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distinguished the Anglo-Saxon race. While expenditure for
military purposes had already attained large proportions on
the Continent, the English Army was only just being formed
or rather developed from the body guard, which had hitherto
sufficed for the King's requirement. Even in those times the
English people were jealous of entrusting their liberties to a
military authority, and the defence of the country was still
dependent upon the ancient national army, the Militia, a relic
of the feudal system, which, however, was passing fast away.
Pikes were still used as weapons, although muskets and
bayonets—or daggers as they were then called—had already
been adopted.
The liberty of the subject, although held in theory as a
fundamental part of the British Constitution, was not satisfactorily
established. Trade customs rendered long terms of
servitude necessary by apprentices, and even-handed justice
was not invariably dealt out as between master and servant.
Besides this, many kinds of tenure of land requiring personal
service to the King or in defence of the country, which lapsed
into desuetude on the establishment of what is practically a standing
army after the Revolution, led to the oppression of certain
classes of the community when levies of men were made
for continuing foreign wars, although it was left to a later age
to develop the system of the pressgang. Considerable
restraint, moreover, was placed upon the formation of associations
for almost every purpose, political combinations being
virtually prohibited. It must, however, be stated that
although the public did not possess political freedom, in the
sense now understood, they were perfectly able, when occasion
demanded, to show the inclination of their opinions, such, for
example, as when the seven bishops were committed to the
Tower.
A few remarks on the legislation of the period may not
now be inappropriate. An example of the Sumptuary Laws