But what is all this to the present debate? If, under the various exigencies of former times by wars, rebellions, and insurrections, the kings of England were sometimes forced to pay their armies here with mixed or base money; God forbid that the necessities of turbulent times should be a precedent for times of peace, and order, and settlement.
In the patent abovementioned, granted to lord Dartmouth in the reign of king Charles the second, and renewed to Knox, the securities given into the exchequer, obliging the patentee to receive his money back upon every demand, were an effectual remedy against all inconveniencies: and the copper was coined in our kingdom; so that we were in no danger to purchase it with the loss of all our silver and gold carried over to another, nor to be at the trouble of going to England, for the redressing of any abuse.
That the kings of England have exercised their prerogative of coining copper for Ireland, and for England, is not the present question: but, to speak in the style of the report, it would seem a little extraordinary, supposing a king should think fit to exercise his prerogative by coining copper in Ireland, to be current in England, without referring it to his officers in that kingdom, to be informed whether the grant were reasonable, and whether the people desired it or not, and without regard to the addresses of his parliament against it. God forbid that so mean a man as I should meddle with the king's prerogative: but I have heard very wise men say, that the king's prerogative is bounded and limited by the good and
