Sir,

To SIR GEORGE VILLIERS.1

Because I am uncertain whether his Majesty will put to a point some resolutions touching Ireland, now at Windsor; I thought it my duty to attend his Majesty by my letter, (and thereby to supply my absence,) for the renewing of some former commissions for Ireland, and the framing of a new commission for the Wards and the Alienations, which appertain properly to me as his Majesty's Attorney, and have been accordingly referred by my Lords. I will undertake that they are prepared with a greater care, and better application to his Majesty's service in that kingdom, than heretofore they have been; and therefore of that I say no more.2 And for the instructions of the new Deputy, they have been set down by the two Secretaries, and read to the board; and being things of an ordinary nature, I do not see but they may pass.

But there have been three propositions and counsels which have been stirred, which seem to me of very great importance; wherein I think myself bound to deliver to his Majesty my advice and opinion, if they should now come in question.

The first is, touching the Recusant Magistrates of the towns of Ireland, and the communalties themselves, their electors, what shall be done. Which consultation ariseth from the late advertisements of the two Lords Justices upon the instance of the two towns of Limerick and Kilkenny; in which advertisement they represent the danger only, without giving any light for the remedy, rather warily for themselves, than agreeably to their duties and place.

In this point, I humbly pray his Majesty to remember, that the refusal is not of the Oath of Allegiance (which is not enacted in Ireland), but of the Oath of Supremacy, which cutteth deeper into matter of conscience. Also, that his Majesty will, out of the depth of his excellent wisdom and providence, think, and as it were calculate with himself, whether time will make more for the cause of religion in Ireland, and be still more and more propitious; or whether deferring remedies will not make 1 Stephen's first collection, p. 169. Second collection, p. 5. From the original. 2 The effect was (as we shall see in a future letter, 27 July, 1618) an increase of the year's profit from 200l. to 40007.

3 Deep: R.

the case more difficult. For if time give his Majesty the advantage, what needeth precipitation to extreme remedies? But if time will make the case more desperate, then his Majesty cannot begin too soon. Now in my opinion, time will open and facilitate things for reformation of religion there, and not shut up or block1 the same. For, first, the plantations going on, and being principally of Protestants, cannot but mate the other party in time; Also his Majesty's care in placing good Bishops and divines; in amplifying the College there; and in looking to the education of Wards and the like; as they are the most natural means, so are they like to be the most effectual and happy, for the weeding out of popery, without using the temporal sword; So as, I think, I may truly conclude, that the ripeness of time is not yet

come.

Therefore my advice in all humbleness is, that this hazardous course of proceeding, to tender the Oath to the Magistrates of towns, proceed not, but die by degrees. And yet, to preserve the authority and reputation of the former Council, I would have somewhat done; which is, that there be a proceeding to seizure of Liberties; but not by any act of power, but by Quo warranto, or Scire facias; which is a legal course; and will be the work of three or four terms; by which time the matter will somewhat cool.

But I would not (in no case) that the proceeding should be with both the towns which stand now in contempt, but with one of them only; choosing that which shall be thought most fit. For if his Majesty proceed with both, then all the towns that are in the like case will think it a common cause; and that it is but their case to-day, and their own to-morrow. But if his Majesty proceed but with one, the apprehension and terror will not be so strong; for they will think it may be their case as well to be spared as prosecuted; and this is the best advice that I can give to his Majesty in this strait; and of this opinion seemed my Lord Chancellor to be.

The second proposition is this: It may be his Majesty will be moved to reduce the number of his Council of Ireland, which is now almost fifty, to twenty, or the like number; in respect the greatness of the number doth both embase the authority of the Council, and divulge the business. Nevertheless, I do hold this

1 Lock out: R.

2 Any: R.

3 Both towns: R.

proposition to be rather specious and solemn, than needful at this time; for certainly it will fill the state full of discontentment; which in a growing and unsettled estate ought not to be.

This I could wish; that his Majesty would appoint a select number of councillors there, which might deal in the improvement of his revenue (being a thing not fit to pass through too many hands), and that the said selected number should have days of sitting by themselves; at which the rest of the Council should not be present; which being once settled, then other principal business of state may be handled at those sittings; and so the rest begin to be disused, and yet retain their countenance, without murmur or disgrace.

The third proposition, as it is wound up1, seemeth to be pretty, if it can keep promise; for it is this, That a means may be found to reinforce his Majesty's army there by five hundred or a thousand men; and that without any penny increase of charge. And the means should be, that there should be a commandment of a local removing, and transferring some companies from one province to another; whereupon it is supposed, that many that are planted in house and lands, will rather leese their entertainment than remove; and thereby new men may have their pay, and yet the old be mingled in the country for the strength thereof.

In this proposition two things may be feared; the one, discontent of those that shall be put off; the other, that the companies shall be stuffed with Tyrones, instead of Veterani. I wish therefore that this proposition be well debated ere it be admitted. Thus having performed that which duty binds me to, I commend you to God's best preservation.

Your most devoted and bounden servant,

Gorhambury, July 5, 1616.

FR. BACON.

7.

The report of the Archbishop and other councillors who had been appointed to inquire into the history of the indictments preferred against the Chancery in the King's Bench, does not appear to have been preserved. Either it failed to bring the authorship home to Coke, or it was reserved for the private account which had to be

1 Moved: R.

settled with him, and not allowed to mix itself with the question of state, which was to be dealt with upon its own merits.

To set that question at rest, and at the same time to remove some popular misapprehensions as to his own views and policy, the King went in person to the Star Chamber on the last meeting before the summer circuits, and made a public declaration concerning the several obligations of himself, his Judges, and his subjects in general : -a declaration with which everybody who wishes to form a judgment of his actions ought to make himself acquainted; for it exhibits his own idea, whether right or wrong, of the duty which belonged to his place.

This step was taken by Bacon's advice, and I fancy that I see traces here and there in the King's speech of the memorial by which the advice was probably accompanied; but if there ever was such a thing, it has not survived; and though the King was quick in taking suggestions from other minds, he assimilated them as quickly, and so converted them into his own that any attempt to separate the elements would be hopeless.

He had come, he said, to renew the oath which he took at his coronation; when he swore to do justice,—that is, to give every man his own; and to maintain the law, namely "the common law of the land, according to which the King governs, and by which the people are governed." He had hitherto, "as far as human frailty might permit him or his knowledge inform him," kept that oath; and it was still his intention to maintain all the points of it; "especially in laws, and of laws especially the common law"... "and as to maintain it, so to purge it, for else it cannot be maintained; and especially to purge it of two corruptions, Incertainty and Novelty." To remove uncertainties inherent in the law, the remedy must be by Parliament with the advice of the Judges; to prevent the introduction of novelties by the Judges themselves, they were to remember that they were not makers of law, but only interpreters; that their "interpretations must always be subject to common sense and reason;" and that their opinions should be given, not singly, but upon conference and with deliberation.

This brings him to the questions then in dispute; and as it is important to understand his position as he understood it himself, I will give that part of the declaration without abridgment.

1 "Amongst the counsels which (since the time I had the honour to be first of your learned and after of your privy council) I have given your M. ... I do take comfort in none more than that I was the first that advised you to come in person into the Star-chamber." See an undated letter to the K. (probably written 1 Jan., 1619-20), vol. vi. p. 249 of the ten volume edition of Bacon's works.

"Now having spoken of your office in general, I am next to come to the limits wherein you are to bound yourselves, which likewise are three. First, encroach not upon the Prerogative of the Crown: If there fall out a question that concerns my Prerogative or mystery of state, deal not with it till you consult with the King or his Council or both: for they are transcendent matters, and must not be sliberely carried with overrash wilfulness; for so you may wound the King through the sides of a private person: And this I commend unto your special care, as some of you of late have done very well, to blunt the sharp edge and vain popular humour of some lawyers at the Bar, that think they are not eloquent and boldspirited enough, except they meddle with the King's prerogative: But do not you suffer this; for certainly if this liberty be suffered, the King's Prerogative, the Crown, and I, shall be as much wounded by their pleading, as if you resolved what they disputed. That which concerns the mystery of the King's power is not lawful to be disputed: for that is to wade into the weakness of Princes, and to take away the mystical reverence that belongs unto them that sit in the Throne of God.

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Secondly, that you keep yourselves within your own benches, not to invade other jurisdictions, which is unfit and an unlawful thing. In this I must enlarge myself.

"Besides the Courts of Common Law there is the Court of Requests, the Admiralty Court, the Court of the President and Council of Wales, the President and Council of the North, High Commission Courts, every Bishop in his own Court. These Courts ought to keep their own limits and bounds of their commission and instructions, according to the ancient precedents: And like as I declare that my pleasure is that every of these shall keep their own limits and bounds, so the Courts of Common Law are not to encroach upon them, no more than it is my pleasure that they should encroach upon the Common Law. And this is a thing regal and proper to a King, to keep every Court within his own bounds.

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'In Westminster Hall there are four Courts; two that handle causes civil, which are the Common Pleas and the Exchequer: two that determine causes criminal, which are the King's Bench and the Starchamber where now I sit. . . .

"Keep you therefore all in your own bounds, and for my part, I desire you to give me no more right in my private prerogative than you give to any subject; and therein I will be acquiescent.

"As for the absolute Prerogative of the Crown, that is no subject for the tongue of a lawyer, nor is lawful to be disputed. It is atheism and blasphemy to dispute what God can do: good Christians content themselves with his will revealed in his word: So it is presumption and high contempt in a subject to dispute what a King can do, or say that a King cannot do this or that; but rest in that which is the King's will revealed in his law.

"The King's Bench is the principal Court for criminal causes, and in some respects it deals with civil causes.

"Then there is a Chancery Court: this is a Court of Equity, and hath