Few
of James's arbitrary acts could not be justified by precedent, and not
a little of his unpopularity was due to his efforts to exact from local
gentry the performance of duties which had been imposed upon them by
earlier parliaments. The main cause of dissatisfaction was the growing
popular conviction that constitutional weapons, used by the Tudors for
national purposes, were now being used by the Stuarts in the interests
of the monarchy against those of the nation; and as the breach widened,
the more the Stuarts were led to rely on these weapons and on their
theory of the divine right of kings, and the more parliament was driven
to insist upon its privileges and upon an alternative theory to that of
James I.
This alternative theory was difficult to elaborate. There was no idea
of democracy. Complete popular self-government is, indeed, impossible;
for the mass of men cannot rule, and the actual administration must
always be in the hands of a comparatively few experts. The problem was
and is how to control them and where to limit their authority; and this
is a question of degree. In 1603 no one claimed that ministers were
responsible to any one but the king; administration was his exclusive
function. It was, however, claimed that parliamentary sanction must be
obtained for the general principles upon which the people were to be
governed--that is to say, for legislation. The crown might appoint what
bishops it pleased, but it could not repeal the Act of Uniformity; it
might make war or peace, but could not impose direct and general
taxation; it selected judges, but they could only condemn men to death
or imprisonment for offences recognized by the law.
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