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Show A Speech in f arliament touching A Spe~ch ufed by Sir Francis Baco~s .inthe Lower fioufe o Parliament, by occafion, ~fa Motiou, concerning th(t Union o]Lawes. ;\ N D it pleafe you, (Mr. speak._er,.) were it now a time to 1.~ Willi as it is to Advife; No Man f110uld be more forward, or more :arnefr, then my ftlf, in this wiili 5 That. his Majefiies S~thjdJs, of E;ngl1.nd and Scotland, were governed by one Law; And that for many Reafons. , Firfi, btcaufe it will be an infallible Affurance, that there will never bes any Relapfe, in fucceeding Ages, to a Separation. . Secondly, DulciJ traCius pari 1ugo : It the Draught I ye mofi up .. on us, ahd theYvk._e lightefi:up~n them, it is notequall. Thirdly, the ~alities, and, (as I may term it,) the Elements of their Laws ,and ours, are fuch, as do prom1fe, an excellent Temperature, in the compounded Bod-y : For if the prerogative here be too inddinite, it may be the Liberty there ·is too unbounded: I four Laws, and proceedings, be too Prolixe, and Formall; it may be theirs, are roo inform an, and S~mmary. fourthly, I do difcern, tomyunderfiandiog, there will be no great Difficulty, ip this Work. For their Laws, by that I can learn, compartd with ours, are like their Language=> compared with ours. For as their Laug11age, hath the fame Roots, that ours hath, but bath a little more mixture of Latine, and French; So their Laws and Cuftomer, have the like Grounds, that ours have, with a little more mixture~ oft he civil!Law,and French Cuflomu. Lafily=> the Mean to this work, leemeth to me, no leife excellent, then the Work._ it felf: For ifboth Laws fhall be united, it is of necefiity, for preparation, and Inducement thereunto, that · our own Law1, be reviewed, and recompiled, ,Then the which, I think, there cannot be a work)l.t};iat his Majefiy can undertake, in thefe his timts of Peace, more Politique, more Honourable, nor more Beneficiall to hts Subjects, for all Ages; Pace data Terris, AnimHf!l ad Civilia Vertit . JurajiiNm, Legefquetulit juftifJrmur A11f1or: For this continuall Heaping up, of Laws, without digefiing d1em~ maketh but a Chaos and ConfHjien : And turneth the .Laws, many time~,to become but Snares for the People, as is faid, in the Scrir:ure, rluetfuper eor Laqueos. Now, Nonfontpejores Laquei, quam Laquei Legum. And therefore, this work, I efieem to be, indeed) a work, (rightly to term it,) Heroicllll. so· that, for this good wifh, of V'llion of L~tWJS, J.do confent to the flill; And, I think, you may perceive, by that which I have faid, that I come no ~ in this, to the Opioion of Others) but that I W3S, long ago, fetled in it, my Self. Neverthelelfe, as this is moved out of zeal, · fo, the Union ofLawes. fo, I take it, to bemov·ed out ofTime; As commonly zealou~ Motions are: while Men, are, fo fafr, carried on, to the End, as they give no Attention to the M.eaN. For ifit be Time, to ralk of this now; It is, either becaufe the bufint:fs, now in hand, cannot proceed without it; Or becaufe, in Time, and Order, this Matter fhould be precedent; Or becaufe, we fhallleefe fome advantage, towards this Effect, fo much defi,red, if we fhould go on, in the courfe,. weare about. But none of thefe three; tn my judgement, are true; And therefore, the Motion, as I faid, un f ea fon J b J e. For fi :fr, that there may not be, aNal1tralization, without an Vnien in Laws, cannot be maintained. Look into the ExJmple, of the cburch ; And the Uniun thereof; You iball fee fevert~ll chm·chef,thflt joyn in one Faitb,onc Baptljm,( which are the points offpiritu all Naturalization,) do, many times, in Policy, Conf£i .. rutions, and Cufl:ornes, differ. And therefore, one of the Fa · hers, made an txcellent obfervation, upon the two ll1yflcries: The one, that in the Gofpell; where the Garment of chrijt, is faid to have been with out Scamej The other; that in the Pjalm,where r. he Garment, of the ~een is faid, to have been of divers colours; And t oncludeth, In -vejl:e J/ arietas j't, Scijjura non fit. So, in this Cafe, (Mr. Spea/z.erJ we are now in hand, to make this Monarchy of one Piece, and not of one Colonr. Look again, into the Examples, ofForrain Cou11trics; And t.1ke, that. nex~ u:, of £:'t·ance; And then·, you fhall find, that dity have th1s D1frnbut10n ; Pai-s du droit Ejcript; and Pah d1t droit conjiiJ.mier. For Gafcoigne, LangNe· doc/z, Prt,vence, Daulphenie, are Countries,~ governed by the Letter, or Text, of the Civilt Law: But the Ifle ot France, Tourain, Eerry, Anjcm, and the reft; And molt of all Brittain, and Normandy; Are governed by cuftome;, which amount unto a Municipal! Law; And ufe the CivillLaw, but only fur Grounds; And to decide new, Jnd rare, Cafes; And yet., nevc;nhelefs, Naturalization, palfeth through all. Secondty) that this V1:1io?t- ofLawiJ fhould precede the Naturalization; Or that it fhould go on, pari p~fii~, hand in hand, I fuppofe, lik.ewife, can h:udly be maintained: But the contrary, that Natutalhation ought to precede. Of which my Opinion, as I coull yield many reafon s, fo becaufe all this, is but a Digreffion, and therefore ought to be fhort; I wtll hold my felf now, oriely to one, which is briefly and plainly this: That the Vnion of Law1, will ask a great Time, to be perfected, both for the Compiling, and for the rajjing: During all which time, if this Mar/zofstrangers, fb ould be denied to be taken away ; I fear it may.induce; fuch a Habit ofstrcmgenejs,as will rath~r be an Impediment, then a preparation, to [Luther proceeding. For he was a wife M~n that faid; opportuni /kfag11h Conatib1ts Tranjflts Rerum. And In thofe Cafes, Non progredi eft Regrccli. An like, as in a pair ofT abies you muit put out the former writing, before you can put ) E in |
