a caution and moderation that showed the sense of a growing difficulty
in the full exercise of it. The ordinary course of justice was left
undisturbed. The jurisdiction of the Council was asserted almost
exclusively over the Catholics; and defended in their case as a
precaution against pressing dangers. The proclamations issued were
temporary in character and of small importance. The two duties imposed
were so slight as to pass almost unnoticed in the general satisfaction
at Elizabeth's abstinence from internal taxation. She abandoned the
benevolences and forced loans which had brought home the sense of
tyranny to the subjects of her predecessors. She treated the Privy
Seals, which on emergencies she issued for advances to her Exchequer,
simply as anticipations of her revenue (like our own Exchequer Bills),
and punctually repaid them. The monopolies with which she fettered trade
proved a more serious grievance; but during her earlier reign they were
looked on as a part of the system of Merchant Associations, which were
at that time regarded as necessary for the regulation and protection of
the growing commerce.

[Sidenote: The advance of the Parliament.]

The political developement of the nation is seen still more in the
advance of the Parliament during Elizabeth's reign. The Queen's thrift
enabled her in ordinary times of peace to defray the current expenses of
the Crown from its ordinary revenues. But her thrift was dictated not so
much by economy as by a desire to avoid summoning fresh Parliaments. We
have seen how boldly the genius of Thomas Cromwell set aside on this
point the tradition of the New Monarchy. His confidence in the power of
the Crown revived the Parliament as an easy and manageable instrument of
tyranny. The old forms of constitutional freedom were turned to the
profit of the royal despotism, and a revolution which for the moment
left England absolutely at Henry's feet was wrought out by a series of
parliamentary statutes. Throughout Henry's reign Cromwell's confidence
was justified by the spirit of slavish submission which pervaded the
Houses. But the effect of the religious change for which his measures
made room began to be felt during the minority of Edward the Sixth; and
the debates and divisions on the religious reaction which Mary pressed
on the Parliament were many and violent. A great step forward was marked
by the effort of the Crown to neutralize by "management" an opposition
which it co