reserving rents to the Crown and also fines on alienation. It
enables fathers to dispose of their children's share during their
minority, and gives the custody of the personal estate to the
guardians of such child, and imposes in lieu of the revenues raised
in the Court of Ward and Liveries, duties upon beer and ale."

The land was relieved of its legitimate charge, and a tax on beer
and ale imposed instead! the landlords were relieved at the expense
of the people. The statute which accomplished this change is
described by Blackstone as

"A greater acquisition to the civil property of this kingdom than
even Magna Charta itself, since that only pruned the luxuriances
that had grown out of military tenures, and thereby preserved them
in vigor; but the statute of King Charles extirpated the whole, and
demolished both root and branches,"

The efforts of James II. to rule contrary to the wish of the
nation, led to his expulsion from the throne, and showed that, in
case of future disputes as to the succession, the army, like the
Praetorian Guards of Rome, had the election of the monarch. The Red
and White Roses of the Plantagenets reappeared under the altered
names of Whig and Tory; but it was proved that the decision of a
leading soldier like the Duke of Marlborough would decide the army,
and that it would govern the nation; fortunately the decision was a
wise one, and was ratified by Parliament: thus FORCE governed LAW,
and the decision of the ARMY influenced the SENATE. William III.
succeeded, AS AN ELECTED MONARCH, under the Bill of Rights. This
remarkable document contains no provision, securing the tenants-in-
fee in their estates; and I have not met with any treatise dealing