to this prince the title
of Conqueror, in the sense which that term commonly bears; and, on
pretence that the word is sometimes in old books applied to such as
make an acquisition of territory by any means, they are willing to
reject William's title, by right of war, to the crown of England. It
is needless to enter into a controversy, which, by the terms of it,
must necessarily degenerate into a dispute of words. It suffices to
say, that the Duke of Normandy's first invasion of the island was
hostile; that his subsequent administration was entirely supported by
arms; that in the very frame of his laws, he made a distinction
between the Normans and English, to the advantage of the former [y];
that he acted in every thing as absolute master over the natives,
whose interest and affections he totally disregarded; and that if
there was an interval when he assumed the appearance of a legal
sovereign, the period was very short, and was nothing but a temporary
sacrifice, which he, as has been the case with most conquerors, was
obliged to make of his inclination to his present policy. Scarce any
of those revolutions, which both in history and in common language,
have always been denominated conquests, appear equally violent, or
were attended with so sudden an alteration both of power and property.
The Roman state, which spread its dominion over Europe, left the
rights of individuals in a great measure untouched; and those
civilized conquerors, while they made their own country the seat of
empire, found that they could draw most advantage from the subjected
provinces, by securing to the natives the free enjoyment of their own
laws and of their private possessions. The barbarians who subdued the
Roman empire, though they settled in the conquered countries, yet
being accustomed to a rude uncultivated life, found a part only of the
land sufficient to supply all their wants; and they were not tempted
to seize extensive possessions, which they knew neither how to
cultivate nor enjoy. But the Normans and other foreigners, who
followed the standard of William, while they made the vanquished
kingdom the seat of government, were yet so far advanced in arts as to
be acquainted with the advantages of a large property; and having
totally subdued the natives, they pushed the rights of conquest (very
extensive in the eyes of avarice and ambition, however narrow in those
of reason) to the utmost extremity against them. Except the former
c