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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap, throne in order of succession was of celestial origin, and that—^— any Act of Parliament inconsistent with that rule was a nullity.It is evident that, in a society in which such superstitions pre-vail, constitutional freedom must ever be insecure. A powerwhich is regarded merely as the ordinance of man cannot bean efficient check on a power which is regarded as the ordi-nance of God. It is vain to hope that laws, however excellent,will permanently restrain a King who, in his own opinion,and in that of a great part of his people, has an authorityinfinitely higher in kind than the authority which belongs tothose laws. To deprive royalty of these mysterious attributes,and to establish the principle that Kings reigned by a right inno respect differing from the right by which freeholders choseknights of the shire, or from the right by which Judges grantedwrits of Habeas Corpus, was absolutely necessary to the se-curity of our liberties.

Thus the Convention had two great duties to perform.The first was to clear the fundamental laws of the realm fromambiguity. The second was to eradicate from the minds,both of the governors and of the governed, the false andpernicious notion that the royal prerogative was somethingmore sublime and holy than those fundamental laws. Theformer object was attained by the solemn recital and claimwith which the Declaration of Right commences; the latterby the resolution which pronounced the throne vacant, andinvited William and Mary to fill it.

The change seems small. Not a single flower of the crownwas touched. Not a single new right was given to the people.The whole English law, substantive and adjective, was, inthe judgment of all the greatest lawyers, of Holt and Treby,of Maynard and Somers, exactly the same after the Revolu-tion as before it. Some controverted points had been de-cided according to the sense of the best jurists; and therehad been a slight deviation from the ordinary course of suc-cession. This was all; and this was enough.

As our Revolution was a vindication of ancient rights, soit was conducted with strict attention to ancient formalities.In almost every word and act may be discerned a profound