BOOK III PART II
prive them of it. The same necessity of self-
preservation, and the same motive of public
good, give them the same liberty in the one
case as in the other. And we may farther ob-
serve, that in such mixed governments, the
cases, wherein resistance is lawful, must occur
much oftener, and greater indulgence be given
to the subjects to defend themselves by force of
arms, than in arbitrary governments. Not only
where the chief magistrate enters into mea-
sures, in themselves, extremely pernicious to
the public, but even when he would encroach
on the other parts of the constitution, and ex-
tend his power beyond the legal bounds, it is
allowable to resist and dethrone him; though
such resistance and violence may, in the gen-
eral tenor of the laws, be deemed unlawful and
rebellious. For besides that nothing is more
essential to public interest, than the preserva-