inary policy which has been held with
regard to religion in that kingdom, from the time our ancestors took
possession of it. The most able antiquaries are of opinion, and
Archbishop Usher, whom I reckon amongst the first of them, has, I think,
shown, that a religion not very remote from the present Protestant
persuasion was that of the Irish before the union of that kingdom to the
crown of England. If this was not directly the fact, this at least seems
very probable, that Papal authority was much lower in Ireland than in
other countries. This union was made under the authority of an arbitrary
grant of Pope Adrian, in order that the Church of Ireland should be
reduced to the same servitude with those that were nearer to his see. It
is not very wonderful that an ambitious monarch should make use of any
pretence in his way to so considerable an object. What is extraordinary
is, that for a very long time, even quite down to the Reformation, and
in their most solemn acts, the kings of England founded their title
wholly on this grant: they called for obedience from the people of
Ireland, not on principles of subjection, but as vassals and mesne lords
between them and the Popes; and they omitted no measure of force or
policy to establish that Papal authority, with all the distinguishing
articles of religion connected with it, and to make it take deep root in
the minds of the people. Not to crowd instances unnecessary, I shall
select two, one of which is in print, the other on record,--the one a
treaty, the other an act of Parliament. The first is the submission of
the Irish chiefs to Richard the Second, mentioned by Sir John Davies. In
this pact they bind themselves for the future to preserve peace and
allegiance to the kings of England, under certain pecuniary penalties.
But what is remarkable, these fines were all covenanted to be paid into
the Apostolical Chamber, supposing the Pope as the superior power, whose
peace was broken and whose majesty was violated in disobeying his
governor. By this time, so far as regarded England, the kings had
extremely abridged the Papal power in many material particulars: they
had passed the Statute of Provisors, the Statute of _Praemunire_,--and,
indeed, struck out of the Papal authority all things, at least, that
seemed to infringe on their temporal independence. In Ireland, however,
their proceeding was directly the reverse: there they thought it
expedient to exalt it at least as high as ev