completely in harmony with those of most intelligent men that it is difficult to trace their influence
except in theoretical philosophy; in France, on the other hand, where they led to an opposition to
the existing regime in practice and to the prevailing Cartesianism in theory, they clearly had a
considerable effect in shaping the course of events. This is an example of a general principle: a
philosophy developed in a politically and economically advanced country, which is, in its
birthplace, little more than a clarification and systematization of prevalent opinion, may become
elsewhere a source of revolutionary ardour, and ultimately of actual revolution. It is mainly
through theorists that the maxims regulating the policy of advanced countries become known to
less advanced countries. In the advanced countries, practice inspires theory; in the others, theory
inspires practice. This difference is one of the reasons why transplanted ideas are seldom so
successful as they were in their native soil.
Before considering the philosophy of Locke, let us review some of the circumstances in
seventeenth-century England that were influential in forming his opinions.
The conflict between king and Parliament in the Civil War gave Englishmen, once for all, a love
of compromise and moderation, and a fear of pushing any theory to its logical conclusion, which
has dominated them down to the present time. The principles for which the Long Parliament
contended had, at first, the support of a large majority. They wished to abolish the king's right to
grant trade monopolies, and to make him acknowledge the exclusive right of Parliament to impose
taxes. They desired liberty within the Church of England for opinions and practices which were
persecuted by Archbishop Laud. They held that Parliament should meet at stated intervals, and
should not be convoked only on rare occasions when the king found its collaboration
indispensable. They objected to arbitrary arrest and to the subservience of the judges to the royal
wishes. But many, while prepared to agitate for these ends, were not prepared to levy war against
the king, which appeared to them an act of treason and impiety. As soon as actual war broke out,
the division of forces became more nearly equal.
The political development from the outbreak of the Civil War to the establishment of Cromwell as
Lord Protector followed the course which has now become familiar but was then unprecedented.
The