Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/477

 Struggle in England between King and Parliament 353 to quarrel with Parliament. When that body refused to grant him funds, mainly because they thought that these were likely to be wasted by his favorite, the duke of Buckingham, Charles attempted, without the permission of Parliament, to raise money in irreg- ular ways, such as forcing loans from his subjects and imprisoning those who protested. These and other attacks upon the rights of his people led Parliament to draw up, in 1628, the celebrated Petition of Right, which is one of the most important documents in the his- tory of the English Constitution. Parliament "humbly prayed" that no man need thereafter be forced to make any gift or loan to the king without consent of Parliament ; that no free man should be imprisoned except according to the laws and statutes of the realm as presented in the Great Charter (377). Very re- luctantly Charles consented to this restatement of the limitations which the English had always, in theory at least, placed upon the powers of their king. The disagreement between Charles and Parliament was rendered much more serious by religious differences. The king had married a French Catholic princess, and the Catholic cause seemed to be gaining on the Continent. There was evidently a growing inclination in Eng- land to restore the older ceremonies of the Church which had prevailed before the Protestant Revolt and which shocked the more strongly Protestant members of the House of Commons. CHARLES I OF ENGLAND This portrait is by one of the greatest painters of the time, Anthony Van Dyck, 1599-1641 (see cut on page 3SS)