of king Charles the ſecond. It is well known, that the purport of this bill was to have ſet aſide the king’s brother and preſumptive heir, the duke of York, from the ſucceſſion, on the ſcore of his being a papiſt; that it paſſed the houſe of commons, but was rejected by the lords; the king having alſo declared beforehand, that he never would be brought to conſent to it. And from this tranſaction we may collect two things: 1. That the crown was univerſally acknowleged to be hereditary; and the inheritance indefeaſible unleſs by parliament: elſe it had been needleſs to prefer ſuch a bill. 2. That the parliament had a power to have defeated the inheritance: elſe ſuch a bill had been ineffectual. The commons acknowleged the hereditary right then ſubſiſting; and the lords did not diſpute the power, but merely the propriety, of an excluſion. However, as the bill took no effect, king James the ſecond ſucceeded to the throne of his anceſtors; and might have enjoyed it during the remainder of his life, but for his own infatuated conduct, which (with other concurring circumſtances) brought on the revolution in 1688.
The true ground and principle, upon which that memorable event proceeded, was an entirely new caſe in politics, which had never before happened in our hiſtory; the abdication of the reigning monarch, and the vacancy of the throne thereupon. It was not a defeazance of the right of ſucceſſion, and a new limitation of the crown, by the king and both houſes of parliament: it was the act of the nation alone, upon a conviction that there was no king in being. For in a full aſſembly of the lords and commons, met in convention upon the ſuppoſition of this vacancy, both houſes[1] came to this reſolution; “that king James the ſecond, having endeavoured to ſubvert the conſtitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people; and, by the advice of jeſuits and other wicked perſons, having violated the fundamental laws; and having withdrawn himſelf out of this kingdom; has abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant.” Thus ended at once, by this ſudden
- ↑ Com. Journ. 7 Feb. 1688.
