ABSTRACT
The Revolution settlement had proved fairly satisfactory to the majority of politically-minded Englishmen. It seemed that liberty and order had been reconciled. In spite of the dismal prophecies of the Jacobites, the country had not fallen into anarchy as a result of the deposition of James. On the contrary, the new régime had triumphantly survived the tests of war and rebellion, and under it Englishmen had enjoyed their legal rights save for slight and temporary diminutions; the pre-eminence of the established Church had been maintained, but enough had been done for the Dissenters to remove the worst of their grievances; such disabilities as were still imposed on them were represented not as persecution, but as necessary safeguards of the Church. Nor was this all. The general belief that the constitution was perfect was accompanied by a curious failure to understand the nature of constitutions. In one sense the substance of the Revolution settlement was preserved almost inviolate.
