e penal
statutes by a large exercise of his unquestionable prerogative of mercy,
but, at the same time, carefully abstained from violating the civil or
ecclesiastical constitution of the realm, the feeling of his people must
have undergone a rapid change. So conspicuous an example of good faith
punctiliously observed by a Popish prince towards a Protestant nation
would have quieted the public apprehensions. Men who saw that a
Roman Catholic might safely be suffered to direct the whole executive
administration, to command the army and navy, to convoke and dissolve
the legislature, to appoint the Bishops and Deans of the Church of
England, would soon have ceased to fear that any great evil would arise
from allowing a Roman Catholic to be captain of a company or alderman
of a borough. It is probable that, in a few years, the sect so long
detested by the nation would, with general applause, have been admitted
to office and to Parliament.

If, on the other hand, James should attempt to promote the interest
of his Church by violating the fundamental laws of his kingdom and the
solemn promises which he had repeatedly made in the face of the whole
world, it could hardly be doubted that the charges which it had been the
fashion to bring against the Roman Catholic religion would be considered
by all Protestants as fully established. For, if ever a Roman Catholic
could be expected to keep faith with heretics, James might have been
expected to keep faith with the Anglican clergy. To them he owed his
crown. But for their strenuous opposition to the Exclusion Bill he
would have been a banished man. He had repeatedly and emphatically
acknowledged his obligation to them, and had vowed to maintain them in
all their legal rights. If he could not be bound by ties like these, it
must be evident that, where his superstition was concerned, no tie of
gratitude or of honour could bind him. To trust him would thenceforth be
impossible; and, if his people could not trust him, what member of his
Church could they trust? He was not supposed to be constitutionally
or habitually treacherous. To his blunt manner, and to his want
of consideration for the feelings of others, he owed a much higher
reputation for sincerity than he at all deserved. His eulogists affected
to call him James the Just. If then it should appear that, in turning
Papist, he had also turned dissembler and promisebreaker, what
conclusion was likely to be drawn by a nation already