legiance and
protection were declared reciprocal ties depending upon each other. The
representatives of the nation made a regular claim of rights in
behalf of their constituents; and William III. ascended the throne in
consequence of an express capitulation with the people. Yet, on this
occasion, the zeal of the parliament towards their deliverer seems to
have overshot their attachment to their own liberty and privileges: or
at least they neglected the fairest opportunity that ever occurred, to
retrench those prerogatives of the crown to which they imputed all the
late and former calamities of the kingdom. Their new monarch retained
the old regal power over parliaments in its full extent. He was left
at liberty to convoke, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve them at
his pleasure. He was enabled to influence elections, and oppress
corporations. He possessed the right of choosing his own council; of
nominating all the great officers of the state, and of the household, of
the army, the navy, and the church. He reserved the absolute command
of the militia: so that lie remained master of all the instruments and
engines of corruption and violence, without any other restraint than his
own moderation, and prudent regard to the claim of rights, and principle
of resistance on which the revolution was founded. In a word, the
settlement was finished with some precipitation, before the plan had
been properly digested and matured; and this will be the case in every
establishment formed upon a sudden emergency in the face of opposition.
It was observed, that the king, who was made by the people, had it in
his power to rule without them; to govern _jure divino_ though he was
created _jure humano_: and that, though the change proceeded from a
republican spirit, the settlement was built upon tory maxims; for
the execution of his government continued still independent of his
commission, while his own person remained sacred and inviolable. The
prince of Orange had been invited to England by a coalition of parties,
united by a common sense of danger; but this tie was no sooner broken
than they flew asunder and each resumed its original bias. Their mutual
jealousy and rancour revived, and was heated by dispute into intemperate
zeal and enthusiasm. Those who at first acted from principles of
patriotism were insensibly warmed into partizans; and king William
soon found himself at the head of a faction. As he had been bred, a
Calvinist, and always e