Zbc Stuart pc^o^, 



CHAPTER XXV. 



ATTITUDE OF THE LANDED INTEREST IN THE ENSUINQ 

 CONSTITUTIONAL STRUGGLE. 



According to the great poet of the period, it may be said that 

 the divinity which is supposed to hedge the sacred person of 

 the sovereign was conspicuous throughout the late dynasty. 

 A majesty inherent to the Tudor race had kept at arm's length 

 that fierce resistance wliich a long increasing and now formid- 

 able power had enabled the commons to oppose against every 

 constitutional abuse. 



The vox populi, which neither the rapacity of Henry VII. 

 nor the despotism of his successor, which not even the bigotry 

 of Mary, much less the parsimony of her sister, had fully 

 aroused, now thundered forth into a rebellious shout at the 

 pusillanimity of James and the insincerity of his son. 



Macaulay^ has opined that the weakness and meanness of 

 the former was the saving of the nation, but such a thesis is 

 open to grave objection. It is true that the struggle betwixt 

 king and parliament had reached a crisis, and that the infe- 

 riority of the former ensured the triumph of the latter. A 

 limited monarchy replaced for ever that royal absolutism 

 which had long threatened the English people. But at what 

 a cost ! Both sides threw away moderation. Extremes met. 

 The people murdered one representative of royal despotism, 

 and almost hunted to death another, only to find themselves 

 under a worse despotism still. Then to evade the military 

 yoke created by their own efforts, they thrust their necks under 



* Macaulay, History of England, cli. i. 



328 



