and by multiplying these necessities, it
was foreseen that his prerogative, undermined on all sides, must at
last be overthrown, and be no longer dangerous to the privileges of the
people. Whatever, therefore, tended to compose the differences between
king and parliament, and to preserve the government uniformly in its
present channel, was zealously opposed by these popular leaders; and
their past conduct and sufferings gave them credit sufficient to effect
all their purposes.

The house of commons, moved by these and many other obvious reasons,
instead of taking notice of the king's complaints against his Scottish
subjects, or his applications for supply, entered immediately upon
grievances; and a speech which Pym made them on that subject was much
more hearkened to, than that which the lord keeper had delivered to them
in the name of their sovereign. The subject of Pym's harangue has
been sufficiently explained above; where we gave an account of all the
grievances, imaginary in the church, more real in the state, of which
the nation at that time so loudly complained.[*] The house began
with examining the behavior of the speaker the last day of the former
parliament; when he refused, on account of the king's command, to put
the question: and they declared it a breach of privilege. They proceeded
next to inquire into the imprisonment and prosecution of Sir John
Elliot, Hollis, and Valentine:[**] the affair of ship money was
canvassed: and plentiful subject of inquiry was suggested on all hands.
Grievances were regularly classed under three heads; those with regard
to privileges of parliament, to the property of the subject, and to
religion.[***]

* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 133. Rush. vol. iii. p. 1131. May,
p. 60.

** Rush. vol. iii p. 1136.

*** Rush. vol. iii. p. 1147.

The king, seeing a large and inexhaustible field opened, pressed them
again for supply; and finding his message ineffectual, he came to the
house of peers, and desired their good offices with the commons. The
peers were sensible of the king's urgent necessities; and thought that
supply on this occasion ought, both in reason and in decency, to go
before grievances. They ventured to represent their sense of the matter
to the commons; but their intercession did harm. The commons had always
claimed, as their peculiar province the granting of supplies; and,
though the peers had here gone no further than offering advice, the
lower ho