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

124 D1Jfy of Submissi')n explained.
peaceably settled. No subject of the British empirE;
conceives hiP.1~elf engaged to vindicate the justice of
the Norman claim~ or conque!-t, or apprehends that
llis duty in any mannel· depends upon that controversy.
So likewise if the House of Lancaster, or even
the pO~fl?tity of Cromwell, had been at this d y seated
upon the throne of England, we should ha\~e been as
little concerned t,) inquire how the founder of the
fami!y came there. No civil contests are so futile,
although none have been so furious and sanguinary,
as those whieh are excited by a disputed succession..
IV. Not every invl.sion of the subjects rights, or
liberty, or cf the constitution; nor every breach of
promise, or of oath; not every stretch of prerogative,
abuse of power, or neglect of duty by the chiefmagistrate,
or by the whole or any branch of the legislative
body, justifies resistance, un)e~s the~e crimes
draw after them public consequences of sufficient
magnitude to outweigh the evils of civil dhturbance.
Nevertheless, every vi~lation
of the cGn:-titution
ought to be watched with jt~alousy, and resenteu as
such, beyond what the quantity of estimable damage
would require or warrant; because a kno\vn and settled
usage of governing affords the only security
against the enormitie~ of uncontrolled dominion, and
because this fecurity is weakened by every encroach.
Dlent \\?hich is made without opposition, or opposed
without effect.
V. No usage, law, or authority whatever, is so
binding that it need or ought to be continued, when
it may be changed with advantage to the community.
The family of the prince, the order of succession, the
prt·rogative of the crown, the form and parts of the
legislature, together wirh the re~pective powers, of.
nee,. duration and mutual dependency of (he several
parts, are all only so manylaws, mutable. like other
laws whenever expediency requires, either by the or·
dinary act of the legislature, or, if the occasion deserve
it .. by the interposition of the people. These
points are wont to be approached with a kind of
awe; they art~ represented to the mind as pdnciples