Were violence once offered,
there could be no return, he saw, to mutual confidence and trust with
his people; the perils attending foreign succors, especially from so
mighty a prince, were sufficiently apparent; and the success which his
own arms had met with in the war, was not so great as to increase his
authority, or terrify the malecontents from opposition. The desire
of power, likewise, which had engaged Charles in these precipitate
measures, had less proceeded, we may observe, from ambition than from
love of ease. Strict limitations of the constitution rendered the
conduct of business complicated and troublesome; and it was impossible
for him, without much contrivance and intrigue, to procure the money
necessary for his pleasures, or even for the regular support of
government. When the prospect, therefore, of such dangerous opposition
presented itself, the same love of ease inclined him to retract what it
seemed so difficult to maintain; and his turn of mind, naturally pliant
and careless, made him find little objection to a measure which a more
haughty prince would have embraced with the utmost reluctance. That he
might yield with the better grace, he asked the opinion of the house of
peers, who advised him to comply with the commons.
Pages:
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223