In 4. The War with France and the Expedition te Rhé.-Charles had good reason to want money. less than a year after the dissolution of his second Parliament he had quarrelled with France as well as with Spain. The king of France was at war with his Protestant subjects, and was besieging the town of La Rochelle. Buckingham went with a great fleet and army to deliver it. He began by laying siege to a fort on the Isle of Rhé not far from La Rochelle. He could not take it, and came home, having accomplished nothing at all. 5. The Third Parliament of Charles I. and the Petition of Right.-Charles was determined to go on with the war, to deliver La Rochelle. As he had no money left, he summoned a Third Parliament. That Parliament presented to him the Petition of Right, in which they demanded, amongst other things, that he should never levy taxes or forced loans without the consent of Parliament, and never put any man in prison without giving a reason for it, so that the man might have his case tried by the judges; whereas if no reason was given, the judges would not know what he was accused of and could not try the case, so that he might be left in prison as long as the king pleased. Charles was most unwilling to yield to this, but he did at last, and the Petition of Right became law. The London citizens rang the bells merrily, and lit up bonfires in the streets. 6. Murder of Buckingham.-Charles, in return for his grant of the Petition of Right, got the money which he wanted, and gathered another great fleet and army, with which Buckingham was to drive off the besiegers from La Rochelle. Buckingham went to Portsmouth to take the command. There was scarcely an Englishman who did not hate him for squandering the money and lives of his countrymen on these foolish plans which never succeeded. A certain John Felton, who had been turned out of an officer's place by Buckingham, fancied that he would be doing God service by murdering him, just as Catesby and Guy Fawkes had fancied that they were doing God service if they could murder the king and the Parliament. He bought a knife, went down to Portsmouth, and stood outside the door of a room in which Buckingham was breakfasting. At last Buckingham stepped out, and stopped for a moment to speak to one of his officers. Felton struck him hard with his knife in the breast, saying as he did it, 'God have mercy on thy soul.' Buckingham staggered forward and fell dead. The murderer merely slipped away for a short time, but his hat fell off, and he was soon recognised. It was not long before he was sentenced to death, and hanged. 7. Breach between Charles and the Parliament.Charles had now to try to govern without Buckingham. When Parliament met again there were new quarrels between it and the king. In the first place there was a disagreement between him and the Puritans about certain doctrines which they wished to have taught, whilst he wished that these doctrines should not be taught. Then there was a disagreement about the payment of duties on goods going out of the kingdom and coming in, which were known as tonnage and poundage, and which had been granted to the kings and queens before him by their Parliaments for their lifetime. He had dissolved his earlier parliaments so soon that they had never had time to say whether they would grant him these duties or not. He had, however, taken them, as if they had been granted, and as many people had lately refused to pay he had seized their goods. One of those whose goods had been seized was a member of Parliament, and Sir John Eliot, a noble-minded man and a great speaker in the House of Commons, advised that the Custom House officers who had seized this man's goods should be sent for and punished. The king said they had acted by his orders, and should not be punished. He then ordered the House to adjourn, that is to say, to stop sitting for a few days. The House did as he wished once, but when orders came for a second adjournment, two strong members, knowing that as long as the Speaker, whose business it was to keep order in the House, remained in his seat, the House could not be adjourned, stepped forward and held him down by force in his chair, whilst Eliot asked the House to vote that any one who preached the doctrines which the Puritans thought wrong, or any one who paid or collected the duties without consent of Parliament, was an enemy to his country. There was a great tumult in the House, and just as the members were shouting 'Aye! aye!' in answer to Eliot's resolution, the king arrived. Parliament was dissolved, and Charles determined that, for some time at least, he would not summon another. This third Parliament came to an end in 1629. No Parliament was summoned again for eleven years. CHAPTER XXVI. THE UNPARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT OF CHARLES I. (1629-1640.) 1. The Imprisonment of Members of Parliament.Charles's first act was to imprison Eliot and some of the other members of Parliament who had taken part in the disturbance. Eliot and the others said that they ought not to be tried in any court except in Parliament itself for that which they had done in Parliament. He and the two who had held the speaker down were sentenced to heavy fines. He refused to pay, and was kept in the Tower till he died. Though Charles knew that he was dying he would not let him go, and would not even allow his body to be removed, after his death, to his home in Cornwall for burial. 2. Laud's Rule in the Church.-Church affairs were almost entirely managed by William Laud, who was Bishop of London, and who, in 1633, became Archbishop of Canterbury. He was determined that in every church in England there should be the same ceremonies, and that the clergy should read the whole of the services as they were in the Prayer Book, instead of leaving out as much as they pleased. One thing which gave great offence to the Puritans was the removal of the communion table to the east end of the churches, instead of allowing it to stand in the middle of the building, as it had done in most churches for many years. People fancied that Laud wanted to make them Roman Catholics again, and, though this was quite untrue, it was very unwise in him to try to make people worship in a way which they thought to be wrong. There was a Court known as the High Commission Court, which had been set up in Elizabeth's reign, before which the clergy were brought who refused to use the whole of the Prayer Book, and who taught things contrary to its doctrines, or were thought by Laud and his friends to do so. Many of these were turned out of their places, and had to leave the country. 3. The Court of Star Chamber.-The Court of Star Chamber, which had been set up in the reign of Henry VII. to keep in order the great lords, was used by Charles I. to punish those who found fault with his government. Some men who had been abusive had to stand in the pillory, which was a piece of wood with a hole in it to fit the neck, and then had their ears cut off. Others who resisted the government were imprisoned or fined. There was no jury in the Court of Star Chamber. composed of two judges and of all the members of the King's Council. As these were the very people who carried out Charles's orders, they really punished in the Star Chamber those persons who had com It was now |