the fecond Volume of the Parliamentary Hiftory of England. Struck with the wisdom of the conditions demanded by the Commons, the Authors of the Book juft mentioned, obferve (perhaps with fome fimplicity) that the Commons of England were no fools at that time. They ought rather to have faid;-The Commons of England were happy enough to form among themselves an Affembly in which every one could propofe what matters he pleased, and freely discuss them;-they had no poffibility left of converting either thefe advan-. tages, or in genetal the confidence which the People had placed in them, to any private views of their own: they, therefore, without lofs of time endeavoured to ftipulate useful conditions with that Power by which they faw themselves at every inftant expofed to be diffolved and difperfed, and applied their industry to infure the fafety of the whole People, as it was the only means they had of procuring their own.

In the long contentions which took place between the Houfes of York and Lancaster, the Commons remained fpectators of disorders which, in thofe times, it was not in their power to prevent they fucceffively acknowledged the title of the victorious parties; but

whether under Edward the Fourth, under Richard the Third, or Henry the Seventh, by whom thofe quarrels were terminated, they continually availed themfelves of the importance of the fervices which they were able to perform to the new established Sovereign, for obtaining effectual conditions in favour of the whole body. of the People.

At the acceffion of James the Firft, which, as it placed a new Family on the Throne of England, may be confidered as a kind of Revolution, no demands were made by the Men who were at the head of the Nation, but in favour of general liberty,

After the acceffion of Charles the Firft, difcontents of a very ferious nature began to take place, and they were terminated in the first inftance, by the Act called the Petition of Right, which is ftill looked upon as a moft precife and accurate delineation of the rights of the People (a).

(a) The diforders which took place in the latter part of the reign of that Prince, feem indeed to contain a complete contradiction of the affertion which is the fubject of the present Chapter; but they, at the fame time, are a no lefs convincing confirmation of the truth of the principles laid down in the courfe of this whole Work. The above mentioned diforders took rife from that day in which Charles the First gave up the power of diffolving his Parliament; that is, from the day in

At the Restoration of Charles the Second, the Conftitution being re-established upon its former principles, the former confequences produced by it, began again to take place; and we fee at that æra, and indeed during the whole courfe of that Reign, a continued feries of precautions taken for fecuring the general liberty.

Laftly, the great event which took place in the year 1689, affords a ftriking confirmation of the truth of the obfervation made in this Chapter. At this era the political wonder again appeared-of a Revolution terminated by a series of public Acts in which no interefts but thofe of the People at large. were confidered and provided for ;-no clause, even the moft indirect, was inferted, either to gratify the prefent ambition, or favour the future views, of thofe who were perfonally concerned in bringing thofe Acts to a conclufion. Indeed, if any thing is capable of conveying to us an adequate idea of the found. nefs, as well as peculiarity, of the principles on which the English Government is founded,

which the Members of that Affembly acquired an independent, perfonal, permanent authority, which they soon began to turn against the People who had raised them to it.

it is the attentive perufal of the Syftem of public Compacts to which the Revolution of the year 1689 gave rife,of the Bill of Rights with all its different claufes, and of the feveral Acts which under two fubfequent Reigns, till the Acceffion of the Houfe of Hanover, were made in order to ftrengthen it.

CHA P. XVI.

Second Difference-The Manner after which the Laws for the Liberty of the Subject are executed in England,

HE fecond difference I mean to speak of,

TH

between the English Government and that of other free States, concerns the important object of the execution of the Laws. On this article, alfo, we fhall find the advantage to lie on the fide of the English Government; and, if we make a comparison between the Hiftory of thofe States and that of England, it will lead us to the following

obfervation, viz. that, though in other free States the laws concerning the Liberty of the Citizens were imperfect, yet the execution of of them was still more defective. In England, on the contrary, the laws for the fecurity of the Subject, are not only very extenfive in their provifions, but the manner in which they are executed, carries thefe advantages ftill farther ; and English Subjects enjoy no lefs liberty from the fpirit both of juftice and mildnefs, by which all branches of the Government are influenced, than from the accuracy of the laws themselves.

The Roman Commonweath will here again fupply us with examples to prove the former part of the above affertion. When I faid, in the foregoing Chapter, that, in times of public commotion, no provifions were made for the body of the People, I meant no provisions that were likely to prove effectual in the event. When the People were roufed to a certain degree, or when their concurrence was neceffary to carry into effect certain refolutions, or meafures, that were particularly interefting to the Men in power, the latter could not, with any prudence, openly profefs a contempt for the