drug, whose admixture transformed it into poison. To secure a majority in the Upper House, Irish titles were granted to English noblemen, destitute of a single acre of land in Ireland.* They never appeared in Parliament; but confided their proxies to the minions of the government,-three, four, or five to one peer:

"Twenty-nine proxies were entered, four and five to one lord; which was a scheme of lord Strafford's. But this abuse was soon afterwards corrected, by a standing order, that no more than two should be given to one lord.'

11263

Thus six of these men of straw, not owning together a single farm, could out-vote the duke of Ormond, and the earls of Kildare, Castlehaven, Clanrickarde, and Fingal, who, united, possessed probably above a million!

IV. Freedom of Debate.

But all these wise and salutary precautions to guard against the "insolence of the recusants," were not deemed sufficient. If the members at any time dared to use the privilege of debate so as to offend the deputy or Privy Council, there were ready and adequate means of bringing them to their senses. There were very conve

"The principal grievances were concerning proxies for those peers who had no estates in Ireland," &c.264

"The subsequent order contains a representation to his majesty, that peers not estated in Ireland should not be allowed to vote."265

263 Mountmorres, I. 321. 264 Idem, 344. 265 Idem, 343.

nient apartments in the jail, for their accommodation; and a few weeks' solitary confinement was an excellent specific for teaching them politeness:

"The same day, [Nov. 4, 1634] the lord deputy Wentworth communicated an act of council, for CONFINING AND IMPRISONING SIR JOHN DUNGAN AND CAPTAIN CHARLES PRICE, FOR WORDS SPOKEN IN PARLIAMENT !"'266

On another occasion, a member of the House of Commons, who had a seat in the Privy Council, and who dared to vote against the dictum of the bashaw Wentworth, was punished by being expelled from the Council-Board. This wholesome and "apparent severity," was admirably calculated, in terrorem, for any other members who might venture to take the same course:

Sir Piers Crosby, "in the second session of the late Parliament, ventured to oppose some measures of administration. The deputy reprimanded and accused him of a violation of his oath, in voting against bills to which he had assented in Council, and concurred in transmitting them. Crosby was sequestered from the Council-Board. He complained of the severity, by petition. He desired license to repair to England. IT WAS REFUSED."267

The reader will probably be startled at the fact of the refusal of license to repair to England. But such was the real state of the case. No man in public employment could leave the kingdom, even to repair to the court of the British monarch, without license obtained from his deputy,

which was never granted to characters obnoxious to him, who might seek an opportunity to expose his misdeeds.

The case of Sir Piers is strong and striking. His standing in society was high; as he was a soldier of distinguished merit, and had acquired great reputation in the expedition to the coast of France, where he had been the principal means of preserving the English army in their retreat.268 His sole offence, as above stated, was voting against an act proposed by the Privy Council. If the merits of such a man could not secure him from the degradation inflicted merely for the independent discharge of his duty as a member of the legislature, it is easy to conceive the slavish and abject state in which those members were generally held, who had no such claims to attention as belonged to the knight. His removal from the Privy Council Board took place by the express direction of the king, on the representation of Wentworth.*

This is a strong instance, in addition to those already given, of the fixed determination of the "royal martyr" to uphold his worthy representative, in all his flagitious proceedings. He thereby rendered himself amenable, in the eye of the Eternal and Just God, for all the long course of

* “On the representations of Wentworth, his majesty directed him to be removed from the Privy Council."

268 Leland, III. 39.

17269

269 Ibid.

oppression, injustice, fraud, rapine, and violence, perpetrated by his minister, who, in his persecution of lord Mountnorris, lord Ely, lord St. Albans, Piers Crosby, and others, as well as in his Connaught spoliation, violated every rule of honour, justice, and humanity. Charles not only did not discountenance any even of his worst proceedings, but absolutely encouraged him in them. After all his enormities were perpetrated, Wentworth went to London, presented himself at court, and entered into a full detail of the whole course of conduct he had pursued. The unfeeling monarch expressed the most decided approbation :

"His majesty interrupted me, and said this was no severity; wished me to go on in that way; for if I served him otherways, I should not serve him as he expected from me.

"His majesty was pleased to express his approbation of all I had done; and their lordships to advise I should go on in a work so well begun; and that it must be acknowledged that the best service had been done this crown in Ireland. So I kneeled down, and kissed the king's hand, and the council

The tyranny of the deputy, and the slavery of the legislature, were observable in every part of their proceedings. Not to exhaust the patience of the reader, we shall close with one more instance. Wentworth had, by the most outrageous injustice, succeeded in carrying the election, in Dublin, in favour of the recorder of the city, one Cateline, who, the deputy was determined, should 270 Carte, III. 11.

be chosen speaker of the House of Commons. Understanding that the members of that House contemplated choosing some other person, the insolent satrap was quite exasperated; and despatched the chancellor to them, with a mandate menacing his displeasure, if they should choose as speaker any other than the person "recommended by his majesty's Privy Council," which, at all events, would be utterly in vain, as "the conclusion must be according to his majesty's good will and pleasure."* His arbitrary power, imperious temper, and unrelenting disposition, were too well known, and the awe felt for him was too great, to admit of hesitation. His sovereign will and pleasure were therefore as completely the law in this instance, as the dictum of the emperor of Morocco in his capital.

*"And as I understood there was a muttering among them of rejecting him, and choosing some other for themselves, I called the lord chancellor to me, and directed him to require them forthwith to assemble themselves in their house, and to choose their speaker, who was to be presented to me by nine o'clock the next morning; telling them it was not worth their contention, and that it would be taken as an ill presage of some waywardness or frowardness of mind, if they should go about to deny such for their speaker, as should be recommended by his majesty's Privy Council; or to struggle in a business wherein the conclusion of it must be according to his majesty's good will and pleasure, whether they will or no. So they departed; and before dinner, without any noise or opposition at all, they chose the recorder for their speaker."271

271 Strafford, apud Curry, I. 127.