"In England, the king is a perpetual magistrate; and it is a maxim which has obtained for the sake of the public peace, that he is unaccountable for his administration, and his person sacred. Nothing, therefore, can be wiser in that kingdom, than to annex to the king a constitutional council, who may be responsible to the nation for the advice they give. Without this, there would be no responsibility whatever in the executive department an idea inadmissible in a free government" (Federalist 70).
This statement from Publius is helpful in understanding the history of Richard. Accusations of wrong-doing cannot rightly be made against the king, but it is permisible to accuse those who are advising the king. The feud between Richard and Gloucesester goes back to the time when Gloucester impeached the king's advisers for their bad counsel. McKisack: "To Gloucester's plea for mercy [Richard] replied that he should have just so much mercy as he himself had shown to Simon Burley, for whom the queen had interceded on her knees" (479).
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