"of this kingdom of England, and the dominions "thereunto belonging, according to the statutes in "parliament agreed on, and the laws and cuftoms "of the fame The king or queen shall say, I "folemnly promise so to do.

Archbishop or bishop. Will you to your power "caufe law and juftice, in mercy, to be executed in "all your judgments?-King or queen. I will.

Archbishop or bishop. Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the laws of God, the true profeffion of the gofpel, and the Proteftant re"formed religion established by the law? And will you preferve unto the bishops and clergy of this realm, and to the churches committed to their charge, all fuch rights and privileges as by law "do or fhall appertain unto them, or any of them? -King or queen. All this I promise to do.

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"After this the king or queen, laying his or her band upon the holy gofpels, fall fay, The things which "I have here before promifed I will perform and keep fo help me God. And then shall kifs the "book.".

This is the form of the coronation oath, as it is now prefcribed by our laws: and we may obferve, that in the king's part in this original contract, are expreffed all the duties that a monarch can owe to his people; viz. to govern according to law: to execute judgment in mercy and to maintain the establifhed religion. With refpect to the latter of thefe three branches, we may farther remark, that by the act of union, 5. Ann. c. 8. two preceding ftatutes are recited and confirmed; the one of the parliament of Scotland, the other of the parliament of England: which enact; the former, that every king at his acceffion fhall take and subscribe an oath, to preferve the Proteftant religion and Presbyterian church government in Scotland; the latter, that at his coronation he fhall take and fubfcribe a fimilar oath, to preferve the fettlement of the church of England

England within England, Ireland, Wales, and Berwick, and the territories thereunto belonging.

The king of Great Britain, notwithstanding the limitations or the power of the crown, already mentioned, is one of the greatest 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 death; neither can he, in himself, 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 has no bounds, (except where it breaks in upon the liberty and property of his fubjects, as in making new laws, or raifing new taxes) for he can make war or peace; fend and receive ambaffadors; make treaties of league and commerce; levy armies, fit out fleets, employ them as he thinks proper; grant commiffions to his officers both by fea and land, or revoke them at pleafure; difpofe of all magazines, caftles, &c. fummon the parliament to meet, and, when met, adjourn, prorogue, or diffolve it at pleasure; refufe his affent to any bill, though it hath paffed both houfes; which, confequently, by fuch a refufal, has no more force than if it had never been moved. He poffeffeth the right of chufing his own council; of nominating all the great officers of ftate, of the houfhold, and the church; and, in fine, is the fountain of honour, from whom all degrees of nobility and knighthood are derived. Such is the dignity and power of a king of Great Britain.

Of the Parliament.

Parliaments, in fome fhape, are of as high antiquity as the Saxon government in this ifland; and have fubfifted, in their prefent form, at leaft five hundred years.

The parliament is affembled by the king's writs, and it's fitting muft not be intermitted above three

Its constituent parts are, the king fitting years. there in his royal political capacity, and the three eftates of the realm; the lords fpiritual, the lords temporal, (who fit, together with the king, in one houfe) and the commons, who fit by themselves in another. The king and these three eftates, together, form the great corporation or body politic of the kingdom, of which the king is faid to be caput, principium, et finis. For upon their coming together the king meets them, either in perfon or by reprefentation; without which there can be no beginning of a parliament; and he also has alone the diffolving them.

power

of

It is highly neceffary for preferving the balance of the conftitution, that the executive power should be a branch, though not the whole, of the legislature. The crown cannot begin of itself any alterations in the prefent established law; but it may approve or difapprove of the alterations fuggefted and confented to by the two houses. The legislative therefore cannot abridge the executive power of any rights which it now has by law, without it's own confent: fince the law muft perpetually ftand as it now does, unless all the powers will agree to alter it. And herein indeed confifts the true excellence of the English government, that all the parts of it form a mutual check upon each other. In the legislature, the people are a check upon the nobility, and the nobility 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 preserves the exe cutive power from encroachments.

The lords fpiritual confift of two archbishops and twenty-four bishops. The lords temporal confift of all the peers of the realm, the bishops not being in ftrictnefs held to be fuch, but meerly lords of parliament. Some of thefe fit by delcent, as do all antient peers; fome by creation, as do all the newmade ones; others, fince the union with Scotland, by election, which is the cafe of the fixteen peers, who

reprefent

Their

reprefent the body of the Scots nobility. number is indefinite, and may be encreased at will by the power of the crown.

A body of nobility is more peculiarly neceffary in our mixed and compounded conftitution, in order to fupport the rights of both the crown and the people; by forming a barrier to withstand the encroachments of both. It creates and preserves that gradual scale of dignity, which proceeds from the peafant to the prince; rifing like a pyramid from a broad foundation, and diminishing to a point as it rifes. The nobility therefore are the pillars, which are reared from among the people, more immediately to fupport the throne; and if that falls, they must also be buried under it's ruins. Accordingly, when in the laft century the commons had determined to extirpate monarchy, they alfo voted the houfe of lords to be useless and dangerous.

The commons confift of all fuch men of any property in the kingdom, as have not feats in the house of lords; every one of which has a voice in parliament, either perfonally, or by his reprefentatives. In a free ftate, every man, who is fuppofed a free agent, ought to be, in fome meafure, his own governor; and therefore a branch at least of the legislative power should refide in the whole body of the people. În fo large a state as ours, it is very wifely contrived, that the people fhould do that by their reprefentatives, which it is impracticable to perform in perfon: representatives, chofen by a number of minute and feparate diftricts, wherein all the voters are, or eafily may be, diftinguished. The counties are therefore reprefented by knights, elected by the proprietors of lands; the cities and boroughs are reprefented by citizens and burgeffes, chofen by the mercantile part or fuppofed trading intereft of the nation. The number of English reprefentatives is 513, and of Scots 45; in all 558. And every member, though chofen by one particular diftrict, when elected and returned,

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returned, ferves for the whole realm. For the end of his coming thither is not particular, but general; not barely to advantage his constituents, but the common wealth, and to advise his majefty, as appears from the writ of fummons.

Thefe are the conftituent parts of a parliament, the king, the lords fpiritual and temporal, and the commons. Parts, of which each is so neceffary, that the confent of all three is required to make any new law that fhould bind the fubject. Whatever is enacted for law by one, or by two only, of the three, is not ftatute; and to it no regard is due, unless in matters relating to their own privileges.

The power and jurifdiction of parliament, fays Sir Edward Coke, is so tranfcendent and absolute, that it cannot be confined, either for caufes or perfons, within any bounds. It hath fovereign and uncontrolable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, reftraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all poffible denominations, ecclefiaftical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal: this being the place where that abfolute defpotic power, which must in all governments refide fomewhere, is entrusted by the conftitution of thefe kingdoms. All mifchiefs and grievances, operations and remedies, that tranfcend the ordinary courfe of the laws, are within the reach of this extraordinary tribunal. It can regulate or new model the fucceffion to the crown; as was done in the reign of Henry VIII. and William III. It can alter the established religion of the land; as was done. in a variety of inftances, in the reigns of king Henry VIII. and his three children. It can change and create afresh even the constitution of the kingdom and of parliaments themselves; as was done by the act of union, and the feveral ftatutes for triennial and feptennial elections. It can, in short, do every thing that is not naturally impoffible; and therefore fome have not fcrupled to call it's power, by a figure

rather