The Civil Wars. 329 



the feet of the worst king who ever ascended the English 

 throne. Bat surely had James I. been as generous and strong 

 as he was the reverse, all these extreme measures might have 

 been avoided ! Hallam ^ has pointed out that no private indi- 

 vidual could have claimed a single acre of English soil Tvithout 

 a better title than James advanced for the English Crown. 

 But notwithstanding this, if the religious differences could 

 have been bridged over, and the unjust impositions put a stop 

 to, the nation would have ignored the illegality of the new 

 king's accession far more thoroughly even than it subsequently 

 ignored that of the Brunswick family. To successfully sur- 

 mount these difficulties required a stability of character to 

 which the reigning House was an utter stranger. It was, then, 

 Stuart idiosyncracy combined with the immoderation of a 

 democracy as yet uneducated in the exercise of power which 

 brought about that series of catastrophes to which we have 

 briefly alluded. 



The ecclesiastical interest rallied round the king from the 

 very first, and it might have been supposed that the landed 

 interest, following out the same traditional policy, would have 

 likewise clung to the throne. When, indeed, that throne was 

 tottering, it too rallied to the king and spent its best blood 

 and treasure to prop up his toppling seat, but during the reign 

 of James there were too many grievances to bring about any 

 lasting reconciliation. The large accession of fresh blood to the 

 land, and the dislike of the new proprietors to the system of 

 feudalism, has been already pointed out. The incidents of 

 military tenure having lost all significance remained merely 

 irksome and farcical burdens on the land. The sovereign's 

 exercise of his rights under the incident of wardship whenever 

 he wished to confer on a favourite the estates and hand of some 

 heiress, was regarded by all the great families as a badge of 

 slavery. The custody by the king, without accounting for the 

 profits, of every military tenant's estates until he should reach 

 the age of twenty-one, was especially obnoxious to the new 

 blood. Vehicles were impressed for the king's service, victuals 

 exacted for the king's table, and even trees felled for the 

 * Hallam, Constit. Hist, of England, ch. vi. 



