Civil and Ecclesiastical State were setled there Regiae sublimatis authoritate Solely by the King's Authority and their own good Wills as the Irish Statute 11 Eliz. Cap. 1. expresses it What the Irish Statutes express I think hath no great Weight in this Debate the Question is by what Power the People of Ireland for so I will now call them threw off that Subjection they once owed to the Legislative Power of England If they think their bare Denial is enough to warrant them free from such a Subjection the People of England may expect the like on the same Argument if because they are not present at our Elections I will answer that in the following Discourse We proceed now to pag. 39. To see â—â— what farther Degrees the Government of Ireland grew up conformable to that of England which are your own Words you say that about the twenty third year of Henry II. which was within five years after his return from Ireland he created his younger Son John King of Ireland at a Parliament held at Oxford and from this you would infer Page 40. That by this Donation of the Kingdom of Ireland to King John Ireland was most eminently set apart again as a separate and distinct Kingdom by it self from the Kingdom of England but you do not set forth that Grant and our Statute-Books are not so old this had been necessary for many reasons you say Page 40. That by this Donation King John made divers Grants and Chartes to his Subjects of Ireland does this alone shew a Regal Authority and might it not have been done by a Lord-Deputy still subject to the Crown of England Pray let me ask you was he at his return to England which you say was a little after his first going over received here by his Father as a brother-Brother-King and did he take Precedence of his elder Brother Richard 'T is much this young King had not punished his Subjects of Ireland for being angry at his deriding their long Beards at which you say they took such Offence that they departed in much Discontent I say 't is much he had not punished their Undutifulness but rather chose to come away in a Pet and thereby to abdicate his new Kingdom for you do not shew that he left the Administration of the Government with any one else All that can be said in his Defence is that he was young about Twelve Years old pag. 39 and perhaps the obstinate Humour which the Barons of England afterwards found in him might grow up with him and become an Infirmity of Age and during King John's being in England did the Kingdom of Ireland govern its self For if his Father King Henry the Second sent over any other to succeed him all your Argument is lost But after all I find his granting Charters is not of such moment as to prove him a King for this he did to the City of Bristol whilst he was Earl of Moreton which I believe was long after the time you mention and I find by the exemplification of that Charter that his Son King Henry the Third in his Inspeximus confirms it as granted by his Father King John when he was Earl of Moreton without mentioning that he was then also King of Ireland and Princes do not use to abate any thing of their Titles especially when they are of so great Importance as this No body doth believe that King John whilst Earl of Moreton had such a Royal Authority in Bristol as to discharge it from an obediential Subjection to the Legislative Power of England The Statute Primo G. M. Cap. 9. ss 2. saith Ireland is annexed and united to the Imperial Crown of England as well by the Laws of this Kingdom as those of Ireland and I am sure there is a great deal of difference between being part of the Imperial Crown of England as Wales is and a separate Kingdom as Scotland is I find likewise that Henry the Third never wrote himself more than Lord of Ireland and 't is strange if Ireland was established a separate Kingdom in John Earl of Moreton and his Heirs that the Title had not been continued in his Son and how comes it to pass that we have ever since been at the Charge of supporting that Kingdom with our Treasure without keeping a separate Account of our Expences laid out on it which doubtless we should have done had we thought it a separate Kingdom But to proceed on searching Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle I cannot find that he takes any Notice of King Henry IId's sending over his Son John about the Twenty Third Year of his Reign as you say Page 39. which 't is much he should omit seeing it was on so memorable an Occasion as his being made King of a separate Kingdom by his Father in a Parliament at Oxford but he saith that in the Thirty First Year of his Reign he sent his Son John over to Ireland to be Governour there and afterwards in the Reign of Richard I. Son to Henry II. and Brother to this John he speaking of the great Kindnesses shewed by the said King Richard I. to his Brother John hath these Words To whom he made appear how much the Bounty of a Brother was better than the Hardnesses of a Father and afterwards he names the several Earldoms which he conferred on him viz. Cornwall Dorset Somerset Nottingham Darby and Lancaster then treating of Affairs in England during the King's Absence on his Voyage to the Holy Land saith he left William Longshamp Bishop of Ely in chief Place of Authority at which his Brother was disgusted whom he calls there Duke John and in another Place he says that the King after his Return from the Holy Land took from him all the great Possessions he had given him and afterwards the said John submitted himself to the King his Brother Now does this agree with the Honour and Dignity of a King who had a separate Kingdom or were the Grants of those several Earldoms from his Brother which you see were liable to be taken away again at the King's Pleasure to be accounted a greater Largess than the Bounty of his Father if he had made him King of a separate Kingdom and setled it in Parliament as you affirm Besides if any such thing was done by Henry II. in the Twenty Third Year of his Reign it appears if Baker be in the right that that Grant was recalled for he saith plainly that he sent him over in his One and Thirtieth Year to be Governor of Ireland How indeed saith to be Lord of Ireland but neither of them mention any thing of what was done in the Parliament at Oxford Well suppose it to be Dominus Hiberniae on which Word you seem to build so much pag. 40 41. Is this Title any thing greater than Lord Lieutenant or Lord Justice which hath for ought I can perceive been used ever since Does a Title granted in a Patent from the King
to a Law This I presume must be done either by a Man's self or by his chosen Representative if so then we will consider how far this will affect the People of Ireland with respect to the Matter we are now upon For I believe you will grant that if a Man denies or neglects to qualifie himself for such an Election or if qualified refuses to be present thereat or removes himself at such a distance that he cannot if he would this Man is not denied his Consent nor is his Liberty broken in upon though he be afterwards bound up by Laws made by a Parliament in the Election of whose Members he actually gave no Vote the Laws governing Elections being made by a common Consent though they may seem to affect some Persons severely yet being thought convenient for the whole Community ought to be submitted to And as for the other two things being Acts of a Man 's own his Choice is supposed to go along with them If this be not allowed there never was any Election free For suppose I will not make my self a Freeholder for a County Citizen or Burgess for a Corporation must the Laws already made be Cancelled to gratify my Humour Or suppose that I go on a Voyage to Sea or settle my self in the Plantations Abroad shall not I be bound by the Statute-Laws of England because I was not actually present at the Election of the Members that made them If this be admitted few Men will care to be there 'T is a pleasant way of Arguing till it comes to be closely applied Now there is no English Subject in Ireland but may put himself if he please under one of these Qualifications that is he is capacitated to do it as he is an Englishman and this is what his Ancestors did before him to whose Privileges he succeeds and must not expect that new Itinerant Courts of Parliament shall be erected to follow him where-ever he thinks fit to remove If this be allowed to the Gentlemen of Ireland why should it be denied to those who settled in our Plantations in America they all removed out of England on the same Principles of advancing their own private Fortunes and what a Jumble of Laws should we then have Not but that I think it highly reasonable they should all have power to make private Laws for the better governing their several Colonies and this they do by Representatives chosen by themselves which in the Lesser Plantations they call Assemblies but in Ireland a Parliament which Assemblies and the Laws they make ought still to be in Submission to the Superior Power of the Parliament of England But if I do not mistake you have somewhere own'd that Ireland did once send Representatives to the Parliament of England I must turn back and I find it in p. 95. where you say There have been other Statutes or Ordinances made in England for Ireland which may reasonably be of Force here because they were made and assented to by our own Representatives And you go on to shew from the White Book in the Exchequer in Dublin the form of a Writ sent by King Edward I. to his Chancellor of Ireland wherein he mentions Quaedam Statuta per nos de assensu Prelatorum Comitum Baronum Communitatis Regni nostri Hiberniae nuper apud Lincoln quaedam alia Statuta post modum apud Eborum facta These you suppose to be Statutes made either at the Request of the States of Ireland or by the Assent of your own Representatives the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland and from this you Argue p. 96. That the King and Parliament of England would not Enact Laws to bind Ireland without the Concurrence of the Representatives of this Kingdom Well Sir put what Sence you please on it this shews plainly that you then came to England for your Laws and that the Parliament of England had a Legislative Jurisdiction over you in those early days so that all makes the worse for your Argument How then came you to be free from it For either you cast off the Parliament of England or the Parliament of England cast off you 't is not the latter for the Parliament is still careful for your Welfare and makes good Laws for your better Government and I see no Power you had to cast them off except you will at the same time say you are not English-Men which I hope you will not but I find you are like froward Children who will not eat their Bread and Butter unless it be Sugar'd nothing will please you unless the Parliament of England will resign their Legislative Authority which they shall never have my Consent to except I see better Reasons for it than any you have yet produced But you proceed p. 96. Formerly when Ireland was but thinly Peopled and the English Laws not fully currant in all parts of the Kingdom 't is probable that then they could not frequently Assemble with conveniency or safety to make Laws in their own Parliaments at Home and therefore during the Heats of Rebellions or Confusion of the Times they were forc'd to Enact Laws in England Truely 't is a very probable Story you tell us I take Bevis of Southampton or Guy of Warwick to be altogether as probable Come let us examine it In the former part of your Book you lay it down as undeniable That Henry II. in the Parliament at Oxford made a Donation of Ireland to his Son John as a separate Kingdom and as such Parliaments were there settled I must confess I think 't is all of a piece now you tell us that because the People of Ireland could not Assemble with Conveniency and Safety to make Laws during the Heats of Rebellions and Confusions of Times there they came to England to make them here just like the Birds that remove at their Pleasure from colder Climates to make their Nests in Warmer But you prove nothing of this nor is it at all likely Pray when were these Heats of Rebellions not in the Days of Henry II. for you say p. 8. that Anno 1172 Ireland was quietly surrendred to him by Richard Strongbow at Dublin afterwards p. 30. you say he settled a modus tenendi Parliam p. 39. you say that five Years after his return from thence he created his Younger Son John King of Ireland who went thither and that the Irish Nobility and Gentry immediately repaired to him 'T is true you say there was some Difference between them about their long rude Beards but I hope you will not call that a Rebellion p. 40. you imply to us that King John made another Voyage thither which How and Baker say was the 31 Hen. 2. being eight Years after You proceed also and tell us That King John govern'd them Two and twenty Years during the Lives of his Father Henry II. and his Brother Richard I. in which time he made them divers Grants and Charters so that hitherto all was well in Ireland p. 44. you say That on the Death of King Richard
Grace The Fifth settles The Marshal's Fee in Ireland Perhaps you will say these Officers take more than their Fees therefore the Statute is no Act of Parliament Very probable they do that is a general Distemper where Offices have Fees annexed to them and yet it may be an Act of Parliament still The Sixth Chapter its Title is In what Cases the Justices of Ireland may grant Pardon of Felony and where not The Title of the Seventh Chapter is By what Seal Writs in Ireland shall be Sealed The Eighth and last is Adjournment of Assizes in Ireland Are these Parts of the Statute observed in Ireland or no I ask you this because if any one part is received the whole is received Obedience given to any part of this Law acknowledges the Jurisdiction of the Law-makers and you insist only on the First Chapter as if the rest were no part of the Law That this Ordinatio pro Statu Hiberniae is really in it self no Act of Parliament but meerly an Ordinance of the King and his Privy-Council in England I have already given you my Definition what an Act of Parliament is and if this be no more than an Order of the King and his Privy-Council I must be of your Mind Let us therefore enquire farther into this matter you say it appears to be no otherwise as well from the Preamble of the said Ordinance as from the Observation likewise I assure you if this Proof hath not more weight in it than the other I shall think it an Act of Parliament still Let us therefore see what the Preamble is which I find to be this Edward by the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland Duke of Aquitain to all those who shall see or hear these Letters doth send Salutation Know you That for the Amendment of the Government of our Realm of Ireland and for the Peace and Tranquillity of our People of the same Land at Nottingham the Octaves of St. Martin in the Seventeenth Year of our Reign by the assent of our Council there being the points hereafter mentioned be made and agreed upon to the intent that they may be firmly observed in the same Realm Where please to note that the Words are not by assent of our Privy-Council but of our Council by which name the Parliament of England is often called It would be endless to give and account of the different Stiles under which Acts of Parliament past in those Days sometimes in the Name of the King only sometimes of the King and Great Men sometimes of the King and his Council sometimes of the King and his Common Council and sometimes of neither as he who will be at the trouble to inspect our Statute Books may see I will give some Instances instead of many The great Charters are only in the King's Name Henry by the Grace of God King of England c. and so Edward by the Grace of God King of England c. The Statute in the Twentieth of Henry III. made at Merton hath this Preamble It was provided in the Court of our Sovereign Lord the King holden at Merton on Wednesday the morrow after the Feast of St. Vincent the Twentieth Year of the Reign of King Henry the Son of King John before William Archbishop of Canterbury and other his Bishops and Suffragans and before the greater part of the Earls and Barons of England there being assembled for the Coronation of the said King and Helianor the Queen about which they were all called where it was treated for the Commonwealth of the Realm upon the Articles under-written Thus it was provided and granted as well of the aforesaid Archbishop Bishops Earls and Barons as of the King himself and others By which it appears that in those Days when the Great Men who were the Barons or Freeholders of England were called together they made Laws and did not so much regard the Stile as that they were made by a general Consent The Statute 51 Henry 3. Sect. 1. begins thus The King to whom all these Presents shall come greeting We have seen certain Ordinances c. Stat. 5. of the same Year begins thus The King commandeth that all manner of Bailiffs Sheriffs c. Stat. 6. of the same Year begins thus If a Baker or a Brewer be Convict because he hath not c. The Preamble of the Statutes 52 Henry 3. made at Marlbridge 18. November 1267. runs thus In the Year of Grace One thousand two hundred sixty seven the Fifty-second Year of the Reign of King Henry Son of King John in the Utas of St. Martin the said King providing for the better Estate of this Realm of England and for the more speedy Ministration of Justice as belongeth to the Office of a King the more discreet Men of the Realm being called together as well of the Higher as of the Lower Estate It was provided agreed and ordained That whereas the Realm of England of late had been disquieted with manifold Troubles and Dissentions for Reformation whereof Statutes and Laws be right necessary whereby the Peace and Tranquility of the People must be observed wherein the King intending to devise convenient Remedy hath made these Acts Ordinances and Statutes underwritten which he willeth for ever to be observed firmly and inviolably of all his Subjects as well High as Low The Preamble to the Statutes made the Third of Edward I. runs thus These be the Acts of King Edward Son to King Henry made at Westminster at his Parliament General after his Coronation on the Monday of Easter Utas the Third Year of his Reign by his Council and by the Assent of Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons and all the Commonalty of the Realm being thither Summon'd because our Lord the King had great Zeal and Desire to redress the State of the Realm in such things as required Amendment for the Common Profit of Holy Church and of the Realm and because the State of Holy Church hath been evilly kept c. the King hath Ordained and Established these Acts under-written which he intendeth to be necessary and profitable to the whole Realm The Preamble to the Statute made the Fourth of Edward the First call'd the Statute of Bigamy runs thus In the Presence of certain Reverend Fathers Bishops of England and others of the King's Council the Constitutions under-written were recited and after heard and published before the King and his Council Forasmuch as all the King's Council as well Justices as others did agree that they should be put in Writing for a perpetual Memory and that they should be stedfastly observed The Preamble to the Statutes made at Gloucester 6 Edw. 1. runs thus For the great Mischiefs Damages and Disherisons that the People of the Realm of England have heretofore suffer'd through default of the Law that fail'd in divers Cases within the same Realm Our Sovereign Lord the King for the amendment of the Land c. hath provided and