Old Virginia and her neighbours

152 OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS.by tlieir betters, as on old Merovingian fields ofMarch the magnates legislated while the listeningwarriors clashed their shields in token of approval.If such was the first notion of Cecilius he promptlyrelinquished it and gracefully conceded the claimof the assembly to take the initiative in legislation.But the veto power, without any limitationof time, was a prerogative which he would notgive up. At any moment he could use this vetopower to repeal a law, and this was felt by thecolonists to be a grievance. On such constitutionalmatters, when we read of antagonism between theproprietor and the asseiubly, it is the burgessesthat we are to understand as in opposition, sincethe council was almost sure to uphold the proprietor.One pointinsisted was thatupon which the upper house alwaysthe burgesses were not a houseof commons with inherent rights of legislation,but that they owed their existence to the charter,with powers that must be limited as strictly aspossible. But this point the burgessesEights ^of-i ^^^^ T-.the bur- would ncvcr concede. They were Englishmen,with the rights and privilegesof Englishmen, and it was an inherent right inEnglish representatives to make laws for theirconstituents ; accordingly they insisted tliat theywere, to all intents and purposes, a house ofcommons for Maryland.^ On one occasion a clergyman,Charles Nichollet, preached a sermon, inwhich he warned the burgesses not to forget thatthey had no real liberty unless they could pass^ Archives of Maryland : Assembly, ii. 64