As the conquest of Ireland by Henry the Second, is an ex preffion frequent in the mouths of the English, I shall ad, duce Mr. Molyneux's obfervations on this fubject: "I come to enquire, whether Ireland might be properly faid to be conquered by King Henry II. or by any other Prince in any fucceeding rebellion. And here we are to understand by conqueft, an acquifition of a kingdom by force of arms, to which force likewife has been opposed; if we are to understand conqueft in any other fenfe, I fee not of what use it can be made against Ireland's being a free country. I know conqueftus fignifies a peaceable acquifition, as well as an hoftile fubjugating of an enemy. Vid. Spelman's Glof. And in this fenfe William I. is called the Conqueror, and many of our Kings have used the epocha poft conqueftum. And fo likewife Henry II. ftiled himself conqueftor & dominus Hibernia; but that his conqueft was no violent fubjugation of this kingdom, is manifeft from what foregoes*: for here we have an intire and voluntary fubmiffion of all the ecclefiaftical and civil states of Ireland, to King Henry II. without the leaft hoftile stroke on any fide: we hear not in any of the chronicles of any violence on either part; all was tranfacted with the greatest quiet, tranquility, and freedom imaginable. I doubt not but the barbarous people of the island at that time, were ftruck with fear and terror of King Henry II's powerful force which he brought with him; but ftill their eafy and voluntary fubmiffions, exempts them from the confequents of an hoftile conqueft, whatever they are; where there is no oppofition, fuch a conqueft can take no place. "I have before taken notice of Henry II's ufing the ftile of conqueftor Hibernia +; I prefume no argument can be drawn from hence, for Ireland's being a conquered country; for we find that many of the Kings of England have used the æra of poft conqueftum; Edward III, was the firft that used it in England, and we frequently meet with Henricus poft conqueftum quartus, &c. as taking the Norman invafion of William I. for a conqueft. But I believe the people of England would take it very ill to be thought a conquered nation, in the fense that some impofe it on Ireland: and yet we find the fame reason in one cafe, as in the other, if the argument from the King's ftile of conqueftor prevail. Nay, England may be faid much more properly to be conquered by Wil See page 1 of this writer. + Mr. Selden, will not allow that ever Henry II. used this ftile. Tit. Hon. Par. 2. C. 5. Sect. 26. liam iam I. than Ireland by Henry II: for we all know with what violence and oppofition from Harold, King Wi liam obtained the kingdom, after a bloody battle nigh Haftings. Whereas Henry II. received not the leaft oppofition in Ire land; all came in peaceably, and had large conceffions made them of the like laws and liberties with the people of England, which they gladly accepted, as we fhall fee hereafter. But I am fully fatisfied, that neither King William I, in his acquifition of England, or Henry II. in his acqueft of Ireland, obtained the least title to what fome would give to conquerors. Though for my own part, were they conquerors in a fenfe never fo ftrict, I fhould enlarge this prerogative very little or nothing thereby, "Another argument for Henry II's hoftile conquest of Ireland, is taken from the oppofition which the natives of Ireland gave to the first adventurers, Fitz-Stephens, FitzGerald, and Earl Strongbow; and the battles they fought in affifting Mac Murragh, Prince of Leinster, in the recovery of his principality. "Tis certain there were fome conflicts between them and the Irish, in which the latter were conftantly beaten; but certainly the conquefts obtained by thofe adventurers, who came over only by the King's license and permiffion, and not at all by his particular command (as is manifeft from the words of the letters patents of licenfe recited by Giraldus Cambrenfis, Hib. expug. page 760, Edit, Francf. 1603. Angl. Norm. Hiber. Camd.) can never be called the conqueft of Henry II. efpecially confidering that Henry II. himself does not appear to have any defign of coming into Ireland, or obtaining the dominion thereof, when he gave to his fubjects of England this license of affifting Mac Murragh. But I conceive rather the contrary appears, by the ftipulations between Mac Murragh, and the adventurers; and efpecially between him and Strongbow, who was to fucceed him in his principality. ** "From what foregoes, I prefume it appears that Ireland cannot properly be faid fo to be conquered by Henry II. as to give the parliament of England any jurifdiction over us; it will much more eafily appear, that the English victories, in any fucceeding rebellions in that kingdom, give no pretence to a conqueft: if every fuppreffion of a rebellion may be called a conqueft, I know not what country will be excepted. The rebellions in England have been frequent ; in the contests between the houses of York and Lancaster, one fide or other muft needs be rebellious. I am fure the commotions tions in King Charles I's time, are ftiled fo by most histo rians. This pretence therefore of conquest from rebellions, has fo little colour in it, that I fhall not infit longer on it: I know conqueft is an hateful word to English ears, and we have lately feen a book * undergo a fevere cenfure, for offering to broach the doctrine of conqueft in the free kingdom of England. "But, to take off all pretence from this title by conquest, I come in the third place to enquire, what title conqueft gives by the law of nature and reafon. "And in this particular I conceive, that if the aggreffor or infulter invades a nation unjustly, he can never thereby have a right over the conquered: this I fuppofe will be readily granted by all men: if a villain, with a pistol at my breast, makes me convey my estate to him, no one will fay that this gives him any right: and yet just such a title as this has an unjust conqueror, who with a fword at my throat forces me into fubmiflion; that is, forces me to part with my natural eftate, and birth-right, of being governed only by laws to which I give my confent, and not by his will, or the will of any other. "Let us then fuppofe a juft invader, one that has right on his fide to attack a nation in an hostile manner; and that thofe who oppofe him are in the wrong: let us then fee what power he gets, and over whom. Firft, 'Tis plain he gets by his conqueft no power over thofe who conquered with him; they that fought on his fide, whether as private foldiers or commanders, cannot suffer by the conqueft, but muft at least be as much freemen, as they were before: if any loft their freedom by the Norman conqueft, (fuppofing King William I. had right to invade England) it was only the Saxons and Britains, and not the Normans that conquered with him. In like manner fuppofing Henry II. had right to invade this ifland, and that he had been opposed therein by the inhabitants, it was only the antient race of the Irish, that could fuffer by this fubjugation; the English and Britains, that came over and conquered with him, retained all the freedoms and immunities of free-born fubjects; they, nor their defcendants, could not in reafon lofe thefe, for being fuccefsful and victorious; for fo, the ftate of both conquerors and conquered fhall be equally flavith. Now, it was manifeft that the great body of the pre Bishop of Sallisbury's Paftoral Letter. fent fent people of Ireland, are the progeny of the English and Britains, that from time to time have come over into this kingdom; and there remains but a meer handful of the antient Irish at this day; I may fay, not one in a thousand: fo that if I, or any body elfe, claim the like freedoms with the natural born fubjects of England, as being defcended from them, it will be impoffible to prove the contrary. I conclude therefore, that a juft conqueror gets no power, but only over those who have actually affifted in that unjust force that is used against him. "And as thofe that joined with the conqueror in a juft invafion, hath loft no right by the conqueft; fo neither have thofe of the country who oppofed him not: this feems fo reasonable at first propofal, that it wants little proof. All that gives title in a just conqueft, is the oppofers using brutal force, and quitting the law of reafon, and ufing the law of violence; whereby the conqueror is entitled to ufe him as a beast; that is, kill him or enflave him. "Secondly, Let us confider what power that is, which a rightful conqueror has over the fubdued oppofers: and this we fhall find extends little farther than over the lives of the conquered; I fay little farther than over their lives; for how far it extends to their eftates, and that it extends not at all to deprive their pofterity of the freedoms and immunities to which all mankind have a right, I fhall fhew presently. That the just conqueror has an abfolute power over the lives and liberties of the conquered, appears from hence, because the conquered, by putting themselves in a state of war, by using an unjust force, have thereby forfeited their lives. For quitting reafon (which is the rule between man and man) and ufing force (which is the way of beafts) they become liable to be destroyed by him against whom they ufe force, as any favage wild beast, that is dangerous to his being. "And this is the cafe of rebels in a fettled commonwealth, who forfeit their lives on this account. But as for forfeiting their eftates, it depends on the municipal laws of the kingdom. But we are now enquiring what the confequents will be between two contefting nations. "Which brings me to confider how far a just conqueror has power over the posterity and estates of the conquered. "As to the pofterity, they not having joined or affisted in the forcible oppofition of the conqueror's just arms, can lofe no benefit thereby. It is unreasonable any man should be punished but for his own fault. Man being a free agent, is only only answerable for his own demerits; and as it would be highly unjust to hang up the father for the fon's offence, fo the converfe is equally unjust, that the fon fhould fuffer any inconvenience for the father's crime. A father hath not in himself a power over the life or liberty of his child, fo that no act of his can poffibly forfeit it. And though we find in the municipal laws of particular kingdoms, that the fon lofes the father's eftate for the rebellion or other demerit of the father, yet, this is confented and agreed to, for the public fafety, and for deterring the fubjects from certain enormous crimes, that would be highly prejudicial to the commonwealth. And to fuch conftitutions the fubjects are bound to fubmit, having confented to them, though it may be unreafonable to put the like in execution between nation and nation, in the ftate of nature: for in fettled governments, property in eftates is regulated, bounded and determined by the laws of the commonwealth, confented to by the people; so that in thefe, 'tis no injuftice for the fon to lofe his patrimony for his father's rebellion or other demerit. "If therefore the pofterity of the conquered, are not tỡ fuffer for the unjuft oppofition given to the victor by their ancestors, we shall find little place for any power of the conquerors over the estates of the fubdued. The father, by his mifcarriages and violence, can forfeit but his own life; he involves not his children in his guilt or deftruction. His goods, which nature (that willeth the preservation of all mankind as far as poffible) hath made to belong to his children to sustain them, do ftill continue to belong to his children. "Tis true, indeed, it ufually happens that damage attends unjuft force; and as far as the repair of this damage requires it, fo far the rightful conqueror may invade the goods and estate of the conquered; but when this damage is made up, his title to the goods ceafes, and the refidue belongs to the wife and children of the subdued. "It may feem a ftrange doctrine, that any one should have a power over the life of another man, and not over his eftate; but this we find every day; for though I may kill a thief that fets on me in the high-way, yet I may not take away his money; for it is the brutal force the aggreffor has used, that gives his adverfary a right to take away his life, as a noxious creature: but it is only damage sustained, that gives title to another man's goods. "It must be confeffed, that the practice of the world is etherwife, and we commonly fee the conqueror (whether juft ΟΙ |