ENGLAND. 
793 
by the Belgic colonies; who, perhaps about three cen¬ 
turies before the Chriftian era, feized the fouthern and 
eaftern (hores, and advancing by degrees refiriCted the 
Celts to the welt. The Belgic colonization of England 
is important in many points of view, as cltablilhing the 
.• primitive germ of the prefent Englilh nation, and as in¬ 
troducing agriculture, which was not praftifed by the 
hunting and paltoral tribes of the Celts: nor is it impro¬ 
bable that fome of the fertile diftriefts of England have 
known cultivation for the fpace of two thoufand years. 
The third hiltorical epoch is the fubjugation of England 
by Julius Caefar. 
After a duration of four centuries, the Roman domina¬ 
tion yielded to that of the Saxons and Angles, nations 
congenerous with the Bclgae. This revolution has inde¬ 
libly imprefled the name, character, language, laws, man¬ 
ners, and cuftoms, of the people; and forms the fourth 
hiltorical epoch. The fifth commences with the fove- 
reignty of the Danes, in the year 1016. 
On the death of Edward the Confelfor, what is called 
the epoch of the con quell of England, took place in 106 6 . 
As the Normans had been fettled in the north of France 
for a long time, they introduced the French language 
among people of rank, and even into legal procedure ; a 
fervile badge, not even yet completely eradicated. The 
great charter granted by king John at Runnymede, is de- 
fervedly efteemed a memorable epoch of Englilh freedom. 
And the civil wars between the houles of York and Lan- 
calter, may be regarded as the eighth remarkable epoch. 
Though deftrudtive of literature and the arts, they proved 
the bane of a ferocious ariltocracy ; and eftablillied by de¬ 
grees the third balance of the Britilh conllitution, i. e. the 
houfe of commons. 
The reformation, by delivering the nation from the 
heavy yoke of fuperftition, increafed the national ener¬ 
gies, and imparted freedom of thought, and a fpirit of in¬ 
dependence, to the individual character; which forms the 
ninth remarkable epoch. The civil wars under Charles I. 
form the tenth. The revolution under William III. and 
the laws enafted upon that occafion, by the unchange¬ 
able eftablilhment of the proteftant religion, create the 
eleventh epocha, which marks the acceffion of the houfe 
of Hanover to the throne of Great Britain. 
GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTION, LAWS, and 
RELIGION. 
Tn almoft all the Hates of the world, the will of the 
prince holds the place of law ; but it is the lingular hap- 
pin'efs of the united kingdom of Great Britain, that the 
legillative power is veiled foiefy in the parliament; the 
conitituent parts of which are the king, the houfe of lords, 
and the houfe of commons. The king of Great-Britain, 
though only one branch of the legiflature, is neverthelefs 
; one of the greatelt monarchs reigning over a free people. 
His perfon is facred in the eye of the law, which makes it 
high treafon fo much as to imagine or intend his deafh ; 
neither can he, in himfelf, be deemed guilty of any crime, 
the law taking no cognizance of his actions, but only in 
the perfons of his minifters, if they infringe the laws 
of the land. As to his power, it is very great, though 
he has no right to extend his prerogative beyond the 
boundaries preferibed by the conllitution ; he can of 
himfelf make no laws, nor raife taxes, nor a6t in oppofi- 
tion to any of the laws ; but he can make war or peace ; 
fend and receive ambaffkdors ; make treaties of league 
and commerce ; levy armies, and fit out fleets, for the 
defence of his kingdom, the annoyance of his enemies, or 
the fupprellion of rebellions ; grant commiflions to his 
officers both by lea and land, or revoke them at pleafure; 
dtifpofe of all magazines, caftles, &c. ftimmon the parlia¬ 
ment to meet, and, when met, adjourn, prorogue, or dif- 
fulve it, at pleafure ; refufe his affent to any bill, though 
it had pafled both houfes ; which, confequently, by fuch 
a refufal, has no more force than if it had never been 
moved ; but this is a prerogative that the kings of Eng¬ 
land have very feldom ventured to exercife. He poflelTes 
the right of choofing his own council ; of nominating all 
the great officers of Hate, of the houfehold, and the 
church; and, in fine, is the fountain of honour, from 
whence all degrees of nobility and knighthood are de¬ 
rived. With all thefe prerogatives, as extenfive and nu¬ 
merous as ever were claimed by the molt abfolute mo¬ 
narch, yet, lince only a third branch of the legillative 
authority exilts in the royal perfon, it is impoffible for 
him to exercife an arbitrary will—he has indeed the pre¬ 
rogative of commanding armies and equipping fleets ; 
but without the concurrence of his parliament he cannot 
maintain them. He can bellow places and employments; 
hut without his parliament he cannot pay the falaries at¬ 
tendant on them. He can declare war ; but without his 
parliament it is impoffible for him to carry it on. In a 
word, the royal prerogative, deftitute of the power of 
impofmg taxes, and with only a fpecific revenue refult- 
ing from the people, is like a valt body, which cannot of 
itfelf accomplifh its motions ; or, it is like a fliip com¬ 
pletely equipped, but from which the parliament can at 
pleafure d.raw off the water, and leave it aground—or fet 
it afloat again, by granting the fupplies. 
The parliament is affembled by the king’s writs, and its 
fittings mult not be intermitted above three years. When 
the three brandies are convened, they form the great cor¬ 
poration or body politic of jhe kingdom, of which the 
king is Laid to be caput, principium , ct jinis. For upon their 
coming together the king meets them, either in perfon, 
or by reprefentation ; without which there can be no be¬ 
ginning of a parliament; and he alio has alone the power 
of diifolving them. 
It is highly neceffary, for preferving the balance of the 
conllitution, that the executive power fliould be a branch, 
though not the whole, of the legiflature. The crown 
cannot begin of itfelf any alterations in the prefent elta- 
blifhed law ; but it may approve or difapprove of the 
alteration fuggelted and contented to by the two houfes. 
The legillative therefore cannot abridge the executive 
power of any rights which it now has by law, without its 
own confent : lince the law mult perpetually Hand as it 
now does, unlefs all the powers will .agree to alter it. 
And here indeed, confifls the true excellence of the Eng- 
lifh conllitution, that all the parts of the government 
form a mutual check upon each other. In the legifla¬ 
ture, the people are a check upon the nobility, and the no¬ 
bility a check upon the people ; by the mutual privilege 
of rejecting what the other has refolved : while the king 
is a check upon both, which preferves the executive 
power from encroachments. 
The lords fpiritual confilt of two archbtlhops and 
twenty-four bilhops. The lords temporal confilt of all 
the peers of the realm, the hilltops not being in ftridtnefs 
held to be fuch, but merely lords of parliament. Some 
of the peers fit by defeeut, as do all ancient peers ; fome 
by creation, as do all the new-made ones : others, linc§ 
the union witlt Scotland and Ireland, by election. The 
number of Englilh peers is indefinite, and may be increaf¬ 
ed at will by the power of the crown. A body of nobi¬ 
lity is more peculiarly neceflary in our mixed and com¬ 
pound conllitution, in order to fupport the rights of both 
the crown and the people ; by forming a barrier to with- 
ftand the encroachments of both. It creates and preferves 
that gradual fcale of dignity, which proceeds from the 
peafant to the prince ; riling like a pyramid from a broad 
foundation, and diminilhing toa point as it afeends. The 
nobility therefore are the pillars, which are reared from 
among the people, more immediately to fupport the 
throne ; and, if that falls, they mult alfo be buried under 
its ruins. Accordingly, when in the feventeenrh century 
the commons, under Cromwell, had determined to extir¬ 
pate monarchy, they alfo voted the houfe of lords to be 
ufelefs and dangerous. 
The commons confilt of all fuch men, of any property 
in the kingdom, as have not feats in the houfe of lords; 
every 
