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

Brlti.rh Constiilltivn.
and rep .. ir; su;teJ to tl-1e ta~te, fortune, or convenlcn·
cy of it~ ~UCCt"~!'ive proprietors. In !ouch a building,
we look in vain for the elegance and proportion, for
the ju:,t order anti correspondence of parts, which we
expeCt ill 2 mo(lern edifice; ar.d \\ hich external sym.
metry, af~er a!l, contributes much more perhaps to
the anlusenlent of (he beholder, than the accommodation
of the irlhdbitant.
In the Briti~h, and pos~ibly in aU eIther constitution~,
(here e:\ists a \\ijde dificrence between the actual
state of the govern meni: and tht! theory. The one
results from the other; b\lt still they are different •
. '\Then we contclnplate tIle tIJ(,'ory of the British go,T.
ernment, we see the king in\re~ted with the most absolute
personal impunity; withl, power of rej·xting
la\vs, w·hich have been resolved upon by both hOllses
of parliament; of cO:lferring by his charter, upon
any set or succes~ion of men he pleases, the privilege
of sending representatives illto one hcuse 0 f" parliam~~:nt,
a~ by his inlmediate a}JpOiIltlTIent he (an place
v,,'hO~j he will in the other.
"\\That is this, a foreigner
1-11i~ht a~k, bllt a more ~ircuit(jus de~rjoti=~m? Yet,
\\'hen we turn our attention fr