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niSXORY OF ENGLAND.

chap, ferred to the crown the right of taxing the people; had the— Star Chamber and the High Commission continued to fine,mutilate, and imprison every man who dared to raise his voiceagainst the government; had the press been as completelyenslaved here as at Vienna or at Naples; had our Kings gra-dually drawn to themselves the whole legislative power; hadsix generations of Englishmen passed away without a singlesession of Parliament; and had we then at length risen up insome moment of wild excitement against our masters, whatan outbreak would that have been! With what a crash, heardand felt to the farthest ends of the world, would the wholevast fabric of society have fallen! How many thousands ofexiles, once the most prosperous and the most refined mem-bers of this great community, would have begged their breadin continental cities, or have sheltered their heads under hutsof bark in the uncleared forests of America! How oftenshould we have seen the pavement of London piled up inbarricades, the houses dinted with bullets, the guttersfoaming with blood! How many times should we have rushedwildly from extreme to extreme, sought refuge from anarchyin despotism, and been again driven by despotism intoanarchy! How many years of blood and confusion would ithave cost us to learn the very rudiments of political science!How many childish theories would have duped us! Howmany rude and ill poised constitutions should we have set up,only to see them tumble down! Happy would it have beenfor us if a sharp discipline of half a century had sufficed toeducate us into a capacity of enjoying true freedom.

These calamities our Revolution averted. It was a revolu-tion strictly defensive, and had prescription and legitimacyon its side. Here, and here only, a limited monarchy of thethirteenth century had come down unimpaired to the seven-teenth century. Our parliamentary institutions were in fullvigour. The main principles of our government were excel-lent. They were not, indeed, formally and exactly set forthin a single written instrument; but they were to be foundscattered over our ancient and noble statutes; and, whatwas of far greater moment, they had been engraven on the