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326 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. the duke of Normandy, who were ignorant of hisiv. pretensions, and who only fought in defence ofio6;j. the government, which they themselves hadestablished in their own country: Yet were theserigors, however contrary to the ancient Saxonlaws, excused on account of the urgent necessitiesof the prince; and those who were not involvedin the present ruin, hoped, that they shouldthenceforth enjoy, without molestation their pos-sessions and their dignities. But the successivedestruction of so many other families convincedthem, that the king intended to rely entirely onthe support and affections of foreigners ; and theyforesaw new forfeitures, attainders, and acts ofviolence, as the necessary result of this destructiveplan of administration. They observed, that noEnglishman possessed his confidence, or wasentrusted with any command or authority; andthat the strangers, whom a rigorous disciplinecould have but ill restrained, were encouraged intheir insolence and tyranny against them. Theeasy submission of the kingdom on its first inva-sion had exposed the native- to contempt; thesubsequent proofs of their animosity and resent-ment had made them the object of hatred; andthey were now deprived of every expedient, bywhich they could hope to make themselves eitherregarded or beloved by their sovereign. Impressedwith the sense of this dismal situation, manyEnglishmen fled into foreign countries, with anintention of passing their lives abroad free fromoppression , or of returning on a favourable