He was
required by Buckingham to answer a series of interrogatories, but he
refused to inculpate himself and demanded a trial by parliament. On the
death of James he was removed by Charles I. from the privy council, and
ordered to absent himself from his first parliament. On his demand in
January 1626 to be present at the coronation Charles angrily refused, and
accused him of having tried to pervert his religion in Spain. In March
1626, after the assembling of the second parliament, Digby applied to the
Lords, who supported his rights, and Charles sent him his writ accompanied
by a letter from Lord Keeper Coventry desiring him not to use it. Bristol,
however, took his seat and demanded justice against Buckingham (Thomason
Tracts, E. 126 (20)). The king endeavoured to obstruct his attack by
causing Bristol on the 1st of May to be himself brought to the bar, on an
accusation of high treason by the attorney-general. The Lords, however,
ordered that both charges should be investigated simultaneously. Further
proceedings were stopped by the dissolution of parliament on the 15th of
June; a prosecution was ordered by Charles in the Star Chamber, and Bristol
was sent to the [v.04 p.0578] Tower, where he remained till the 17th of
March 1628, when the peers, on the assembling of Charles's third
parliament, insisted on his liberation and restoration to his seat in the
Lords.

In the discussions upon the Petition of Right, Bristol supported the use of
the king's prerogative in emergencies, and asserted that the king besides
his legal had a regal power, but joined in the demand for a full acceptance
of the petition by the king after the first unsatisfactory answer. He was
now restored to favour, but took no part in politics till the outbreak of
the Scottish rebellion, when he warned Charles of the danger of attacking
with inadequate forces. He was the leader in the Great Council held at
York, was a commissioner to treat with the Scots in September 1640 at
Ripon, and advised strongly the summoning of the parliament. In February
1641 he was one of the peers who advocated reforms in the administration
and were given seats in the council. Though no friend to Strafford, he
endeavoured to save his life, desiring only to see him excluded from
office, and as a witness was excused from voting on the attainder. He was
appointed gentleman of the bedchamber on the king's departure for Scotland,
and on the 27th of December he was declared an evi