Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/25

Rh the debate upon this bill, lord, obſerved, that it had been a maxim among the wiſeſt legiſlators, that whoever means to ſettle good laws muſt proceed in them, with a ſiniſter opinion of all mankind; and ſuppoſe that whoever is not wicked, it is for want only of the opportunity. It is that opportunity of being ill, Mr. Speaker, ſaid he, that we muſt take away, if ever we mean to be happy, which can never be done, but by the frequency of parliaments. No ſtate can wiſely be confident of any public miniſter’s continuing good, longer than the rod is over him. Surely therefore there is no man but will conclude with me, that as the deficiency of parliaments, hath been the cauſa cauſarum of all the miſchiefs and diſtempers of the preſent times; ſo the frequency of them is the ſole catholic antidote that can preſerve and ſecure the future from the like.

unhappy diviſions between this prince and his people, it is well known, at laſt terminated in a civil war, ſoon after which the King loſt his life, the parliament ſeized upon the whole ſovereign authority, and entirely ſubverted the conſtitution.

the re-eſtabliſhment of the government at the reſtoration, the power of the crown was greatly