Struggle for Constitutional Government 223 against the laws and customs of this realm, and to the great grievance and vexation of the people. . . . X. They [Parliament] do therefore humbly pray your most excellent Majesty that no man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any loan, gift, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, without'cdmmbn consent by act of Parliament; and that none be called to make answer, or take such oath, or to give attendance, or be confined, or otherwise molested or disquieted concerning the same, or for refusal thereof; and that no freeman, in any such manner as is before men- tioned, be imprisoned or detained; and that your Majesty would be pleased to remove the said soldiers and mariners, and that your people may not be so burdened in time to come ; and that the foresaid commissions for proceeding by martial law may be revoked and annulled ; and that hereafter no commissions of like nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatsoever, to be executed as afore- said, lest by color of them any of your Majesty's subjects be destroyed or put to death, contrary to the laws and franchise of the land. XI. All which they most humbly pray of your most excellent Majesty, as their rights and liberties according to the laws and statutes of this realm ; and that your Majesty would also vouchsafe to declare, that the awards, doings, and proceedings to the prejudice of your people, in any of the premises, shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence or example; and that your Majesty would be also gra- ciously pleased, for the further comfort and safety of your people, to declare your royal will and pleasure, that in the things aforesaid all your officers and ministers shall serve you, according to the laws and statutes of this realm, as they tender the honor of your Majesty and the prosperity of this kingdom. After a particularly tumultuous scene in the House of Commons in March, 1629, 1 Charles dissolved the 1 See a description of this famous session in Kendall, Source Book of English History, pp. 219 sqq.
