f the nation far more closely
than the policy previously pursued.

In the last days of James doubts had still been felt whether he would
ever allow a marriage to take place between his son and a French
princess, and large sums had been wagered on the issue. Charles I at
once put an end to all hesitation. He did not allow himself to be
induced to defer his marriage even by the death of his father, or by a
pestilential sickness which then prevailed, or by the lack of the
desirable preparations in the royal palaces. He wished to show the
world that he adhered to his policy of opposition to Spain. He even
allowed the privateering, which his father had formerly suppressed
with so much zeal, to begin again. The royal navy, for the
improvement of which Buckingham actively exerted himself, was put in a
complete state of efficiency, and the money granted by Parliament was
principally employed for this purpose.

But to enable him to undertake war in earnest he required fresh
grants. It was almost the first thought of the King after his
accession to the throne to call a Parliament for this purpose, and
that the same Parliament which had last sat in the reign of his
father.[448] He bent, although unwillingly, to the necessity, imposed
by the constitution, of ordering new elections to be proceeded with,
for he would rather have avoided all delay: but he entertained no
doubt that the Parliament, as it was composed after the elections,
would give him its full support. After what had taken place he
considered this almost a matter of course.

On June 18/28, 1625, Charles I opened his first Parliament at
Westminster. He reminded the members that his father had been induced
by the advice of the Parliament, whose wishes he had himself
represented to the King, to break off all further negotiations with
Spain. He said that this was done in their interest: that on their
instigation he had embarked on the affair as a young man joyfully and
with good courage: that this had been his first undertaking: what a
reproach would it be both for himself and for them if they now refused
him the support which he necessarily required for bringing to a
successful issue the quarrel which had already begun!

And certainly if war with Spain had been the only question, he might
have reckoned upon abundant grants: but the matter was not quite so
simple. Parliament thought above all of its own designs, which it had
not been possible to effect in the lifetime