4 the mi 
semblance to’ it. 
either expressed in a language with which the people 
were utterly unacquainted, or conceived in so subtle 
and scholastic a manner as was little fitted to engage 
But in proportion as the disputey between Charles 
~ and his parli drew to a crisis, in p ion were 
s of the people directed to a bolder range of 
political discussion. At first, the limits of the prero- 
gative formed the only subject of in we By degrees, 
as the fortunes of Charles darkened, the circumstances 
which constituted ‘a total forfeiture of the throne began 
to be examined. And at last, when the sovereign was 
and the peers voted useless, the question 
assumed the broadest form of which it was susceptible, 
‘The er now was into the best form of civil polity ; 
and in this enquiry, the whole extent of political science 
was dev to the people. 
That all lawful authority was derived from them, and 
was co-existent only with the just and impartial admi- 
nistration of it, were considerations of no mean im- 
and accordingly received a share of the pub- 
attention; but the opportunity was now arrived 
when the British people, freed from their ancient go- 
vernment and all its deformities, might, as they con- 
teived, erecta new s re which, while it se- 
cured their own and ‘their descendants felicity, might 
for ever serve as a model to the rest of mankind. On this 
wider subject, therefore, every mind was occupied. All 
other conversation was naturally without interest. Every 
_ press was employed in furnishing the various publica- 
tions which might inform the ignorant, convince the 
doubting, or excite the enthusiastic. The blemishes of 
the former —— needed no exaggeration from 
the pen of the political writer, to create a general ab- 
horrence of every form of polity which bore any re- 
The people themselves had too re= 
cently felt its imperfections, even while its administra- 
tion was yet unexasperated by opposition,and had smart- 
ed too severely under the consequences it admitted 
when its chief magistrate chose to be offended. The 
most opposite form, therefore, was the most favourite, 
Every publication, accordingly, consisted either of ar- 
-guments in support of a democracy, or detailed some 
new and rival plan of government for the approbation 
and choice of the people. Nor in this competition of 
lative politics, then deemed so glorious, do we 
nd such names only as are ever ouly to serve the 
s of ambition, or of avarice. Warmed with 
the love of ancient liberty, and proud to avow their 
admiration of’ it, the fairest schemes of republican go- 
vernment, and the strongest arguments in su of 
it, which the minds of a Harrington and a Milton could 
devise, or their energetic eloquence recommend, afford 
interesting specimens both of the manner in which the 
public mind was then occupied, and of the ability em- 
ployed in giving it a direction. 
ut these delusive prospects soon disappeared. The 
of establishing a republican government became 
fainter and fainter; and with it, those. schemes 
which had been so eloquently detailed, and so fondly 
contemplated, quickly fell into neglect: The views of 
Cromwell, which had always been suspected by some, 
now began to be understood by many ; and the vigor- 
ous administration by which he confirmed his usurped 
power, by and by convinced the people that they still 
oer a monarchy in ev thing but the name. 
death of the Protector, and the incapacity of his 
son, ve the’nation in all the miseries of anar- 
chy. partizans of the royal family were not slack 
to improve the o 
their efforts, an 
portunity they so much desired. By 
the concurrence of a full tide of cir- 
GOVERNMENT. 
348 
cumstances, the proscribed monarch was received into Govern- 
om, without any limitation of ment 
the bosom of the ki 
his authority, and with an ardour of popular affection, 
proportionate to the interruption it had suffered, and 
to the calamities and confusion to which the nation had 
been exposed, 
It was accordingly during the reign of Charles II, 
that the public mind seems to have been disposed to 
admit the exercise of the royal betty goes in as unli« 
mited and dangerous an extent as ever been pos« 
sessed by. any former monarch. Still smarting under 
the desolating consequences of the civil wars, and still 
remembering the odium with which they had re; 
the tyrannical, though energetic, administration of the 
Protector, it is not surprising if the le began to 
indulge the opinion, that an guccenielen rerogative in 
the crown was n to order and government. 
The court does not seem to have been insensible to 
this favourable state of men’s minds for promoting its 
views. The nation, it was easy to ive, had now ac« 
quired a taste for political speculation. which it would be 
more practicable to lead in a safe or advantageous course, 
than altogether to obstruct. And though the reign~ 
ing monarch had little reason to apprehend any imme- 
diate opposition to his power, yet a theory in support 
of it, would at once gratify the public mind, and might 
lessen the chance of future resistance. There was now 
no demand for plans of government. These had had 
their day. They had fallen into neglect with all, and 
contempt with many. Monarchy, the resumed, uncon 
trouled’ monarchy, was the idol; and nothing was 
wanting but a systematic detail of the justice and ra- 
tionality of the principles upon which it rested. - 
About this time, ea several writers appear 
ed who, either ‘hired immediately by the court, or 
impelled by general hopes of reward, endeavoured te 
perform so acceptable a service. Among these, the 
most celebrated was Sir Robert Filmer. His book, en- 
titled Patriarcha, seems to have been by far the most 
daring and specious attempt to assign a legitimate and 
rational origin to absolute monarchy. It was daring, 
not so much because it was an express and avowed en-~ 
deavour to establish that form of government in exclu~ 
sion of every other that had ever been set up in the 
world, but'to establish it upon the basis of a divine ap- 
pointment ; and it was specious, because the mode of 
argument, and the style of writing adopted, were such 
as, in those times, were likely to make considerable 
impression,—the former being chiefly, or altogether, 
founded in texts of scripture, and the latter made up 
of expressions sufficiently vague and unmeaning to 
elude detection in an age when literature was yet but 
little diffused, or accurately studied. If not the first 
to assert the jus divinum of kings, Filmer seems to have 
been the first; at least, who ventured to account for its 
origin, to devel its nature, and to establish it avow- 
edly and expressly, upon the basis of argument. 
Aware of the futility of that sort of reasoning which, 
while it founded the legitimacy of the sovereign power 
in the general or providential arrangements of the Su- 
preme Being, would at the same time have justified 
every form of government, and even every species of 
crime, (since these also fall out, or are permitted in the 
general arrangements of Providence), Filmer had re- 
course, if not to a more logical, at least to a more spe- 
cious, mode of argument. Texts of scripture. he con- 
ceived, could be found, in which might be traced the 
legitimacy of modern kings to the appointment of God 
himself at the creation of the world. If so, his object 
was accomplished—infidelity in that age not having yet 
dared to erect his unhallowed standard among the people. 
