the Commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it again ſuppoſes that the King is wiſer than thoſe, whom it has already ſuppoſed to be wiſer than him. A mere abſurdity!
There is ſomething exceedingly ridiculous in the compoſition of Monarchy; it firſt excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in caſes where the higheſt judgment is required.—The ſtate of a King ſhuts him from the world, yet the buſineſs of a King requires him to know it thoroughly: Wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally oppoſing and deſtroying each other, prove the whole character to be abſurd and uſeleſs.
Some writers have explained the Engliſh conſtitution thus; the King, ſay they, is one; the People another; the Peers are an houſe in behalf of the King; the Commons in behalf of the People; but this hath all the diſtinctions of an houſe divided againſt itſelf; and though the expreſſions be pleaſantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle and ambiguous: And it will always happen, that the niceſt conſtruction that words are capable of, when applied to the deſcription of ſomething which either cannot exiſt, or is too incomprehenſible to be within the compaſs of deſcription, will be words of ſound only, and though they may amuſe the ear, they cannot inform the mind: For this explanation includes a previous queſtion, viz. How came the King by a power which the People are afraid to truſt, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wiſe people, neither can any power which needs checking be from God: Yet the proviſion which the conſtitution makes, ſuppoſes ſuch a power to exiſt.
But the proviſion is unequal to the taſk; the means either cannot or will not accompliſh the end, and the whole affair is a felo de ſe: For as the greater weight will always carry up the leſs, and as all the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know which power in the conſtitution has the moſt weight, for that will govern: And though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the phraſe is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet ſo long as they cannot ſtop it, their endeavours will be ineffectual: The firſt moving power will at laſt have its way, and what it wants in ſpeed is ſupplied by time.
That the crown is this overbearing part in the Engliſh conſtitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole conſequence merely from being the giver of places and penſions is ſelf-evident; wherefore, though we have been wiſe enough to ſhut and lock a door againſt abſolute Monarchy, we at the ſame time have been fooliſh enough to put the Crown in poſſeſſion of the key.
The prejudice of Engliſhmen in favour of their own government, by King, Lords and Commons, ariſes as much or more from national pride than reaſon. Individuals are undoubtedly ſafer in England than in ſome other countries:
