ct
of greatest moment, they avoided every dispute which might throw an
obstacle in the way of foreign conquests.

When the state of affairs between the English and French kings was
considered with a superficial eye, every advantage seemed to be on the
side of the former; and the total expulsion of Charles appeared to be an
event which might naturally be expected from the superior power of his
competitor. Though Henry was yet in his infancy, the administration was
devolved on the duke of Bedford, the most accomplished prince of his
age; whose experience, prudence, valor, and generosity qualified him
for his high office, and enabled him both to maintain union among his
friends, and to gain the confidence of his enemies. The whole power
of England was at his command; he was at the head of armies inured to
victory; he was seconded by the most renowned generals of the age, the
earls of Somerset, Warwick, Salisbury, Suffolk, and Arundel, Sir
John Talbot, and Sir John Fastolffe: and besides Guienne, the ancient
inheritance of England, he was master of the capital, and of almost
all the northern provinces, which were well enabled to furnish him with
supplies both of men and money, and to assist and support his English
forces.

But Charles, notwithstanding the present inferiority of his power,
possessed some advantages, derived partly from his situation, partly
from his personal character, which promised him success, and served,
first to control, then to overbalance, the superior force and opulence
of his enemies. He was the true and undoubted heir of the monarchy: all
Frenchmen, who knew the interests, or desired the independence, of
their country, turned their eyes towards him as its sole resource; the
exclusion given him by the imbecility of his father, and the forced or
precipitate consent of the states, had plainly no validity: that spirit
of faction which had blinded the people, could not long hold them in
so gross a delusion: their national and inveterate hatred against the
English, the authors of all their calamities, must soon revive, and
inspire them with indignation at bending their necks under the yoke of
that hostile people: great nobles and princes, accustomed to maintain
an independence against their native sovereigns, would never endure a
subjection to strangers; and though most of the princes of the blood
were, since the fatal battle of Azincour detained prisoners in England,
the inhabitants of their de mesnes