none at all; and the king would not have it by way of new law or ordinance, whereby a right may feem to be created and conferred upon him; and therefore a middle way was rather chosen, by way (as the noble hiftorian expreffes it) of establishment, and that under covert and indifferent words," that the inheritance of "the crown should reft, remain, and abide in king Henry VII and "the heirs of his body :" thereby providing for the future, and at the fame time acknowleging his prefent poffeffion; but not determining either way, whether that poffeffion was de jure or de facto merely. However he foon after married Elizabeth of York, the undoubted heiress of the conqueror, and thereby gained (as fir Edward Coke' declares) by much his best title to the crown. Whereupon the act made in his favour was so much disregarded, that it never was printed in our ftatute books. HENRY the eighth, the iffue of this marriage, fucceeded to the crown by clear indisputable hereditary right, and tranfmitted it to his three children in fucceffive order. But in his reign we at feveral times find the parliament bufy in regulating the fucceffion to the kingdom. And, firft, by ftatute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 12. which recites the mischiefs, which have and may enfue by difputed titles, because no perfect and fubftantial provifion hath been made by law concerning the fucceffion; and then enacts, that the crown fhall be entailed to his majefty, and the fons or heirs males of his body; and in default of fuch fons to the lady Elizabeth (who is declared to be the king's eldest iffue female, in exclufion of the lady Mary, on account of her fuppofed illegitimacy by the divorce of her mother queen Catherine) and to the lady Elizabeth's heirs of her body; and fo on from iffue female to iffue female, and the heirs of their bodies, by courfe of inheritance according to their ages, as the crown of England hath been accustomed and ought to go, in cafe where there be heirs female of the fame: and in default of iffue female, then to the king's right heirs for ever. This single statute is an ample proof of all the four pofitions we at firft fet out with. BUT, upon the king's divorce from Ann Boleyn, this flatute was, with regard to the fettlement of the crown, repealed by statute 28 Hen. VIII. c. 7. wherein the lady Elizabeth is alfo, as well as the lady Mary, bastardized, and the crown fettled on the king's children by queen Jane Seymour, and his future wives; and, in defect of fuch children, then with this remarkable remainder, to fuch perfons as the king by letters patent, or last will and testament, fhould limit and appoint the same. A vaft power; but, notwithstanding, as it was regularly vested in him by the fupreme legislative authority, it was therefore indifputably valid. But this power was never carried into execution; for by flatute 35 Hen. VIII. c. 1. the king's two daughters are legitimated again, and the crown is limited to prince Edward by name, after that to the lady Mary, and then to the lady Elizabeth, and the heirs of their respective bodies; which fucceffion took effect accordingly, being indeed no other than the ufual cou:fe of the law, with regard to the descent of the crown. BUT left there should remain any doubt in the minds of the people, through this jumble of acts for limiting the fucceffion, by ftatute 1 Mar. p. 2. c. 1. queen Mary's hereditary right to the throne is acknowleged and recognized in these words:"the "crown of these realms is moft lawfully, juftly, and rightly def"cended and come to the queen's highnefs that now is, being the very, true, and undoubted heir and inheritrix thereof." And again, upon the queen's marriage with Philip of Spain, in the ftatute which fettles the preliminaric, of that match', the hereditary right to the crown is thus aflerted and declared: "as "touching the right of the queen's inheritance in the realm and "dominions of England, the children, whether male or female, "fhall fucceed in them, according to the known laws, ftatutes, "and cuftoms of the fame. Which determination of the parliament, that the fucceflion ball continue in the ufual courfe, feems 11. p. 1. feems tacitly to imply a power of new-modelling and altering it, in cafe the legislature had thought proper. 66 ON queen Elizabeth's acceffion, her right is recognized in still ftronger terms than her fifter's; the parliament acknowleging ", "that the queen's highness is, and in very deed and of moft mere right ought to be, by the laws of God, and the laws and fta"tutes of this realm, our moft lawful and rightful fovercign liege lady and queen; and that her highnefs is rightly, lineally, and "lawfully defcended and come of the blood royal of this realm "of England; in and to whose princely perfon, and to the heirs of her body lawfully to be begotten, after her, the imperial "crown and dignity of this realm doth belong." And in the fame reign, by ftatute 13 Eliz. c. 1. we find the right of parliament to direct the fucceffion of the crown afferted in the most explicit words. "If any perfon shall hold, afirm, or maintain "that the common laws of this realm, not altered by parliament, "ought not to direct the right of the crown of England; or that "the queen's majefty, with and by the authority of parliament, is not able to make laws and ftatutes of fuflicient force and validity, to limit and bind the crown of this realm, and the de“scent, linitation, inheritance, and government thereof;—such perfon, fo holding, affirming, or maintaining, fhall during the "life of the queen be guilty of high treafon; and after her dc"cease shall be guilty of a misdemefnor, and forfeit his goods and "chattels," On the death of queen Elizabeth, without iffue, the line of Henry VIII became extinct. It therefore became necessary to recur to the other iffuc of Henry VII, by Elizabeth of York his queen whofe eldest daughter Margaret having married James IV king of Scotland, king James the fixth of Scotland, and of England the firft, was the lineal defcendant from that alliance. So that in his perfon, as clearly as in Henry VIII, centered all the claims of different competitors from the conqueft downwards, he being u Stat. . Eli:. c. 3. being indifputably the lineal heir of the conqueror. And, what is ftill more remarkable, in his perfon alío centered the right of the Saxon monarchs, which had been fufpended from the conqueft till his acceffion. For, as was formerly obferved, Margaret the fifter of Edgar Atheling, the daughter of Edward the outlaw, and grand-daughter of king Edmund Ironfide, was the perfon in whom the hereditary right of the Saxon kings, fuppofing it not abolished by the conqueft, refided. She married Malcolm King of Scotland; and Henry II, by a defcent from Matilda their daughter, is generally called the restorer of the Saxon line. But it mutt be remembered, that Malcolm by his Saxon queen had fons as well as daughters; and that the royal family of Scotland from that time downwards were the offspring of Malcolm and Margaret. Of this royal family king James the first was the direct lineal heir, and therefore united in his perfon every poflible claim by hereditary right to the English as well as Sch throne. being the heir both of Egbert and William the conqueror, AND it is no wonder that a prince of more learning than wif dom, who could deduce an hereditary title for more than eight hundred years, fhould cafily be taught by the flatterers of the times to believe there was fomething divine in this right, and that the finger of providence was visible in it's preservation. Whereas, though a wife inftitution, it was clearly a human inftitution; and the right inherent in him no natural, but a pofitive, right. And in this and no other light was it taken by the Englifh parliament; who by ftatute 1 Jac. I. c. 1. did "recognize " and acknowlege, that immediately upon the diffolution and de ceafe of Elizabeth late queen of England, the imperial crown "thereof did by inherent birthright, and lawful and undoubted "fucceffion, defcend and come to his moft excellent majefty, as being lineally, joftly, and lawfully, next and file heir of the "blood royal of this realm." Not a word here of any right immediately derived from heaven: which, if it exifted any where maft be fought for among the aborigines of the illard, die an tient Britons; among whofe princes indeed fome have gone to fearch it for him ". BUT, wild and abfurd as the doctrine of divine right most undoubtedly is, it is still more aftonifhing, that when fo many human hereditary rights had centered in this king, his fon and heir king Charles the first should be told by those infamous judges, who pronounced his unparalleled fentence, that he was an elective prince; elected by his people, and therefore accountable to themi in his own proper perfon, for his conduct. The confufion, inItability, and madneís, which followed the fatal catastrophe of that pious and unfortunate prince, will be a standing argument in favour of hereditary monarchy to all future ages; as they proved at laft to the then deluded people: who, in order to recover that peace and happiness which for twenty years together they had loft, in a folemn parliamentary convention of the ftates restored the right heir of the crown. And in the proclamation for that purpose, which was drawn up and attended by both houfes, they declared, that, according to their duty and allegiance, they did "heartily, joyfully, and unanimously acknowlege and proclaim, "that immediately upon the deccafe of our late fovereign lord King Charles, the imperial crown of these realms did by inhc"rent birtight and lawful and undoubted fucceffion defcend and "come to his moft excellent majcity Charles the fecond, as being "lineally, jufly, and lawfully, next heir of the blood royal of this "realm: and thercunto they moft humbly and faithfully did fubmit and oblige themselves, their heirs, and pofterity for ever." 66 THUS I think it clearly appears, from the higheft authority this nation is acquainted with, that the crown of England hath been ever an hereditary crown; though fubject to limitations by parliament. The remainder of this chapter will confiit princi w Elizabeth of York, the mother of queen Margint of Scotland, was heirefs of the heute of lortimer. And Mr Carte obrves, bac the houfe of Mortimer, in virtue of it's pally descent from Ghdys only fifter to Lewellin |