s should be answerable to Parliament for the policy of the
Crown, and that the Commons, who found the money for government, should
have a definite say in the spending of that money. As for the royal claim
of "Divine right," and the royal view that held passive obedience to be the
duty of the King's subjects, and saw in Parliament merely a useful
instrument for the raising of funds to be spent by the royal pleasure
without question or criticism--these things were intolerable to Hampden,
Pym, and the men of the House of Commons. The King would not govern through
Parliament; the House of Commons could govern without a King. It was left
to the Civil War to decide the issue between the Crown and Parliament, and
make the House of Commons supreme.

Things moved quickly in the first year of the Long Parliament. The Star
Chamber and High Commission Courts were abolished. Strafford was impeached
for high treason, and executed on Tower Hill. Archbishop Laud lay in
prison, to be executed four years later. The Grand Remonstrance of the
House of Commons was presented to Charles in December, 1641. The demands of
the Commons in the Remonstrance were not revolutionary, but they stated,
quite frankly, the case for the Parliament. The main points were the need
for securities for the administration of justice, and an insistence on the
responsibility of the King's Ministers to the Houses of Parliament. The
Grand Remonstrance was only carried by eleven votes in the House of
Commons, 159 to 148, after wild scenes. "Some waved their hats over their
heads, and others took their swords in their scabbards out of their belts,
and held them by the pummels in their hands, setting the lower part on the
ground." Actual violence was only prevented "by the sagacity and great
calmness of Mr. Hampden, by a short speech."

Charles promised an answer to the deputation of members who waited upon him
with the Grand Remonstrance, and early in the new year came the reply. The
King simply demanded the surrender of five members--Pym, Hampden, Holles,
Strode, and Hazlerig--and their impeachment on the charge of high treason.
All constitutional law was set aside by a charge which proceeded personally
from the King, which deprived the accused of their legal right to a trial
by their peers, and summoned them before a tribunal which had no pretence
to a justification over them. On the refusal of the Commons to surrender
their members, Charles came in person to Westmins