Before Experience had demonſtrated, or a thorough Knowledge of the Human Heart had pointed out, the Abuſes inſeparable from ſuch a Conſtitution, it muſt have appeared ſo much the more perfect, as thoſe appointed to look to its Preſervation were themſelves moſt concerned therein; for Magiſtracy and its Rights being built ſolely on the fundamental Laws, as ſoon as theſe ceaſed to exiſt, the Magiſtrates would ceaſe to be lawful, the People would no longer be bound to obey them, and, as the Eſſence of the State did not conſiſt in the Magiſtrates but in the Laws, the Members of it would immediately become intitled to their primitive and natural Liberty.
A little Reflection would afford us new Arguments in Confirmation of this Truth, and the Nature of the Contract might alone convince us that it cannot be irrevocable: for if there was no Superior
