the king continued even after his death. One of Sir John Eliot's sons petitioned for the privilege of interring the body in a distant county. The king replied, "Let him be buried in the parish where he died." Truly, Charles was one of those monarchs destined by Divine Providence to hasten revolutions.

All the promises of the king were violated; the Petition of Right forgotten; persecutions and exactions of the worst kind inflicted, particularly with regard to the Puritans. The king, who was a zealot for Church discipline, looked upon the Puritans with all the concentrated bitterness and hatred of his treacherous nature. They were forced to fly from the country. They were whipped, imprisoned, scourged, and mutilated. "But the cruelty of the oppressor could not tire out the fortitude of the victims. The mutilated defenders of liberty again defied the vengeance of the Star Chamber, came back with undiminished resolution to the place of their glorious infamy, and manfully presented the stumps of their ears to be grubbed out by the hangman's knife."*

John Hampden was a member of the House of Commons, and, like others before referred to, opposed the assessment of the forced loan. That he did so from the highest patriotic motives, is beyond question. The sum at which he was assessed was a mere trifle, and he was a man of wealth. For this contumacy he was imprisoned. After the passing of the Petition.of Right, he was released; and we do not find him taking an active part in public affairs, until the government—that is, the king-again attempted an unwarrantable exaction. A writ was issued, commanding the city of London to man and equip ships of war for his service. Similar writs were issued, not only for the seaboard counties, but the inland ones. This excessive abuse of authority created the greatest excitement. No precedent could be found, in the legislation of any other king, for such an oppressive system of taxation.

Buckinghamshire-of which county Hampden was a native-was assessed for a ship of the value of four thousand five hundred pounds.

* Macaulay.

The individual portions of this assessment were necessarily small, but every shilling subscribed towards the aggregate was the recognition of a pernicious principle. Hampden at once refused to pay his portion, and determined at all hazards to bring the matter to a crisis. Before this time, "he was rather of reputation in his own county, than of public discourse or fame in the kingdom; but then he grew the argument of all tongues, every man inquiring who and what he was that durst, at his own charge, support the liberty and prosperity of the kingdom."*

Hampden, as the representative of the people, tried the question of the illegal assessment, in the Exchequer Chamber, before all the judges of England. The fear of court displeasure possessed the bench; only four of the judges had sufficient courage to declare in Hampden's favor, although the law was clearly on his side. The remaining eight were in favor of the writ. Thus, so far as the law was concerned, justice was denied to Hampden, and, through his person, to the people. The result of this decision was, to place at the disposal of the Crown the whole property of the English nation. A defeated man receives but little consideration from a despot. Hampden was not long in discovering that his person was scarcely safe from the fury of the king. Opposed to violence, and desiring, of all things, to save his country from the miseries of civil war, he determined to flee to a distant land, where, at least, he would be beyond the reach of oppressors. Beyond the Atlantic ocean, a few persecuted Puritans had founded a settlement, in Connecticut. Thither he determined to flee. He secured passage in a sailing vessel, and completed his arrangements for permanently vacating the land of his birth. Among others who arrived at a similar determination, were Oliver Cromwell and John Pym. This illustrious trio, so soon destined to convulse society, were on the point of sailing, when an order from the king intercepted the vessel. It seems that, although the king did not care to crush Hampden whilst public feeling was in its present state, he was yet unwilling to let him escape. He had sufficient penetration

* Clarendon.

+ Macaulay.

to know that the fearless nature of the man would soon display itself, and he was content to wait.

In the next parliament, Hampden took his seat for his native shire, and thenceforth devoted himself entirely to the affairs of the nation. He was now unquestionably the most popular man in England. The king affected respect for him, but hated him bitterly. A message was sent to the House for fresh supplies. It was couched in the usual language of promise. Redress for grievances was the boon. The Commons had experienced the king's treachery, and were determined, in this case, to get what redress they needed first. On the next day, with an angry speech the king dissolved parliament. Such an act indicated, with very impolitic clearness, that the king expected the Commons to do precisely as he wished, or he would not allow them to sit at all.

The necessities of the king, after a most inglorious campaign in Scotland, compelled him to assemble parliament once more. On the 3d of November, 1640, the Commons met. It is a memorable day in history, being the first of what is now universally known as the Long Parliamenta parliament which, as Macaulay forcibly expresses it, was destined to every extreme of fortune: to empire and to servitude, to glory and to contempt; at one time the sovereign of its sovereign,-at another time, the servant of its servants, and the tool of its tools. The first session of this memorable parliament was spent in actively redressing public grievances. All those who had assisted in subverting the laws, including the judges who had officiated on Hampden's trial, were tried. The prime minister, Strafford, was executed; and other prominent characters, to escape a similar fate, fled the country in alarm.

The conduct of Hampden during this crisis was moderate, manly, and peaceful. He was opposed to extreme measures, apprehending a reaction. He seemed disposed to soothe rather than excite the public mind.* The king, humiliated and crest-fallen, had taken refuge from obloquy in Scotland. Ha upden was dispatched by the

* Clarend n.

parliament to visit him there. During his absence, measures of an extreme character were enacted, and what Hampden had wisely dreaded came to pass. A reactionary party sprung up, formed of men who thought that enough had been done, and that possibly too much might be attempted. Encouraged by these new manifestations, Charles returned. All that was now necessary for the permanence of his crown was, that he should abstain from treachery, from violence, from gross breaches of the law.*

This was expecting too much from a man so abject, cowardly, and treacherous. With his usual volubility he promised every thing, and with his customary duplicity, violated all his promises. Without the slightest intimation of displeasure, he impeached several of the leading members of the house. Hampden and Pym were of course among the number. Such an instance of perfidious tyranny was unparalleled. The House of Commons refused to surrender their members, maintaining that the impeachment coming from the House of Peers was unconstitutional. Not to be defeated in his purpose, the king, accompanied by two hundred soldiers of his guard, made a descent on the house with the intention of seizing the contumacious members by force. They had been previously warned of their danger, and had fled to a populous district of London, where they were sure of the sympathies of the citizens. A proclamation was issued by the king, directing that no person should harbor the fugitives, but it came too late. The spark had been ignited, and the explosion followed with fearful rapidity.

The tramp of armed citizens was heard in every corner of the great city. All the societies turned out in battle array. A careful watch was kept on every approach leading to the neighborhood in which Hampden and Pym lay. Every one, from the youngest apprentice to the oldest merchant, was on the alert to avenge the insult offered to their liberty. After a short delay the members were invited, in defiance of the king's proclamation, to attend their seats in the House of Commons. The immense population of London turned

* Macaulay.

out en masse to escort them in triumph past the windows of the palace. "On the 11th January," says Macaulay, "the Thames was covered with boats, and its shores with a gazing multitude. Armed. vessels, decorated with streamers, were ranged in two lines from London Bridge to Westminster Hall. The members returned by water in a ship, manned by sailors who had volunteered their services. The train bands of the city, under the command of the sheriffs, marched along the Strand, attended by a vast crowd of spectators, to guard the avenues to the House of Commons, and thus with shouts, and loud discharges of ordnance, the accused patriots were brought back by the people whom they had served, and for whom they had suffered." On the day preceding this great demonstration, the king fled. The excitement was not confined to London only. Throughout the provinces the people were agitated in a like manner. Buckinghamshire dispatched a deputation of four thousand freeholders to defend the person of their beloved representative, and other counties did the same. The crisis had indeed come.

The

It was evident that the king could no longer be trusted. only way to prevent his doing injury to the liberal cause, was to deprive him of the power. A fearful struggle was inevitable. The king was already in the field with a numerous retinue.

Hampden was a man who loved peace, so long as peace could be honorably maintained; but he was not a man to be daunted by the flashing of hostile swords. He had been the consistent advocate of moderation. Whilst the laws could be appealed to for redress, he was content to depend on their efficacy. Finding them utterly useless, he prepared to leave his country. Foiled in this endeavor, he boldly faced the evils of the day. Almost exacting a representative privilege, he took on himself the grievances of his countrymen, and battled for them with unflinching valor. Thus when recent events had made civil war imperative, we find Hampden stepping into the foremost place with unconscious activity and bravery. He placed a large portion of his fortune at the service of parliament; raised, armed, and, at his own expense, equipped a regiment of Buckingham