There are two or three other words employed to designate the sovereigns of particular states, in using which we adopt the word which the people of those states use, Instead of the word king. Thus there is the Moth of Persia, the Elector of Herure.Cassel, the Oar (now more commonly styled Emperor) of Russia, and the grand Sultan. In the United States of America very limited powers are given to one person, who is elected to enjoy them for a short period with the title of President. A Regent is a temporary king.
A personage in whom inch extraordinary powers have been vested must of necessity have bad very much to do with the progress and wel fare of 'articular nations, and with the progress of human society at large. When held by a person of a tyrannical turn of mind, these powers might be made use of to repress all that was great and generous in the masses who Macro govermrd, and to introduce among them all the evils and miseries of slavery. Possessed by a person of an ambitious spirit, they .might introduce unnecessary quarrelling among nations to open the way for conquest, so that whole nations might suffer for the gratifies: Lion of the personal ambition of one. The lover of peace and truth, and human improvement and security, may have fiiuml in the posses sion of kingly power the means of benefiting a people to an extent that might satisfy the moat benevolent heart. But it must now by the long experience of mankind have become sufficiently apparent that for the king himself and for his people it is best that there should be strong checks in the frame of society on the mere personal and private dis position of kings, in the forms of"tourts of justice, councils, parlia ments', and other bodies or single persons whose concurrence must be obtained before anything is undertaken in which the interests of the community are extensively involved. in most countries, as in Eng land, there are controlling powers such as these, and even in countries in which the executive and legislative power aro nominally in some one person absolutely, the acts of that person are virtually controlled, if by nothing else, by the opinion of the people, a power constantly increasing as the facilities of communication and the knowledge of a people advance.
Nothing can be more various than the constitutional checks in different states on the kingly power, or, as it is more usually called in England, the royal prerogatire. Such a subject must be passed over in an article of confined limits such as this must be, else in speaking of the kingly dignity it might have been proper to exhibit how diversely power is distributed in different states, each having at its head a king. But the subject must not be dismissed without a few observationn on the kingly office (now by hereditary descent discharged by a queen) (Queerckas it exists among ourselves.
Thedawn of the English kingly power is to be perceive:1 in the establishment of Egbert, at the close of the 8th century, as king of the English. His family is illustrated by the talents and virtues of Alfred, and the peacefulness and piety of Edward. On hie death there ensued a stniggle for the succession between the representative of the Danish kings, who for awhile had usurped upon the posterity of Egbert, and William then duke of Normandy. It ended with the success of William.
This is generally regarded as a kind of new beginning of the race of English kings, for William was but remotely allied to any of the Saxon kings. In his descendants the kingly office has over since con tinued ; but though the English throne is hereditary, it is not herolitnry in a sense perfectly absolute, nor does it seem to have been over so considered. For when Henry I. was dead, leaving only a
daughter, named Maud, she did not succeed to the throne ; and when Stephen died, his son did not succeed, hut the crown passel to the son of Maud. Again, on the death of llichard I. a younger brother succeeded, to the exclusion of the son and daughter of an elder brother deceased. Then ensued a long series of regular and undisputed successions; hut when Richard II. was deposed, the crown 'sassed to his cousin Henry of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, son of Edward III., though there were descendants living of Lionel, duke of Clarence, who was older than John among the children of Edward III. When the rule of Henry VI. became weak, the Issue of Lionel advanced their claim. The struggle was long and bloody. It ended iu a kind of compromise, the chief of the Lancastrian party taking to wife the heiress of the Vorkista. From that marriage have sprung all the later sovereigns, and the principle of hereditary succession remained undisturbed till the reign of King William III., who was called to the throne on the alxlicatien of James II., when an act was primed excluding the male issue of James, the issue of his sinter the auction of Orleans, and the issue of his aunt the queen of Bohemia, with the exception of her youngest daughter the princess Sophia and her issue, who were l'rotestants. On the death of Queen Anue this law of the succession took effect in favour of King George I., son of the I'rincess Sophia.
Now the heir succeeds to the throne immediately on the decease of his predecessor, so that the king, as the phrase is, never dies. But it is supposed that anciently there was a short intermission, and that the whole of the royal power was not possessed till there had been some kind of recognition on the part of the people.
At the coronation of the king he makes oath to three things :—that he will govern according to law; that he will cause justice to be administered; and that he will maintain the Protestant church.
His person is sacred. He cannot by any process of law be called to account for any of his acts. His concurrence is necessary to every legislative enactment. He sends embassies, makes treaties, and even enters into wars without any previous consultation with parliament. Ho nominates the judges and the other high officers of state, the officers of the army and navy, the governors of colonies and dependen cies, the bishops, deans, and some other dignitaries of the church. He calls parliament together, and can at his pleasure prorogue or dissolve it. He is the fountain of honour : all hereditary titles are derived from his grant. He can also grant privileges of an inferior kind, such as rights of exclusive trading, and of markets and fairs.
This is but a very slight sketch of the power inherent in the kings of England ; but the exercise of any or all of these powers is limited by two circumstances : first, the king cannot act politically without an agent, and this agent is not protected by that irresponsibility which belongs to the king himself, but may be brought to account for his acts if he transgress the law ; and, secondly, the constant necessity which arises of applying to parliament for supplies of money gives to that body virtually such a control over the exercise of the royal pre rogative, as amounts to a necessity of obtaining its concurrence in any public measure of importance. [PARLIAMENT.]