good reasons, but not the less astounding when presented as naked and
independent truths. It was natural enough that they should claim for
the Crown the origination of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, considering
what else they claimed for it. Mr. Allen can present us with a more
than Chinese idea of royal power, when he draws it only from
Blackstone:--

They may have heard [he says, speaking of the "unlearned in the
law"] that the law of England is founded in reason and wisdom. The
first lesson they are taught will inform them, that the law of
England attributes to the King absolute perfection, absolute
immortality, and legal ubiquity. They will be told that the King
of England is not only incapable of doing wrong, but of thinking
wrong. They will be informed that he never dies, that he is
invisible as well as immortal, and that in the eye of the law he
is present at one and the same instant in every court of justice
within his dominions.... They may have been told that the royal
prerogative in England is limited; but when they consult the sages
of the law, they will be assured that the legal authority of the
King of England is absolute and irresistible ... that all are
under him, while he is under none but God....

If they have had the benefit of a liberal education, they have
been taught that to obtain security for persons and property was
the great end for which men submitted to the restraints of civil
government; and they may have heard of the indispensable necessity
of an independent magistracy for the due administration of
justice; but when they direct their inquiries to the laws and
constitution of England, they will find it an established maxim in
that country that all jurisdiction emanates from the Crown. They