m to discontent. The laws and liberties of England were granted
above five hundred years ago to the people of Ireland, upon their
submission to the Crown of England, with a design to keep them in the
allegiance of the king of England. How consistent it may be with true
policy to do that which the people of Ireland may think an invasion of
their rights and liberties, I do most humbly submit to the Parliament of
England to consider. They are men of great wisdom, honour, and justice,
and know how to prevent all future inconveniences. We have heard great
outcries, and deservedly, on breaking the edict of Nantes, and other
stipulations. How far the breaking our constitution, which has been of
five hundred years standing exceeded these, I leave the world to judge."

In another place Molyneux vindicates the dignity of a Parliament in
words of singular force and moderation:--

"The rights of Parliament should be preserved sacred and inviolable
wherever they are found. This kind of government, once so universal all
over Europe, is now almost vanished amongst the nations thereof. Our
king's dominions are the only supporters of this most noble Gothic
constitution, save only what little remains may be found thereof in
Poland. We should not therefore make so light of that sort of
legislature, and, as it were, abolish it in one kingdom of the three
wherein it appears, but rather cherish and encourage it wherever we
meet it[14]."

[14] "The Case of Ireland being bound by Acts of Parliament made in
England." By William Molyneux, Esq., Dublin.

For a remonstrance so dignified, couched in language so respectful,
burning by the common hangman seems a hard lot. The disgrace, if such it
was, does not appear to have very deeply penetrated its author, who
pursued the even tenour of his way, and the same year paid a visit to
his friend John Locke, on the return journey from which visit he
unfortunately caught a chill, from the effects of which he died the
following October. After his death the momentary stir which his
eloquence had created died out, as the circles left by the falling of a
stone die out upon some stagnant pool, until nearly a quarter of a
century later a much more violent splash again aroused attention, and a
far less pacific exponent of Irish abuses than Molyneux sprang fiercely
into the turmoil.

Jonathan Swift had been eleven years Dean of St. Patrick's before he
produced those famous letters which have left their mark