HISTORY
364 BOOK III.
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cafes chiefly relied on by the learned judge, were those of Ireland, Wales, Berwick and New York ; in all which places it was asserted that the king, after their conquest, had, of his own authority, exercised the powers of legislature, by introducing an alteration of their former laws, and establishing a new system of government over the inhabitants. “ No man (observed his lordship, in the cafe of Ireland,) ever said, that the change in the laws of that country was made by the parliament of England: no man ever said the crown could not do it.” THE
the utmost deference, however, to the sentiments of this great and enlightened lawyer, I presume to think that the question was not simply, Whether the crown alone, or the parliament of England, had the right of exercising the authority contended for ?—I will even admit that the interposition of parliament was unnecessary. Still however the main question remains to be answered, which is, To what extent may the royal prerogative in such cases be exerted ? Did the noble judge mean to assert, that conquest destroys all the rights of the conquered, and that the king, in changing their laws and form of government, has a right to prescribe to them, not merely the English constitution ;—but any other system he thinks best ? If such was the opinion, it may be affirmed that the cafes which his lordship adduced in support of his argument, warrant no such conclusion. WITH
first case was that of Ireland. “ The fact, fays the noble lord, comes out clearly to be, that Ireland received the laws of England by the charters and commands of Henry II. King John and Henry III.” 1 OF THE