chief burden of prosecuting the measure fell upon the Lord Keeper. Not flinching from the task, he assembled all the Judges in the Exchequer Chamber previous to the Summer Circuit, and after addressing them on various other topics, came to the legality of ship-money. Christen- I have but one thing more to give you in charge, and it is a thing of great weight and importance; it concerneth the honour of his Majesty and the kingdom, and the safety of both. dom is full of war, and there is nothing but rumours of war. doubt it hath ever been accounted the greatest wisdom for a nation to arm that they may not be enforced to fight, which is better than not to arm and to be sure to fight. Therefore his Majesty, in these doubtful times, hath not only commanded that all the land forces of the kingdom should be set in order and readiness, but to set to sea a royal fleet at his Majesty's great charge, but with the assistance of the maritime places of this kingdom. The causes, and occasions, and times of war, with the preparation and ordering of them, is proper to the King; and dutiful obedience in such things does best become the subject. And yet his Majesty hath vouchsafed, even by his writ, to declare enough to satisfy all wellminded men, and to express the dearness of his princely heart in aiming at the general good of his kingdom. Upon advice with his Council, he hath resolved that he will forthwith send forth new writs for the preparation of a greater fleet next year, and that not only to the maritime towns, but to all the kingdom besides: för since that all the kingdom is interested, both in the honour, safety, and profit, it is just and reasonable that they should all put to their helping hands. Now that which his Majesty requireth from you and doth command is, that in your charges at the assizes, and in all places else, where opportunity is offered, you take an occasion to let the people know how careful and zealous his Majesty is to preserve his honour, and the honour of his kingdom, and the dominion of the sea; and to secure both sea and land with a powerful fleet, that foreign nations may see that England is both ready and able to keep itself and all its rights. And you are to let them know how just it is that his Majesty should require this for the common defence, and with what alacrity and cheerfulness they ought and are bound in duty to contribute to it; that foreign nations may observe the power and readiness of this kingdom, which will make them slow to contend with us, either by sea or land;-and that will be the best way to confirm unto us a sure peace."* The writs were issued, and were generally obeyed; but many grumbled,-some openly asserted that the imposition was unlawful, and it became of the utmost importance to ensure a favourable decision, should the question come before a court of law. The Lord Keeper [A. D. 1635—1637.] *3 St. Tr. 837. therefore applied to the Judges,-dealing in the first instance in fraudulent generalities, and obtained from them an unanimous resolution, that as where the benefit redounded to the ports and maritime parts, the charge was, according to the precedent of former times, lawfully laid upon them; so, by parity of reason, where the good and safety of the kingdom in general is concerned, the charge ought to be borne by the whole realm." Having laid this foundation, he in the following Term put two specific questions to the Judges: "Whether, in cases of danger to the good and safety of the kingdom, the King could not impose ship-money for its defence and safeguard, and by law compel payment from those who refused?" 2. 2. "Whether the King were not the sole Judge both of the danger, and when and how it was to be prevented?" The twelve Judges having assembled in Serjeants' Inn Hall, they were told that their opinion was merely required for the private satisfaction of the royal conscience. Ten agreed to answer both questions, without qualification, in the affirmative. Two, Crooke and Hutton, dissented, but were induced to subscribe the opinion-upon the representation that, when the Judges were thus consulted, the judgment of the majority was that of the whole body. To the dismay of Crooke and Hutton, and to the utter astonishment of them and of all their brethren,-as soon as the Lord Keeper was armed with this opinion he assembled them all openly in the Star Chamber, and, with a full knowledge of the manner in which it had been obtained and signed,-after another elaborate panegyric on ship-money, and heavy complaint of those who disloyally questioned the King's power to demand it, he thus proceeded: "When his Majesty heard of some refusals, though he had cause to be sensible of it, yet he was far from being transported with passion, but thought good to resort to the advice of you his Judges who are sworn to give him faithful and true counsel in that which pertaineth to the law; and this his Majesty, as well for the direction of his own course as for the satisfaction of his subjects, required you to deliver your opinion herein, to which you returned an answer under your hands. He then ordered the opinion to be read by the clerk, with the names of all the twelve as they were in order subscribed; which being done before a crowded audience, he continued: "My Lords, this being the uniform resolution of all the Judges of England, with one voice and act under their hands; I say, this being so resolved, as they do here express upon every man's particular studying the case, and upon a general conference among themselves, it is of very great authority, for the very lives and lands of the King's subjects are to be determined by these reverend Judges; much more a charge of this nature, which, God knows, cannot be burdensome to any, but is of singular use and consequence, and for the safety of the whole kingdom. The command from his Majesty is, that I should publish this your opinion in this place, and give order that it should be entered in this Court, in the High Court of Chancery, and in the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, for this is a thing not fit to be kept in a corner. And his further command is, that you the Judges do declare and publish this general resolution of all the Judges of England through all parts of the kingdom, that all men may take notice thereof, and that those his subjects which have been in an error may inform themselves and be reformed. You have great cause to declare it with joy, and you can hardly do it with honour enough to the King, that in so high a point of sovereignty he hath been pleased to descend and to communicate with you his Judges;-which showeth that justice and sovereignty in his Majesty do kiss each other." The reverend sages of the law all remained mute while this trick was played off upon them, those who were eagerly looking for promotion approving of it in their hearts, and the dissentients not being able to deny their handwriting, or publicly to enter into any explanation of their conduct. One man in England remained unconcerned and undismayed by this supposed unanimous opinion of the twelve Judges, and that was JOHN HAMPDEN! He refused to pay the twenty shillings assessed upon him in respect of his estate in Buckinghamshire, and being sued for the amount, he, in due form, denied his liability. The case, on account of its importance, was adjourned into the Exchequer Chamber, before all the Judges, and was there argued many days. Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, on a similar occasion, was present in the Exchequer Chamber, and pronounced judgment*; but Lord Keeper Coventry does not seem to have publicly interfered with the decision of this case, though he was, no doubt, very active in privately reminding the Judges of the opinion they had given. To the immortal honour of Crooke and Hutton, notwithstanding the manner in which they had been entrapped, and notwithstanding all the attempts now made to work upon their fears and hopes, they delivered a clear decided opinion upon the merits,—that the tax was unauthorised by the common law, and was forbidden by statute. Three other Judges, Davenport, Brampston, and Denham, without denying the King's right, voted for the defendant on certain points of form. But there being a majority, with Lord Chief Justice Finch at their head, who held that the power to impose this tax belonged to the Crown at common law, and that, even if there were statutes to abolish it, these statutes were not binding on the King,--judgment was given quod defendens oneretur, and process of [JUNE 12, 1638.] execution issued to levy the twenty shillings. Coventry and Strafford were short-sighted enough to rejoice in the victory they had won, thinking arbitrary government was firmly established. "Since it is lawful," said they, "for the King to * Case of Postnati, ante, p. 209. impose a tax towards the equipment of the navy, it must be equally so for the levy of an army; and the same reason which authorises him to levy an army to resist, will authorise him to carry that army abroad, that he may prevent invasion. Moreover, what is law in England is law also in Scotland and Ireland. This decision of the Judges will, therefore, make the King absolute at home and formidable abroad."* But "it is notoriously known that the pressure was borne with more cheerfulness before the judgment for the King than ever it was after; men before pleasing themselves with doing somewhat for the King's service, as a testimony of their affection, which they were not bound to do; many really believing the necessity, and therefore thinking the burden reasonable; others, observing that the advantage to the King was of importance, when the damage to them was not considerable; and all assuring themselves that, when they should be weary or unwilling to continue the payment, they might resort to the law for relief, and find it. But when they heard this demanded in a court of law as a right, and found it, by sworn Judges of the law, adjudged so, upon such grounds and reasons as every stander-by was able to swear was not law, and so had lost the pleasure and delight of being kind and dutiful to the King; and instead of giving were required to pay, and by a logic that left no man any thing which he might call his own, they no more looked upon it as the case of one man, but the case of the kingdom, nor as an imposition laid on them by the King, but by the Judges, which they thought themselves bound in conscience to the public justice not to submit to. When they saw in a court of law reasons of state urged as elements of law; Judges as sharp-sighted as Secretaries of State, and in the mysteries of state; judgment of law grounded upon matter of fact of which there was neither inquiry nor proof; and no reason given for the twenty shillings in question but what included the estates of all the standers-by,—they had no reason to hope that doctrine, or the promoters of it, would be contained within any bounds; and it is no wonder that they, who had so little reason to be pleased with their own condition, were no less solicitous for, or apprehensive of, the inconveniences that might attend any alteration.”† Notwithstanding the general discontent, there is too much reason to believe that the scheme to establish absolute government on the ruins of free institutions would have succeeded in England, as it did about this time in France, had it not been for the troubles which now broke out in Scotland. Charles's violent attempt to introduce episcopacy into that country, though he had so far succeeded as to have the Archbishop of St. Andrew's for his Chancellor, and several other Prelates invested in the high offices of state,--produced the most sudden, peaceful, and complete revolution recorded in history. In the course of a few weeks, without a drop of blood † Clarendon. * Strafford papers, ii. 61. being spilt, the King was virtually dethroned, and a new government was established, under the title of "The Tables," with the almost unanimous consent of the nobles, the gentry, and the commonalty, having a well-disciplined army at its command, and recognised by all the civil functionaries in the kingdom. "The solemn League and Covenant" immediately followed. The first effect produced in England by this movement was a ludicrous trial, at which the Lord Keeper presided with apparent gravity. When the news arrived at Whitehall, Archy, the King's Fool, who, by his office, had the privilege of jesting, even on his Master, happened unluckily to try his wit upon Laud, and called out to him, "Who's fool now, my Lord?" For this offence the Primate insisted that he should be prosecuted, on the maxim, "non licet ludere cum sacris;" and, after a solemn hearing before the Council, Archy was sentenced "to have his fool's coat pulled over his head, and to be dismissed the King's service."* But more serious consequences were at hand. The King, notwithstanding the moderate counsels which were given to him by the Lord Keeper, and even by Laud himself, was resolved to make no concessions to the Scottish rebels, and to suppress the insurrection by military force. He directed sum[MAY, 1639.] monses under the Great Seal to issue to all the nobility to meet him at York with trains suitable to their rank and possessions, and he marched to the north at the head of a feudal army, like another Edward I., to conquer Scotland. But in England the national prejudice against the Scotch was overpowered by sympathy in their cause. The King's forces. dwindled away as they approached the border, and were not in a condition to engage their opponents, under the veteran Leslie. At Berwick, Charles found it indispensably necessary to negotiate, and after agreeing to abolish episcopacy (under a secret protest that he would restore it on the first favourable opportunity), he was obliged, for want of money, to disband his troops, and he ingloriously returned to London. Fresh writs, to raise ship-money to the amount of 200,000Z., were issued, and all sorts of expedients were resorted to for the purpose of filling the Exchequer,-but in vain. The Covenanters, becoming more insolent, talked of invading England, so that Presbytery, the only true form of church government, might be established all over the island,-and there were no means of raising an army to resist them. A new tax might be imposed by proclamation, but, in the present temper of the people, there was no chance of its being paid. Under these circumstances, Coventry, and the whole Council, including even Archbishop Laud, and Juxon, the Lord Treasurer, recommended that a parliament should be called-a calamity, they privately said, from which England had now been happily exempt *Rush, ii. 470, |