l66 ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 0&. X2, 



the crown, and in time it will become entirely heredi- 

 tray, without any attempt at an eleftion, or a particu- 

 lar nomination for that purpofe. — This, however, can 

 feldom happen, but in thofe cafes where circum- 

 ftanccs have rendered the convocation of the ftates 

 troublefome, and burdenfome to the people at large •, 

 that is, where no particular regulations have been 

 adopted for diftinguiflnng the people into difterent 

 clafles, and by exempting the inferior orders from 

 the trouble of attendance, forming a convocation of a 

 fmaller number of the fuperior orders, who, with 

 a view to preferve their own dignity and importance in 

 the ftate, will not grudge the trouble that fuch an at- 

 tendance requires. — Wherever this circumftance has 

 not been adverted to, the meetings of the people have 

 been gradually difcontinued ; the regal authority has 

 gained ground. Ih thofe cafes the king has not oniy 

 been vcfted with an uncurbed power of executive ad- 

 miniftration, but he has alfo aflumcd a right of legifla- 

 tion, fo as to becom.e defpotic — Such is the gradual 

 changes that an inattention to the varying fituation of 

 things necefiarily produce *. 



• In this' {ketch I have not tiiKcn any notice of the ufe that has been 

 made of rtUvhit in all ages for f'^-i ving the purpofes of ckfpotifm. I^i 

 Europe, the Chriftian religion ha'i been moft fliamefuUy pervened for 

 this purpofe. — Happily, in the northern parts of Europe thefe prejudices 

 have long fubfided, and a line has been drawn to difcriminate between 

 the boundaries of civil and religious powers. — But long did all Jiurnne 

 groan under the load of religious defjiotifm, which, in a itioil^-'ireAui'l 

 manner ferved to eifabliih the unlimited fway of arbitrary power in ci- 

 vil affairs. — After the blafphenious phrafe of infalUUirty v/as applied to 

 the Pope, and the peribns of all the clergy were declared ficred and in- 

 violable, it was but a fraall flep further to declare the perfons of kings 

 alfo, who were cbnfecrated and ftt apart by the priefti, ficred and in- 

 violable, a;;d to lay a foundation for their claim of a divine right of 

 doing whatever they tliought proper on this earth. — Lei a niagiflrate be 

 obeyed when dif.:harging his duty ; let thofe endowed with civ il autho- 

 rity be refpedicd when executing the decrees of the law. — This, a Ji;e 

 fubordinaticn, which is neceflary tor the v.ell being of the coir-munity, re- 

 quires; but farther than tliij, no man is entitled to claim from another. 

 ^— V\''hen the mind was bound by thi fetters of religious defpotlfn:, if. 

 vas not in a condition to guard .tgair.fl the encrcachmentj of arbitrary 

 Iway in the civil n-.-'giftrate. 



