much as possible, an equitable neutrality between the
opposite parties; and the more they reflected on the course of public
affairs, the greater difficulty they found in fixing just sentiments
with regard to them. On the one hand, they regarded the very rise of
parties as a happy prognostic of the establishment of liberty; nor
could they ever expect to enjoy, in a mixed government, so invaluable
a blessing, without suffering that inconvenience which, in such
governments, has ever attended it. But when they considered, on the
other hand, the necessary aims and pursuits of both parties, they were
struck with apprehension of the consequences, and could discover no
feasible plan of accommodation between them. From long practice, the
crown was now possessed of so exorbitant a prerogative, that it was not
sufficient for liberty to remain on the defensive, or endeavor to secure
the little ground which was left her: it was become necessary to carry
on an offensive war, and to circumscribe, within more narrow, as well
as more exact bounds; the authority of the sovereign. Upon such
provocation, it could not but happen, that the prince, however just and
moderate, would endeavor to repress his opponents; and, as he stood upon
the very brink of arbitrary power, it was to be feared that he would,
hastily and unknowingly, pass those limits which were not precisely
marked by the constitution. The turbulent government of England, ever
fluctuating between privilege and prerogative, would afford a variety
of precedents, which might be pleaded on both sides. In such delicate
questions, the people must be divided: the arms of the state were still
in their hands: a civil war must ensue; a civil war where no party,
or both parties, would justly bear the blame and where the good and
virtuous would scarcely know what vows to form; were it not that
liberty, so necessary to the perfection of human society, would be
sufficient to bias their affections towards the side of its defenders.

CHAPTER XLIX.

JAMES I.

{1622.} To wrest the Palatinate from the hands of the emperor and the
duke of Bavaria, must always have been regarded as a difficult task for
the power of England, conducted by so unwarlike a prince as James: it
was plainly impossible, while the breach subsisted between him and the
commons. The king's negotiations, therefore, had they been managed with
ever so great dexterity, must now carry less weight with them; and it
w