• The prerogative of the crown," fays this ingenious politician, when exercised only under the eye and inspection of the fovereign, is altogether formed for the benefit of the fubject, and is as diffufive of bleffings, in infpiring mankind with vigour and activity, as the fun is, by its rays of heat, in expanding, nourishing, and invigorating the vegetable

⚫ creation.

But when the order of the great offices, under the infpec <tion of the officers of ftate, doth not open to the view of the ⚫ crown every matter and act of importance, the wrong frame

of them will become a fnare to the fubject; occafion a fer• vile dependence; remove all kind of emulation in ferving the crown; make it more dangerous to expofe faults than • to commit them; and draw lines of diftinction between the fubjects, fo as to make it impoffible for any perfon, however well qualified, to attain the favour of the prince, unless • he hath fome connections with men in power; and it hath alfo this further ill tendency, that when mankind find them< felves under thofe circumftances, they are apt to mistake the true cause of their fufferings, and cool in their zeal and loyalty even to the fovereign.

The strength and vigour of the government depend wholly upon the due exercife of the regal power, which again depends not only on the due adminiftration of justice in the courts of law, but also, in a great meafure, upon a strict < adherence to the antient rules or fyftem of the great offices, which, by their original texture or inftitution, were fo form ed, as to bring every matter of confequence to the view of the crown.

6

But if, through time, incidents, or caufes of a mixed na ture, the checks and reftraints on those who prefide in the great offices are loofened or removed, and that men in power apprchend themselves to be at liberty to difpenfe with the • rules of their office, the name of the fovereign may be often proffituted in the fame manner, and from the fame motives that priefts of feveral denominations prostitute the name of God; to delude mankind, and draw the riches and power cf a nation into their own hands. But this can only be effected by the priests when the people are kept in ignorance, • and by statesmen when a veil is thrown over the offices.—

The English monarchy hath been often reckoned to refemble a community united under, and directed by, one fuperior intelligence, concurring with all their powers and ⚫ faculties in one and the fame act. Nevertheless, the diffe of the powers inherent in the crown, may in time extin

guifh the notion or idea of that right, and leave those who act as delegates of the regal power, at liberty to difpenfe with the due courfe of bufinefs, which from the nature of things, and the tendency of evil habits in the offices, may be the means of introducing a kind of oligarchy in the ad• miniftration of state affairs, than which, nothing can be ← more fatal to the subject, or more to be dreaded in a mixed • monarchy.

It is far from the intention of this, or any future treatise on this fubject, to reflect, or in the leaft infinuate any thing • to the prejudice of men in power, or even in the most dif<tant manner, to hint that they entertain any defign of deviating from their duty to the crown, or to the public. But only to demonftrate, that if it is found, on examination, • that the course of the offices hath been fo altered, as not to bring every matter of importance to the view of the crown, and that the fuitors of the crown may be barred from all access to his majefty; under fuch a fituation of things, the head may, in many refpects, be separated from the body politic, which of confequence muft introduce a new principle into the conftitution; and this may, through time and many <causes of a mixed nature, operate to the ruin of this nation, altho' nothing from without any way contribute towards fuch a fatal effect: a ftorm is not always necefiary to fink a ship, • one treacherous leak may do it in the greatest calm.

• It is an established maxim, that whatever things have order, the fame have unity of defign. Now in like manner the body is not a parcel of loofe incoherent members, without connection or dependence; but a fyftem of various parts, mutually related and fubfervient to each other: fo the body politic confifts of divers parts, or powers, which, by mutual relations and proper fubordinations, are, or ought to be, formed into a regular conftitution. And as health and ficknefs, life and death, depend on a circulation of the blood • being well or ill established, so likewise the strength and vi6 gour of the body politic, depend principally on the regular, free, and uninterrupted circulation of bufinels through the • channels of the public offices.

As there are now many interefting affairs depending with France, relating to our foreign fettlements, it may be of great ufe to us, to examine into the conduct and proceedings of their council or board of commerce, fo as to enable us to judge of their ftrength, policy, and connections; and in feveral other refpects it may be of ufe to treat on that fubject,

• be

• before we take a view of our own course of proceeding, in our council, or board of trade.

But altho' the matters above hinted at are of great mo ment, and public concern, yet it may be neceffary, previous to fuch enquiry, to know the difpofition of the public, fo as to be informed, how far this may be a fit time to enter into a difquifition of this nature.

Therefore, to collect the sense of the public on this fubject, it is proper to mention the heads of the feveral mat⚫ters propofed to be treated of in the following difcourfes, viz.

The motives which induced Lewis XIV. to conftitute a board of commerce, and the plan upon which the faid board is conftituted; and alfo the checks and reftraints the gover<nors and other officers are liable to in the discharge of their • refpective duties, with a general view of their commerce.

The defigns of the French in forming connections with the Indians, and in extending their territories in America.

To take a view of the English colonies in America, with refpect to their fettlements and different models of govern

ment.

The plan, or fyftem, of our council or board of trade, as <conftituted in 1696; and of feveral other regulations with refpect to our colonies, and to his majefty's governors and • other officers of the crown there.

The alterations which have been made in the faid fyftem, ⚫or plan of government; and alfo the abuses which have crept into the offices in America; and as much depends on the fecretary of ftate's manner of fignifying the king's pleasure, to treat briefly on that fubject.

The appointment of an auditor and receivers of his majefty's revenues in the colonies, with feveral other obfervations in relation to the nature and duty of the faid offices; ⚫ and from what causes the faid appointments have not had the • defired effect.

To fhew that the English colonies are not fo united, as to form any regular plan for their own defence, when attacked by the French and Indians.—

And lastly, to offer feveral propofals for redreffing the griev< ances complained of in the courfe of this effay.

And having treated fully in the former difcourfes of the • fyftem of the French board of commerce, and our board of trade, and other matters relative to America, it is conceived,

*Some of thefe heads we have omitted, and curtailed others, in order to reduce this article within a narrow compass: with the fame view we have also spared to infert any thing from ourselves. <that

that it may be of great use to take a view of the original fyftem or plan of proceeding in our other great boards at home, viz.

To treat briefly of the powers lodged in the lord hightreasurer, deputy-treasurer, and chancellor of the exche quer.

To take a view of the departments of feveral of the principal officers of the exchequer, from the reign of King Henry VII. until the revolution; namely, of the auditors of the impreft, the auditors of the exchequer, and the king's and treasurer's remembrancers; and as the faid remembran· cers are a proper and useful check upon the accomptants, and most of the other officers belonging to the said court, it may be proper to treat fully on that head. And next to treat briefly of the prefent courfe of proceeding in the treafury and exchequer, in relation to our home and foreign revenues, and the connections the faid treafury-board hath with the admiralty and other great offices.

To offer a short state of the various regulations which have been made in his majesty's privy-council, for upwards of one hundred and twenty years; to point out the great ⚫ benefits and advantages refulting from them; and as nothing can fhew the wifdom of any fyftem better, than to point out the inconvenience which naturally arifes from the difufe of them, to make several remarks thereon.

And lastly, to obferve, that as all executive power ought to center in the crown, as flowing originally from that fountain, if the checks or restraints on those in office, which have been wifely conftituted by our ancestors, are leffened or removed, we may, under such a predicament, pursue the form, and yet give a new principle or fpirit of action to the government, which through time, incidents, and a great variety of caufes, may leave us deftitute of all refource."

ART. LII. The Inftructions of a Parish Minifter to his Parishioners, on the subject of popery. Occafioned by the late growth of popery in this kingdom. Part II. By Henry Stebbing, D. D. 12mo. Is. Davis.

WE

E have given our readers fome account of the first part of this performance in the Review for September 1753, pag. 223. In that part are diftinétly confidered thofe

po

popifh doctrines which concern the honour due to God, to our Lord Jefus Chrift, and the public worship of the church; and which the doctor hath fhewn to be great and dangerous corruptions. In this fecond compofition, he confiders and attacks fome other doctrines, not lefs dangerous, as they are a fnare to the consciences of men; the points particularly oppofed are auricular confeffion and abfolution, the pope's fupremacy, purgatory, and indulgences,' &c. The doctrine of auricular confeffion and facerdotal abfolution, he fhews to be desti tute of foundation in scripture, and that some of the methods practised even in the primitive church, in relation to the reftoration of penitents, have very much the air of a FARCE. That till after the firft thousand years, the forms of abfolution ⚫ ran all in the form of a prayer, and not in the form of a peremptory definitive sentence, as it now ftands in the popifh forms, and in ONE of our own forms, from them.' He likewife attempts to account for the retaining that form in our church, in the office for vifitation of the fick; and fays, that for the fame reasons it is likely the popish form of ordaining priests was also retained. These two forms are relative to each other, and cannot fstand separately. For the one conveys the power which the other exercifeth. which the other exercifeth. And they are NOVELTIES alike. The antient manner of ordaining priests was by impofition of hands, and prayer; but in the ⚫ twelfth century the prefent form was flipt into the ritual, • in the very words which our faviour made ufe of, when he fent forth his apoftles as authorised meffengers, to preach the gofpel, Receive ye the Holy Ghoft; whofoever fins ye remit, they are remitted to them, and whofoever fins ye retain, they are retained. There is no harm in the use of these words, pro'vided they be used in a qualified fenfe; and a very qualified fense it must be. But the thing moft to be wifhed, with ' respect to both thefe forms, is, that they were properly altered. • Difenters would find lefs matter for cenfure, and infidels for * ⚫ profane raillery.' Would the doctor heartily join his endeavours with his wishes, it is not unlikely the laudable scheme of the Free and candid difquifitions, for which he feems in fome articles to be an advocate, would meet with more counte nance and fupport. The doctor obferves, that the late Bifhop Bull, who was one of the ableft scholars, the ftaunchest ⚫ churchmen, and the best chriftians of his time, when he was upon his death-bed, refused to have this form read; and or

See Lord Bolingbroke's letter to Mr. Pope.

• dered