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4. The War with France and the Expedition te Rhé.-Charles had good reason to want money. less than a year after the dissolution of his second Parliament he had quarrelled with France as well as with Spain. The king of France was at war with his Protestant subjects, and was besieging the town of La Rochelle. Buckingham went with a great fleet and army to deliver it. He began by laying siege to a fort on the Isle of Rhé not far from La Rochelle. He could not take it, and came home, having accomplished nothing at all.

5. The Third Parliament of Charles I. and the Petition of Right.- Charles was determined to go on with the war, to deliver La Rochelle. As he had no money left, he summoned a Third Parliament. That Parliament presented to him the Petition of Right, in which they demanded, amongst other things, that he should never levy taxes or forced loans without the consent of Parliament, and never put any man in prison without giving a reason for it, so that the man might have his case tried by the judges; whereas if no reason was given, the judges would not know what he was accused of and could not try the case, so that he might be left in prison as long as the king pleased. Charles was most unwilling to yield to this, but he did at last, and the Petition of Right became law. The London citizens rang the bells merrily, and lit up bonfires in the streets.

6. Murder of Buckingham.-Charles, in return for his grant of the Petition of Right, got the money which he wanted, and gathered another great fleet

and army, with which Buckingham was to drive off the besiegers from La Rochelle. Buckingham went to Portsmouth to take the command. There was scarcely an Englishman who did not hate him for squandering the money and lives of his countrymen on these foolish plans which never succeeded. A certain John Felton, who had been turned out of an officer's place by Buckingham, fancied that he would be doing God service by murdering him, just as Catesby and Guy Fawkes had fancied that they were doing God service if they could murder the king and the Parliament. He bought a knife, went down to Portsmouth, and stood outside the door of a room in which Buckingham was breakfasting. At last Buckingham stepped out, and stopped for a moment to speak to one of his officers. Felton struck him hard with his knife in the breast, saying as he did it, 'God have mercy on thy soul.' Buckingham staggered forward and fell dead. The murderer merely slipped away for a short time, but his hat fell off, and he was soon recognised. It was not long before he was sentenced to death, and hanged.

7. Breach between Charles and the Parliament.Charles had now to try to govern without Buckingham. When Parliament met again there were new quarrels between it and the king. In the first place there was a disagreement between him and the Puritans about certain doctrines which they wished to have taught, whilst he wished that these doctrines should not be taught. Then there was a disagreement about the payment of duties on goods going out of

the whole of the services as they were in the Prayer Book, instead of leaving out as much as they pleased. One thing which gave great offence to the Puritans was the removal of the communion table to the east end of the churches, instead of allowing it to stand in the middle of the building, as it had done in most churches for many years. People fancied that Laud wanted to make them Roman Catholics again, and, though this was quite untrue, it was very unwise in him to try to make people worship in a way which they thought to be wrong. There was a Court known as the High Commission Court, which had been set up in Elizabeth's reign, before which the clergy were brought who refused to use the whole of the Prayer Book, and who taught things contrary to its doctrines, or were thought by Laud and his friends to do so. Many of these were turned out of their places, and had to leave the country.

3. The Court of Star Chamber.-The Court of Star Chamber, which had been set up in the reign of Henry VII. to keep in order the great lords, was used by Charles I. to punish those who found fault with his government. Some men who had been abusive had to stand in the pillory, which was a piece of wood with a hole in it to fit the neck, and then had their ears cut off. Others who resisted the government were imprisoned or fined. There was no jury in the Court of Star Chamber. It was now composed of two judges and of all the members of the King's Council. As these were the very people who carried out Charles's orders, they really punished in the Star Chamber those persons who had com

plained against their own proceedings. They were both accusers and judges. No wonder that the Court became very unpopular.

Spain, he had no With peace came a

4. Ship Money.-For a few years Charles got on pretty well without money granted by Parliament. He made the merchants pay the duties, and, as he made peace with both France and more military or naval expense. growth of trade, and the duties on goods brought more money to the king than they had ever brought before. Before long, however, he found it necessary to have a fleet. As the Dutch navy had been a large one for many years, and the French too had now a large navy, Charles thought that England ought to have a fleet to defend her coasts and her trade. The proper thing to do would have been to send for Parliament, and to ask it for money for the navy. But the king knew that if Parliament met it would refuse to give money unless he would follow its advice in everything, and he was determined not to do that. One of his lawyers told him that when the country was in danger he had a right to ask the people of the towns on the sea-coast to serve in their ships against the enemy, and he therefore ordered these towns to send him ships. He took care to ask for ships larger than those which were to be found in any of these places except in London. After a little time, he wrote again to say that if they had not got the ships they might give him money instead. The money was paid, and the next year he asked all the counties in England to pay the shipmoney, as it was called. He told them that a man

who owned sheep with wool on its back in a midland county was just as much interested in having the trade of the country defended as the man who lived in a seaport town, and owned the ship which carried the wool across the sea. This was quite true. The only question was whether either ought to be made to pay without a grant from Parliament.

5. Hampden's Case.-John Hampden, a Buckinghamshire squire, refused to pay. A court composed

the law was.

of all the twelve judges was called on to say what Seven out of the twelve declared their belief that the king had a right to levy ship-money. The king thought that this settled all disputes, but most Englishmen thought that Hampden had been right.

6. The Scottish Prayer Book and the Riot at Edinburgh. Whilst Englishmen were growing discontented, Scotchmen were preparing actually to resist. James had compelled the Scottish Church