try set forth.

Their invitation to E.

Bruce and

his qualifications for the office of prince over them described.

lasting perfidy of their wicked ministers, and of those English borderers of the middle race, who, after having bound themselves, according to the ordinance of the court of Rome, to govern our people in a just and moderate way, have made it the object of their unprincipled study to exterminate them from the country; and also for the purpose of shaking off the cruel and insupportable yoke of their bondage, and recovering our natural liberty, that we have lost for a time by means of these parties here mentioned, we are compelled to keep up mortal war with them; preferring (since necessity obliges us to make the choice) to expose ourselves like men to the dangers of war in defence of our just rights, rather than to submit like women to their atrocious outrages any longer. And in order to effect our object in this behalf with more promptness and in a more dignified manner, we are inviting to our aid and assistance Edward de Bruce the illustrious earl of Carrick, brother german of the most illustrious Lord Robert, by the grace of God, king of the Scots, and a descendant of some of the most noble of our own ancestors. And seeing that it is freely allowable for every person to renounce his right, and make it over to another, the whole right in the said kingdom which is known to pertain to us as its true inheritors, we have by our letters patent given and granted to the said individual; and for the establishment of judgment, justice, and equity in the land, (which for default of a proper supreme authority, have utterly failed therein,) we have constituted him our king and lord, and appointed him ruler by unanimous consent, in our realm aforesaid; seeing that he is in our judgment and in that of people generally, a person of piety and prudence, of a chaste and modest disposition, and of great sobriety, and in fact, altogether orderly and unassuming in his demeaHe is also possessed of abundant power (praised be the Most High I) to deliver us with a high hand from

nour.

the yoke of bondage, the divine assistance and our own righteousness favouring his cause; and he is moreover very well disposed to render unto every man his just dues; but above all, he is entirely ready to make to the Irish Church a full restitution of those possessions and privileges of which she had been damnably despoiled. It is indeed his intention to endow her with greater immunities than she had ever at any former period been wont to enjoy.

+6

probation to

May it please thee therefore, most holy Father, out The pope of a regard for justice and the public peace, mercifully invited to to sanction our proceedings relative to our said lord the give his ap king; prohibiting the king of England and our adversa- their prories aforesaid from further molestation of us. Or, at ceedings. least, be graciously pleased to enforce for us from them the due requirements of justice.

the series

"Be it known to thee also, Reverend Father, that in- A postscript dependently of the kings of Scotia Minor, who have all relative to derived the source of their blood from our Scotia Major, retaining more or less our language and manners, one Ireland. hundred and eighty-seven kings of our own blood have occupied the throne of the entire island of Ireland. &c."

of kings of

No. XL.

REPLY OF POPE JOHN XXII. TO THE FOREGOING APPEAL.

(Vid. p. 641, note, sup.)

the inser

We had thought of omitting Pope John's re- Reason for ply to the foregoing remonstrance (vid. p. 641 note tion of this sup.); but as the reader may be desirous of hav- document

VOL. III.

T

into the

pendix.

ing both documents together, and the exclusion present Ap- of this latter might by some be regarded as proceeding from some unfair motive, it seems better, even at the expense of a little space, to give insertion here to the epistle in question. Mr. Brennan indeed (the Franciscan writer of the Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, a work exhibiting considerable industry and learning,) has given this letter of the pope in full, while he entirely omits the far more interesting document which elicited such a reply: nor does he honour that long and very touching remonstrance, by making so much as a single extract or quotation from its contents; his whole notice of it being included in some dozen lines or so of his Ecclesiastical History. To avoid any thing like a mode so anomalous of dealing with historical documents, we subjoin accordingly for the satisfaction of the reader, a translation of this papal rescript, which runs as follows :___

The letter

of P. John XXII. to Edward II. A.D. 1318. Motives of the writer

"John, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our most dearly beloved son in Christ, Edward, the illustrious king of England, health and apostolical benediction.

"A feeling of paternal regard for the advancement of your Highness's welfare is the motive that impels us, in penning well-beloved son, to use our earnest exhortations in inthis epistle. viting your attention to matters which involve the favour of the righteous Judge of the earth towards your kingdom,-matters closely connected with the peace of your

territories and their inhabitants-and which are also of importance to your own reputation and honour. On these grounds a sense of duty will suggest to you the propriety of receiving the recommendations offered by us in regard to those matters in a spirit of kindly deference, and also of manifesting a proper docility and readiness in adopting them.

the com

"Know then, Son, that we have received a certain let- The pope ter directed in the first instance from the Irish nobles informs king Edand people to our sons Anselm, presbyter of the title ward of the SS. Marcellinus and Peter, and Luke, deacon of S. Mary's purport of in the Broadway, Cardinal Nuncios of the apostolic see, and by them enclosed to us in a letter of their own. In plaint made by Donald which we see it stated among other things, that whereas O'Neill and our predecessor Pope Adrian of happy memory, did, in his followa certain mode and form of grant, which was distinctly ers. specified in his apostolic letters drawn up in that behalf, convey to your progenitor, Henry king of England, of illustrious memory, the supreme dominion over Ireland, that king himself, and the kings of England his successors, even to the present time, failing to observe the mode and form so set forth, have in direct violation of them, for a long period past, kept down that people in a state of intolerable bondage, accompanied with unheard of hardships and grievances. Nor was there found during all this time, any person to redress the grievances they endured, or be moved with a pitiful compassion for their distress; although recourse was had to you in reference to these matters, and the loud cry of the oppressed fell at times, at least, upon your own ear. In consequence whereof, unable to support such a state of things any longer, they have been compelled to withdraw themselves from your jurisdiction, and to invite another to come and be ruler over them.

His majesty "Now, son most dearly beloved, statements like these is very allecif supported by the real facts of the case, must be so tionately

exhorted to redress the of his Irish

grievances

subjects:

so as to con

and remove all just grounds of complaint.

much the more painful to our feelings, considering the intense desires which we cherish, that prosperity may attend you in all your undertakings. Duty requires that you should give your earnest attention, and apply yourself with readiness and zeal, to the introducing of such measures as may be acceptable in the sight of your Creator; and that you should scrupulously refrain from all such courses as may justly provoke against you the wrath of that God, the Lord to whom vengeance belong. eth;-who never disregards the groaning of those that are unjustly afflicted; and who is described as having rejected his own peculiar people, and made a transfer of their kingdom to others, on account of the unrighteous acts of which they had been guilty. How much more in accordance with our anxious desires would it be, especially in troublous times like these, to see you giving a ready attention to such measures, as may incline the hearts of his faithful people to cherish towards you feelings of obedience and good-will, and avoiding utterly all such courses as may tend to alienate their attachment towards your person.

Seeing therefore, Son, that it is of no small moment sult for his for you to escape the inconveniences which might be own honour, connected with a change so serious, and that it is expepedient in the highest degree that these first beginnings of disturbance should not be overlooked, lest afterwards when they have increased to a perilous extent, it may be too late to set about providing a medicine for the disorder; we therefore by these presents earnestly beg of your Royal Excellency, conscious at the same time of the soundness of the advice which we urge upon you, that you will take these matters into your calm, deliberate, consideration, and confer upon them with your discreet council, and in this way proceed to command and enforce a just and speedy correction and reform of the grievances aforesaid, in such modes and