died innocent at that
time, and had his son, by any accident, been conveyed beyond seas, there
is no doubt but a regency would have been appointed till he should
come to age, and coued be restored to his dominions. As the slightest
properties of the imagination have an effect on the judgments of the
people, it shews the wisdom of the laws and of the parliament to take
advantage of such properties, and to chuse the magistrates either in
or out of a line, according as the vulgar will most naturally attribute
authority and right to them.

Secondly, Though the accession of the Prince of Orange to the throne
might at first give occasion to many disputes, and his title be
contested, it ought not now to appear doubtful, but must have acquired
a sufficient authority from those three princes, who have succeeded him
upon the same title. Nothing is more usual, though nothing may, at first
sight, appear more unreasonable, than this way of thinking. Princes
often seem to acquire a right from their successors, as well as from
their ancestors; and a king, who during his life-time might justly be
deemed an usurper, will be regarded by posterity as a lawful prince,
because he has had the good fortune to settle his family on the throne,
and entirely change the antient form of government. Julius Caesar is
regarded as the first Roman emperor; while Sylla and Marius, whose
titles were really the same as his, are treated as tyrants and usurpers.
Time and custom give authority to all forms of government, and all
successions of princes; and that power, which at first was founded only
on injustice and violence, becomes in time legal and obligatory.
Nor does the mind rest there; but returning back upon its footsteps,
transfers to their predecessors and ancestors that right, which it
naturally ascribes to the posterity, as being related together, and
united in the imagination. The present king of France makes Hugh Capet
a more lawful prince than Cromwell; as the established liberty of the
Dutch is no inconsiderable apology for their obstinate resistance to
Philip the second.

SECT. XI OF THE LAWS OF NATIONS

When civil government has been established over the greatest part of
mankind, and different societies have been formed contiguous to each
other, there arises a new set of duties among the neighbouring states,
suitable to the nature of that commerce, which they carry on with each
other. Political writers tell us, that in every kind