ament without getting
the money he wanted; and when the Lords implored him to consider and
grant a little delay, he replied, 'No, not one minute.' He then began to
raise money for himself by the following means among others.

He levied certain duties called tonnage and poundage which had not been
granted by the Parliament, and could lawfully be levied by no other
power; he called upon the seaport towns to furnish, and to pay all the
cost for three months of, a fleet of armed ships; and he required the
people to unite in lending him large sums of money, the repayment of
which was very doubtful. If the poor people refused, they were pressed
as soldiers or sailors; if the gentry refused, they were sent to prison.
Five gentlemen, named SIR THOMAS DARNEL, JOHN CORBET, WALTER EARL, JOHN
HEVENINGHAM, and EVERARD HAMPDEN, for refusing were taken up by a warrant
of the King's privy council, and were sent to prison without any cause
but the King's pleasure being stated for their imprisonment. Then the
question came to be solemnly tried, whether this was not a violation of
Magna Charta, and an encroachment by the King on the highest rights of
the English people. His lawyers contended No, because to encroach upon
the rights of the English people would be to do wrong, and the King could
do no wrong. The accommodating judges decided in favour of this wicked
nonsense; and here was a fatal division between the King and the people.

For all this, it became necessary to call another Parliament. The
people, sensible of the danger in which their liberties were, chose for
it those who were best known for their determined opposition to the King;
but still the King, quite blinded by his determination to carry
everything before him, addressed them when they met, in a contemptuous
manner, and just told them in so many words that he had only called them
together because he wanted money. The Parliament, strong enough and
resolute enough to know that they would lower his tone, cared little for
what he said, and laid before him one of the great documents of history,
which is called the PETITION OF RIGHT, requiring that the free men of
England should no longer be called upon to lend the King money, and
should no longer be pressed or imprisoned for refusing to do so; further,
that the free men of England should no longer be seized by the King's
special mandate or warrant, it being contrary to their rights and
liberties and the laws of their co