cemented. In elective monarchies,
the event was commonly answerable to this expectation; and the barons,
gaining ground on every vacancy of the throne, raised themselves almost
to a state of sovereignty, and sacrificed to their power both the rights
of the crown and the liberties of the people. But hereditary monarchies
had a principle of authority which was not so easily subverted; and
there were several causes which still maintained a degree of influence
in the hands of the sovereign.

The greatest baron could never lose view entirely of those principles of
the feudal constitution which bound him, as, a vassal, to submission and
fealty towards his prince; because he was every moment obliged to have
recourse to those principles, in exacting fealty and submission from his
own vassals The lesser barons, finding that the annihilation of royal
authority left them exposed without protection to the insults and
injuries of more potent neighbors, naturally adhered to the crown, and
promoted the execution of general and equal laws. The people had still a
stronger interest to desire the grandeur of the sovereign; and the king,
being the legal magistrate, who suffered by every internal convulsion or
oppression, and who regarded the great nobles as his immediate rivals,
assumed the salutary office of general guardian or protector of the
commons. Besides the prerogatives with which the law invested him, his
large demesnes and numerous retainers rendered him, in one sense, the
greatest baron in his kingdom; and where he was possessed of personal
vigor and abilities, (for his situation required these advantages,) he
was commonly able to preserve his authority, and maintain his station as
head of the community, and the chief fountain of law and justice.

The first kings of the Norman race were favored by another circumstance,
which preserved them from the encroachments of their barons. They
were generals of a conquering army, which was obliged to continue in
a military posture, and to maintain great subordination under their
leader, in order to secure themselves from the revolt of the numerous
natives, whom they had bereaved of all their properties and privileges.
But though this circumstance supported the authority of William and his
immediate successors, and rendered them extremely absolute, it was lost
as soon as the Norman barons began to incorporate with the nation, to
acquire a security in their possessions, and to fix their in