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Show :0 COMMON, SENSE. a glorious refcue. But that it is imperfect, fuhjeéi to cont} vulfions. and incapable of producing what it terms to pmn mife, it: calily demonflralcd. Abfolute governments ( ho' he dil'grace of human nature)? have this advantage with them, that they are fimole ; if the people {ufien they know the head from which their fufl'er- ing3 fpringa, know likewife the remedy, and are not bewilu dated by a variety ofcaufes and cures. But the confiitutionof England is (0 exceedingly complex, that the nation may- {uifer for years together without being able to difcover in which part the fault lies, tome will fay in one andlome inianoilier. and every political phyfician will advife a different medicine. 1 know it is difficult to get over local'or long fianding: COMMON SENSE. a; power to chetk the king by witholding the (applies, gives afterwards the king a power to check the Ci. mmons, by cmpowering him to rejeé‘t their other bills ; it again {uppofes that the k mg is wiicr than thole whom it has already {oppo{ed to he W-{Cl than him. A mere ablurdity ! There is fomethirg exceedingly ridiculous in the compo*llition of monarchy .',lit ‘firtt excludes a man turn the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cafes where the higheh judgment is required. The [late of a king (huts him from the world, yet the bufinefs of a king tequtres him to ilknow it thoroughly ,wherefore the difl‘cient parts, by unnaturally oppofing and defiioying each other, prove the whole charafler to be ahlurd and ut'eiefs. Some writers have explained the-Englifh confiitution thus; the king, fay they, is one, the people another; the peers are prejudices. yet if it, will fuchr outlelves to examine the component parts of the Englit'h. confiitution, we {hall find‘ them to be the hate remains of two ancient tyrannics, com. pounded with tome new republican materials. Firfl,-The remains-of monarchical tyranny in the per:ton of the king. Se:andly,-- The remains of arifl'ocratica-l tyranny in the ‘ perlmts of the peers. Tbirdly.-The new republican materials, in the perfons of the commons, on whole virtue depends the freedom of an houfc in beha:f of the king, the commons in behalfof the people 3 but this hath all the diliinétions of an houle dis vided againltitfef; and though the expreifions be pleafantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle and ambiguous ; and itwill always happen, that the nicefi confiruc- tion that words are capable of, when appled to the deletiotion of {omething which either cannot exifi, or is too incomlpreheiifible to be wit-bin the compafs of dcfcription, will be Words of found only, and though they may aniufe the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this explanation includes England. a The two firi‘t, by being hereditary, are independent ofthe‘ peoplcywhercfore in a conflituriarisl [mfg they contribute nothing towards the feeedom of the Rate. To fay that the conflitution ofEngland is a union of three powers reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either tho words have no meaning, or they are flat contradié‘lions. To (try that the commons is a check upon the king, 'prefuppofes two things. ‘ at previous quefiion, viz. Haw came the ting by a power whit/J she people are afraid to tru/i, and alum); aélt'gcd to (but 3" Such a power could not be he gittot a wile peopEe, neither ‘Can any power, which aired: disc/ling, be from'G-‘d ; yet the provifion, which the corittitutton makes, {upposz inch 2. powrr to ex fl. But the provifion is unequal to the talk; the means either cannot or will not accomplifh the end, and the wool: affair is a tclo de {e ; tor as the greater weight will :tl- Fir/Y.-That the king is not to be trolled without being.looked after, or in other wotds,that a thrill for abfolute pm!or is the natural difeafe of monarchy. Secondly-That the commons, by being appointed foe that purpofe, are either writer or more worthy of confidence than the crown. ‘ But as the fame confiitution which gives the commons at. ' POW?! ways carry up the lets, and as all the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know which power in the confiimtion has the molt weight, for that will govern; and though the others, or a part cfthem, may clog, 'or as the phrale is, check therapidity of it's motion, yet {0 long as they cannot [top it, their endeavours will be inefficIuall |