at of raising ship
money. To do this, he levied a tax on all the counties of England,--
inland as well as seaboard,--on the pretext that he purposed building
a neavy for the defense of the kingdom. John Hampden refused to pay
the tax, but Charles's servile judges decided against him, when the
case was brought into court (S436).

Charles ruled without a Parliament for eleven years. He might,
perhaps, have gone on in this way for as many more, had he not
provoked the Scots to rebel by attempting to force a modified form of
the English Prayer Book on the Church of that country (S438). The
necessities of the war with the Scots compelled the King to call a
Parliament. It declined to grant the King money to carry on the war
unless he would give some satisfactory guarantee of governing
according to the will of the people. Charles refused to do this, and
after a three weeks' session he dissolved what was known as the "Short
Parliament."

19. The "Long Parliament"; the Civil War.

But the war gave Charles no choice, and before the year was out he was
obliged to call the famous "Long Parliament" of 1640.[2] That body met
with the firm determination to restore the liberties of Englishmen or
to perish in the attempt. (1) It impeached Strafford and Laud, and
sent them to the scaffold as traitors.[3] (2) It swept away those
instruments of royal oppression, the Court of Star Chamber and the
High Commission Court (SS330, 382). (3) It expelled the bishops from
the House of Lords. (4) It passed the Triennial Bill, compelling the
King to summon a Parliament at least once in three years.[4] (5) It
also passed a law declaring that the King could not suspend or
dissolve Parliament without its consent. (6) Last of all, the Commons
drew up the Grand Remonstrance (S439), enunciating at great length the
grievances of the last sixteen years, and vehemently appealing to the
people to support them in their attempts at reform. The Remonstrance
was printed and distributed throughout England.[1]

[2] The "Long Parliament": it sat from 1640 to 1653, and was not
finally dissolved until 1660.
[3] Charles assured Strafford that Parliament should not touch "a hair
of his head"; but to save himself the King signed the Bill of
Attainder (see p.xxxii), which sent his ablest and most faithful
servant to the block. Well might Strafford exclaim, "Put not your
trust in princes."
[4] The Triennial Act was repealed in 1664 and reenacted in 1694. In