1 66 On the ORIGIN and STRUCTURE of 



and actuated by the fame national fpirit. It is ftrange, that 

 thofe who profefs to be the mofl zealous friends of the Houfe 

 of Commons fliould adopt a fyflem, according to which a le- 

 giflature by reprefentatives, even when eftabliftied among a 

 people uncorrupted by luxury, and trained to arms, proved in- 

 fufficient to anfwer the mod efTential purpofes of government. 

 The multiplied oppreflion, the turbulency of powerful indivi- 

 duals, the national debility, the diverfity of local cuftoms, 

 which, it is not to be difputed, were the refult, as well as the at- 

 tendants of the Gothic governments, are furely the ftrongeft 

 evidence of a conftitution intrinfically bad, or grofsly inade- 

 quate to the circumflances of the people to whom it belonged. 



BESIDES, if it be confidered, that each diftri<5l had conflitu- 

 tionally the election of its own chief magiftrate *, who, it can- 

 not be queftioned, was a member of the diet, it will be dif- 

 ficult to conceive, how the meafure of fending any other re- 

 prefentative to fuch afTemblies mould have been adopted. A 

 perfon with fuch a character would have appeared to be ano- 

 ther 



* " AUDIENS autem CHILPERICOS omnia mala, quae faciebatLeudaftes ecclefiis Turo- 

 41 nicis et omni populo, ANSUALDUM illuc dirigit. Qui veniens, ad feftivitatem San&i 

 " MARTINI, data nobis et populo optione, EUNOMIUS in comitatum erigitur. Denique Leu- 

 " daftes cernens fe remotum," &c. GREG. Tur. lib. 5. 48. " Praecipientes jubemus, 

 " ut in ipfo pago Cenomanico accipere non debeant, ducem aut comitem, nifi per elec- 

 " tionem ipflus pagi, pontificis et pagenfium." BOUQUET, torn. 4. ad ann. 698. The 

 emperor HENRY II. recognized, that it had been the right of the Bavarians, at all 

 times, to chufe their dukes. Again, "Ut judices, vicedomini, prsepofiti, advocati, centenarii 

 " boni et veraces, cum comite et populo, eligantur." Capit. ad ann. 809. See alfb 

 LL. EDWARDI, cap. 35. and L L. BOIOR. tit. 2. cap. i. The kings, as prefiding ma- 

 giftrates, had naturally the nomination of dukes and counts ; and the people had the 

 appointment or rejection. The kings feem to have interfered in prejudice of the peo- 

 ple, by transferring the eleftion into the general afTembly of the magiftracy, and 

 then by affuming it altogether. Thus we have frequent mention of the " ele&iones 

 " de palatio" as to biftiops, and they are marked in the edift of CLOTAIRE II. 

 ann. 615, as an alternative to elections " clero et populo." I have quoted a char- 

 ter in MADOX, that proves a bifhop of Bath was elected in parliament in STEPHEN'S 

 time ; and we find dukes and counts fometimes fent " e palatio," and fometimes chofen, 

 as lathe above cafe of Tours. See alfo, lib. 8. 42. 



