salvation. A general assembly was called and a National Covenant was
subscribed. Men were listed towards the raising of an army, Colonel
Leslie being chosen general. The king thought it time to chastise the
seditious by force, and in the end of the year 1638 declared his
resolution to raise an army to suppress their rebellion.

This was the first alarm England received towards any trouble, after it
had enjoyed for so many years the most uninterrupted prosperity, in a
full and plentiful peace, that any nation could be blessed with. The
army was soon mustered and the king went to the borders. But
negotiations for peace took place, and civil war was averted by
concessions on the part of the king, so that a treaty of pacification
was entered upon. This event happened in the year 1639.

After for eleven years governing without a parliament, with Archbishop
Laud and the Earl of Strafford as his advisers, King Charles was
constrained, in 1640, to summon an English parliament, which, however,
instead of at once complying with his demands, commenced by drawing up a
list of grievances. Mr. Pym, a man of good reputation, but better known
afterwards, led the remonstrances, observing that by the long
intermission of parliaments many unwarrantable things had been
practiced, notwithstanding the great virtue of his majesty. Disputes
took place between the Lords and Commons, the latter claiming that the
right of supply belonged solely to them.

The king speedily dissolved Parliament, and, the Scots having again
invaded England, proceeded to raise an army to resist them. The Scots
entered Newcastle, and the Earl of Strafford, weak after a sickness, was
defeated and retreated to Durham. The king, with his army weakened and
the treasury depleted, was in great straits. He was again constrained to
call a parliament, which met on November 3, 1640. It had a sad and
melancholic aspect. The king himself did not ride with his accustomed
equipage to Westminster, but went privately in his barge to the
parliament stairs. The king being informed that Sir Thomas Gardiner, not
having been returned a member, could not be chosen to be Speaker, his
majesty appointed Mr. Lenthall, a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. In this
parliament also Mr. Pym began the recital of grievances, and other
members followed with invectives against the Earl of Strafford, accusing
him of high and imperious and tyrannical actions, and of abusing his
power and credit with the king.