or uncontroulled and lawful Precedent, his Majesty would be careful to preserve. But this Protestation of the Commons House, so contrived and carried as it was, his Majesty thought fit to be razed out of all Memorials, and utterly to be annihilated; both in respect of the Manner by which it was gained, and the Matter therein contained. For the Manner of getting it, first, in respect of the Time: For after such Times as his Majesty, out of princely Grace, as to take away all Mistakings, had directed his Letters to Secretary Calvert, dated at Royston, 16 Decembris, and therein had so explained himself, in the Point of maintaining the Privileges of the House of Commons, as that most of the said House rested fully satisfied, and freed from any Scruple of having their Liberties impeached: And after that, by his Majesty's Letters, directed to the Speaker, dated 18 December, being Tuesday, his Majesty, at the humble Suit of the House of Commons, condescended to make this Meeting a Session before Christmas, and for the Purpose had assigned Saturday following: Now, upon this very Tuesday, and while the Messengers from the House of Commons were with his Majesty at Theobalds, to return Thanks unto his Majesty, and therewith an Excuse from them not to make it a Session, in respect of the Strait of Time whereunto they were driven; which Deferment his Majesty admitted of at their Desires, and thereupon gave Order for the Adjournment of the Parliament until the 8th of February next, which was the first Day formerly appointed by his Majesty for the meeting together of the Parliament: And whilst their Messengers were with his Majesty, and had received a gracious Answer to return unto their House; even that Afternoon, a Committee was procured to be made for taking their Liberties into Consideration: And this Afternoon a Protestation was made (to whom, appears not) concerning their Liberties, and at six o'clock at Night, by Candle-light, the same Protestation was brought into the House by the Committee; and at that Time of Night it was called upon to be put to the Question, there not being the third Part of the House then present; whereas in all Matters of Weight, their usual Custom is, to put nothing of Importance to the Question, till the House be full: And at this Time many of them that were present, expected that the Question would have been deferred to another Day, and a fuller House; and some then present stood up to have spoken to it, but could not be seen or heard in that Darkness and Confusion. Now for the Matter of the Pro

testation, it is penned in such ambiguous and general Words, as may serve for future Times to invade most of the Rights and Prerogatives annexed to the Imperial Crown; the Claim of some Privileges being grounded upon the Words of the Writ for assembling the Parliament, wherein some Words, viz. Arduis regni, are cunningly mentioned, but the Word quibusdam, which restraineth the Generality to such particular Cases, as his Majesty pleaseth to consult with them upon, is purposely omitted.

These Things considered, his Majesty did, this present Day, in full Assembly of the Council, and in the Presence of the Judges, declare the said Protestation to be invalid, annulled, void, and of no Effect: And did further, Manu sua propria; take the said Protestation out of the Journal-Book of the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament; and commanded an Act of Council to be made thereupon, and this Act to be entered in the Register of Common-Causes.

(Parliamentary History, ed. cit., V, p. 512.)

CHAPTER XXI

THE PURITAN REVOLUTION

155. The Petition of Right

(3 CAR. I, C. 1, June 7, 1628)

Statutes of the Realm

In 1628 the position of Charles I. had gone from bad to worse. Rash enterprises, lavish and illegal expenditure, and broken promises of better government had almost produced open rupture between the monarch and his subjects. In his third Parliament matters reached a point in which the Commons felt the strongest action to be necessary. Under the leadership of Wentworth, a Committee of Grievances discussed the illegal methods of the king, and particularly considered the matters of forced loans, imprisonment of subjects who refused to make such loans to the king, the billeting of soldiers on private persons, and punishment by the methods of martial law. The Commons then sought the concurrence of the Lords by means of a petition embodying protest against these grievances. For two months both Houses debated the question of steps to be taken. Aids were granted the king, but no regular Money Bill was passed. This Charles sought to secure, but the Commons refused to be cajoled by blandishments or frightened by threats. The king offered to grant a Confirmation of the Great Charter, such as had often been issued and disregarded by former monarchs. The Commons refused this offer, and under the leadership of Sir Edward Coke they drew up and passed the Petition of Right. Charles made repeated attempts to avoid ratifying it in a legal manner. He was finally compelled to give his assent in due form. The statute, in form of a petition, is one of the five most important constitutional documents of English history.

THE PETITION EXHIBITED TO HIS MAJESTY BY THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL, AND COMMONS IN THIS PRESENT PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED, CONCERNING DIVERS RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF THE SUBJECTS, WITH THE KING'S MAJESTY'S ROYAL ANSWER THEREUNTO IN FULL PARLIAMENT

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.

Humbly show unto our Sovereign Lord the King, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament

assembled, that whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute made in the time of the reign of King Edward the First, commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non concedendo, that no tallage or aid shall be laid or levied by the King or his heirs in this realm, without the goodwill and assent of the Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights, Burgesses, and other the freemen of the commonality of this realm: and by authority of Parliament holden in the five and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth no person shall be compelled to make any loans to the King against his will, because such loans were against reason and the franchise of the land; and by other laws of this realm it is provided, that none should be charged by any charge or imposition, called a Benevolence, or by such like charge, by which the statutes before-mentioned, and other the good laws and statutes of this realm, your subjects have inherited this freedom, that they should not be compelled to contribute to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge, not set by common consent in Parliament:

Yet nevertheless, of late divers commissions directed to sundry Commissioners in several counties with instructions have issued, by means whereof your people have been in divers places assembled, and required to lend certain sums of money unto your Majesty, and many of them upon their refusal so to do, have had an oath administered unto them, not warrantable by the laws or statutes of this realm, and have been constrained to become bound to make appearance and give attendance before your Privy Council, and in other places, and others of them have been therefore imprisoned, confined, and sundry other ways molested and disquieted: and divers other charges have been laid and levied upon your people in several counties, by Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Commissioners for Musters, Justices of Peace and others, by command or direction from your Majesty or your Privy Council, against the laws and free customs of this realm:

And where also by the statute called, 'The Great Charter of the Liberties of England,' it is declared and enacted, that no freeman may be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his freeholds or liberties, or his free customs, or be outlawed or exiled; or in any manner destroyed, but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land:

And in the eight and twentieth year of the reign of King

Edward the Third, it was declared and enacted by authority of Parliament, that no man of what estate or condition that he be, should be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disherited, nor put to death, without being brought to answer by due process of law:

Nevertheless, against the tenor of the said statutes, and other the good laws and statutes of your realm, to that end provided, divers of your subjects have of late been imprisoned without any cause showed, and when for their deliverance they were brought before your Justices, by your Majesty's writs of Habeas Corpus, there to undergo and receive as the Court should order, and their keepers commanded to certify the causes of their detainer; no cause was certified, but that they were detained by your Majesty's special command, signified by the Lords of your Privy Council, and yet were returned back to several prisons, without being charged with anything to which they might make answer according to the law:

And whereas of late great companies of soldiers and mariners have been dispersed into divers counties of the realm, and the inhabitants against their will have been compelled to receive them into their houses, and there to suffer them to sojourn, against the laws and customs of this realm, and to the great grievance and vexation of the people:

And whereas also by authority of Parliament, in the 25th year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it is declared and enacted, that no man shall be forejudged of life or limb against the form of the Great Charter, and the law of the land: and by the said Great Charter and other the laws and statutes of this your realm, no man ought to be adjudged to death; but by the laws established in this your realm, either by the customs of the same realm or by Acts of Parliament: and whereas no offender of what kind soever is exempted from the proceedings to be used, and punishments to be inflicted by the laws and statutes of this your realm: nevertheless of late divers commissions under your Majesty's Great Seal have issued forth, by which certain persons have been assigned and appointed Commissioners with power and authority to proceed within the land according to the justice of martial law against such soldiers and mariners, or other dissolute persons joining with them, as should commit any murder, robbery, felony, mutiny, or other outrage or misdemeanour whatsoever, and by such summary course and order, as is agreeable to martial law, and is used in armies