270 TWO CHAPTERS ILLUSTRATIVE OF 



Beaumont, the French ambassador, that his master and he were 

 "absolute monarchsj and in no respect dependent on the counsels or 

 consent of their people,"* must have early led those who possessed 

 elevated and energetic sentiments to ponder upon the conflicting 

 duties of subjects and free men ; while, from his entering upon his 

 high office with these fundamental principles upon the prerogative 

 royal, " from his mistaking the weight for the strength of the scep- 

 tre," it is no wonder that, in a subsequent despatch, Beaumont 

 should have expressed this deliberate and sagacious opinion upon the 

 royal infatuation : — " I recognize so many seeds of unsoundness in 

 England, so much is brewing in silence, and so many events appear 

 to be inevitable, as to induce me to maintain that, for an hundred 

 years to come, this kingdom will hardly misuse its prosperity to any 

 other purpose than its own injury." But still, as so much scepti- 

 cismt prevails, even in the present day, respecting the real charac- 

 ter and conduct of James, we purpose here a lengthened discussion, 

 the main object of which is, however, not controversy, but instruc- 

 tion. 



One of Higgons's first furious diatribes is directed against Bur- 

 nett, for presuming to say that James sent the pope a letter of re- 

 conciliation. There is plausibility enough in his endeavours to es- 

 tablish the point that the bishop has intentionally falsified history in 

 advancing this charge ; but, luckily, available materials exist com- 

 pletely to vindicate the accuracy of our historian on the subject. 

 Higgons's strictures are given in his most characteristic manner. 

 He thus commences them : — " Not content to injure jmvate per- 

 sons, he judges with the same rashness of princes; he first charges 

 positively king James with writing a letter to the pope, and then 

 comes off with a general belief of that matter.":}: 



Now it is a fact as notorious as any in our history, that James, 

 with a view to secure his accession to the English throne, earnestly 

 sought to engage in his interests those foreign powers who were 

 most attached to the Romish see ; and for the furtherance of that 



• See Von Raumei's History of the XVI. and XVII. Cent. p. 197—199- 

 ■\ " In the course of study, and with a more enlarged comprehension of 

 the age," says Mr. D'Israeli, " I was frequently struck by the contrast of his 

 real with his apparent character, and I thought I had developed those hidden 

 and involved causes which have so long influenced modern writers in ridi- 

 culing and vilifying this monarch." See an Enquiry into the literary and 

 political character of James I. by the Author of the Curiosities of Lilcralurg, 

 p. 7. London, 1816. 

 .•;: Remarks on Bishop Burnett, p. 1 1. 



