Dr. Perci'val's Notes and lUuJlrations. 637 



" ferred to and concentering in the body, for the prefervation 

 " of the whole. And, from the law of felf-prefervation, con- 

 " fidered as extending to civil fociety, refulteth the well-known 

 " maxim falus pofuli fuprema lex. 



" I think the principles here laid down muft be admitted, 

 " unlefs any one will choofe to fay, that individuals in a commu- 

 " nity are, in certain cafes, under the proteftion of the primitive 

 " law of felf-prefervation ; but communities, compofed of the 

 " fame indiduals, are, in the like cafes, excluded. Or, that 

 " when the enemy is at the gate, every fmgle foldier may and 

 " ought to ftand to his arms, but the garrifon muft furrender at 

 " dtfcremn. 



»># 



Note (E) p. 32. 



ADVANTAGES OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 



Thomfon, whofe authority may be quoted, as a moralift and 

 philofopher, has admirably defcribed the Britifti conftitution, in 

 the fecond canto of his Caftle of Indolence : 



Whereas the knight had fram'd in Britain land 

 A matchlefs form of glorious government. 

 In which the fovereign laws alone command ; 

 Laws ftablifh'd by the public free confent, 

 Whofe majefty is to the fceptre lent. 



Under this view of our conftitution, loyalty, in a Briton, is 

 a rational and patriotic principle. It is not a blind and fer- 

 vile attachment to the perfon or family of the monarch; but 

 a reverence for him, as the minifter of law and juftice, and the 

 patriarch of his people, li, however, his private and public 

 virtues happily merit confidence and efteem, fubjeftion will be 

 accompanied with cordial fatisfaftion ; and obedience performed 



» Id. p. 382, 383. 



with 



