an was traced
by the constitution for supplying, by the suffrages of the people,
every vacancy made by the demise of the first magistrate. If any king
left a son of an age and capacity fit for government, the young prince
naturally stepped into the throne: if he was a minor, his uncle, or
the next prince of the blood, was promoted to the government, and left
the sceptre to his posterity: any sovereign, by taking previous
measures with the leading men, had it greatly in his power to appoint
his successor: all these changes, and indeed the ordinary
administration of government, required the express concurrence, or at
least the tacit acquiescence, of the people; but possession, however
obtained, was extremely apt to secure their obedience, and the idea of
any right, which was once excluded, was but feeble and imperfect.
This is so much the case in all barbarous monarchies, and occurs so
often in the history of the Anglo-Saxons, that we cannot consistently
entertain any other notion of their government. The idea of an
hereditary succession in authority is so natural to men, and is so
much fortified by the usual rule in transmitting private possessions,
that it must retain a great influence on every society, which does not
exclude it by the refinements of a republican constitution. But as
there is a material difference between government and private
possessions, and every man is not as much qualified for exercising the
one, as for enjoying the other, a people, who are not sensible of the
general advantages attending a fixed rule, and apt to make great leaps
in the succession, and frequently to pass over the person, who, had he
possessed the requisite years and abilities, would have been thought
entitled to the sovereignty. Thus, these monarchies are not, strictly
speaking, either elective or hereditary; and though the destination of
a prince may often be followed in appointing his successor, they can
as little be regarded as wholly testamentary. The states by their
suffrage may sometimes establish a sovereign; but they more frequently
recognize the person whom they find established: a few great men take
the lead; the people, overawed and influenced, acquiesce in the
government; and the reigning prince, provided he be of the royal
family, passes undisputedly for the legal sovereign.

[MN The Wittenagemot.]
It is confessed, that our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon history and
antiquities is too imperfect to afford us means