Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/102

 of trade came an increased revenue from customs; and Charles found it not at all difficult to make ends meet now that there was no war. The courtiers thought that the people were content to be governed in this way, and laughed when any one talked of the king’s illegal rule. Wentworth, who formerly had stood by Eliot and Hampden for the Petition of Right, now aimed at making the king absolute. He wanted to raise a standing army, and force Parliament to do the king’s will. The king was afraid to try such means, so Strafford (as Wentworth was now called) had himself appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, where he proposed to show Charles how a land could be ruled by fear. While Strafford was in Ireland he made the Irish Parliament do whatever he willed, and so ruled that there was peace and order under his heavy hand. He allowed no tyranny but his own, and raised a standing army, which could be used, if necessary, in England against the English. In every possible way he sought to create ill-feeling between the Irish and the English settlers in Ireland, and the fruits of this policy were soon to appear. One good thing he did he introduced the culture of flax and the manufacture of linen, an industry that has been very successful in Ireland.

In the meantime Laud was emptying the pulpits of Puritans, and filling them with new men who taught the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, and who believed in his ideas of public worship. This made the English people very anxious, for religion was more to them than civil liberty. Charles greatly increased the power of the Star Chamber Court, which was now used to fine and punish men who would not submit to his tyranny. Laud, to carry out his plans in the Church, used another arbitrary tribunal, the High Commission Court, before which the clergy who would not preach and do as he wished were brought and punished. The Puritans were very strict in keeping Sunday, and would not allow any games or amusements on that day. This gave Laud a chance to annoy them. He induced Charles to order the clergy to announce from the pulpits that games and sports were to be practised on Sunday after the Church service was over. Hundreds of honest ministers refused to do his bidding, and were driven from their pulpits. The Puritans began to despair of recovering their religious freedom, and thousands during these dark days left England forever, and settled in New England. Not Puritans alone, but