y the advice of such merchants as they should
think proper to consult, to fix the value of goods, and thereby the
rates of the customs: and as that value had been settled before the
discovery of the West Indies, it was become much inferior to the
prices which almost all commodities bore in every market in Europe; and
consequently the customs on many goods, though supposed to be five per
cent., was in reality much inferior. The king, therefore, was naturally
led to think, that rates which were now plainly false, ought to be
corrected;[*] that a valuation of commodities, fixed by one act of
the privy council, might be amended by another; that if his right to
poundage were inherent in the crown, he should also possess, of himself,
the right of correcting its inequalities; if this duty were granted by
the people, he should at least support the spirit of the law, by fixing
a new and a juster valuation of all commodities. But, besides this
reasoning, which seems plausible, if not solid, the king was supported
in that act of power by direct precedents, some in the reign of Mary,
some in the beginning of Elizabeth.[**] Both these princesses had,
without consent of parliament, altered the rates of commodities; and as
their impositions had all along been submitted to without a murmur, and
still continued to be levied, the king had no reason to apprehend that
a further exertion of the same authority would give any occasion of
complaint. That less umbrage might be taken, he was moderate in the new
rates which he established: the customs, during his whole reign, rose
only from one hundred and twenty-seven thousand pounds a year to one
hundred and ninety thousand; though, besides the increase of the rates,
there was a sensible increase of commerce and industry during that
period: every commodity, besides, which might serve to the subsistence
of the people, or might be considered as a material of manufactures, was
exempted from the new impositions of James;[***] but all this caution
could not prevent the complaints of the commons.

* Winwood, vol. ii. p. 438.

** Journ. 18th April; 5th and 10th May, 1614, etc.; 20th
February 1625. See also Sir John Davis's Question concerning
Impositions. p. 127, 128.

*** Sir John Davis's Question concerning Impositions.

A spirit of liberty had now taken possession of the house: the leading
members, men of an independent genius and large views, began to regulate
their op