chap. n.] WEST INDIES. ao 9 
as all “ intrusted" authority is necessarily account¬ 
able, and therefore not “ absolute and despotic." 
The truth is, that this despotic and unlimited pow¬ 
er is reserved by the people in their own hands, 
(not to be resorted to indeed but in the last ex¬ 
tremity), and it never was the intention of any soci¬ 
ety of free agents, from the creation of the World 
to this day, to delegate to any man, or body of 
men, an absolute and despotic authority in all ca¬ 
ses over them. Such a delegation indeed, if ever 
it had been made, would have manifested insanity 
in the agents, and, on that account alone, must 
have been void from the beginning. 
As the legislative power of Great Britain there¬ 
fore is supreme only in a relative sense, even with¬ 
in the realm, where the people themselves partici¬ 
pate in its authority, much less can it be said to be 
supreme, in all cases whatsoever , over the colo¬ 
nies. It has indeed been solemnly declared by par¬ 
liament itself, that parliament has such a power; 
but if parliament had not the power before, cer¬ 
tainly their own declaration could not invest them 
with it. 
Considering the constituent branches of the Bri¬ 
tish legislature separately, it will be difficult to 
point out any just authority whatever, existing ei¬ 
ther in the peers or the representatives of the peo¬ 
ple over the colonies. We have seen that the 
first settlers in most of the British plantations, were 
Vol. III. r> d 
