room to give this
petition and the answers in full, but as all the subsequent troubles
between Charles and the people of England arose out of this difficulty
of his young wife's bringing in so strong a Catholic influence with
her to the realm, it may be well to give an abstract of some of the
principal petitions, with the king's answers.

The Commons said:

That they had understood that popish priests, and other Catholics,
were gradually creeping in as teachers of the youth of the realm,
in the various seminaries of learning, and they wished to have
decided measures taken to examine all candidates for such
stations, with a view to the careful exclusion of all who were not
true Protestants.

_King._--Allowed. And I will send to the archbishops and all the
authorities to see that this is done.

_Commons._--That more efficient arrangements should be made for
appointing able and faithful men in the Church--men that will
really devote themselves to preaching the Gospel to the people;
instead of conferring these places and salaries on favorites,
sometimes, as has been the case, several to the same man.

The king made some explanations in regard to this subject, and
promised hereafter to comply with this requisition.

_Commons._--That the laws against sending children out of the
country to foreign countries to be educated in Catholic seminaries
should be strictly enforced, and the practice be entirely broken
up.

_King._--Agreed; and he would send to the lord admiral, and to all
the naval officers on the coast, to watch very carefully and stop
all children attempting to go abroad for such a purpose; and he
would issue a proclamation commanding all the noblemen's children
now on the Continent to return by a given day.

_Commons._--That no Catholic (or, as they called him, popish
_recusant_, that is, a person _refusing_ to subscribe to the
Protestant faith, recusant meaning _person refusing_) be admitted
into the king's service at court; and that no _English_ Catholic
be admitted into the queen's service. They could not refuse to
allow her to employ her own _French_ attendants, but to appoint
English Catholics to the honorable and lucrative offices at her
disposal was doing a great injury to the Protestant cause in the
realm.

The king agreed to this, with some conditions and evasions.

_C