8 to 165.

Henry says:

"Nothing can be more evident than this important truth; that our
Anglo-Saxon kings were not absolute monarchs; but that their powers
and prerogatives were limited by the laws and customs of the country.
Our Saxon ancestors had been governed by limited monarchs in their
native seats on the continent; and there is not the least appearance
or probability that they relinquished their liberties, and submitted
to absolute government in their new settlements in this island. It is
not to be imagined that men, whose reigning passion was the love of
liberty, would willingly resign it; and their new sovereigns, who had
been their fellow-soldiers, had certainly no power to compel them to
such a resignation."--_3 Henry's History of Great Britain_, 358.

Mackintosh says: "The Saxon chiefs, who were called kings, originally
acquired power by the same natural causes which have gradually, and
everywhere, raised a few men above their fellows. They were,
doubtless, more experienced, more skilful, more brave, or more
beautiful, than those who followed them. * * A king was powerful in
war by the lustre of his arms, and the obvious necessity of
obedience. His influence in peace fluctuated with his personal
character. In the progress of usage his power became more fixed and
more limited. * * It would be very unreasonable to suppose that the
northern Germans who had conquered England, had so far changed their
characteristic habits from the age of Tacitus, that the victors
became slaves, and that their generals were converted into
tyrants."--_Mackintosh's Hist. of England, Ch. 2._ _45 Lardner's Cab.
Cyc._, 73-4.

Rapin, in his discourse on the "Origin and Nature of the English
Constitution," says:

"There are but two things the Saxons did not think proper to trust
their kings with; for being of like passions with other men, they
might very possibly abuse them; namely, the power of changing the
laws enacted by consent of king and people; and the power of raising
taxes at pleasure. From these two articles sprung numberless branches
concerning the liberty and property of the subject, which the king
cannot touch, without breaking the constitution, and they are the
distinguishing character of the English monarchy. The prerogatives of
the crown, and the rights and privileges of the people, flowing from
the two fore-me