The CASE OF JAMES FITZ-GERALD Esq; counselor AT LAW; Upon a PETITION to the Commons of England in Parliament Assembled.  
AFter the Defeat of the late King James at the battle of the Boyne in Ireland, the Petitioner( according to His present Majesty's Proclamation issued soon after) took Protection; and as he was not in any Civil, or Military Office, or Commission before, so after taking Protection he lived peaceably and quietly at his own House at Awney, in the County of Limerick, where his Estate lay.  
Some time after, the Frontier Lines of the English Quarters were ascertained by Proclamation, and the Petitioner's Place of Abode was within them: And again, by other Proclamations, the Frontier Lines were so altered, that the Petitioner's Habitation was without them, and they were to be treated as Rebels and Spies, who should by a time limited in the said Proclamation, be found without the said Lines. The Petitioner, in the mean time, not being able to remove his Goods and Family, was plundered by both Parties, by which he lost to the Value of above 4000 l. And by the Alteration of the Frontier Lines, the City of Limerick being the Place of Refuge next to him, he fled thither, and was there during the last Siege, and at the making of the Articles upon the Surrender of that Place, being an Inhabitant and Resident there.  
Soon after, the Petitioner made Application to the Lords Justices and Council in Ireland, praying to be adjudged the Benefit of the said Articles; and, upon his Petition, had a public Hearing, took the Oath of Allegiance, and duly proved himself in Limerick at the Capitulation: But it was objected against him, That having taken Protection, he was excepted by the Second Article, and so excluded the Benefit of the said Articles: And upon this, the Lords Justices and Council adjudged the Petitioner not comprised in the said Articles; by means whereof the Petitioner, to this day, stands outlawed for High Treason, and his Estate seized into the King's Hands, for no other Reason, but because he took Protection.  
The Petitioner most humbly offers, and submits to the Consideration of this Just and Wise House, That the judgement of the Council-Board at Dublin against him, in the Point of taking Protection, which seems to be grounded upon the Second of the Civil Articles of Limerick, is Errroneous.  
To this End it will be necessary to consider the said Second Article( if it shall be thought fit by this Honourable House) which, as far it concerns the present Case, is in these Words following; viz.  

cond Article.  All the Inhabitants, or Residents of Limerick, or any other Garrison now in the Possession of the Irish; and all Officers, and Soldiers now in Arms, under any Commission of King James, or those authorised by him, to grant the same in the several Counties of Limerick, clear, Kerry, Cork, and Mayow, and all such as are under their Protection in the said Counties, or any of them; and all the commissioned Officers in Their Majesties Quarters, that belong to the Irish Regiments now in being that are treated with ( and who are not Prisoners of War, or have taken Protection) and who shall return, and submit to Their Majesties Obedience, and their, and every of their Heirs, shall hold, possess, and enjoy all, and every their Estates of Freehold and Inheritance, and all their Rights, Titles and Interests, Privileges and Immunities, which they, and every, or any of them held, enjoyed, or were rightfully, and lawfully entitled to, in the Reign of King Charles II. or at any time since, by the Laws and Statutes that were in force in the said Reign of King Charles the II. &c.  
By the true meaning of this Article, All that were then in Limerick, or under the Protection of the Irish, in the said Counties( being the Irish Quarters) are included without Exception, in the first Place; and next, the said commissioned Officers in Their Majesties Quarters, that belonged to the Irish Regiments then in being, that are treated with, and who are not Prisoners of War, or have taken Protection, were to have the like Benefit; which Qualifications and Exceptions, affixed and conjoined to the said commissioned Officers in Their Majesties Quarters, only to distinguish them, could not( as is humbly conceived) in Reason or right Corstruction be applied to the Petitioner, or any before-mentioned, in the said Second Article, who were no absent Officers that belonged to any Irish Regiment that was treated with; being all of them in Limerick, and in the Irish Quarters, at the time of the Capitulation, and could not reasonably be supposed to be Their Majesties Prisoners, or in their Protection there, as some of the said commissioned Officers might then well be Prisoners or Protectees in Their Majesties Quarters, and as in truth many then actually were, who being Their Majesties Subjects already, and in Their Majesties Quarters, they were not designed to be capitulated for; which was the only occasion of adding the said Exceptions to exclude them: For it was never proposed, during the whole Treaty of Peace, that the Petitioner for taking Protection, or any other in the Irish Quarters, should be excluded upon any Account whatsoever ( not even Spies or Deserters) And they being pardoned all Treasons, Capital Crimes, and misdemeanours, by the said Articles, it cannot be well imagined, but that the taking Protection( had it been a Crime) was also pardoned them; the contrary whereof was never heard of before the said Sentence, at the Council-Board, whereby those Words ( or have taken Protection) have been interpnted and strained to a New Sense and Meaning, not thought of, or intended by the Makers of the said Articles.  
And the Occasion of inserting in the Second Article those Words, ( and who are not Prisoners of War, or have taken Protection) was truly this: Upon making the Agreement, or stateing the Heads of the said Articles, and enumerating the Persons to be treated for, the Lord Lucan,( alias Colonel Sarsfield) being present, said, That he sent some Officers into the English Quarters about some Affairs, and that he would have them included; which was agreed to, provided they were not Prisoners of War, or had not submitted and taken Protection.  
By the Construction put by the Council of Ireland upon those Words, the Petitioner hath been deprived of his Estate, denied the Benefit of the said Articles, and nothing left to support him and his Family. Wherefore he most humbly appeals to the COMMONS of ENGLAND for Redress against the said erroneous Proceedings, Humbly praying that it may be explained, and settled to what Persons the said Words ( or have taken Protection) mentioned in the said second Article, do properly refer: And withal most humbly offers it to be considered, That by the Law of Nations, where any doubt arise about Words in Treaties, or Articles of Peace, they ought to be explained most beneficially for the Party in whose Favour such Articles were intended: And by the Municipal Laws of this Kingdom, the Grants of the King are to be expounded liberally, and with all imaginable Favour to the Subject, for the Honour and Dignity of the King, and for the Advantage, Freedom, and Properties of the People.  
All which is most humbly referred, and submitted to the Great Wisdom and judgement of this Honourable and August Assembly.   

THE CASE OF James Fitz-Gerald, Esq; counselor at Law. March 12. 1697.