invested Edward IV. with a possession which the general consent of the
nation both sanctioned and secured. This was effected in no slight
degree by the furious spirit of Margaret, who began a system of
extermination by acts of attainder and execution of prisoners that
created abhorrence, though it did not prevent imitation. And the
barbarities of her northern army, whom she led towards London after the
battle of Wakefield, lost the Lancastrian cause its former friends,[451]
and might justly convince reflecting men that it were better to risk
the chances of a new dynasty than trust the kingdom to an exasperated
faction.

[Sidenote: Edward IV.]

A period of obscurity and confusion ensues, during which we have as
little insight into constitutional as general history. There are no
contemporary chroniclers of any value, and the rolls of parliament, by
whose light we have hitherto steered, become mere registers of private
bills, or of petitions relating to commerce. The reign of Edward IV. is
the first during which no statute was passed for the redress of
grievances or maintenance of the subject's liberty. Nor is there, if I
am correct, a single petition of this nature upon the roll. Whether it
were that the commons had lost too much of their ancient courage to
present any remonstrances, or that a wilful omission has vitiated the
record, is hard to determine; but we certainly must not imagine that a
government cemented with blood poured on the scaffold, as well as in the
field, under a passionate and unprincipled sovereign, would afford no
scope for the just animadversion of parliament.[452] The reign of Edward
IV. was a reign of terror. One half of the noble families had been
thinned by proscription; and though generally restored in blood by the
reversal of their attainders--a measure certainly deserving of much
approbation--were still under the eyes of vigilant and inveterate
enemies. The opposite faction would be cautious how they resisted a king
of their own creation, while the hopes of their adversaries were only
dormant. And indeed, without relying on this supposition, it is commonly
seen that, when temporary circumstances have given a king the means of
acting in disregard of his subjects' privileges, it is a very difficult
undertaking for them to recover a liberty which has no security so
effectual as habitual possession.

Besides the severe proceedings against the Lancastrian party, which
might be extenuated by t