ugh
against the illegal exaction. For this he was prosecuted in the
Star-Chamber in 1615 by Attorney-General Bacon. The court, with Lord
Chancellor Ellesmere at its head, of course decided that the king had
a right to levy Benevolences at pleasure. St. John was fined five
thousand pounds, and punished by imprisonment during the king's
pleasure. This decision gave the king absolute power over all property
in the realm,--every private purse was in his hands![63] With such a
court the king might well say, "Wheare any controversyes arise, my
Lordes the Judges chosene betwixte me and my people shall discide and
rulle me."[64]

[Footnote 63: 2 St. Tr. 899; 1 Hallam, 251; 2 Campbell, 291.]

[Footnote 64: 1 Parl. Hist. 1156.]

3. Charles I. proceeded in the steps of his father: he levied forced
loans. Thomas Darnel and others refused to pay, and were put in prison
on a General Warrant from the king which did not specify the cause of
commitment. They brought their writs of _habeas corpus_, contending
that their confinement was illegal. The matter came to trial in 1627.
Sir Randolf Crewe, a man too just to be trusted to do the iniquity
desired, was thrust out of office, and Sir Nicolas Hyde appointed
chief justice in his place. The actual question was, Has the king a
right to imprison any subject forever without process of law? It was
abundantly shown that he had no such right. But the new chief justice,
put in power to oppress the people, remembering the hand that fed him,
thus decreed,--"Mr. Attorney hath told you that the _king hath done
it, and we trust him in great matters_, and he is bound by law, and he
bids us proceed by law; ... and we make no doubt but _the king_, if
you look to him, he knowing the cause why you are imprisoned, _he will
have mercy_; but that we believe that ... he cannot deliver you, but
_you must be remanded_." Thus the judges gave the king absolute power
over the liberties of any subject.[65]

[Footnote 65: 3 St. Tr. 1. See also 2 Parl. Hist. 288; 1 Rushworth and
1 Mrs. Macaulay, 341.]

But the matter was brought up in Parliament and discussed by men of a
different temper, who frightened the judge by threats of impeachment,
and forced the king to agree to the PETITION OF RIGHT designed to put
an end to all such illegal cruelty. Before Charles I. would sign that
famous bill, he asked Judge Hyde if it would restrain the king "from
committing or restraining a subject _without showing cause_." The