THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.

SIR JOHN DAVIES'S

SPEECH

TO THE

LORD DEPUTY OF IRELAND,

WHEN HE APPROVED OF HIM AS SPEAKER OF THE

COMMONS,

THE 2ND MAY 1613.

SPEECH

ΤΟ

THE LORD DEPUTY OF IRELAND.

MOST HONOURAble and Right Noble Lord,—

SINCE your high wisdom, unto which I humbly made my

appeal, hath not thought it fit to repeal, but rather to ratify and confirm, the judgment of these worthy knights and burgesses in electing me, yet still unworthy in my own opinion, to be their Speaker, which your Lordship, I doubt not, hath been pleased to do, not in regard of any worthiness appearing in me, but for the honourable respect you worthily bear to that grave and wise assembly that made the election, I do humbly and absolutely submit myself to your Lordship's pleasure; and since these gentlemen have first conferred upon me, and now your Lordship hath confirmed unto me, the name and office of a Speaker, I will presume, with your Lordship's grace and favour, to speak somewhat in this great and entire assembly of all the states of this kingdom that shall be proper and agreeable to the circumstances of the time, of the place, and of the persons that are here assembled.

It is a saying and a rule of the wisest King that ever lived, “Ubi multa consilia, ibi salus populi ;" and it is the direction of the wisest King now living that a Common Council shall be holden

at this time and at this place for the common good of the kingdom of Ireland.

Such Common Councils, or Assemblies of States, are usual in all States and Commonwealths in one form or another, and in divers countries are called by divers names; but under the English monarchy and the French, which are the two best-tempered monarchies in the world, they are called Parliaments.

These Parliaments, though they consist of three different estates -the King, the Nobility, and the Commons-yet as in music distinct and several notes do make a perfect harmony, so these Councils, compounded of divers states and degrees, being well ordered and timed, do make a perfect concord in a Commonwealth. (( Nam quæ harmonia dicitur a musicis in cantu, ea est in civitate concordia," saith Cicero; and this concord and harmony of hearts doth ever produce the safety and security of the people which is the salus populi that Solomon speaks of.

Whereof there cannot be a more certain demonstration than this, that these two kingdoms, which have been ruled by these Parliaments, are now the most ancient imperial monarchies of Christendom, and are withal two of the most flourishing Commonwealths that are to be seen upon the face of the earth.

But what doth this concern this kingdom of Ireland, or what application hath it to the place and persons present? Assuredly, when I speak of the monarchy of England I include the kingdom of Ireland within the circle of that imperial crown.

For the Kings of England no sooner were lords of Ireland but they made a real union of both these kingdoms, as is manifest by authentic records of the time of King John and King Henry the Third, so as Ireland became but as a member, quasi membrum Angliæ, as it is resolved by all the justices in third of Henry the Seventh. It became a member appendant and belonging, as the Act of Faculties twenty-eighth of Henry the Eighth calls it, or united and annexed to the imperial crown of the

realm of England, as the Statute of thirty-third of Henry the Eighth, which gave to that Prince the title of King of Ireland, doth term it.

And now at this day, God be blessed, the subjects of both realms have but one King, which is the renowned King of England, and are ruled and governed by one Common Law, which is the just and honourable Common Law of England; and as there is now but one Common Law, so for the space of one hundred and forty years after King Henry the Second had taken possession of the lordship of Ireland there was but one Parliament for both kingdoms, which was the . . . all that time. But the laws made in the Parliaments of England were from time to time transmitted hither under the Great Seal of that kingdom to be proclaimed, enrolled, and executed as laws of this realm.

...

In this manner was the great Charter of the ancient liberties of the English subjects, the Statutes of Merton and Marlebridge, sent over by King John and King Henry the Third, the Statutes of Westminster, the first, second, and third, and the Statute of Gloucester by King Edward the First, the Statutes of Lincoln and of York by King Edward the Second.

Among the rest, that of Westminster the second and that of York in their several preambles do make express mention of the people and land of Ireland as well as of England, where the laws were made.

All which Statutes, together with the warrants and writs whereby they were transmitted, we find enrolled and preserved to this day among the records of this kingdom.

But when, then, how long since, in what King's reign, was this great Common Council, this High Court of Parliament, erected first and established in Ireland?

Doubtless, though the rest of the ordinary courts of justice began with the first plantation of the English colonies here, yet the wisdom of the State of England thought it fit to reserve the