which could not possess their confidence in so high a degree as the others; and the inequalities in point of real strength between them have been made up by the magic of dignity.

Thus, the king, who alone forms one part of the legislature, has on his side the majesty of the kingly title: the two houses are, in appearance, no more than councils entirely dependent on him; they are bound to follow his person; they only meet, as it seems, to advise him; and never address him but in the most solemn and respectful manner.

As the nobles, who form the second order of the legislature, bear, in point both of real weight and numbers, no proportion to the body of the people*, they have received, as a compensation,

* It is for want of having duly considered this subject, that M. Rousseau exclaims somewhere against those who, when they speak of the general estates of France, " dare to "call the people the third estate." At Rome, where all the order we mention was inverted,-where the fasces were laid at the feet of the people,-and where the tribunes, whose function, like that of the king of England, was to oppose the establishment of new laws, were only a subordinate kind of magistracy,-many disorders followed. In Sweden, and in Scotland (before the union), faults of another kind prevailed: in the former kingdom, for instance, an overgrown body of two thousand nobles frequently overruled both king and people.

the advantage of personal honours, and of an hereditary title.

Besides, the established ceremonial gives to their assembly a great pre-eminence over that of the representatives of the people. They are the upper house, and the others are the lower house. They are in a more special manner considered as the king's council; and it is in the place where they assemble that his throne is placed.

When the king comes to the parliament, the commons are sent for, and make their appearance at the bar of the house of lords. It is moreover before the lords, as before their judges, that the commons bring their impeachments. When, after passing a bill in their own house, they send it to the lords to desire their concurrence, they always order a number of their own members to accompany it*: whereas the lords send down their bills to them, only by some of the assistants of their houses. When

* The speaker of the house of lords must come down from the woolpack to receive the bills which the members of the commons bring to their house.

The twelve judges and the masters in chancery. There is also a ceremonial established with regard to the manner and marks of respect, with which those two of them, who are sent with a bill to the commons, are to deliver it.

the nature of the alterations which one of the two houses may wish to make in a bill sent to it by the other, renders a conference between them necessary, the deputies of the commons to the committee, which is then formed of members of both houses, are to remain uncovered. Lastly, those bills which (in whichever of the two houses they have originated) have been agreed to by both, must be deposited in the house of lords, there to remain till the royal pleasure is signified.

Besides, the lords are members of the legislature by virtue of a right inherent in their persons; and they are supposed to sit in parliament on their own account, and for the support of their own interests. In consequence of this, they have the privilege of giving their votes by pro.ry; and, when any of them dissent from the resolutions of their house, they may enter a protest against them, containing the reasons of their particular opinion. In a word, as this part of the legislature is destined frequently to balance the power of the people, what it could not receive in real strength it has received in outward

* The commons have not that privilege, because they are themselves proxies for the people.-See Coke's Inst. 4. p. 41.

splendour and greatness; so that, when it cannot resist by its weight, it overawes by its apparent magnitude.

In fine, as these various prerogatives, by which the component parts of the legislature are thus made to balance each other, are all intimately connected with the fortune of the state, and flourish and decay according to the vicissitudes of public prosperity or adversity, it thence follows, that, though differences of opinion may sometimes take place between those parts, there can scarcely arise any when the general welfare is really in question. And when, to resolve the doubts that may arise on political speculations of this kind, we cast our eyes on the debates of the two houses for a long succession of years, and see the nature of the laws which have been proposed, of those which have passed, and of those which have been rejected, as well as of the arguments that have been urged on both sides, we shall remain convinced of the goodness of the principles on which the English legislature is formed.

CHAPTER IV.

A third Advantage peculiar to the English Government.-The Business of proposing Laws, lodged in the Hands of the People.

A THIRD circumstance, which I propose to show to be peculiar to the English government, is the manner in which the respective offices of the three component parts of the legislature have been divided, and allotted to each of them.

In most of the ancient free states, the share of the people in the business of legislation was to approve or reject the propositions which were made to them, and to give the final sanction to the laws. The function of those persons (or in general those bodies), who were intrusted with the executive power,' was to prepare and frame the laws, and then to propose them to the people: and, in a word, they possessed that branch of the legislative power which may be called the initiative, that is, the prerogative of putting that power in action*.

*This power of previously considering and approving such laws as were afterwards to be propounded to the people, was, in the first times of the Roman republic, con