the discontents, the reproaches of his subjects. They pursue him to his retirement, and invade his domestic happiness, when no address can be obtained from an obsequious parliament to encourage or console him. In other times, the interest of the King and people of England was, as it ought to be, entirely the same. A new system has not only been adopted in fact, but professed upon principle. Ministers are no longer the public servants of the state, but the private domestics of the Sovereign. [1]One particular class of men are permitted to call themselves the King's friends, as if the body of the people were the king's enemies; or, as if his Majesty looked for a resource or consolation in the attachment of a few favourites, against the general contempt and detestation of his subjects. Edward, and Richard the second made the same distinction between the collective body of the people, and a contemptible party, who surrounded the throne. The event
- ↑ "An ignorant, mercenary, and servile crew; unanimous in evil, diligent in mischief, variable in principles, constant to flattery, talkers for liberty, but slaves to power;—stiling themselves the court party, and the prince's only friends."
Davenant.
