n an original contract between
the magistrate and people, that great revolutions of government, and
new settlements of civil constitutions, are commonly conducted with such
violence, tumult, and disorder, that the public voice can scarcely
ever be heard; and the opinions of the citizens are at that time less
attended to than even in the common course of administration. The
present transactions in England, it must be confessed, are a singular
exception to this observation. The new elections had been carried on
with great tranquillity and freedom: the prince had ordered the troops
to depart from all the towns where the voters assembled: a tumultuary
petition to the two houses having been promoted, he took care, though
the petition was calculated for his advantage, effectually to suppress
it: he entered into no intrigues, either with the electors or the
members: he kept himself in a total silence, as if he had been nowise
concerned in these transactions: and so far from forming cabals with the
leaders of parties, he disdained even to bestow caresses on those whose
assistance might be useful to him. This conduct was highly meritorious,
and discovered great moderation and magnanimity; even though the prince
unfortunately, through the whole course of his life, and on every
occasion, was noted for an address so cold, dry, and distant, that it
was very difficult for him, on account of any interest, to soften or
familiarize it.

At length the prince deigned to break silence, and to express, though in
a private manner, his sentiments on the present situation of affairs. He
called together Halifax, Shrewsbury, Danby, and a few more; and he told
them, that, having been invited over to restore their liberty, he
had engaged in this enterprise, and had at last happily effected his
purpose: that it belonged to the parliament, now chosen and assembled
with freedom, to concert measures for the public settlement; and he
pretended not to interpose in their determinations: that he heard of
several schemes proposed for establishing the government: some insisted
on a regent; others were desirous of bestowing the crown on
the princess: it was their concern alone to choose the plan of
administration most agreeable or advantageous to them: that if they
judged it proper to settle a regent, he had no objection: he only
thought it incumbent on him to inform them, that he was determined not
to be the regent, nor ever to engage in a scheme which, he