Such broad facts as these--for facts they are--ought to make us pause
ere we boast of the greater liberty enjoyed by Englishmen of the
present day, as compared with the tyranny of Tudor times. Thank God,
there is no lack of that blessing now: but was there any real lack
of it then? Certainly the outward notes of a tyranny exist now in
far greater completeness than then. A standing army, a Government
police, ministries who bear no love to a militia, and would consider
the compulsory arming and drilling of the people as a dangerous
insanity, do not look at first sight as much like 'free institutions'
as a Government which, though again and again in danger not merely of
rebellion, but of internecine wars of succession, so trusted the
people as to force weapons into their hands from boyhood. Let us not
be mistaken: we are no hankerers after retrogression: the present
system works very well; let it be; all that we say is that the
imputation of despotic institutions lies, prima facie, rather against
the reign of Queen Victoria than against that of King Henry the
Eighth. Of course it is not so in fact. Many modern methods, which
are despotic in appearance, are not so in practice. Let us believe
that the same was the case in the sixteenth century. Our governors
now understand their own business best, and make a very fair
compromise between discipline and freedom. Let us believe that the
men of the sixteenth century did so likewise. All we ask is that our
forefathers should be judged as we wish to be judged ourselves, 'not
according to outward appearance, but with righteous judgment.'

Mr. Froude finds the cause of this general contentment and loyalty of
the masses in the extreme care which the Government took of their
well-being. The introductory chapter, in which he proves to his own
satisfaction the correctness of his opinion, is well worth the study