24

HI5T0KY OF ENGLAND.

c hap. The clue of which we are now possessed will enable us— 1687. to trac k without difficulty the course, in reality consistent,ms policy though in appearance sometimes tortuous, which lie pursuedconsistent towards our domestic factions. He clearly saw what had notthrough- esca p e( j p ersong f ar inferior to him in sagacity, that the enter-prise on which his whole soul was intent would probably besuccessful if England were on his side, would be of uncertainissue if England were neutral, and would be hopeless if Eng-land acted as she had acted in the days of the Cabal. He sawnot less clearly that between the foreign policy and the do-mestic policy of the English government there was a closeconnection; that the sovereign of this country, acting inharmony with the legislature, must always have a great swayin the affairs of Christendom, and must also have an obviousinterest in opposing the undue aggrandisement of any con-tinental potentate; that, on the other hand, the sovereign,distrusted and thwarted by the legislature, could be of littleweight in European politics, and that the whole of that littleweight would be thrown into the wrong scale. The Prince’s' first wish therefore was that there should be concord betweenthe throne and the Parliament. How that concord should beestablished, and on which side concessions should be made,were, in his view, questions of secondary importance. Hewould have been best pleased, no doubt, to. see a completereconciliation effected without the sacrifice of one tittle of theprerogative. For in the integrity of that prerogative he hada reversionary interest; and lie was, by nature, at least ascovetous of power and as impatient of restraint as any of theStuarts. But there was no flower of the crown which he wasnot prepared to sacrifice, even after the crown had beenplaced on his own head, if he could only be convinced that

prince profond dans ses vues; Labile 4 former des lignes et a riunir lesesprils; pins heureux a exciter les guerres qu’4 combaltre; plus acraindre encore dans le secret du cabinet, qu’a la tile des armies; unennemi que la haine du nom Frangais avoit rendu capable d’imagincr degrandes choses et de les cxicuter; un de ces gdnies qui semblent fitrcnds pour mouroir 4 leur grd les peuples et les souverains; un grandhomme, s’il n’avoit jamais voulu itre roi.” — Oraison funebro de M. leDauphin.