3 To THE BOURBON AGE control of the government. The king set himself to obtain from his cousin of France supplies which would render him independent of parliament, but until this could be accomplished he could only carry out plans of his own by cajoling or hood- winking parliament into supporting them. Whenever parlia- ment made up its mind to a particular course, he submitted gracefully. But in the long-run he got his money out of the French king, though he declined to run risks in carrying out his own side of the bargain with Louis. During the last years of his life he was able to dispense with parliament, and to secure the succession of his brother James. Charles always stopped short of personally outraging public feeling, when he overrode the law or wrested it to suit his own purposes. James seemed to miss no opportunity of arousing every kind of antagonism to himself. He forced into opposition those very elements in the country which were naturally most loyal to the Crown. The division of parliament into two great parties, named Whigs and Tories, had taken shape in the reign of Charles II. But the Tories and Churchmen who had supported the accession of James joined with the Whigs and the Nonconformists who had endeavoured to prevent it, in calling William of Orange to the throne in his place. William retained for the Crown during his life-time the real sovereignty, because, in spite of his unpopularity, he was indis- pensable to the nation, and in the last resort could William III. . ' _ . . threaten to resign the Crown and go back to Holland; but if parliament had been prepared to face that alternative, it held in its hands the power to compel the Crown to obey its wishes, and generally speaking William had no desire to override its wishes so long as he managed foreign policy. When William died parliament had still not fully realised its own strength, and the system of party government — that is, of ministers chosen from the party in a majority in the House of Commons — was not fully established. Even while Anne reigned, it was by the personal power of the queen that Marlborough first ruled the country and was then
