s. Above
all, the sovereign must resign that supreme military authority which,
from time beyond all memory, had appertained to the regal office.

That Charles would comply with such demands while he had any means of
resistance, was not to be expected. Yet it will be difficult to show
that the Houses could safely have exacted less. They were truly in a
most embarrassing position. The great majority of the nation was firmly
attached to hereditary monarchy. Those who held republican opinions
were as yet few, and did not venture to speak out. It was therefore
impossible to abolish kingly government. Yet it was plain that no
confidence could be placed in the King. It would have been absurd in
those who knew, by recent proof, that he was bent on destroying them, to
content themselves with presenting to him another Petition of Right,
and receiving from him fresh promises similar to those which he
had repeatedly made and broken. Nothing but the want of an army had
prevented him from entirely subverting the old constitution of the
realm. It was now necessary to levy a great regular army for the
conquest of Ireland; and it would therefore have been mere insanity to
leave him in possession of that plenitude of military authority which
his ancestors had enjoyed.

When a country is in the situation in which England then was, when the
kingly office is regarded with love and veneration, but the person
who fills that office is hated and distrusted, it should seem that the
course which ought to be taken is obvious. The dignity of the office
should be preserved: the person should be discarded. Thus our ancestors
acted in 1399 and in 1689. Had there been, in 1642, any man occupying a
position similar to that which Henry of Lancaster occupied at the time
of the deposition of Richard the Second, and which William of Orange
occupied at the time of the deposition of James the Second, it is
probable that the Houses would have changed the dynasty, and would have
made no formal change in the constitution. The new King, called to the
throne by their choice, and dependent on their support, would have been
under the necessity of governing in conformity with their wishes
and opinions. But there was no prince of the blood royal in the
parliamentary party; and, though that party contained many men of high
rank and many men of eminent ability, there was none who towered so
conspicuously above the rest that he could be proposed as a candidate
for the