people will bear
the extent of it. The opposite course was that by which a minister would
consult the best interests of the crown, as well as of the people. The
safety of the crown, as well as the security of the subject, requires
the closing up of every avenue that can lead to tyranny."[22]

These arguments prevailed, and the indemnity bill was passed, to quote
the words of the "Annual Register"--at that time written by Burke--"very
much to the satisfaction of the public." And that it should have been so
accepted is creditable to the good-sense of both parties. The precedent
which was thus established does, indeed, seem to rest on a principle
indispensable to the proper working of a constitutional government. In
so extensive an empire as ours, it is scarcely possible that sudden
emergencies, requiring the instant application of some remedy, should
not at times arise; and, unless Parliament be sitting at the time, such
can only be adequately dealt with if the ministers of the crown have the
courage to take such steps as are necessary, whether by the suspension
of a law or by any other expedient, on their own responsibility,
trusting in their ability to satisfy the Parliament, instantly convoked
to receive their explanation, of the necessity or wisdom of their
proceedings; and in the candor of the Parliament to recognize, if not
the judiciousness of their action, at all events the good faith in which
it has been taken, and the honest, patriotic intention which has
dictated it. The establishment of the obligation instantly to submit the
question to the judgment of Parliament will hardly be denied to be a
sufficient safeguard against the ministerial abuse of such a power; and
the instances in which such a power has since been exercised, coupled
with the sanction of such exercise by Parliament, are a practical
approval and ratification by subsequent Parliaments of the course that
was now adopted.[23]

The next year a not very creditable job of the ministry led to the
enactment of a statute of great importance to all holders of property
which had ever belonged to the crown. In the twenty-first year of James
I. a bill had been passed giving a secure tenure of their estates to all
grantees of crown lands whose possession of them had lasted sixty years.
The Houses had desired to make the enactment extend to all future as
well as to all previous grants. But to this James had refused to
consent; and, telling the Houses that "beg