to tear him in pieces.

There was yet one last expedient which, as the King flattered himself,
might save him from the misery of facing another House of Commons. To
the House of Lords he was less averse. The bishops were devoted to him;
and though the temporal peers were generally dissatisfied with his
administration, they were, as a class, so deeply interested in the
maintenance of order and in the stability of ancient institutions that
they were not likely to call for extensive reforms. Departing from the
uninterrupted practice of centuries, he called a great council
consisting of lords alone. But the lords were too prudent to assume the
unconstitutional functions with which he wished to invest them. Without
money, without credit, without authority even in his own camp, he
yielded to the pressure of necessity.

In November, 1640, met that renowned Parliament which, in spite of many
errors and disasters, is justly entitled to the reverence and gratitude
of all who, in any part of the world, enjoy the blessings of
constitutional government.

During the year which followed, no very important division of opinion
appeared in the Houses. The civil and ecclesiastical administration had,
through a period of nearly twelve years, been so oppressive and so
unconstitutional that even those classes of which the inclinations are
generally on the side of order and authority were eager to promote
popular reforms and to bring the instruments of tyranny to justice. It
was enacted that no interval of more than three years should ever elapse
between Parliament and Parliament, and that, if writs under the great
seal were not issued at the proper time, the returning officers should,
without such writs, call the constituent bodies together for the choice
of representatives. The Star-chamber, the High Commission, the Council
of York were swept away. Men who, after suffering cruel mutilations, had
been confined in remote dungeons regained their liberty. On the chief
ministers of the crown the vengeance of the nation was unsparingly
wreaked. The lord keeper, the primate, the lord lieutenant were
impeached. Finch saved himself by flight. Laud was flung into the Tower.
Strafford was put to death, beheaded by act of attainder. On the day on
which this act passed, the King gave his assent to a law by which he
bound himself not to adjourn, prorogue, or dissolve the existing
Parliament without its own consent.

FOUNDING OF MONTREAL

A.D