceably and had large Concessions made them of the like Laws and Liberties with the People of England here again it would have been necessary for you to have produced some of those Concessions that you might have made it appear to the Parliament of England what they were not that I do make any Demur to the freedom of the People of Ireland I take them to be so both in their Lives Liberties and Properties as much and as far as any People in England and I take them to be the more so because they are subject to an English Parliament and so have all the Priviledges of an English People which the Subjects of Scotland have not I take every Subject of the Kingdom of England to be Born Free and to carry this Charter of his Freedom about him let him remove where he will within the Dominions of England and that he cannot be divested thereof but by the Laws of this Land made by his Representatives in Parliament in the Election whereof he either hath or may have a Voice if he qualifies himself as those Laws doe direct This I willingly grant because I would not be thought to argue against the Liberty and Property of English Men wherever they are settled But still I think it had been necessary for you to have produced a Transcript of those Concessions for either they were made or they were not if they were you live in a Kingdom whose Interest it was to preserve them and they must give great light into the present Controversy if none appears how do you know what those Concessions were I insist the more on this because you say they had Concessions of the like Laws and Liberties with the People of England now whether by this you mean the same Laws and Liberties or such as were very like them I am in the dark if the latter they must be either more or less they cannot be more for I take the People of England to be as free as any People in the Universe if they were less then I grant you more then you desire for I take the People of Ireland to stand on the same footing with the People of England and yet I am afraid you are not content therefore I should gladly see a Transcript of those Concessions because I am apt to think we differ in this I say they were to be subject to all the Laws of England in general you exempt them from the Statute-Laws but I expect to find you fuller on this in your Fourth Particular As to your third Particular What Title Conquest gives by the Laws of Nature and Reason Page 18. I shall say little to it supposing it hath no relation to this Controversy for I do grant that the People of Ireland are a free People and that they are as you say Page 20. The Progeny of the English and Britains that from time to time went over into that Kingdom I add who before they went hence were subject to the Statute Laws of England and then the Question will be what were those Concessions that discharged them from rendring Obedience to the Legislative Power of this Kingdom This brings me to your Fourth Particular pag. 28. What Concessions and Grants have been from time to time made to the People of Ireland But the latter part of that Particular pag. 5. By what Degrees the English Form of Government and the English Statute Laws came to be received in Ireland which you say was wholly owing to the Consent of the People and Parliament of Ireland I deny and you are to prove and I conceive this cannot better be done than by producing some Concessions or Grants whereby they are discharged by the Legislative Power of England from the Obedience they owed and always paid to the Statute Laws of this Kingdom before they removed into Ireland And now we are arrived at the true State of the Controversy you suppose that the People of Ireland cannot pay Obedience to the Statute Laws of this Kingdom except they subject themselves to a State of Bondage and I believe they ought to do it especially when those Laws are designed to bind them and that this consists with the State of Liberty and Freedom I will therefore examin what you say on this Fourth Particular The First Precedent you produce is only an Account that Matth. Paris Historiographer to King Henry III. gives who by the way please to note wrote above Sixty Years after King Henry II. took Possession of Ireland That Henry the Second a little before he left Ireland in a Publick Assembly and Council of the Irish at Lismore did cause the Irish to receive and swear to be governed by the Laws of England pag. 28. I desire to know whether the Statute Laws were then part of the Laws of England If they were which I suppose you will not deny for you confess Parliaments to be before that time pag. 39. then please to inform me Whether the People of Ireland consented to the making those Laws If not by your own Argument here is the Slavery which you so much fear and exclaim against through your whole Book introduced on them in the
by the same Argumentation Scotland it self may be bound by English Laws I confess I would gladly pay a great Respect to your Person but I would not willingly be drawn aside by your Opinion which I should be if I were thereby perswaded that the Parliament of England have no more Power to make Laws to bind Ireland than they have to bind Scotland since it does appear that they have done it from the first time of our Statutes being extant and long before it can be rationally concluded there was a Parliament there And yet I do not think they can make Laws to bind Scotland because they themselves never pretended to any such Power save in the Case aforementioned that ever I heard of England and Ireland are not two distinct Kingdoms as England and Scotland are Ireland is a Kingdom dependant on and annexed to the Imperial Crown of England and the Parliament of Ireland is likewise subordinate to the Parliament of England therefore the Laws made by the latter will bind the former This I hope I have prov'd notwithstanding what you say That the contrary will be denied by no Man As to what you say in relation to France pag. 94. Whether on this way of reasoning the People of England had not been subject to the King of France had our Kings continued the Possession of that Country and there kept the Seat of the Monarchy I answer No for those two Kingdoms had not been united as England and Ireland are but as England and Scotland However you will find That it was provided against by a Statute made 14 Edw. 3. Anno 1340. All I find of it in Keeble is this not being printed at large By a Statute it was ordained That the Realm of England and the People thereof shall not be subject to the King or Kingdom of France But you say pag. 94. That the Statute Laws of England have not received your Assent and you argue thence That the People of England will consider whether they also are not the King's Subjects and may therefore by this way of reasoning be bound by Laws which the King may assign them without their assent c. I shall have occasion to speak to this hereafter so I shall for the present wave it here And now I find you have done with your three Ancient Precedents the last of which was in the Second of Henry VI. and I have cited to you several other Statutes made before that time which do undoubtedly bind Ireland being intended by the Parliament so to do which I suppose you never saw or would not cite because you had nothing to say against them I shall next follow you to your Modern Instances which you likewise call Modern Precedents pag. 98 99. And here you assert That before the Year 1641. there was no Statute made in England introductory of a new Law that interfered with the Right which the People of Ireland have to make Laws for themselves except only those which you have before-mentioned Is this really so What think you of those I have before cited I am very unwilling to swell this Answer but I find my self obliged to follow wherever you will lead even to 41. Well then besides them What think you of these several Statutes under-mentioned viz. 32 Hen. 8. cap. 24. Whereby the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland were dissolved 1 Edw. 6. cap. 1. Whereby the Sacrament is directed to be administred in both Kinds unto the People in Ireland 1 Edw. 6. cap. 2. Entituled an Act for Election of Bishops wherein Ireland is named 1 Eliz. cap. 1. Whereby the Queen hath power given her to assign over to any Person power to exercise Ecclesiastical Authority in Ireland 8 Eliz. cap. 3. Against exporting of Sheep from Ireland I think all these Laws bound Ireland But what you mean by Introductory of a new Law or Interfering with the Right which the People of Ireland have to make Laws for themselves I shall not labour to understand these seem to be nice Quibbles All I proposed was That the Parliament of England have and always had power to bind Ireland by their Statutes which you have denied and I hope I have proved And now I am come with you to 41 where you end your Assertion and acknowledge That in that Year and since some Laws have been made in England to be of force in Ireland I take your own words p. 99. These Acts you say are of 17 Car. 1. you do not name the Chapters but they are 33 34 35 37. which being expired are not to be found in the Statute-Book any more save the Titles therefore I must apply my self to what you say of them p. 100. The Titles say you of these Acts we have in Pulton 's Collection of Statutes but with this remark That they are made of no force by the Acts of Settlemement and Explanation passed in King Charles the Second's time in the Kingdom of Ireland And having gained this Advantage against the Parliament of England you make use of it to the utmost and presently conclude That they plainly shew that the Parliament of Ireland may Repeal an Act passed in England in relation to the Affairs of Ireland Sure I cannot think so for if the Parliament of Ireland can Repeal any one Act made by the Parliament of England they may Repeal all they make which cannot be except they have a Jurisdiction above them For the Power which any one Body or Society of Men hath to Repeal Laws made by another Body or Society must proceed from a Superiority that Body or Society hath over the other whose Laws it doth Repeal So that then if what you say be true it follows That the Parliament of Ireland is Superiour to the Parliament of England and then we have brought our Hogs to a fair Market instead of the Parliament of England's making Laws to bind Ireland the Parliament of Ireland may make Laws to bind England and likewise Repeal those Laws they have already made You Gentlemen of Ireland are angry That we will not give you leave to carry away our Trade and therefore you now undertake to prove That your Parliament can Repeal the Laws our Parliament makes 'T is very pretty truly but I hope you will not put this your Power in Execution and Repeal our Act of Navigation or our Plantation Acts and particularly that Act wherein is the Clause against landing Tobacco in Ireland This I am fond of for a certain reason therefore I beg your favour for it We will part with our Woollen Bill provided you will spare us the Acts already made It will be a great loss to the Kingdom of England if you should Repeal the Acts against planting Tabacco in Ireland 't would very much prejudice our Settlements in Virginia a Trade which besides the great Revenues it brings to the Crown whereof you pay a part does likewise encourage our Navigation expends our Manufactures and employs our
35. This Ordinance and Act the King willeth to be observed from henceforth through his Realm of England and Ireland What think you of the Statutes made at Westminster 11 Edw. 3. Anno 1337. which I recited before where cap. 3. all Foreign Clothes are prohibited to be brought into Ireland and cap. 5. Clothworkers are invited to settle in Ireland and are encouraged thereto by Franchises promised them What think you of the Statute of the Staple mentioned before made 27 Edw. 3. Anno 1353 In the Preamble of which Statute Ireland is mentioned and cap. 1. bears this Title Where the Staple for England Wales and Ireland shall be kept whether Merchandizes of the Staple shall be carried and what Customs shall be paid for them Which Chapter shews That the Parliament of England had Power of raising Money by laying Customs on Commodities in Ireland At this Sessions were made Twenty eight Acts or Chapters call them which you will and all point at Ireland But I cannot pass by this last Statute of 27 Edw. 3. without making observation on its Preamble which I here give you verbatim Edward by the Grace of God c. To our Sheriffs Mayors Bayliffs Ministers and other our faithful People to whom these present Letters shall come greeting Whereas good deliberation had with the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and great Men of the Counties that is to say of every County one for all the County and of the Commons of our Cities and Boroughs of our Realm of England summoned to our great Council holden at Westminster the Monday next after the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle the 27th Year of our Reign of England and of France the 14th For the damage that hath notoriously come as well to us and to our great Men as to our People of our Realm of England and of our Lands of Wales and Ireland because that the Staple of Woolls Leather and Wool-fells of our said Realm and Land have been holden out of our said Realm and Lands and also for the great Profits which should come to the said Realm and Lands if the Staple were holden within the same and not elsewhere to the Honour of God and in Relief of our Realm and Lands aforesaid and to eschew the Perils that might happen of the contrary in time to come by the Counsel and common Consent of the said Prelates Dukes Earls and Barons Knights and Commons aforesaid we have ordained and established the things under written Here the King is called King of England and France without mentioning Ireland but we find the Laws made in that Sessions to be binding to his Lands of Wales and Ireland as I have before observed The King also takes notice of the Summons sent to the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and great Men of the Counties and Commons of Cities and Boroughs of his Realm of England summoned to his great Councel holden at Westminster c. without mentioning any thing of Ireland though it was bound by the Laws made in that Sessions By all which it doth appear to me That Ireland was lookt on in those days as an Appendix to the Kingdom of England all one as Wales and yet the Laws of that Sessions were received in Ireland Why did not the Parliament of Ireland if there was then any make an early Protestation against this irregular Proceeding and condemn it as an Encroachment on their Priviledges which had been much better then for you to undertake this Task three hundred and fifty years after But to proceed What think you of the Statute made at Westminster 34 Edw. 3. Anno 1360 the Preamble is These be the things which our Lord the King the Prelates Lords and Commons have ordained in this present Parliament holden at Westminster the Sunday next before the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul to be holden and openly published through the Realm and yet the Title of cap. 17. is Merchandize may be carried into and brought out of Ireland By which it appears That the Parliament of England made Laws to regulate the Trade of Ireland in those early days and that the Bill relating to the Woollen Manufactures now depending before the present Parliament is not a Modern Instance of that Power Cap. 18. of that Sessions hath this Title They which have Lands in Ireland may carry their Goods thither and bring them again From both which I make this observation That the Preamble saith These are to be holden and published openly thorough the Realm and the 17th and 18th Chapters shew that Ireland is part of that Realm In the 4th of Henry 5. cap. 6. an Act was made but is now Ob so I find nothing but its Title in the Statute Book which is this If any Archbishop Bishop c. of Ireland Rebel to the King shall make collation of a Benifice to any Irish-man or bring any Irish-man to the Parliament to discover the â—ounsel of English-men to Rebels his Temporalities shall be seized until he hath made Fine to the King By which it doth appear That the Parliament of England took notice there was a Parliament in Ireland and made Laws to bind that Parliament All these Statutes bound Ireland and doubtless many more there are had I time to look after them but I mention these because they come within the compass of your old Precedents being before the Second of Henry 6. But before I speak to your old Precedents give me leave to mention one Statute more viz. 1 Hen. 6. cap. 3. which though I do not produce as a Precedent binding Ireland yet it will serve to show what opinion the Parliament of England had of Ireland in those days the words are these Forasmuch as divers Manslaughters Murders c. and divers other Offences now late have been done in divers Counties of the Realm of England by People born in the County of Ireland repairing to the Town of Oxford c. I will make no Paraphrase on them they are easie to be understood by any English Reader and this is a Modern Statute in respect to the time of Henry II. when you say Ireland was made a separate Kingdom and settled by him on his Son John in a Parliament at Oxon whereas this Parliament calls it a County Well then let us see what you say against these Ancient Precedents you have produced before we come to the Modern Instances as you call them These Statutes you say pag. 86. especially the two first meaning Statutum Hiberniae and Ordinatio pro Statu Hiberniae being made for Ireland as their titles import have given occasion to think that the Parliament of England have right to make Laws for Ireland without the consent of their chosen Representatives Surely every Body I think is of that Judgment that hath lookt into the matter no you dissent from it and for this gives several Reasons The first is pag. 86 87 88. which I am obliged here to transcribe The Statutum Hiberniae 14 Hen. 3. as