636 Dr. Perci'vaVs Notes and Illujirai'wns. 



" good confcience, that fuch fubjedls, attending upon fuch fer- 

 " vice, fhould fufFer for doing their true duty and fervice of alle- 

 " giance." This," fays Sir Michael Fofter, " putteth the duty of 

 " the fubjeft upon a rational and fafe bottom. He knoweth that 

 " proteftion and allegiance are reciprocal duties. — He feeth 

 " the fountain, from whence the bleflings of government, liberty, 

 *' peace, and plenty flow to him ; and there he payeth his allegi- 

 " ance." * 



Having made the foregoing quotation from the works of this 



excellent judge, I am tempted to add a few more paflages, 



on the fubjeft of government, from the fame invaluable 



difcourfe. Some learned men " feem not to have fufficiently 



" attended to the nature and ends of civil power, whereof the 



" regal dignity is a principal branch. They feem to have 



*' confidered the crown and regal dignity merely as a descend- 



" ABLE property; Or an eftate or intereft vefted in the 



" poiTeflbr, for the emolument and grandeur of himfelf and 



" heirs, in a regular invariable courfe of defcent. And there- 



" fore, in queftions touching the fucceflion, they conftantly 



*' refort to the fame narrow rules and maxims of law and juftice, 



" by which queftions of mere property, the title to a pig-ftye 



" or a lay-ftall are governed. — If I could conceive of the crown 



" as an inheritance oi mere property , I fhould be tempted to argue 



*' in the fame manner. But had they confidered the crown and 



"royal dignity, as a defcendable offjce, as a trust for 



" millions, and extending its influence to generations yet un- 



" born ; had they conlidered it in that light, they would foon 



" have difcovered the principle upon which the right of the 



*' legiflature to interpofe in cafes of necefllty is manifeftly 



" founded. And that is the Salus Populi, already men- 



" tioned upon a like occafion."t — " All the rights and powers 



" for defence and prefervation belonging to fociety are nothing 



" more than the natural rights and powers of individuals trans- 



• See Sir Michael Porter's Difcourfes on tlie Crown Law, Folio, 

 p. 399. 



•f- Id. p. 404, 



" ferred 



