Chap. XIX.} |
By resolving that James II. had abdicated, the representatives of the English people assumed to sit in judgment on its kings. By declaring the throne vacant, they annihilated the principle of legitimacy. By disfranchising a dynasty for professing the Roman faith, they not only exerted the power of interpreting the original contract, but of introducing into it new conditions. By electing a king, they made themselves his constituents; and the parliament of England became the fountain of sovereignty for the English world.
The royal prerogative of a veto on English legislation soon fell into disuse. The dispensing power was expressly abrogated, or denied. The judiciary was rendered independent of the crown; so that enfranchisements were safe against executive interference, and state trials ceased to be collisions between bloodthirsty hatred and despair. For England, parliament was absolute.
The progress of civilization had gradually elevated the commercial classes, and given importance to towns. It now set up, as its landmark and evidence of advancement, the acknowledged influence and power of the men of business; of those who make the exchanges between the consumer and the producer, and those also who assist the exchanges by advances. The reverence for the landed aristocracy was deeply branded into the rural mind; in the parliament of Richard Cromwell, it had even been said that the country people were ready to become insurgents for
