above the reft, which fhould be the glory of the nation; and that, to add majefty, it fhould The general be crowned with a crown of pure gold, the crown. prerogatives of adorned with the richeft gems, as caput regni ; that to this crown there fhould be annexed royal and fovereign rights and prerogatives, which fhould give it a luftre and a veneration fuitable to the most excellent dignity; that the fingle perfon, who fhould be declared fupreme governor or head, to execute and adminifter this higheft office, and to wear this crown, should be stiled king, and should have fuch honours paid him, as are due to royal and imperial majesty; and that a throne should be raised for him, on which he should fit, when he performs the highest acts of government; and that his perfon fhould be exempted from all coercive and offenfive acts of violence whatsoever, upon or for any reafon or pretence of any reafon whatfo

and that the first perfon, who fhould be declared king, and all fucceeding kings, fhould, at or foon after his affuming to exercife the regal power, be crowned with the greateft folemnity." And in another part of the fame work, he defcribes the monarchy or regal office in this manner: *« The bu

Acherley's Brit. Conftit. p. 59.

monarchy.

The end of our finefs and end of this office was to exercise and adminifter the regal power in guiding and governing the people of this nation, for the good of the whole body, in fuch manner as fhould be agreeable, and according to the rules and laws, which for that purpose should be agreed on and prefcribed; and to affent and agree to the making fuch new laws, and to the changing and altering fuch old ones, as the two eftates of lords and commons shall find neceffary, and prepare, for the good government and protection of the people and nation; and that therefore the monarch, who fhould be placed in the supreme regal office, fhould be deemed and accounted the fupreme governor; and that and that many of the virtues and perfections attributed to the great Creator, who governs the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all things therein, ought, in a human and fubordinate fenfe and fimilitude, to be attributed to the perfon placed in this fupreme regal office; fuch as fortitude, goodness, juftice, mercy, wisdom, and activity."

I must here again entreat my readers, to keep in view the different diftinctions I have before noticed between the natural and the political capacity of the king, between the immediate and mediate appointment of God,

and

and also between the legislative and the executive power of government. The different prerogatives of the king, which he at this day enjoys, are very compendioufly and accurately fet forth by Mr. De Lolme.

* It is however to be obferved, that though in his political capacity of one of the conftituent parts of the parliament, that is, with regard to the share allotted to him in the legislative authority, the king is undoubtedly fovereign, and only needs alledge his will, when he gives or refuses his assent to the bills prefented to him; yet, in the exercise of his powers of government he is no more than a magiftrate, and the laws, whether thofe, that exifted before him, or thofe, to which by his affent he has given being, must direct his conduct, and bind him equally with his fubjects,

"The first prerogative of the king, in his capacity of fupreme magiftrate, has for its object the administration of justice.

"1°. He is the fource of all judicial power in the ftate; he is the chief of all the courts

of law, and the judges are only his substitutes; every thing is tranfacted in his name; the

De Lolme's Conftit. of England, c. vi. p. 71, & feq.

X

judgments

The king by the laws as

bound equally

his fubjects,

He is the fourca

and adminif

trator of all juftice.

All profecutious in his

name.

He is the fource

of mercy, and

judgments must be with his feal, and are executed by his officers.

"2°. By a fiction of the law, he is looked upon as the universal proprietor of the kingdom; he is in confequence deemed directly concerned in all offences; and for that reafon profecutions are to be carried on in his name in the courts of law.

"3°. He can pardon offences, that is, recan pardon of mit the punishment that has been awarded in confequence of his profecution.

fences.

He is the fource of honor.

Superintendant of commerce.

Head of the

"The second prerogative of the king is, to be the fountain of honour; that is, the distributor of titles and dignities; he creates the peers of the realm, as well as beftows the different degrees of inferior nobility: he moreover difpofes of the different offices, either in the courts of law, or elsewhere.

"The king is the fuperintendant of commerce; he has the prerogative of regulating weights and measures; he alone can coin money, and can give a currency to foreign coin.

"He is the fupreme head of the church*. church of Eng- In this capacity he appoints the bishops and

land.

the two archbishops; and he alone can convene the affembly of the clergy.

This af

i. e. Of the civil eftablishment of the church of

England, as before more fully explained.

fembly

what.

fembly is formed in England on the model Convocation of the parliament; the bishops form the upper houfe; deputies from the diocefes, and from the feveral chapters, form the lower houfe: the affent of the king is likewife neceffary to the validity of their acts or canons; and the king can prorogue or diffolve the

"He is in right of his crown the generaliffimo of all fea or land forces whatever; he alone can levy troops, equip fleets, build fortreffes, and fill all the pofts in them. "He is, with regard to foreign nations, the representative and the depofitory of all the power and collective majefty of the nation; he fends and receives ambaffadors; he contracts alliances; and has the prerogative of declaring war, and of making peace on whatever conditions he thinks proper..

"In fine, what seems to carry fo many powers to the height is, its being a fundamental maxim, that the king can do no wrong; which does not fignify, however, that the king has not the power of doing ill, or, as it was pretended by certain perfons in former times, that every thing he did was lawful; but only that he is above the reach of all

facred and

His perfon courts of law whatever, and that his perfon inviolable. is facred and inviolable."