( 3 ) 



done to improve this fyftcm in modern times has been 

 only to add ftronger fandions to enforce it's heft princi- 

 ples ; but the great ftruggles have always been, not for 

 the improvement of the fyftem, but either for it's prefcr- 

 vation againft attempts, of the princes on the throne, of 

 the peerage, or of the people, to deftroy the true balance 

 of power and controul ; or for the removal of abufes 

 which will happen in the execution of every government, 

 and which principally fpring from the impcrfedlion of 

 human nature, and the imperfeftion of all attempts of 

 human wifdom. Whatever alterations have been made 

 in the courfe of ages, the broad bafis of our government, 

 always has been, and ftill is, purely Saxon. 



The Norman conqueft has been treated as a monfler 

 which devoured every thing good in our Saxon confti- 

 tution. Writers too often delight in ftrong colouring. 

 The Normans were, themfelves, of Saxon origin, and 

 had tafted the fweets of German freedom before they 

 wrefted Neuftria from the weaknefs of the Carlovingian 

 kings. They had fled from the tyranny of Charlemagne 

 to the northern fliores of the Baltic, and they avenged 

 their wrongs on his fuccefTors. But in Neuftria they 

 found a people corrupted by the worft of all tyranny, that 

 of the Roman provincial government ; they acquired the 

 country by treaty which ftipulated for the fafety of the 

 former inhabitants, who retained a great part of their 

 pofleftions ; and with thcfe the Normans incorporated, 

 and loft their language in the union. The lofs of their 

 language was not their only lofs. They fufFcred the cor- 

 ruption of the Roman government to pervade their own ; 

 and they added a confidcrable portion of the feudal fyftem, 

 then prevailing in France, which, however, fo far 

 balanced the baneful effedl of Roman inftitutions as it 

 checked the power of the prince. The government of 



a 2 Normandy 



