8. Wentworth sent for.-After a few months he was again dissatisfied. The Scots said that the treaty of peace meant one thing, and the king said that it meant another. As the Scots would not give way, he determined to make war upon them once more. He sent to Ireland for Wentworth to advise him how to do it. Wentworth had been a member of the House of Commons in the early Parliaments of the reign, and had taken a great part in opposing Buckingham, and in calling out for the redress of grievances. After the Petition of Right had been granted, he took the King's side. He did not like the Puritans, and he did not wish to see the House of Commons having everything its own way. He had been sent to govern Ireland, and had kept order there, and had made the people better off than they had been before. Amongst other things he had taught the Irish to grow flax to be made into linen. But he was a headstrong man, determined to make every one obey him, and he dealt very hardly with those who resisted him. By his violence he had made many enemies in Ireland, and it was not unlikely that he would make many enemies in England. Soon after he arrived Charles made him Earl of Strafford, and for about a year he governed England in Charles's name.

9. The Short Parliament.-Strafford advised the

king to summon another Parliament. It was now eleven years since a Parliament had met in England, and Strafford thought that the new Parliament which met in April 1640 would be as angry with the Scots as he was. Instead of that the House of

Commons asked that Charles should promise never to levy ship-money again. They were ready, if he would promise this, to give him money in return, but not so much as he wanted. They then resolved to ask Charles to make peace with the Scots. This both Charles and Strafford were determined not to do, and Charles dissolved the Parliament. It had sat so short a time that it is known in history as the Short Parliament.

10. The Scottish Invasion. In spite of the dissolution, Charles resolved to make war against the Scots. He had borrowed money before the Parliament had met, and now he tried to borrow more. When no one would lend him money Strafford tried to get it in all sorts of ways. He threatened the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London with punishment because they would not lend. He talked of seizing by force some silver which was in the Mint, and of coining bad money so as to pay those to whom the king owed money in shillings, each of which would only be worth sixpence. At last he bought a large quantity of pepper, promising that it should be paid for a year later, and selling it at once below its value. The army which was to be paid by the money got by the sale of the pepper was a miserable one. The men did not want to fight the Scots, and were badly drilled. Before the army was ready the Scots crossed the Tweed, marched through Northumberland, beat some of Charles's soldiers at Newburn close to Newcastle, and drove them out of the county of Durham. Charles had to promise to pay money to the Scots till peace was made. As he

could not get the money without Parliament, he was obliged to summon another Parliament, which he was not likely to get rid of as easily as he had got rid of the others.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE LONG PARLIAMENT AND THE
CIVIL WAR.

(1640-1649.)

1. Strafford's Trial.-The Parliament which met in November 1640 is known as the Long Parliament, because it continued sitting for so many years. It began by setting at liberty the men whose ears had been cut off by the Star Chamber. Then it impeached the king's chief ministers. Strafford and Laud were sent to the Tower, and other ministers only escaped the same fate by flying to the Continent. Strafford was accused before the Lords of a great many violent actions and the Commons asked that he should be beheaded as a traitor, saying that it was treason to the king to try to make him rule without Parliaments, because this would really hurt him by making him unpopular. They were particularly angry with Strafford because they believed that he had planned to bring over an Irish army to England to make Englishmen do whatever the king wished. The Commons were very much afraid of Strafford. They knew that the English army which had been

beaten at Newburn was still in Yorkshire, and they thought that if Strafford were set at liberty he would be put at the head of that army in order to lead it against themselves. The people of London did not at all want to see an army marching to take possession of their city, and they came to the House of Lords shouting out for justice upon Strafford. The Lords themselves were at first desirous to save Strafford, but they at last made up their mind to condemn him. The king shrank from allowing his most faithful servant to be put to death, and he sent soldiers to seize the Tower, in which Strafford was imprisoned. But the soldiers were not allowed. to enter. An angry multitude came to Whitehall, threatening the king and queen. After this Charles gave way at last, and Strafford was executed. I thank God,' he said, as he stood on the scaffold, 'I am not afraid of death, but do as cheerfully put off my doublet at this time as ever I did when I went to bed.'

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2. Changes in the Law.-All this while, and for some weeks afterwards, Parliament was busy making changes in the law. The king bound himself never to levy ship-money again or to take any duties at the Custom House without consent of Parliament. The Courts of High Commission and Star Chamber were abolished, and several other new laws were made which made it necessary for the king to consult Parliament more than he had done before. Unfortunately Charles did not at all like these changes, and the Commons believed that if he only had the power, he would try to get back his old

authority again. All men were therefore much relieved when at last peace was made with Scotland, and the Scottish and English armies were both broken up and sent back to their homes, so that Charles might no longer be tempted to try to employ either of them against Parliament.

3. Ecclesiastical Parties.--The whole of the House of Commons was of one mind in wishing the king to consult his Parliament, and to govern according to law. But there was one subject on which there was no agreement. The bishops had oppressed the Puritans so much in Laud's time that most of the Puritans wished that there should be no bishops at all, and they also wished that the Prayer Book should be altered. On the other hand there were many men in the House of Commons who wished that there should still be bishops in the Church and that the Prayer Book should remain exactly, or nearly exactly, as it was. In the summer of 1641 there were two parties in the House nearly equal, which always voted against one another whenever anything was to be done about the Church. Pym and Hampden were the chief men of those who wanted some change to be made. Hyde and Falkland were the chief men of those who wished things to remain as they were. No one thought it possible that every one should be allowed to do as he thought right, and that there might be some churches where one Prayer Book was used, and some churches where another was used, and other churches, again, where there was no Prayer Book at all.

4. The Rebellion in Ireland.-At the time when