jure divino, as thoſe of either Solomon or Ahab; and yet David ſlew the ſons of his predeceſſor, and Jehu his predeceſſor himſelf. And when our kings have the ſame warrant as they had, whether it be to ſit upon the throne of their fathers, or to deſtroy the houſe of the preceding ſovereign, they will then, and not before, poſſeſs the crown of England by a right like theirs, immediately derived from heaven. The hereditary right, which the laws of England acknowlege, owes it’s origin to the founders of our conſtitution, and to them only. It has no relation to, nor depends upon, the civil laws of the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, or any other nation upon earth: the municipal laws of one ſociety having no connexion with, or influence upon, the fundamental polity of another. The founders of our Engliſh monarchy might perhaps, if they had thought proper, have made it an elective monarchy: but they rather choſe, and upon good reaſon, to eſtabliſh originally a ſucceſſion by inheritance. This has been acquieſced in by general conſent; and ripened by degrees into common law: the very ſame title that every private man has to his own eſtate. Lands are not naturally deſcendible any more than thrones: but the law has thought proper, for the benefit and peace of the public, to eſtabliſh hereditary ſucceſſion in one as well as the other.
It muſt be owned, an elective monarchy ſeems to be the moſt obvious, and beſt ſuited of any to the rational principles of government, and the freedom of human nature: and accordingly we find from hiſtory that, in the infancy and firſt rudiments of almoſt every ſtate, the leader, chief magiſtrate, or prince, hath uſually been elective. And, if the individuals who compoſe that ſtate could always continue true to firſt principles, uninfluenced by paſſion or prejudice, unaſſailed by corruption, and unawed by violence, elective ſucceſſion were as much to be deſired in a kingdom, as in other inferior communities. The beſt, the wiſeſt, and the braveſt man would then be ſure of receiving that crown, which his endowments have merited; and the ſenſe of an unbiaſſed majority would be dutifully acquieſced in by the few who were
