PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

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Dilly of Submission explaIned.
region of the world; does that vote, unaccompanied
especially with any culture, inclosure, or proper act
of occupation, make it theirs? does it entitle them
to exclude others from it, or to dictate the conditions
upon which it shall be enjoyed? Yet this original
collective· right and ownership, is the foundation of
all the reasoning, by which the duty of allegiaI!ce is
inferred from the possession of land.
The theory of government, which affirms the existt7Dce
and the obligation of a social compact, would,
after all, m?rit little di~cussion, a.nd however :sround.
less and unnecessary, should receive no oppo~itioa
from US~ did it not apPe3l to lead to conclusions unfavourable
to the improvement, and to the peace of
• •
numan socIety.
1st. Upon the supposition that government was
first erected' by, and that it derives all its just authority
from, rEsolutions entered into by a convention
of the people, it is capable of being presumed~
that many points were settled by that conv~ntion,
aIlterior to the establishment of the subsisting legislature,
and which the legislature, consequently, hasno
right to alter, or interfere with. These points
are called the fundamentals of the constitution; and
as it is impossible to deternline how many, -or what
they are, the sugge'ting of any ~uch, serves extremely
to embarrass the deliberations of ttle legislature, and
affords a dclngerous pretence ff)r di~puting tIle author ..
ity of the laws. It was this 80rt of reasoning (~o far as
reasoning of any kind was employed in the question)
that produced in this nation the doubt, which so
~uch agitated the minds of men in the reign of the
second Charles, whether an Act of Parliament could
of right alter or litnit the succession of the crown.
2dly. If it be by virtue of a compact, that the subject
owes obedience to civil government, it will fol~
low, that he ought to abide by the form of government
which he fllld~ e~tablished, be it ever r.o absurd,
or inconvenient. . I-Ie is bOUJld b,~ his bargain. It is
~
not perlnltted to any man to retreat from his engagement.
merely bccaw;e he finds the pC)'formancc di~ad.·