were ſubjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was loſt in the firſt, and our authority in the laſt; and as both diſable us from reaſſuming ſome former ſtate and privilege, it unanſwerably follows that original ſin and hereditary ſucceſſion are parallels. Diſhonorable rank! inglorious connexion! yet the moſt ſubtile ſophiſt cannot produce a juſter ſimile.
As to uſurpation, no man will be ſo hardy as to defend it; and that William the Conqueror was an uſurper is a fact not to be contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of Engliſh Monarchy will not bear looking into.
But it is not ſo much the abſurdity as the evil of hereditary ſucceſſion which concerns mankind. Did it enſure a race of good and wiſe men, it would have the ſeal of divine authority; but as it opens a door to the fooliſh, the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it the nature of oppreſſion. Men who look upon themſelves born to reign, and others to obey, ſoon grow inſolent—ſelected from the reſt of mankind, their minds are eaſily poiſoned by importance; and the world they act in differs ſo materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true intereſts, and when they ſucceed in the government are frequently the moſt ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.
Another evil which attends hereditary ſucceſſion is, that the throne is ſubject to be poſſeſſed by a minor at any age; all which time the Regency acting under the cover of a King, have every opportunity and inducement to betray their truſt. The ſame national misfortune happens when a King, worn out with age and infirmity, enters the laſt ſtage of human weakneſs. In both theſe caſes the public becomes a prey to every miſcreant, who can tamper ſucceſsfully with the follies either of age or infancy.
The moſt plauſible plea which hath ever been offered in favour of hereditary ſucceſſion is, that it preſerves a nation from civil wars; and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas it is the moſt barefaced falſity ever impoſed upon mankind. The whole hiſtory of England diſowns the fact. Thirty Kings and two minors have reigned in that diſtracted kingdom ſince the conqueſt, in which time there have been (including the Revolution) no leſs than eight civil wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore, inſtead of making for peace, it makes againſt it, and deſtroys the very foundation it ſeems to ſtand on.
The conteſt for Monarchy and Succeſſion between the houſes of York and Lancaſter laid England in a ſcene of blood for many years. Twelve pitched battles, beſides ſkirmiſhes and ſieges, were fought between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry priſoner to Edward, who in his turn was priſoner to Henry. And ſo uncertain is the fate of war and the temper of a nation, when nothing but perſonal matters are the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a priſon to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land: Yet as ſudden tranſitions of temper are ſeldom laſting,
