upon the new ſettlement, the inheritance is conditional; being limited to ſuch heirs only, of the body of the princeſs Sophia, as are proteſtant members of the church of England, and are married to none but proteſtants.
And in this due medium conſiſts, I apprehend, the true conſtitutional notion of the right of ſucceſſion to the imperial crown of theſe kingdoms. The extremes, between which it ſteers, are each of them equally deſtructive of thoſe ends for which ſocieties were formed and are kept on foot. Where the magiſtrate, upon every ſucceſſion, is elected by the people, and may by the expreſs proviſion of the laws be depoſed (if not puniſhed) by his ſubjects, this may ſound like the perfection of liberty, and look well enough when delineated on paper; but in practice will be ever productive of tumult, contention, and anarchy. And, on the other hand, divine indefeaſible hereditary right, when coupled with the doctrine of unlimited paſſive obedience, is ſurely of all conſtitutions the moſt thoroughly ſlaviſh and dreadful. But when ſuch an hereditary right, as our laws have created and veſted in the royal ſtock, is cloſely interwoven with thoſe liberties, which, we have ſeen in a former chapter, are equally the inheritance of the ſubject; this union will form a conſtitution, in theory the moſt beautiful of any, in practice the moſt approved, and, I truſt, in duration the moſt permanent. It was the duty of an expounder of our laws to lay this conſtitution before the ſtudent in it’s true and genuine light: it is the duty of every good Engliſhman to underſtand, to revere, to defend it.
