Transcription

(15) That if ye Person pitched upon to have the Regal Power in the Interim to the Younger Brother It might be thought a Hardship to make his elder Brother his subject by a Law, though but for a day & might prove dangerous in ye Event. When our first King William comonly called William ye Conquerour dyed, his second son William Rufus got possession of the throne of England, & kept it to his death, & forced his elder Brother Robert to rest contented with the Duchy of Normandye. If it should be lodged in any set of men, there seems no way of ascertaining who they shall be, but by taking [[deletion]] some of [[/deletion]] ye great Officers for the time being or some of them. But then it would be exceeding doubtfull, whether the Prince would be more safe with them than with his Brother; & some ^ [[addition]] one [[/addition]] amongst them might have skill & power & wickedness enough to settle himself in ye throne. Certainly there would be lodged in them a power sufficient to do this, if they should agree to make use of it. But if they should retain their Duty to their Master's son, & resolve to make him their sovereign, yt they would ^ [[addition]] then [[/addition]] act wholly in complaisance to him, & [[deletion]] as [[/deletion]] ther would then be the same reasons for them to labour to ingratiate themselves with him, as if at first he had been their King & they his Ministers, & if in that case they would have persuaded him to repeal the Law, in this case they would do it themselves In the mean time, the hazards which would be run seemed to be frightfull, & the incertaintyes when one Reign should be ended, & the other begun almost insuperably great for what at present appeared Which last Consideration brought to mind the Preamble of that glorious Act of Settlemt in the 12th & 13th of King William to which we owe our prest happiness