instead of that, they signed the National Covenant, whereby they solemnly swore to defend their religion against all its enemies. Not content with that they gathered an army, and when Charles marched north to punish them, they at once crossed the Border, prepared to give him battle. Charles now found himself in a strait. His army would not fight against the Scotch, and he had to return to London. He sent for Strafford from Ireland to help him, and when Strafford came he advised Charles to call Parliament to get money for an army, and then went back to Ireland for his own troops.
9. The Short Parliament.—When Parliament met in April, 1640, it was in no hurry to give the king the money he wanted. It began to complain of Charles’ illegal taxes, and refused to make a grant until its grievances were redressed. In the meantime the Scotch were quietly waiting in the north of England to see what was going to be done. Charles was very angry at Parliament and dissolved it, after it had sat three weeks. He then went against the Scotch with all the men he could gather; but his soldiers would not fight, and he had to make terms with the Scotch by promising them a large sum of money.
10. The Long Parliament.—To get this money, he called the famous ‘‘Long Parliament,” in Nov. 1640, a Parliament which was not legally dissolved until after nineteen years had passed. It immediately began to undo, as far as possible, all the wrongful acts the king, Wentworth, and Laud had committed since the last Parliament had met. By one act it abolished the Star Chamber Court, the High Commission Court, and all other courts that had no right to exist. It then proceeded to punish Strafford and Laud for the bad advice they had given the king and for their tyrannical acts. Strafford was at first impeached by the Commons for treason; and when the impeachment seemed likely to fail, because it was hard to prove he had broken the law of treason, he was attainted, that is, a law was made condemning him to die, and causing his family to lose his title and property. Charles was asked to sign the bill of attainder, and at first refused, for he had promised Strafford he would not allow a hair of his head to be injured. But when the queen urged him to sign, seeing how the people gathered in angry crowds before the palace, and when Strafford sent word to his master not to spare
