Admiral or Board of Admiralty, and to keep the entire direction
of maritime affairs in his own hands; and this arrangement, which
would now be thought by men of all parties unconstitutional and
pernicious in the highest degree, was then generally applauded
even by people who were not inclined to see his conduct in a
favourable light. How completely the relation in which the King
stood to his Parliament and to his ministers had been altered by
the Revolution was not at first understood even by the most
enlightened statesmen. It was universally supposed that the
government would, as in time past, be conducted by functionaries
independent of each other, and that William would exercise a
general superintendence over them all. It was also fully expected
that a prince of William's capacity and experience would transact
much important business without having recourse to any adviser.

There were therefore no complaints when it was understood that he
had reserved to himself the direction of foreign affairs. This
was indeed scarcely matter of choice: for, with the single
exception of Sir William Temple, whom nothing would induce to
quit his retreat for public life, there was no Englishman who had
proved himself capable of conducting an important negotiation
with foreign powers to a successful and honourable issue. Many
years had elapsed since England had interfered with weight and
dignity in the affairs of the great commonwealth of nations. The
attention of the ablest English politicians had long been almost
exclusively occupied by disputes concerning the civil and
ecclesiastical constitution of their own country. The contests
about the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Bill, the Habeas Corpus
Act and the Test Act, had produced an abundance, it might almost
be said a glut, of those talents which raise men to eminence in