Page:Essays, Moral and Political - David Hume (1741).djvu/137

Possession, to belong to them as their Birth-Right. An ambitious, or rather an ignorant, Prince arose, who esteem'd all these Privileges to be Concessions of his Predecessors, revocable at Pleasure; and in Prosecution of this Principle, he openly acted in Violation of Liberty, during the Course of several Years. Necessity, at last, constrain'd him to call a Parliament: The Spirit of Liberty arose: The Prince, being without any Support, was obliged to grant every Thing requir'd of him: And his Enemies, jealous and implacable, set no Bounds to their Pretensions. Here then begun those Contests, in which it was no Wonder, that Men of that Age were divided into different Parties; since, even at this Day, the Impartial are at a Loss to decide concerning the Justice of the Quarrel. The Pretensions of the Parliament, if yielded to, broke the Ballance of our Constitution, by rendering the Government almost entirely Republican. If not yielded to, we were, perhaps, still in Danger of despotic Power, from the settled Principles and inveterate Habits of the King, which had plainly appear'd in every Concession, that he had been constrain'd to make to his People. In this Question, so de-licate