BOOK III PART II
introduces a new constitution in its stead. I be-
lieve few of the subjects will think themselves
bound to comply with this alteration, unless it
have an evident tendency to the public good:
But men think themselves still at liberty to re-
turn to the antient government. Hence the no-
tion of fundamental laws; which are supposed
to be inalterable by the will of the sovereign:
And of this nature the Salic law is understood
to be in France. How far these fundamental
laws extend is not determined in any govern-
ment; nor is it possible it ever should. There is
such an indefensible gradation from the most
material laws to the most trivial, and from the
most antient laws to the most modem, that it
will be impossible to set bounds to the legisla-
tive power, and determine how far it may in-
novate in the principles of government. That is
the work more of imagination and passion than