the king's
ordinances for the raising of taxes; that a general pardon should he
granted, with such exceptions as should he advised by Parliament; that
the fort and castles should be disposed of by consent of Parliament;
and that no peers should be made but with the consent of both Houses.
They demanded also that they should have the power of appointing and
dismissing the royal ministers, of naming guardians for the royal
children, and of virtually controlling military, civil, and religious
affairs.

As it was clear that these demands went altogether beyond the rights of
the Commons, and that if the king submitted to them the power of the
country would be solely in their hands, while he himself would become a
cipher, he had no course open to him but to refuse assent, and to appeal
to the loyal nobility and gentry of the country.

It is true that many of these rights have since been obtained by the
Houses of Parliament; but it must be remembered that they were
altogether alien at the time to the position which the kings of England
had hitherto held, and that the body into whose hands they would be
intrusted would be composed solely of one party in the state, and that
this party would be controlled by the fanatical leaders and the
ministers of the sects opposed to the Established Church, which were at
that time bitter, narrow, and violent to an extent of which we have now
no conception.

The attitude thus assumed by Parliament drove from their ranks a great
many of the most intelligent and enlightened of those who had formerly
sided with them in their contest against the king. These gentlemen felt
that intolerable as was the despotic power of a king, still more
intolerable would it be to be governed by the despotic power of a group
of fanatics. The liberty of Englishmen was now as much threatened by the
Commons as it had been threatened by the king, and to loyal gentlemen
the latter alternative was preferable. Thus there were on both sides
earnest and conscientious men who grieved deeply at being forced to
draw swords in such a quarrel, and who felt that their choice of sides
was difficult in the extreme. Falkland was the typical soldier on the
royal side, Hampden on that of the Commons.

It is probable that were England divided to-morrow under the same
conditions, men would be equally troubled upon which side to range
themselves. At this period of the struggle, with the exception of a few
hot-headed followers of the