Parliament that was these two hundred years._"

He might have gone on to add, "the Wisest Counsellor; and yet none on
whom rested heavier blame; none of whom England might more justly
complain." Good counsels given, submissive acquiescence in the
worst--this is the history of his statesmanship. Bacon, whose eye was
everywhere, was not sparing of his counsels. On all the great questions
of the time he has left behind abundant evidence, not only of what he
thought, but of what he advised. And in every case these memorials are
marked with the insight, the independence, the breadth of view, and the
moderation of a mind which is bent on truth. He started, of course, from
a basis which we are now hardly able to understand or allow for, the
idea of absolute royal power and prerogative which James had enlarged
and hardened out of the Kingship of the Tudors, itself imperious and
arbitrary enough, but always seeking, with a tact of which James was
incapable, to be in touch and sympathy with popular feeling. But it was
a basis which in principle every one of any account as yet held or
professed to hold, and which Bacon himself held on grounds of philosophy
and reason. He could see no hope for orderly and intelligent government
except in a ruler whose wisdom had equal strength to assert itself; and
he looked down with incredulity and scorn on the notion of anything good
coming out of what the world then knew or saw of popular opinion or
parliamentary government. But when it came to what was wise and fitting
for absolute power to do in the way of general measures and policy, he
was for the most part right. He saw the inexorable and pressing
necessity of putting the finance of the kingdom on a safe footing. He
saw the necessity of a sound and honest policy in Ireland. He saw the
mischief of the Spanish alliance in spite of his curious friendship with
Gondomar, and detected the real and increasing weakness of the Spanish
monarchy, which still awed mankind. He saw the growing danger of abuses
in Church and State which were left untouched, and were protected by the
punishment of those who dared to complain of them. He saw the confusion
and injustice of much of that common law of which the lawyers were so
proud; and would have attempted, if he had been able, to emulate
Justinian, and anticipate the Code Napoleon, by a rational and
consistent digest. Above all, he never ceased to impress on James the
importance, and, if wisely used, the