And when this magnanimous princess, as well by her vast spirit and personal virtues, as the constant successes of her long reign, had derived the highest dignity and authority on the English sceptre, it passed into the hands of the elder James; who brought something more with him than a good will, the accession of a great kingdom, and the opinion of deep wisdom, to enable him to wield it.
What followed in his and the succeeding reigns, I need not be at the pains to recount to you. These things are too recent for me to dwell upon: and you, my Lord Commissioner, do not only remember them perfectly, but have yourself acted a great part in most of them. Allow me only to say, that from this brief history of the regal authority, and the means by which it arrived at so unusual a greatness, it is no wonder that the Stuart family were somewhat dazzled by the height to which they were raised, and that more than half a century was required to correct, if it ever did correct, the high but false notions they had entertained of the imperial dignity.
SIR J. MAYNARD.
If you permit me, at last, to break in at the opening which this conclusion of your discourse seems to give me; I would say, That, on your principles, the house of Stuart had great reason for the high notions you ascribe to them. For what other conclusion could they make, but that a power, which had domineered for so long a time, and that by the full allowance of parliament and people, was, both in fact and right, absolute and uncontrolable?
BP. BURNET.
It is certain, the Stuart family did draw that conclusion. But a great deal too hastily; as may appear from your own observation, that the exercise of this extraordinary power was committed, or more properly indulged to them, by the people. This is so strictly true, that from the first to the last of the Tudor line, imperious and despotic as they were of their own nature, no extraordinary stretch of power was ventured upon by any of them, but under the countenance and protection of an act of parliament. Hence it was, that the Star-chamber, though the jurisdiction of this court had the authority of the common law, was confirmed by statute; that the proceedings of Empson and Dudley had the sanction of parliament; that Henry the VIIIth’s supremacy, and all acts of power dependent upon it, had the same foundation: in a word, that every thing, which wore the face of an absolute authority in the king, was not in virtue of any supposed inherent prerogative in the crown, but the special grant of the subject. No doubt, this compliance, and particularly if we consider the lengths to which it was carried, may be brought to prove the obsequious and even abject dispositions of the times; though we allow a great deal, as I think we should, to prudence and good policy. But then the parliaments, by taking care to make every addition to the crown their OWN PROPER ACT, left their kings no pretence to consider themselves as absolute and independent.
MR. SOMERS.
I doubt, considering the slavish disposition of the times, that, if the people still possessed a shew of liberty, this advantage was owing to the pure condescension of the crown, and not to their own policy. A king that could obtain of his parliament to have his proclamations pass for laws[12], might have ventured on this step without the concurrence of parliament.
BP. BURNET.
I acknowledge the act you glance at was of an extraordinary kind; and might seem, by implication at least, to deliver up the entire legislative authority into the hands of the sovereign. But there is a wide difference between the crown’s usurping this strange power, and the parliament’s bestowing it. The case was (and nothing could be more fortunate for the nation) that at the time when the people were least able to controul their prince, their prince’s affairs constrained him to court his people. For the rejection of the papal power and the reformation of religion were things of that high nature, and so full of hazard, that no expedient was to be overlooked, which tended to make the execution of these projects safe or easy. Hence it was, that no steps were taken by the crown but with the consent and approbation of the two houses. And if these were compelled by the circumstances of their situation to favour their prince’s interest or caprice by absurd and inconsistent compliances, this benefit at least they drew to themselves, that their power by that means would appear the greater and more unquestionable. For what indeed could display the omnipotency of parliaments more than their being called in to make and unmake the measures of government, and give a sanction, as it were, to contradictions? Of which there cannot be a stronger instance than the changes they made from time to time, as Henry VIII’s passions swayed him, in the rule of succession.