of James I, but which
Charles had advocated in the last session. If the new King inferred
the obligation of Parliament to furnish the money required for a
foreign war from the share it had had in the counsels which had led
to that war, Parliament also considered that he was no less bound on
his part to fulfil the wishes that had been expressed in regard to
internal policy. In the very first debate which preceded the election
of the Speaker, this point of view was very distinctly put forward.
The King was told that in the last session he had sought to remove all
differences between Parliament and his father, and to induce the
latter to grant the petitions of Parliament: that if he had not
succeeded then, that result had been due only to his want of power;
but now he had power as well as inclination: what he before had only
been able to will, he now was enabled to effect, and everything
depended solely on him.[449] It had been especially the execution of
the Acts of Parliament directed against the Catholics which the
Parliament demanded, and which the Prince in his ardour against Spain
had then thought advisable. His father had refused to grant this: it
was now expected that he should grant it himself. They expected this
from him as much as he expected from them a subsidy sufficient for
carrying on the war. It may be asked, however, whether it was possible
for him to give ear to their wishes. The complication in his fortunes
arose from his inability to comply.

If Charles I, when Prince of Wales, had wished to identify his cause
entirely with the aims of Parliament, he would have been obliged to
marry the daughter of a Protestant prince. But this was prevented by
the political danger which would then have arisen in the event of a
breach with Spain. Neither James nor Charles I believed that they
could withstand this great monarchy without an alliance with France.
Political and dynastic interests had led to the marriage which had
just been concluded. But by this a relation with the Catholic world
had again been contracted which rendered impossible a purely
Protestant system of government such as Queen Elizabeth desired to
establish. A dispensation from Rome had been required which expressed
even without any disguise the hope that the French princess would
convert the King and his realm to the old faith.[450] The marriage
could not have been concluded without entering into obligations which
were in open contradiction to th