to his foreign allies; he was resolved to carry on the war; and, dissolving the parliament, he betook himself to the expedient often employed by his predecessors, of issuing warrants under the privy seal for borrowing money of the subject. The first military expedition was unsuccessful, and a new parliament, to whom Charles made application for new supplies, was yet less complying than the former. His minister the duke of Buckingham was impeached upon pretences extremely frivolous; the prosecution was dropped; and Charles, while he heaped fresh honours upon his favourite, revenged himself for this supposed insult, by imprisoning two of the members of the House of Commons.

Thus the quarrel began between the king and parliament: trifling at first these causes of dissension, but daily receiving addition from new offences, they grew into confirmed disgust on both sides.

Unable to obtain supplies from parliament, Charles was frequently compelled to the measure of raising money by loans from the subject: but what made this measure an intolerable grievance was, that soldiers were billeted on such as refused to lend, and some were even imprisoned on that account alone. These arbitrary proceedings justly excited universal discontent, and the ill humour of the nation was further increased by a war against France at Buckingham's instigation, which ended in a fruitless attempt upon Rochelle. The parliament, again dissolved, made way for a new House of Commons, animated with the same spirit as their predecessors. They began seriously to reform the constitution. It was immediately voted, that all

methods of raising money without consent of parliament were illegal-that it was a violation of the people's liberties to billet soldiers on them, or to compel them to loans by imprisonment. A solemn deed, entitled A Petition of Right, was framed and digested, of which the objects were to abolish these loans, and all taxes raised without consent of parliament, as well as the arbitrary practice of billeting soldiers, and martial law. The bill passed the two Houses of parliament, and was at length with some difficulty assented to by the king, who was naturally much mortified at this violent retrenchment of what, from the example of his predecessors, he esteemed the established prerogative of the crown.

The Commons, who had thus far proceeded in the great design of vindicating the liberties of the people, began now to carry their scrutiny into every part of the government. One great cause of discontent was removed by the death of the duke of Buckingham, who was stabbed by an Irish fanatic. But grievances of a more serious nature still remained to be redressed. The duty of tonnage and poundage, a small tax on each ton of wine and pound of commodities, was one of the methods of levying money which Charles believed a part of the crown's prerogative, and at the same time not directly contrary to the Petition of Right, as, though it stood on the footing of an original parliamentary grant, it had often been continued from one reign to another, without being renewed by parliament. It was easy to see, that though the king himself and the partisans of the crown might in reality satisfy their consciences that in levying this duty there was no breach of the late concessions

made by the Petition of Right, it was sufficient to afford a very strong handle to the opposite party to complain of a violation of that statute.

Charles, continuing to levy those exceptionable duties of tonnage and poundage, had proceeded so far as to imprison one of the members of the House. on his refusal to pay them. This imprudent violence threw the Commons into the most outrageous ferment, which the king found no other means of effectually quelling but by a new dissolution of the parliament, which he did now, with a firm determination of calling no more such assemblies till he should perceive the symptoms of a more compliant disposition.

To avoid the occasion of new supplies, Charles made peace with France and Spain; but money was requisite for the support of government, and he now found it necessary to continue to levy the duties of tonnage and poundage, together with the tax of ship-money, an assessment on the whole counties for victualling and supporting the navy; and high fines were imposed for various offences, without any judicial trial, by the sole authority of the court of Star Chamber. It is true that all these exertions of power were sanctioned by former custom, and now in a manner authorized by absolute necessity; yet there is not a doubt that they were unconstitutional: it was, therefore, with a most laudable spirit that John Hampden, a member of the House of Commons, refused to pay shipmoney, and brought the question to trial before the Exchequer Chamber, where, in the opinion of most men, it was decided with great partiality in favour of the crown; a decision, indeed, which gave Charles grounds for persevering in it as a legal

measure; but his real interest suffered essentially by that judgment, which increased the party of the discontented, and taught men to believe and affirm that the fountains of justice were corrupted, and that the law would now give its sanction to any measures, however arbitrary or unconstitutional.

These motives of discontent were further increased by the fervour of religious enthusiasm. The king, by the advice of Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, a prelate of great indiscretion, had relaxed the penalties against catholics, or allowed them to be commuted for pecuniary fines. Laud had likewise introduced into the church-discipline some insignificant changes, such as replacing the communion-table at the east end of the church, and the priests using an embroidered vestment— circumstances which were represented as a certain prelude to the entire re-introduction of the superstitions of Rome.

It was extremely imprudent in Charles to venture at this time, likewise, upon religious innovations with his subjects of Scotland. James had with some success established in that country a hierarchy on the pattern of the English church, and Charles wanted to complete the work of his father, by resting discipline upon a regular system of canons, and modelling the public worship by the forms of a liturgy. These designs were extremely odious to the Scots, and they met with the reception which might have been expected. The bishop of Edinburgh beginning to read the service in the cathedral-church, was assaulted with the most furious rage, and narrowly escaped being torn in pieces by the populace. The tumult spread through the whole kingdom, and the heads of the presbyterian

party, assembling themselves in the capital, subscribed the famous bond called the National Covenant, by which, after a formal renunciation of the abominations of popery, they bound themselves by a solemn oath to resist all religious innovations, and to defend to the utmost the glory of God, and the honour of their king and country. The consequences of this association, which was eagerly subscribed by all ranks and conditions of the people, were extremely alarming; and Charles, perceiving he had gone too far, offered to suspend the use of the liturgy, provided matters were put on the same footing as before, and the Scots would retract their covenant. But they replied that they would sooner renounce their baptism; and, summoning a general assembly at Glasgow, they, with great deliberation, not only annulled the liturgy and canons, but utterly abolished the episcopal hierarchy, which, for above thirty years, had quietly. subsisted in the kingdom.

To maintain this violent procedure, it was very soon perceived that there would be a necessity of having recourse to arms, and the Scots commenced hostilities by seizing and fortifying the most important places of strength in the kingdom. To quell these disorders in Scotland, Charles, much against his inclination, found it absolutely necessary again to assemble his parliament. But this assembly, after an interruption of eleven years, seemed to meet with the same spirit as that which had occasioned their dissolution. Instead of supplies, the king heard of nothing but the grievances of tonnage and poundage, and the ship-money, and violent complaints against the arbitrary jurisdiction of the Star Chamber. With a blind pre