e Acts of Parliament. Those
obligations were not yet fully known, but what was learnt of them
caused great agitation. Charles was reminded of a promise, which he
was said to have given at an earlier time, to agree to no conditions
on his marriage which might be prejudicial to the Church existing in
England. Men asked how that promise had been fulfilled; and why any
secret was made of the compact which had been concluded. Would not the
Queen's chapel, they asked, now serve to unite the Catholics of
England; or would they be forbidden to hear mass there? In a forcible
petition Parliament asked for the execution of the laws issued against
Papists and recusants.[451]

Charles I was not in a position to be able to regard it. It was not
that he had any thought of curtailing the rights of the English Church
or of entering on any other course in great questions of general
policy than that which had been laid down in conjunction with
Parliament. His marriage also was a preparation for the conflict with
Spain; but if it was not so decidedly opposed to the common feeling of
the country as a Spanish marriage, yet it was far from being in
accordance with it. The pledges which had been given on that occasion
prevented the King from adopting exclusively Protestant points of
view, and from identifying himself completely with his people.

But there was another reason for the King's adherence to his
agreement. He was as little inclined as his father had been to allow
the Parliament to exercise any influence on ecclesiastical affairs.
Much unpleasant surprise was created at that time by the writings of
Dr. Montague, in which he treated the Roman Church with forbearance,
and Puritanism with scorn and hatred. Parliament wished to institute
proceedings against the author. The King did not take him under his
protection; but on the request of some dignitaries of the English
Church he transferred the matter to his own tribunal. He regarded it
moreover as an undoubted element of his prerogative to dispense with
the statutes passed by Parliament, so that the concessions which were
expressed in the marriage compact appeared to him quite justifiable.

We see how closely this affected the most important question of
English constitutional law. The universal competence of Parliament is
here opposed to the authority of the King, strengthened by his
ecclesiastical functions. And we understand how Parliament, in spite
of the urgent need created by its