king. The sermon was not published, and there was no evidence of an intention to publish. Peacham was then

racked, in the hope that he would confess; but not doing so, the judges were consulted, Peacham was put on his trial, found guilty, but not executed. This decision was over-ruled in the next reign by Pine's case, declaring that no words, however wicked or mischievous, would of themselves amount to treason within the statute of Edward III.

Towards the end of this reign, James had one great object in view, and that was to marry the Prince of Wales to the Infanta, daughter of Philip IV., who had been recommended as a desirable match for the heir to the British throne. The project was however defeated by the repugnance of the nation to the match. In James's opinion the royal prerogative was bounded by no limits, but from his pusillanimous disposition, his want of energy, and still more from the spirit of independence of the Commons it was harmless. Possessed of no small share of learning, James nevertheless lacked prudence. Prodigal of his resources he enforced the penal acts against the Puritans and Catholics, in order to obtain money for his exchequer. In general, the faults of James were more those of the head than of the heart, but for his execution of Sir Walter Raleigh, under a sentence passed 15 years before, in order to please the Spanish nation, no excuse can be made.

James died in 1625, and was succeeded by his son Charles I.

With the accession of CHARLES THE FIRST we enter upon a memorable period of English history. Unlike his father, Charles was polished, courteous and religious, but from his selection of unworthy favourites, his desire to obtain absolute power, and still more his insincerity differences soon arose between the king and his parliaments. His first parliament Charles abruptly dissolved, after he obtained a considerable subsidy to meet the expenses of the war. His second parliament when about to try the Duke of Buckingham, the king's

favourite, on an impeachment, met with a similar fate to its predecessor. The next proceeding of Charles was to obtain money by illegal proceedings, and amongst other modes he adopted was, the demand of a loan from each subject, according to the rate at which he was assessed in the last subsidy, and proportioned to his property. Five knights, Darnel, Corbet, Earl, Heveningham, and Hampden having refused to contribute to the loan were committed by a warrant of the Privy Council to the Fleet prison. They then sued out a writ of habeas corpus from the Court of King's Bench, and a return to the writ was made by the warder of the Fleet, stating that the warrant did not express the nature of the charge, but that the parties in custody had been committed by special command of the king. The sufficiency of the return and as a necessary consequence that of the warrant of commitment were then ably argued by Noy, Selden, and Whitelock for the prisoners, while the attorneygeneral, Robert Heath appeared for the crown. One of the arguments employed by the attorney-general was from the maxim "the king can do no wrong "" that there must have been a sufficient cause of commitment although not set forth in the warrant. "The court to their lasting disgrace," says Lord Brougham, decided both in favour of the sufficiency of the return, and the validity of the warrant. The prisoners were accordingly remanded to prison.

In 1628 Charles after releasing several persons who had been imprisoned for refusal of contributions reluctantly summoned his first parliament, in order to obtain money to carry on the war. The sudden dissolution of the first two parliaments of Charles only tended to make the Commons in the third parliament more determined than their predecessors to resist the arbitrary proceedings of the king, but instead of trying to conciliate the Commons, Charles at the opening of the session made use of menacing language to them in case they should not vote the necessary supplies. The Commons, however, instead of complying with this

menace, at once proceeded to take into consideration the redress of grievances. These grievances were embodied in a remonstrance called the Petition of Right praying, (1.) that no gift, loan, benevolence, or tax, might be levied without consent of parliament; (2.) that none should be imprisoned, confined, detained, questioned, or molested for refusal to pay any of these contributions; (3.) that soldiers and marines, should not be quartered on people against their will; and (4.) that no commissions for proceeding by martial law might be granted. The petition having been passed by the Peers, was presented to Charles for his assent, when a notable instance of his duplicity took place, for instead of adopting the usual form of assent to bills, he returned an equivocal answer apparently framed in such a manner as not to interfere (in his opinion) with the royal prerogative. This proceeding excited the resentment of the Commons, and Charles shortly afterwards went down in person to the House and assented to the bill in the usual form. The Commons then granted the king five subsidies together amounting to a considerable sum, but as the Commons showed signs of a determination to proceed to the redress of other grievances Charles prorogued the parliament. During the recess Charles caused a large number of copies of the Petition of Right to be circulated with only his first answer annexed: an act of meanness and of folly in a monarch almost unimaginable. The assassination of the Duke of Buckingham at this period by a man of the name of Felton gave rise to a memorable decision by the judges that torture was illegal.

On the re-assembling of parliament the Commons again proceeded to take into consideration the redress of grievances. The enforced payment of tonnage and poundage from the merchants was the principal subject which occupied the attention of the Commons. Violent disputes took place between the king and the Commons on the question, and shortly afterwards Charles angrily dissolved the parliament.

For twelve years afterwards Charles managed the

the monarch it only strengthened the hands of his opponents. The introduction of Romish practices into the service of the church also increased the discontent of Charles's subjects, but his attempt at this period (1637) to compel the introduction of the episcopal liturgy into the churches in Scotland caused an outbreak of popular indignation which made the king pause in his career of unbridled power. The following year (1638) the Scots entered into the famous National Covenant, took up arms, and in a great measure made themselves masters of the country. The Scotch forces then advanced to Berwick, and the king having marched with an army to the neighbourhood of that town a pacification took place between Charles and the Scots. Without resources, however, Charles was obliged to disband his army, while the Scots took care to hold their forces ready for any emergency. After the treaty the Scots were almost more hostile than before, and as the state of matters did not improve, Charles in April 1640, reluctantly assembled his fourth parliament. Nearly twelve years had elapsed since the last parliament had assembled, and from this circumstance the advisers of Charles fondly hoped that the Commons would display a less independent spirit than their predecessors in this reign, and vote with alacrity the requisite supplies. Instead however of doing so the Commons at once began to take into consideration the question of grievances. Charles repeatedly urged the Commons to proceed with the vote of supplies, but they resented the interference. Charles shortly afterwards angrily dissolved the parliament before any supplies had been voted. This act of indiscretion on the part of the king greatly increased the general discontent, and as the Scotch forces had crossed the border, and seemed likely to possess themselves of the northern counties, Charles was obliged to adopt instant measures to repel the foe. For this purpose he borrowed large sums from private friends, sold for cash goods purchased on credit, and adopted other expedients for raising money. With the sums thus procured Charles managed to muster a