PREFACE. It may be matter of surprise, that in a country in which the public eye has ever minutely watched the progress of authority, a subject of such in- teresting importance as the *' Prerogatives of the Crown," should not have elicited the most extensive and learned investigation. Whilst under some go- vernments an attempt to discuss the limits of the royal power, would expose the presumptuous sub- ject to the jealous apprehensions of tyranny, English history points out but few instances of periods in which the disclosure would have been dangerous ; and the British constitution allows of none : it rather invites than represses the inquiry. For in this coun- try, the relation of sovereign and subject combines reciprocal duties. The prerogative is not the iron tie of unbridled power : it holds the subject in the silken chain of mild subjection, for the general and permanent welfare of society ; and as a general prin- ciple it affords the sovereign the liberty of restraint, only when the public good is the object in view. As the powers and rights of the King are inseparably connected with the dearest rights and liberties of his people; as their interests and their obligations are A 2
