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 of the laws and customs which guarded property from irresponsible taxation. In 1634 he took alarm at the growing strength of the French navy, which, in combination with the Dutch, might easily overwhelm any fleet which he was himself able to send out, and, in pursuance of a suggestion of Attorney-general Noy, he commanded the issue of writs to the port towns, directing them to supply ships for service at sea. The ships, however, were required to be larger than any of the port towns, except London, had at their disposal, and Charles therefore expressed his willingness to commute the obligation for a money payment which was practically a tax. While he gave out that the vessels were wanted for the defence of the realm against pirates and enemies, he was negotiating a secret treaty with Spain, the object of which was the employment of the fleet in a combined war against the Dutch.

In 1635 the ship-money writs were extended to the inland counties. The negotiation with Spain had broken down, and Charles was now eager to use his new fleet to enforce his claim to the sovereignty of the seas, and to force even war vessels of other nations to dip their flags on passing a ship of his navy in the seas round Great Britain. He also attempted, with small success, to levy a tax from the Dutch herring boats for permission to fish in the sea between England and their own coasts.

Gradually resistance to the payment of ship-money spread, and in December 1635 Charles consulted the judges. Ten out of the twelve replied that ‘when the good and safety of the kingdom in general is concerned,' and the whole kingdom in danger — of which his majesty is the only judge — then the charge of the defence ought to be borne by all the kingdom in general.' Charles was always apt to rely on the letter rather than on the spirit of the law, and he forgot that after he had dismissed Chief-justice Crewe, &c. in 1626 for disagreeing with him about the forced loan, suspended Chief-baron Walter in 1627 for disagreeing with him about the mode of dealing with the accused members of parliament, and Chief-justice Heath in 1634 for disagreeing with him about the church, he could hardly expect his subjects to believe that the judges were altogether influenced by personal considerations when they decided in favour of the crown.

Ship-money writs continued to be issued every year, and in February 1637 Charles obtained a fresh and more deliberate answer of the judges in support of his claim. Finding that resistance continued, he gladly consented to have the question of his rights discussed before the exchequer chamber in Hampden's case, and when judgment was given in 1638 in his favour he treated the question as settled without regard to the impression made on public opinion by the speeches of Hampden's counsel [see ].

In other ways Charles's government had given dissatisfaction. Many monopolies had been granted to companies, by which subterfuge the Monopoly Act of 1624 had been evaded. Inquiry had been made into the rights of persons possessing land which had once formed part of a royal forest, enormous fines inflicted, and though these fines, like the majority of the fines in the Star-chamber, were usually either forgiven or much reduced when payment was demanded, the whole proceeding created an amount of irritation which told heavily against the court.

By this time Laud's metropolitical visitation had increased its growing opposition, and even greater distrust of Charles had been engendered by the welcome accorded by Charles to Panzani, who arrived in 1634 as papal agent at the queen's court, and who was busy with a futile attempt to reconcile the church of England with the see of Rome. Panzani was present when Charles paid a formal visit to Oxford in 1636. Con, who succeeded him, dropped the scheme for the union of the churches, and devoted himself to the conversion of gentlemen, and more successfully of ladies of quality. In 1637 even Charles took alarm, though he loved to chat with Con over points of literature and theology, and proposed to issue a proclamation ordering the enforcement of the law against those who effected conversions. The queen, however, pleaded the cause of her fellow-catholics, and Charles, unable to withstand his wife's entreaties, gave way and issued his proclamation in so modified a form as no longer to cause alarm among the catholics themselves. With more wisdom he gave his patronage to Chillingworth's great work, 'The Religion of Protestants.'

Unluckily for Charles, the favour accorded to Panzani and Con only served to bring out into stronger light the hard measure which was dealt out to puritans, to which fresh attention had been drawn by the execution of a cruel Star-chamber sentence on 30 June 1637 upon Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton.

Great as was the offence which Charles was giving in England, he was giving greater offence in Scotland. In 1633, when he visited Edinburgh in order to be crowned, he had created distrust among the nobles by an arrangement for the commutation of the tithes which, though just in itself, alarmed