Chap. XI. The HISTORYof the PURITANS. 769 " parate from his crown that which was in a manner ef'ential to it (viz,) K. Charles I. a power to proteöt bisfubjec`ts." 1642. To which the commons replied, " That the king alone could not be The p ¡; " judge in this cafe, for the king judges not matters of law but by his ment: CM- " courts; nor can the courts of law be judges of the Rate of the king- Ruthw. " dom againft the parliament, becaufe they are inferior; but as the law p, 698. " isdetermined by the judges, who are the king's council, fo the Rate of Rapin, " the nation is to be determined by the two houfes of parliament, who P. 477. " are the proper judges of the conflitution. If therefore the lords and commons in parliament affembled, declare this or the other matter " to be according to law, or according to the conftitution of the king- " dom, 'tis not lawful for any Tingle perfon or inferior court to contra- " dill it." But inftead of tiring the reader with a long paper war in fupport of Remark,. thefe propofitions, I will make one general remark, which may ferve as a key to the whole controverfy. Ifwe fuppfe the kingdom to be in its na- turalfate, after the king had withdrawn from his parliament, and would adno longer in concert with them. If the conftitution was then entire, and the mof confiderable grievances redrefd. If the laws in being were afuf- ficient ficurity again( the return ofpopery and arbitrarypower, and there wasgood reafon to believe thofe laws would have theirfree courfe ; then the king's arguments are ftrong and conclufive ; for in all ordinary cafes, the adminiftration of juftice, and the due execution of the laws, is vetted in the crown; nor may the lords and commons in parliament make new laws, or fufpend and alter old ones, without his majefty's confent. But on the other hand, if in the opinion of the lords and commons inpar- liament affembled, who are the reprefentatives of the whole nation, the con- flitution is broken; by the king's deferting his two houfes, and r f lviug toalt no longer in concert with them, or by any other overt-ads of his majef ty's council, inconffent with the conflitution, Or if both bouts'hall de- clare the religion and liberties of the nation to be in imminent danger, either from foreign or dome/lick enemies, and the king will not concur with his parliament to apply fach remedies as the wifdom of his two houfes think neceffary; then certainly after proper petitions and remonftrances, they may from the necojity of the cafe provide for the public fafety, as much as in the cafe of nonage or captivity of the prince. In order there- fore to decide in the prefent controverfy, we muff make an eftimate of the true condition of the nation; whether it was in its natural State; or whether the conftitution being divided and broken by the king's defert- ing his parliament, the legal form of government was not. difolved ? In the former cafe I apprehend the king was in the right; In the latter, the parliament. Vol.. I. S F This Mow
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