mportant. There was still no
standing army. There was therefore no security that the whole fabric of
tyranny might not be subverted in a single day; and if taxes were
imposed by the royal authority for the support of an army, it was
probable that there would be an immediate and irresistible explosion.
This was the difficulty which more than any other perplexed Wentworth.
The Lord Keeper Finch, in concert with other lawyers who were employed
by the government, recommended an expedient which was eagerly adopted.
The ancient princes of England, as they called on the inhabitants of
the counties near Scotland to arm and array themselves for the defence
of the border, had sometimes called on the maritime counties to furnish
ships for the defence of the coast. In the room of ships, money had
sometimes been accepted. This old practice it was now determined, after
a long interval, not only to revive, but to extend. Former princes had
raised ship-money only in time of war: it was now exacted in a time of
profound peace. Former princes, even in the most perilous wars, had
raised ship-money only along the coasts: it was now exacted from the
inland shires. Former princes had raised ship-money only for the
maritime defence of the country: it was now exacted, by the admission of
the royalists themselves, with the object, not of maintaining a navy,
but of furnishing the King with supplies which might be increased at his
discretion to any amount, and expended at his discretion for any
purpose.

The whole nation was alarmed and incensed. John Hampden, an opulent and
well-born gentleman of Buckinghamshire, highly considered in his own
neighborhood, but as yet little known to the kingdom generally, had the
courage to step forward, to confront the whole power of the government,
and take on himself the cost and the risk of disputing the prerogative
to which the King laid claim. The case was argued before the judges in
the exchequer chamber. So strong were the arguments against the
pretensions of the crown that, dependent and servile as the judges were,
the majority against Hampden was the smallest possible. Still there was
a majority. The interpreters of the law had pronounced that one great
and productive tax might be imposed by the royal authority. Wentworth
justly observed that it was impossible to vindicate their judgment
except by reasons directly leading to a conclusion which they had not
ventured to draw. If money might legally be rai