DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

Ca 2 our errors and brand us at once with its stigma. Public opinion was born in 1534 with the Reform- ation, it emerged from its swaddling-clothes in 1688 with the Revolution, it reached its teens in 1776 with the liberty of the press, and attained its majority in 1885 with the Reform Bill. These dates may serve as mile-stones to mark the progressive stages in the growth of public opinion. PorrticaL Corruption.—In 1688 James II. suc- ceeded to the throne of England. In his days, authority, patronage, and power were chiefly vested in the hands of the sovereign. When he ascended the throne the people were enthusiastically loyal to his dynasty, but intent on preserving those civil and religious liberties they then possessed. James II. resorted to illicit means in order to press on the nation the Roman Catholic religion, which he pro- fessed, and which was distasteful to the majority of the people; to enlarge his already great royal /pre- rogatives, and to establish a personal despotism. Had he been content to practise his religion unob- trusively, or to exercise his immense authority in a manner less obnoxious to national feeling and na- tional prejudice, the achievement of the liberties we now enjoy might have been considerably postponed. But the then illegal appointment of Roman Catholics to official and military positions, and the abominable