There is a close parallel between the history of Poyning's Act in 1494 and that of the Union in 1800, so that the one may help us to understand the other. In the fifteenth century, as in the eighteenth, trade and wealth were increasing fast in Ireland with commercial intercourse of the peoples, and barriers [pg 236] were breaking down between the two races. In both these centuries alike the commercial jealousies of England were quickened by the growth of Irish trade, and its political fears by a question of the Crown—by Irish preference to the House of York over that of Lancaster under Henry VI.—and under George III., by views held in Ireland as to the Regency. Alike with Poyning's Act and with the Union the proposed remedy was to bring Ireland under closer subjection to England. The statute ordered that no Parliament should be held in Ireland till the Council had certified to the King under the great seal of Ireland all the causes and considerations, and the Acts that should pass in it; and had received the King's license under the great seal of England, as well in affirmation of these Acts as to summon Parliament. The means used for carrying this Act and the Act of Union were practically the same; the promise on each occasion was that the Act would ensure the order and liberties of Ireland; while for the unconvinced there remained threats, military demonstrations, and bribery—both subtle and extensive. Every place of authority in the country was newly packed with English officials, all servants of the Lancastrian party in power. A Parliament was called from which all the great earls were absent—Ormond, Desmond, Kildare. This mere shadow of a Parliament—strangers, place-hunters, and men, as we shall see, under sentence of ruin, without natural leaders, controlled by English officials—was required to accept the King's decree for “the whole and perfect obedience of the country.” In Poyning's Law notice was given of the King's intention to make an Act for the general resumption of his whole revenues since 1327, an Act never equalled by any measure before or since for throwing all civil rights and liberties into [pg 237] the hands of the Crown. From pieces of parchment hanging to it with the autograph of Henry VII. written at the top, it appears that savings were made in favour of various persons exempting them from the operation of this Act. Thus according to their conduct or deserts at the passing of Poyning's Law, men would find ruin or protection at the King's hand. Alike in their ignoble beginnings, Poyning's Law and the Act of Union remained in their later developments the source of dissension and the great battle-ground between English rulers and Irish subjects.
So much for the passing of the Act with “no difficulty.” How it was intended to work by Henry VII. we cannot tell, but the violent methods of later Tudor sovereigns respected no barriers. Whenever Poyning's Act stood in their way, the first remedy was an Act for its “repeal”—that is, an “exposition” how it was to be understood, or an enactment that all statutes of that Parliament were valid, “notwithstanding Poyning's Act.” No Tudor ever proposed to “repeal” that part of the statute which limited the freedom of Parliament: but only to abrogate the formalities which interfered with his own direct method of government. The Dublin Parliament, for its part, clearly saw that if the Act gave a tremendous power to the Crown, it yet held provisions which were a protection, so far as they went, from arbitrary tyranny. The preparing, before a Parliament could be called, of Acts to which the Seal of Ireland had to be affixed before they went to receive the Seal of England, assured some discussion in Ireland, some degree of publicity, and some hindrance to unexpected laws sprung upon it by a foreign and uncontrolled Executive, and rushed through by a packed majority. Parliament, in fact, held that law and recognised order were safeguards to liberty; [pg 238] and its battle in Dublin was for the security of law, even of Poyning's Law, against the mere will of the King and his ministers: a motive neither trivial nor irrational.
The first conflict arose with the Parliament of 1536-7, which was called to establish what we may call the Protestant succession, to declare Henry head of the Church, to order the suppression of abbeys, and to decree vast confiscations in Leinster to the King's benefit (in many cases estates of members of the Parliament), with the purpose of new “Plantation.” It was not likely that such laws would be peaceably drawn up in Dublin and offered to Henry in the form he preferred. On the first day of its session, May 1st, 1536, therefore, the “repeal of Poyning's Act” was ordered—that is, to declare it void for that Parliament. The experiment was new and untried, and the Houses obeyed. By the “repeal” Henry and Cromwell were set free from every restriction. They could send over new and unforeseen bills, neither known nor discussed in Ireland, without agreement with the Irish Council, at any time before or after Parliament opened, and could alter bills during the session as they chose. Every shred of protection to the framing of bills in Ireland, or their discussion there, disappeared. The usurped powers were used to the uttermost. In seventeen days ten Acts had passed the Commons. Cromwell wrote to delay the Act for the Succession if it was still in an incomplete stage, probably for some changes. The King wrote to desire an astounding Act to confer on himself all the land in Ireland. But resistance had already begun. Parliament had attempted to protect the country by providing in their Repealing Act that a number of matters should be excluded from its operation, such as the liberties of boroughs, etc., and [pg 239] that no laws should be enacted by this Parliament but such as were for the honour of the King, the increase of his revenue, and the commonweal of the land. As Acts poured over from England members pleaded that they were contrary to these conditions, and prepared to carry the matter to a court of law. The struggle lasted eighteen months. Parliament was adjourned, contrary to law, six times in the next year. Finally Commissioners were sent over in September, 1537, carrying with them a series of Acts drawn up in England, and added others of their own devising; all to be passed “notwithstanding Poyning's Act.” The limitations which Parliament had attempted to set up in their “Repealing” Act were set aside by a new “repeal,” which declared the “mere truth” of the first to be that every Bill was valid which concerned either the King's honour, or the increase of his revenue, or the common weal of the land: and that anyone who brought the question to a suit in any court of law should suffer as a felon.
In this first battle, Parliament, taken by surprise, was defeated. Every attempted safeguard was thrown down, and nothing left but the royal tyranny. “The King's causes in Parliament take good effect,” wrote the Commissioners; and twenty-four Acts were passed. Having finished their work, and having discovered in searching among old Acts that this Parliament was illegally held, they hastily dissolved it, making provision to hide its unlawful character.
The Parliament of 1541 which gave to Henry the title of king was the only one of the century in which we find no proposition to repeal Poyning's Act. Other means had been used during four years of widespread and deceitful negotiations (1537-1541) to ensure the King's success. A series of false promises as to rights in [pg 240] land had been cunningly dispatched through the country. There was a careful scrutiny of the coming Parliament. Lists were drawn up for Henry's benefit. The House of Lords was safe. The vast majority of prelates in it were docile nominees of the new head of the Church. Of the score of peers on the list six were reported to Henry as having “neither wit nor company of men”; one was wise in counsel but without any soldiers; and nine were new creations, at the King's bidding—six of them scarcely a month old, some indeed still waiting for their letters patent. In the Common House were divers knights and many gentlemen of fair possessions, but no list of these is given. The House had evidently been packed: for an Act was passed repealing the old statute against non-residents and proroguing of Parliaments. There was indeed a concession to placate opponents. “From henceforth” the knights and burgesses were to be resident, under penalty of fines—a provision well calculated to disappoint the hopes it raised. Under these circumstances the repeal of Poyning's Act was for once dispensed with. Having secured his title of King, Henry could fling away his Parliament, and no assembly met again for thirteen years.
Queen Mary called her one Parliament in 1556 to carry two Acts which surpassed in terror and ferocity any yet proposed. The Act for the confiscation and plantation of Leinster lands, ordered Leix and Offaly to be turned into the King's and Queen's counties, the first shires made since the time of John; and desired they should be “planted” with “good men.” A second Act gave power to Commissioners to perambulate the whole realm and divide it into shires as they thought convenient, without further reference to Parliament. Henceforth any Irish chief or Norman [pg 241] lord might learn suddenly that by a mere decree of the Deputy his authority was abolished, his territory dissolved into a chaotic mass of helpless people, under officers speaking a foreign tongue, and laws wholly unknown to them, the land leased out according to English tenure, new taxes imposed, and a Commissioner with his hangmen placed in their midst to govern “in a course of discretion.”
When Parliament met, two drafts of the Act for “the well-disposing” of Leinster lands were “lost.” The loss or embezzlement was perhaps contrived with the hope of resisting any third Act that might arrive after the session had opened, as contrary to Poyning's Law. If so, the hope was vain. An Act was prepared to explain “how Poyning's Act was to be exponed and taken,” and to enact that since events might happen, (as for example the loss of unwelcome drafts) during the time of Parliament necessary to be provided for, which at the time of the summoning of Parliament were not thought or agreed upon, therefore the Irish Government might send over considerations and causes for new ordinances, and that these being returned under the Great Seal of England might be enacted, notwithstanding Poyning's Act. A third draft was sent over, and the Act of Confiscation passed—the first of the Great Plantations.
That sinister measure, “An exposition of Poyning's Act,” was again prepared for Elizabeth's Parliament of 1560, which was called to declare the Queen's Title and her Supremacy over the Church. But the Houses disappeared before it was brought in:
“The Lord-Deputy is said to have used force, and the speaker treachery.... I heard,” said Dr. Lynch, “that it had been previously announced in the House that Parliament would not sit on that very day on which the laws against religion were enacted; [pg 242] but, in the meantime, a private summons was sent to those who were well known to be favourable to the new creed ... the few members present assented, and the speaker won for himself the name of being the chief author of the laws enacted against the Catholic religion.”
The Deputy Sussex sought to calm the rage of the Parliament by pledging himself solemnly that the Statute of Uniformity should not be enforced during Elizabeth's reign. So violent was the opposition of lords and chieftains to “the laws against religion,” that Sussex, it was said, prorogued Parliament and went to England to consult the Queen. Thus it ended after nineteen days.