For a clear exposition of the essentially republican basis of all the public institu tions of the Anglo-Saxons we would refer to Mr. Allen's Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in Eng land,' 8vo., 1830. The cyne or kin of the Saxons was synonymous with nation or people ; and cyn-ing or kin-ing (by con traction, king) implied, as Mr. Allen re marks, that the individual so designated was, in his public capacity, not, as some modern sovereigns have been willing to be entitled, the father of the people, but their offspring. In the introduction and use of the modern word kingdom, we trace a still more remarkable perversion. The Anglo-Saxon cyne-dom or kin-dont denoted the extent of territory occupied and possessed by the kin or nation—an import diametrically differing from that of kingdom, which, in the decline of the Norman tongue as the language of the government implanted by the conquest, was substituted for the Norman royaalme (in modern English realm)--as the word king itself, with as little regard to its ety mological derivation, was substituted for the Norman roy. Thus it is manifest that the difference of meaning between kin-dom and kingdom is as wide as that between the principle which recognized the nation at large as the original pro prietor of the soil, and that which vests such absolute proprietorship exclusively in the crown—a distinction which it is most important to perceive and to bear in mind.
Under the Anglo-Saxon government the revenue of the king, or rather of the state, had been collected in each shire by the shire-reve, and in each municipal town by the borough-reve or port-reve. But in the one case, as in the other, this officer was the elective head of the muni cipality ; for the shire itself was no other than a certain extent of territory munici pally organised. But after the Conquest, instead of the elective Saxon reve, there was placed over each shire a Norman viscount, and over each municipal town a bailiff, both appointed by the Norman king. It would have been vain for the burgesses to appeal to the mercy of the king, but they found means of appealing to his cupidity. He discovered that their eager desire to rid themselves of the royal bailiff, urged them to offer him a higher sum to be collected from and by themselves, and transmitted directly to his exchequer, than he could farm their town for to an individual ; and hence the frequent charters which we soon find issuing to one borough after another, granting it to the burgesses in fee-farm, that is, in permanent possession so long as they should punctually pay the stipu lated crown-rent.
The interference of a royal provost in their internal concerns being thus with drawn, the towns returned naturally to their former free municipal organization.
They had once more a chief administra tor of their own choice ; though in few cases was he allowed to resume either of the old designations, borough•reve and port-reve. In all cases he now acted as bailiff of the Norman king ; accounted at the exchequer for the farm or crown rent of the borough: in most, he received the Norman appellation of mayor, which, denoting in that language a municipal chief officer, was less odious to the Saxon townsmen than that of bailiff; though in some he received and kept the title of bailiff only.
The charters of the Norman kings were constantly addressed to " the citi zens," " the burgesses," or " the men" of such a city or borough ; and the sum of the description of a burgess, townsman, or member of the community of the bo rough, as Madox in his Firma Biagi' observes, was this :—" They were deemed townsmen who had a settled dwelling in the town, who merchandized there, who were of the bans or guild, who were in lot and scot with the townsmen, and who used and enjoyed the liberties and free customs of the town." The municipal body, in short, consisted of the resident and trading inhabitants, sharing in the payment of the local taxes and the per formance of the local duties. This formed substantially a household franchise. Stran gers residing temporarily in the town for purposes of trade had no voice iu the affairs of the borough, nor any liability to its burdens, which, at common law, could not be imposed upon them without admission to the local franchise. The titles to borough freedom by birth, ap prenticeship, and marriage, all known to be of very remote antiquity, seem to have been only so many modes of ascertaining the general condition of established re sidence. The title by purchase was a necessary condition for the admission of an individual previously unconnected with that particular community, in those days when such admission conferred pe culicr advantages of trading ; and the right of bestowing the freedom on any individual by free gift, for any reason to them sufficient, was one necessarily in herent in the community, for the exer cise of which they were not responsible to any authority whatever. The free men's right of exclusive trading too had some ground of justice when they who enjoyed it exclusively supported the local burdens. Edward laws of the staple authorized the residence of non-freemen in the staple towns, but at the same time empowered the community of the bo rough to compel them to contribute to the public burdens ; and under these re gulations it is that the residence of non freemen appears first to have become frequent.