Two things are equally evident: the first is, that the legislature possesses the power of regulating the succession of the crown; the second, that in the exercise of that right it has uniformly acted as if under the restraints which the author has stated.
Burke identifies two evident powers of the legislature regarding crown succession and its historical constraints.
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They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continual usurpation?
This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
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