the least, as well expert masters, as very able and skilful mariners: and one other ship of war of the burden of three hundred tons, with a hundred and fifty men, as well expert masters, as very able and skilful mariners: and also every of the said ships with ordnance, as well greater as lesser, gunpowder, and spears and weapons, and other necessary arms sufficient for war, and with double tackling, and with victuals, until the said first of March, competent for so many men; and from that time, for twenty-six weeks, at your charges, as well in victuals as men's wages, and other things necessary for war, during that time, upon defence of the sea in our service, in command of the admiral of the sea, to whom we shall commit the custody of the sea, before the aforesaid first day of March, and as he, on our behalf, shall command them to continue; so that they may be there the same day, at the farthest, to go from thence with our ships, and the ships of other faithful subjects, for the safeguard of the sea, and defence of you and yours, and repulse and vanquishing of whomsoever busying themselves to molest or trouble upon the sea our merchants, and other subjects, and faithful people coming into our dominions for cause of merchandise, or from thence returning to their own countries. Also we have assigned you, the aforesaid Mayor and Aldermen of the city aforesaid, or any thirteen, or more of you, within thirteen days after the receipt of this writ, to assess all men in the said city, and in the liberties, and members of the same, and the landholders in the same, not having a ship, or any part of the aforesaid ships, nor serving in the same, to contribute to the expenses, about the necessary provision of the premises; and to assess and lay upon the aforesaid city, with the liberties and members thereof, viz. upon every of them according to their estate and substances, and the portion assessed upon them; and to nominate and appoint collectors in this behalf. Also we have assigned you, the aforesaid Mayor, and also the Sheriffs of the city aforesaid, to levy the portions so as aforesaid assessed upon the aforesaid men and landholders, and every of them in the aforesaid city, with the liberties and members of the same, by distress and other due means; and to commit to prison all those whom you shall find rebellious and contrary in the premises, there to remain until we shall give further order for their delivery. And moreover we command you, that about the premises you diligently attend, and do, and execute those things with effect, upon peril that shall fall thereon: but we will not, that

under colour of our aforesaid command, more should be levied of the said men than shall suffice for the necessary expenses of the premises; or that any who have had levied money for contribution to raise the aforesaid charges, should by him detain the same, or any part thereof; or should presume, by any manner of colour, to appropriate the same to other uses; willing, that if more than may be sufficient shall be collected, the same may be paid out among the contributors, for the rate of the part to them belonging.

Witness myself, at Westminster the twentieth day of October, in the tenth year of our reign.

(Rushworth's Collection, ed. cit., II, 257.)

157. Ship-Money declared Illegal

(17 CAR. I, c. 14, 1641.)

Statutes of the Realm

The injustice of the practice of levying ship-money and the prostitution of justice to be an instrument of the king's will had never ceased to be a source of irritation and complaint. To this discontent Charles was indifferent, but the people watched and worked for the opportunity to right the wrong. In the Long Parliament the act given below was passed. It is important not only because it abolished one illegal tax and annulled the judgment of the Exchequer Court against Hampden as contrary to the laws and statutes of the realm, the right of property, the liberty of the subject, and the Petition of Right, but also because it completed the long line of statutes that deprived the Crown of the power of arbitrary taxation.

AN ACT FOR THE DECLARING UNLAWFUL AND VOID THE LATE PROCEEDINGS TOUCHING SHIP-MONEY, AND FOR THE VACATING OF ALL RECORDS AND PROCESSES CONCERNING

THE SAME

Whereas divers writs of late time issued under the Great Seal of England, commonly called Ship-writs, for the charging of the Ports, Towns, Cities, Boroughs, and Counties of this realm respectively, to provide and furnish certain ships for His Majesty's service; and whereas upon the execution of the same writs and returns of certioraries thereupon made, and the sending the name by Mittimus into the Court of Exchequer, process hath been thence made against sundry persons pretended to be charged by way of contribution for the making up of certain sums assessed for the providing of the said ships; and in especial in Easter Term in the thirteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord the King that

now is, a Writ of Scire facias was awarded out of the Court of Exchequer to the then Sheriff of Buckinghamshire against John Hampden, Esquire, to appear and show cause why he should not be charged with a certain sum so assessed upon him: upon whose appearance and demurrer to the proceedings therein the Barons of the Exchequer adjourned the same case into the Exchequer Chamber, where it was solemnly argued divers days; and at length it was there agreed by the greater part of all the Justices of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, and of the Barons of the Exchequer there assembled, that the said John Hampden should be charged with the said sum so as aforesaid assessed on him: The main grounds and reasons of the said Justices and Barons, which so agreed, being, that when the good and safety of the kingdom in general is concerned, and the whole kingdom in danger, the King might by writ under the Great Seal of England command all the subjects of this his kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of ships with men, victuals and munition, and for such time as the King `should think fit for the defence and safeguard of the kingdom from such danger and peril, and that by law the King might compel the doing thereof in case of refusal or refractoriness, and that the King is the sole judge both of the danger, and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided; according to which grounds and reasons all the Justices of the said Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, and the said Barons of the Exchequer, having been formerly consulted with by His Majesty's command, had set their hands to an extrajudicial opinion expressed to the same purpose, which opinion with their names thereunto was also by His Majesty's command enrolled in the Courts of Chancery, King's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer, and likewise entered among the remembrances of the Court of Star Chamber, and according to the said agreement of the said Justices and Barons, judgment was given by the Barons of the Exchequer that the said John Hampden should be charged with the said sum so assessed on him: and, whereas some other actions and process depend, and have depended in the said Court of Exchequer and in some other Courts, against other persons for the like kind of charge grounded upon the said writs commonly called Ship-writs; all which writs and proceedings as aforesaid were utterly against the law of the land: be it therefore declared and enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and the Com

mons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the said charge imposed upon the subject for the providing and furnishing of ships, commonly called Ship-money, and the said extrajudicial opinion of the said Justices and Barons and the said writs, and every of them, and the said agreement or opinion of the greater part of the said Justices and Barons, and the said judgment given against the said John Hampden, were and are contrary to and against the laws and statutes of this realm, the right of property, the liberty of the subjects, former resolutions in Parliament, and the Petition of Right made in the third year of the reign of His Majesty that now is.

And it is further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all and every the particulars prayed or desired in the said Petition of Right shall from henceforth be put in execution accordingly, and shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed as in the same Petition they are prayed and expressed; and that all and every the records and remembrances of all and every the judgment, enrolments, entry, and proceedings as aforesaid, and all and every the proceedings whatsoever, upon or by pretext or colour of any of the said writs commonly called Ship-writs, and all and every the dependents on any of them, shall be deemed and adjudged, to all intents, constructions and purposes, to be utterly void and disannulled; and that all and every the said judgment, enrolments, entries, proceedings and dependents of what kind soever, shall be vacated and cancelled in such manner and form as records use to be that are vacated.

(Statutes of the Realm, V, 186.)

158. Charles I. and Strafford

(1641)

Letters and Dispatches.

The letter of Charles to Strafford, and that of the monarch to Parliament in behalf of the earl, with the subjoined account of the interview of the messenger with Charles, conclusively prove the weakness and timidity of the king. The letters are of the greatest interest as being unimpeachable evidence of the faithlessness of the master to his chosen servant, whom he had promised at all hazards to protect.

Strafford,

CHARLES I. TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD

The misfortune that is fallen upon you by the strange mistaking and conjuncture of these times, being such, that

I must lay by the thought of employing you hereafter in my affairs; yet I cannot satisfy myself in honour or conscience without assuring you (now in the midst of your troubles), that upon the word of a king you shall not suffer in life, honour or fortune. This is but justice, and therefore a very mean reward from a master to so faithful and able a servant as you have showed yourself to be; yet it is as much as I conceive the present times will permit, though none shall hinder me from being

Your constant, faithful friend,

Whitehall, April 23, 1641.

Charles R.

(Earl of Strafford's Letters and Dispatches, Lond., 1739, II, p. 416.)

158a. Charles I. to the House of Lords, in Behalf of the Earl of Strafford

My lords,

I did yesterday satisfy the justice of the kingdom, by passing of the bill of attainder against the earl of Strafford; but mercy being as inherent and inseparable to a king as justice, I desire at this time in some measure, to show that likewise, by suffering that unfortunate man to fulfil the natural course of his life in a close imprisonment, yet so that, if ever he make the least offer to escape, or offer, directly or indirectly, to meddle with any sort of public business, especially with me, either by message or letter, it shall cost him his life, without further process.

This, if it may be done without the discontent of my people, will be an unspeakable contentment to me; to which end, as in the first place, I by this letter do earnestly desire your approbation; and to endear it the more, have chosen him to carry, that of all your house is most dear to me; so I de-. sire, that by a conference you will endeavour to give the House of Commons contentment likewise; assuring you, that the exercise is no more pleasing to me than to see both Houses of Parliament content, for my sake, that I should moderate the severity of the law in so important a case. I will not say, that your complying with me in this my pretended mercy, shall make me more willing, but certainly it will make me more cheerful in granting your just grievances; but, if no less than his life can satisfy my people, I must say, fiat justitia.