Page:Science and the Great War.djvu/18

12 Henry IV was not satisfied with the result of this method of exclusion. It may be suggested that lawyers managed to evade the purpose of the writs by taking shares in a ship or a business. It is at any rate clear that the king knew they were extremely difficult to keep out; and in 1404, when England was beset with troubles from France and Wales as well as from within, he took a strong line, and in the writ of summons 'directed that no lawyers should be returned as members. He had complained more than once that the members of the House of Commons spent more time on private suits than on public business; and the idea of summoning the estates to Coventry, where they would be at a distance from the courts of law, was perhaps suggested by his wish to expedite the business of the nation.'

The exclusion of lawyers seems, then, to have been brought about by four distinct steps—the ordinance acted upon by both kings, the writs describing the eligible persons and omitting lawyers, the writs expressly excluding lawyers, and the meeting of Parliament in Coventry instead of London. The 'Unlearned Parliament', as it was named, probably by the lawyers, met in October, 1404, and apparently justified the king's action by getting through a great deal of important business in providing the means for the wars.

We should not to-day think very much of the reasons which influenced Henry IV, although certainly the galaxy of talent which was employed to prosecute and defend the ordinary German spy Lody was an extraordinary demonstration of the unreality of war as waged by lawyers. Justice, of course, the man was entided to, and justice he would always get in this country, but the unnecessary parade and glory of his trial were the very