ment, is of all attempts the most chimerical; that the authority of all, with which men are amused, is in reality no more than the authority of a few powerful individuals, who divide the republic among themselves; and they at last rested in the bosom of the only constitution, which is fit for a great state and a free people; I mean that, in which a chofen number deliberate, and a single hand executes; but in which, at the fame time, the public fatisfaction is rendered, by the general relation and arrangement of things, a neceffary condition of the duration of government." I fhall referve the confideration of the ufurpation and protectorate for the last chapter, into which it will be more orderly introduced.

Charles II.

* "Charles the Second therefore was called Reftoration of over; and he experienced on the part of the people that enthusiasm of affection, which ufually attends the return from a long alienation. He could not however bring himself to forgive them the inexpiable crime, of which he looked upon them to have been guilty. He faw with the deepest concern, that they ftill entertained their former notions with regard to the nature of the royal prerogative, and bent upon the recovery

miting the prerogative.

of the ancient powers of the crown, he only
waited for an opportunity to break those
mifes, which had procured his reftoration.

pro

"But the very eagerness of his measures fruftrated their fuccefs. His dangerous alliances on the continent, and the extravagant wars, in which he involved England, joined to the frequent abuse he made of his authoNeceffity of li- rity, betrayed his defigns. The eyes of the nation were foon opened, and faw into his projects; when convinced at length, that nothing but fixed irresistible bounds can be an effectual check on the views and efforts of power, they refolved finally to take away thofe remnants of defpotifm, which still made a part of the regal prerogative.

Liberty improved under Charles 11.

"The military fervices due to the crown, the remains of the ancient feudal tenures, had been already abolished; the laws against heretics were now repealed; the ftatute for holding parliaments once at least in three years was enacted; the Habeas Corpus act, that barrier of the fubject's personal safety, was establifhed; and fuch was the patriotism of the parliaments, that it was under a king the most destitute of principle, that liberty received its most efficacious fupports.

"At length, on the death of Charles began a reign, which affords a most exemplary leffon

leffon, both to kings and people; for when the throne was declared vacant, and a new line of fucceffion was established, care was had to repair the breaches, that had been made in the conftitution, as well as to prevent new ones; and advantage was taken of the rare opportunity of entering into an original and exprefs compact between king and people.

"An oath was required of the new king more precife, than had been taken by his predeceffors; and it was confecrated as a perpetual formula of fuch oaths. It was determined, that to impofe taxes without the confent of parliament, as well as to keep up a ftanding army in time of peace are contrary to law. The power, which the crown. had conftantly claimed, of dispensing with the laws was abolished. It was enacted, that the fubject, of whatever rank or degree, had a right to prefent petitions to the king. Laftly the key-stone was put to the arch by the final establishment of the liberty of the prefs.

"The revolution of 1689 is therefore the third grand æra in the hiftory of the conftitu

tion of England. The great charter had marked out the limits, within which the royal authority ought to be confined; fome outworks were raised in the reign of Edward the

E e

Exclufive right of the commons

&c.

the First; but it was at the revolution, that the circumvallation was completed.

"It was at this æra, that the true principles of civil fociety were fully established. By the expulfion of a king, who had violated his oath, the doctrine of refiftance, that ultimate refource of an oppreffed people, was confirmed beyond a doubt. By the exclufion given to a family hereditarily defpotic, it was finally determined, that nations are not the property of kings. The principles of paffive obedience, the divine and indefeasible right of kings, in a word, the whole fcaffolding of falfe and fuperftitious notions, by which the royal authority had till then been fupported, fell to the ground, and in the room of it were fubftituted the more folid and durable foundations of the love of order, and a sense of the neceffity of civil government among mankind."

Mr. Acherley fays,

"That the house of

in voting aids, commons, befides their part in the legiflature, fhould be invefted with and should have, as interwoven in their conftitution, these special powers, rights, and privileges, (viz.) the fole right and power over the monies and treasures of the people, and of giving and

• Britannic Conftitution, fec. xii. p. 45.

granting

ap

granting, or denying aids or monies for the public fervice, and fhould have the first commencement and confideration, and the fole modelling in their houfe not only of all laws for impofing taxes, and levying and raifing aids or money upon the people for the defence and fupport of the state and government; but also of all laws touching the taking from any man his property; and fhould have power to enquire into, and judge of the uses and occafions, for which monies are to be demanded and given; and to appropriate the fame to those uses, and to inquire into the plications, and to cenfure the mifapplications thereof; and that this right should be so inviolable, that neither of the other two eftates fhould propound any thing, nor interpofe, nor meddle in any of their debates or proceedings, touching these matters; and that these powers and privileges should be, and be accounted hereditary, and as the most eminent pillars of this conftitution; and that the commons in parliament affembled should also have the terrible power of inquiring into grievances, and questioning and impeaching fuch malefactors, as fhould be found fubverting, or endeavouring to fubvert, or advising the fubverfion or alteration of the fundamental form of this government."

Right of the impeach state

commons to

delinquents.