is univerfally regarded as a fundamental law of the monarchy: and, though it has been the accidental occafion of the greatest misfortunes which that kingdom has ever experienced, it appears founded on the beft and foundest principles of legislative policy. The prepofterous pretensions of Edward III. to the crown of France, evidently laid the foundation of that rancourous animosity which has fo long fubfifted, and which still fubfifts, between the two countries of England and France, and which has been the fource of infinite mifery to both. I do not fcruple to ftile them preposterous, because, whether the validity of the Salique law was or was not admitted, they were equally oppofite to the most obvious dictates of justice and equity. There was indeed no colourable pretext to object to the validity of a law which had all the force human fanctions can give; but, on the fuppofition that the objections urged by Edward were well founded, it is plain that the right of fucceffion devolved on Charles, King of Navarre, who was defcended from a daughter of Lewis Hutin, whereas Edward was fon of Ifabella, fifter to that monarch. It has been obferved, and I think not very fuperftitiously, that great national crimes have commonly been followed by great national punishments, and fometimes by fuch as have borne a signal analogy to the nature of the offence; and it may be remarked, that the bloody wars occafioned by the claims fo unwarrantably advanced by Edward III. to the crown of France, I 2 and

and which, contrary to every principle of policy as well as justice, was for a feries of years countenanced and fupported by the parliament and people of England, had scarcely fubfided, when the flames of civil difcord were kindled in this country, and spread with wonderful rapidity, in confequence of the abfurd prejudices generally entertained with respect to this very point, I mean the right of fucceffion; which prejudices originated in, or at least were ftrongly confirmed by, the great ftrefs which the nation had been accustomed to place on pretenfions tranfmitted through a fimilar medium; and these flames were not finally extinguished till the last male defcendant of the numerous family of Edward III. had fallen a victim to the conteft, and the whole house, and the very name of Plantagenet, was for ever annihilated. In order to illuftrate thefe obfervations, it must be remembered, that the heroic Prince of Wales, fo well known in hiftory by the appellation of Edward the Black Prince, unfortunately for the nation, died fome years previous to his father, and left an only fon, afterward Richard II. who inherited neither the virtues nor talents of his famous progenitors. By a series of odious and arbitrary acts he excited the indignation and refentment of the nation to fuch a degree, that when Henry Duke of Lancaster, afterwards King Henry IV. returned from exile to claim his paternal inheritance, which had been wrefted from him by regal violence, Richard found himself fuddenly deferted

by

by all descriptions of perfons, who crowded, as it were in emulation of each other, to the standard of his adversary. In confequence of which, he was foon reduced to the fatal neceffity of confenting to his own depofition, and in a full and free parliament the crown was unanimoufly conferred upon the Duke of Lancaster, as a reward due to his patriotifm and valour; and it was quietly tranfmitted to his fon, the victorious Henry V.; at whose death it was placed, without oppofition, upon the head of his infant heir, Henry VI. who peaceably enjoyed it for more than thirty years. Might it not then reasonably be imagined, that an uninterrupted poffeffion of half a century would have fufficed to have given firmness and stability to a title originally founded on parliamentary authority, and confirmed by the univerfal and joyful acquiefcence of the nation? on the contrary, however, the title of the reigning family was in fact fuppofed to be fo palpably defective, that a growing diffatisfaction seems to have pervaded the minds of all ranks of perfons; and when Richard Duke of York openly avowed his refolution "to pluck the crown from feeble Henry's head," he found the nation very generally difpofed to favour and fupport his pretenfions; and, during the long civil contests which fucceeded, the affections of the nation appeared invariably attached to the House of York, which gained, and in the perfon of Edward IV. maintained, firm poffeffion of the crown for many years, and nothing less than the comI 3

plicated

plicated guilt of Richard III. could have paved the way for the restoration of the Houfe of Lan caster; and it is even probable that Henry VII. though a prince of great abilities, could not long have retained poffeffion, had he not fo far condefcended to the prejudices of the nation as to unite the two families by a marriage with Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV. and, according to the maxims of fucceffion adopted by the nation in general, undoubted heirefs of the Houfe of York. These maxims, or prejudices, as I think they ought rather to be ftiled, feem, I fay, to have originated in the abfurd predilection which the English nation entertained in favour of the title of the Kings of England to the Crown of France; and there was, indeed, a manifest inconfiftency in claiming the Crown of France by virtue of a defcent from the female line, whilst the Crown of England was held by the Princes of the Houfe of Lancaster, to the exclufion of the female line, for parliamentary authority was in those ages thought by much too flight a foundation for a claim of fuch magnitude to reft upon, not to mention that the Houfe of Valois could equally plead the autho`rity of the General Affembly of Estates in France. There had been no example of a female reign in England fince the diffolution of the heptarchy; and though Henry II. fucceeded in right of his mother, the Emprefs Maud, it must be remembered that the male branches of the Norman line were totally extinct the attachment of the English nation

therefore

therefore to this order of fucceffion, cannot, I think, be traced to any other fource. The House of Lancafter indeed enjoyed an important advantage over the rival family, as being the undoubted elder male branch exifting of the Royal Houfe of Plantagenet, being defcended from John of Gaunt, third fon of the common progenitor Edward III. The Houfe of York founded their claims on a defcent from Lionel Duke of Clarence, fecond fon of that monarch, whofe only daughter, Philippa, intermarried with Edmund Mortimer Earl of March, and by the union of the heirefs of the House of March with the heir of Edmund, fourth fon of Edward III. created Duke of York, the right of fucceffion, which was supposed to inhere in the defcendants of the Duke of Clarence, was tranfmitted to the Houfe of York, the youngest male branch of the House of Plantagenet. The title of the Houfe of March had, in the reign of Richard, been exprefsly recognized in parliament; and it is rather extraordinary that Henry IV. never attempted to invalidate this popular claim, by procuring any formal act of repeal or renunciation; but that jealous and politic prince well knew how dangerous it might prove by fuch means to draw the attention of the public to a claim which, according to the ideas almoft univerfally prevalent at that time, was founded on the most obvious and unalterable principles of juftice. He adopted therefore another mode of proceeding, perfectly confonant to that profound fagacity which distin