x<f6 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

chap. even allowing the king’s abuse of power to bsi.xxi. equivalent to an abdication , or in other words,i«S9. to a civil death , it could operate no otherwisethan his voluntary resignation or his natural death;and could only make way for the next successor.It was a maxim of English law, that the throne■was never vacant; but instantly, upon the demiseof one king, was filled with his legal heir, whowas entitled to all the authority of his predecessor.And however young or unfit for government thesuccessor, however unfortunate in his situation,though he were even a captive in the hands ofpublic enemies; yet no just reason, they thought,could be assigned, why, without any default ofbis own, he should lose a crown, to which, bybirth, he was fully entitled. The managers forthe commons might have opposed this reasoningby many specious and even solid arguments.They might have said , that the great securityfor allegiance being merely opinion, any schemeof settlement should be adopted , in which , itwas most probable , the people would acquiesceand persevere. That though, upon the naturaldeath of a king, whose administration had beenagreeable to the laws , many and great incon-veniences would be endured rather than excludeJus lineal successor ; yet the case was not thesame, when the people had been obliged, bytheir revolt, to dethrone a prince, whose illegalmeasures had , in every circumstance , violatedthe constitution. That in these extraordinaryrevolutions, the government reverted, in some

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