pusillanimous caution whatever could give him offence; and thus,
at the cost of the independence and dignity of that ancient and
glorious crown which they unworthily wore, they avoided a
conflict which would instantly have shown how helpless, under
their misrule, their once formidable kingdom had become. Their
ignominious policy it was neither in William's power nor in his
nature to follow. It was only by arms that the liberty and
religion of England could be protected against the most
formidable enemy that had threatened our island since the
Hebrides were strown with the wrecks of the Armada. The body
politic, which, while it remained in repose, had presented a
superficial appearance of health and vigour, was now under the
necessity of straining every nerve in a wrestle for life or
death, and was immediately found to be unequal to the exertion.
The first efforts showed an utter relaxation of fibre, an utter
want of training. Those efforts were, with scarcely an exception,
failures; and every failure was popularly imputed, not to the
rulers whose mismanagement had produced the infirmities of the
state, but to the ruler in whose time the infirmities of the
state became visible.

William might indeed, if he had been as absolute as Lewis, have
used such sharp remedies as would speedily have restored to the
English administration that firm tone which had been wanting
since the death of Oliver. But the instantaneous reform of
inveterate abuses was a task far beyond the powers of a prince
strictly restrained by law, and restrained still more strictly by
the difficulties of his situation.68

Some of the most serious difficulties of his situation were