Accordingly, in the twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth the course was
entirely altered. With a preamble stating the entire and perfect rights of the
Crown of England, it gave to the Welsh all the rights and privileges of English
subjects. A political order was established; the military power gave way to the
civil; the Marches were turned into Counties. But that a nation should have a
right to English liberties, and yet no share at all in the fundamental security
of these liberties--the grant of their own property--seemed a thing so
incongruous that, eight years after, that is, in the thirty-fifth of that reign,
a complete and not ill-proportioned representation by counties and boroughs was
bestowed upon Wales by Act of Parliament. From that moment, as by a charm, the
tumults subsided; obedience was restored; peace, order, and civilization
followed in the train of liberty. When the day-star of the English Constitution
had arisen in their hearts, all was harmony within and without--
"--simul alba nautis
Stella refulsit,
Defluit saxis agitatus humor;
Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes,
Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto
Unda recumbit.
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