DÖLLINGER ON THE TEMPORAL POWER 329
the abuse of the sovereign power, and the lower against the oppression of the upper class. The cro\vn became, sooner or later, despotic; the peasantry, by a long series of enactments, extending to the end of the seven teeth century, was reduced to servitude; the population grew scanty, and much of the land went out of cultivation. All this is related by the Protestant historians and divines, not in the tone of reluctant admission, but with patriotic indignation, commensurate with the horrors of the truth. In all these countries Lutheran unity subsisted. If Calvinism had ever succeeded in obtaining an equal predominance in the Netherlands, the po\ver of the House of Orange would have become as despotic as that of the Danish or the Prussian sovereigns. But its triumph was impeded by sects, and by the presence of a large Catholic minority, destitute indeed of political rights or religious freedom, but for that very reason removed from the con- flicts of parties, and therefore an element of conservatism, and a natural ally of those who resisted the ambition of the Stadtholders. The absence of religious unity baffled their attempts to establish arbitrary power on the victory of Calvinism, and upheld, in conjunction with the brilliant policy abroad, a portion of the ancient freedom. In Scotland, the other home of pure Calvinism, where intolerance and religious tyranny reached a pitch equalled only among the Puritans in America, the perpetual troubles hindered the settlement of a fixed political system, and the restoration of order after the union with England stripped the Presbyterian system of its ex- clusive supremacy, and opened the way for tolerance and freedom. Although the political spirit of Anglicanism was as despotic as that of every other Protestant system, circum- stances prevented its fun development. The Catholic Church had besto\ved on the English the great elelnents of their political prosperity,-the charter of their liberties, the fusion of the races, and the abolition of villeinage,- that is, personal and general freedom, and national unity. Hence the people \vere so thoroughly impregnated \vith
