|8 HISTORY OF THE [book. iii. 
ters and commands of Henry II. king John, and 
Henry III.” 
Of Wales, the noble lord observes, « that the 
statute of Wales (12 Edward I.) is certainly no 
more than regulations , made by the king in his 
council , for the government of Wales, and that the 
king governed it as a conquest S' but let us hear, 
on this subject, the learned judge Blackstone. 
This territory, observes Blackstone, being then 
entirely re-annexed (by a kind of feodal resump¬ 
tion) to the dominion of the crown of England, or, 
as the statute of Rutland expresses it terra , Walliae 
cum incolis suis, prius rcgi jure feodali subjecta, 
(of which homage was the sign), jam in proprie- 
tatis dominium totaliter et cum integritate conversa 
est, et coronae regni Angliac tanquam pars corporis 
ejusdcm annexa ct unita. But the finishing stroke 
to their independency, was given by the statute 
27 Henry VIII. c. 26 , which at the same time gave 
the utmost advancement to their civil prosperity, 
by admitting them to a thorough communication of 
laws with the subjects of England. Thus were 
this brave people gradually conquered into the en¬ 
joyment of true liberty; being insensibly put upon 
the same footing , and made fellow citizens with 
their conquerors." 
Another case was that of Berwick, which, ob¬ 
served the noble lord, “ after the conquest of it, 
was governed by charters from the crown, without 
the interposition of Parliament, till the reign - of 
