of his father, he retired only for B As the people of this nation had for fo many ages lived happily under our old form of government, therefore they refolved to adhere, as near as poflible, to that form, with refpect to the new eftablishment; but as they C had by late experience found, that a man bred a Papift, and profeffing that religion, was unfit to be king over a Proteftant people, therefore they not only at that time gave the exclufion to king James and his infant fon, but afterwards by authority D of king and parliament, to all the Popish families that had any right in blood, prior to the illuftrious family now upon our throne. F The long established and most falutary maxim of our conftitution, That the king can do no wrong, ftands E therefore unimpeached by the principles of the revolution; and therefore I was furprised to hear the author, or rather editor of those letters talking of a king's forfeiting his right to the crown, or the fubjects having a right not only to refift a bad king, but to push that refiftance to the exclufion of him and his race; for there is a very great difference between a right of refifting a bad king, and that of excluding him and his race from the throne. By admitting the former, we may preserve our hereditary G monarchy and liberties: By admitting the latter, we fhall turn our hereditary monarchy into a fort of elective one: And tho' we may perhaps get rid of the tyrant that then oppreffes us, we fhall probably rivet our chains under fome one of a new family. The author of thefe letters acknowledges, that a king, after he is once chofen in an elective, or after he fucceeds to the throne in an hereditary monarchy, has a divine right to govern well, but cannot have a divine, or indeed any other right, to govern ill. Now by our conftitution we have a remedy provided againft a king's governing ill. No king can govern ill without evil minifters, and other wicked inftruments of power. Thefe the parliament may call to an account, and may hang them up by dozens, if neceflary. Therefore, whilft our parliaments are chofen freely and fit frequently, no man can govern ill in this country. But if a king fhould govern ill, and to fcreen his evil counfellors and wicked inftruments from punishment, fhould prevent the parliament's fitting, or fhould govern under the fhadow of a fham parliament chofen and influenced by illegal means; the people have then, upon revolution principles, a right to take arms, and to compel the king to call a free parliament, for rectifying the abufes that had crept into our conftitution, and for punishing, in a legal manner, all thofe who had been the advisers or inftruments of his ill government. Thus far the people may push their refistance, according to the principles of the revolution, and indeed of our conftitution, and without any breach of their oath of allegiance; and if they push it no farther, their leaders will certainly, for their own fafety, take care, in the next parliament, to rectify the abufes that had crept into our conftitution, efpecially fuch as had been found to be of any dangerous confequence to the liberties of the people. This, I fay, they will do for their own fafety, because, tho' the king may be forced to chufe them for his minifters, and perhaps to continue them 1749. Second Criticism on a famous Book lately published. 249 them as fuch for fome time, yet they can never expect to be his favourites; therefore they will take care to prevent its being in his power to hurt them by any unconftitutional means. And to preferve their popularity, upon which alone they can depend A for their future fafety, they will take care to fee condign punishment inflicted upon all those who had mifled the king by their ill advice, or executed any of his illegal commands. But if the people push their refiftance farther: If they push it fo far B as to inflict any perfonal punishment upon the king, or to exclude him and his race from the crown, they exceed the bounds of our conftitution, and either one of their leaders will get the power into his hands, and become their tyrant, as Oliver Cromwell did; or their leaders will chufe a new king, and establish a new family upon the throne. If this laft fhould be the cafe, the pernicious confequences are innumerable. revolution, the liberties of the people may probably remain as much expofed to the encroachments of prerogative, as they were before; and as minifters are always contriving fchemes for extending the prerogative, and few or no restraints can be expected from any future revolution, the liberties of the people must at laft be undone. 4. As the leaders of the people, after they become the king's favourites, are no longer under a neceffity to court popularity, they will give themselves no trouble about profecuting or punishing the offenders of the former reign. On the contrary, they will privately endeavour to protect and fcreen them, for fear of a precedent against themselves. Nay, fome of C the evil counsellors of the former, may come to be among the chief favourites of the new fovereign,on account of their having, by their wicked counfels, made way for his advancement to the throne; fo that the unfortunate prince himfelf may happen to be almost the only facrifice. And, 1. We by this means lay a prece- D dent for converting our hereditary into an elective monarchy; for the first fuccessful party that takes arms against any future king of this new family, will certainly fet him and his family afde, in order to fet up one of their own chufing. 2. When the nobility, or perhaps princes of the blood can expect, by taking arms against the king, to be no higher than they were before, nothing but egregious mifrule can provoke them to do fo; but this precedent once introduc'd, the crown will upon every conteft go with the laurel, and a crown is such a temp. tation, that it may incite a rebellion against a good king, as probably as a juit infurrection against a bad. 3. The leaders of the people will expect to be not only the minifters but the favourites of the king they have chofen, and being thus to be the difpenfers of the royal power, they will take all poffible care to prevent its being abridg'd; fo that after this E F G 5. Nothing can be of more dangerous confequence to the liberties of the people, in a limited hereditary monarchy, than a contest between two great families for the crown ; because, in the torrent of this mighty conteft, the fpirit of liberty is generally overwhelmed, and can never emerge till that conteft be at an end. I could mention feveral other inconveniences, and I could confirm every thing I have faid by examples from hiftory; but this would render my letter too long to be inferted in your collection; therefore I fhall only conclude from what I have said, that nothing can be of more dangerous confequence to the conftitution of our government, and even to the cause of liberty, than the doctrine, That the fubject may not only refift the prince who endeavours to ruin and enflave bis people, but may push this refiftance to the dethronement and exclufion of him and his race. Whilft our con conflitution remains entire, no fubject has any such right; but when the conftitution is diffolved, and the people left in a state of nature, as they were by the abdication of king James II. they may certainly refettle the government after what manner A they pleafe, and confequently may exclude the man and his race, who left them in fuch confufion. Our conftitution was not altered but restored by the revolution; for the people very wifely chofe to reeftablish that very conftitution under B which the nation had flourished for fo many centuries: Nay, they have departed from the lineal fucceffion of our monarchy, as little as was confiftent with the preservation of our religion; therefore the maxim, That who fincerely thinks, that a limited hereditary monarchy is of all others the best form of government; and therefore I must conclude, as I faid in my laft, that this digreffion about Jacobites has been foifted in by the editor, without the author's approbation. I am, Sir, &c. The EAST RIDING of YORKSHIRE. Revious to the account of the feveral divifions of this county, it will be proper to give a defcription of the county in general. Yorkshire, then, has Lancashire and Westmoreland on the W. part of Weft moreland and the bishoprick of Durbam on the N. Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire, on the S. and the fea or German ocean on the E. and the S. W. part juft touches upon Chefbire. It is by much the largest county in England, being near go miles long, and 80 broad, 360 in circumference, and containing about 3,770,000 acres ; and the king can do no aurong, is now as C the houfes are computed at 106,150. It is divided into 28 hundreds, 563 parishes, and 49 market-towns, and fends 30 members to parliament, viz. 2 for the county, 2 for the city of York, and 26 for 13 boroughs, each fending 2. No county goes beyond this for ftately and convenient feats of the nobility and gentry, nor does any exceed Dit in giving titles of honour. Its chief rivers much a fundamental maxim of our conftitution, as it was in the year 1688. Confequently, it is inconfiftent with our conftitution to talk of a prince's forfeiting his right, or the right we swore to. If refiftance becomes neceffary, our right to refift does not proceed from any forfeiture incurred by him, but from the right we have to a free parliament; and that right we may vindicate by arms, if it can be no other way obtained; but in vindicating our own right, we ought never to think of incroaching upon E the prince's right to the crown, while our constitution remains undiffolved, much less of excluding him and his race for ever. If the doctrine were admitted, that a king could forfeit his right to the crown, the gradation would be eafy F to the doctrine of 1649, that a king might or ought to be capitally punished. By the latter, our conftitution was at that time torn up from the very root; and by the former, its harbinger, our liberties may, as I have fhewn, be irrecoverably loft; G therefore, let us avoid propagating, or fo much as infinuating fuch doctrines. I am fure, they never will be propagated by any man who has a true regard for our conflitution, or are the Tees, Swale, Warfe, Are, Oufe, by their confluence form that great æftuary Derwent, Calder, and Dun, most of which or river, called the Humber, which feparates this county from Lincolnshire. It is generally bleft with a wholesome and temperate air, tho' it must be supposed that in a county of fo large an extent the foil must be various ; but if one part be ftony, mountainous, fandy and barren, another is richly adorned with corn-fields and pastures; if fome places be naked and deftitute of woods, others are (haded with fine forefts and if fome be moorish, miry and unpleasant, others are as delightful and pleasant as the eye can wish. It in general abounds with cattle, fish and fowl, and is remarkable for a breed of fine horses, great flocks of goats and fheep, and mines of lead, copper and coals. It is famous for medicinal waters, and here's abundance of jet, allum, lime-ftone, liquorice, &c. Their principal manufacture is coarse cloth; next to which Rippon fpurs, Sheffield blades, and Sherborn pins, are of expecial note. For the greater ease and better management of the civil government in fo large a tract, this county is divided into 3 parts, viz, the North Riding, Weft Riding, and East Riding; each of which might make a County of it felf, if compar'd to the other counties; |