nsisted that the idea of ??high treason should be overhauled. Strafford was accused of high treason against the welfare of the state and the liberty of the subjects (formerly when introduced by Henry VII it was the welfare and the liberty of the king that were meant). [7, p. 154] House of Lords though a much weaker influence now than the House of Commons was many times as wealthy and still more times as powerful, took a stand against finding the king «s favourite servant guilty of treason, so the so-called Bill of Attainder was introduced, an instrument of sentencing the culprit guilty of state treason to death and high pressure was exercised to make the king sign Strafford »s death sentence. He did it in 1641 and the puritans were victorious. Four years later the ex-archbishop Laud was executed as well. They proceeded to enact a series of laws making all sorts of extra-parliamentary taxation illegal, abolishing the Star Chamber, the Exchequer and some other state institutions of feudal absolutism. All the monopoly patents and privileges were cancelled.puritans « moral norms were made uppermost, the Presbyterian church was declared obligatory all over England. Theatres, dances, fancy fashions were prohibited by an Act of Parliament. When in May 1641 a Bill was passed fixing the Long Parliament as a state institution not to be dissolved in general, with the sittings sacred, not to be cancelled or postponed without the consent of the members » majority, the constitutional monarchy in England was officially established. [8, p.252] were moderate members too, and they gradually passed into the royalist camp. This gave Charles I a chance to start organizing his party for he knew he could rely on some part of the lords and even the commons.the puritans and royalists were for suppressing the rebellion, but the control of the army was a two-edged weapon . According to the law of the land, the army was to be raised and commanded by the king in times of danger. The puritans knew the king, if given the control of the army would turn it against the disobedient commons. So the «Grand Remonstrance» was created containing 204 articles enumerating theking «s atrocities, the abuse of power his counselors were guilty of, etc. The remonstrance demanded that all important government posts should be filled with men appointed by Parliament. The Militia Bill accompanying the remonstrance transferred the command of the army and navy to Parliament. It was passed by only eleven votes. Seeing that, and as a last expedient, Charles tried to arrest the five members of Parliament known to him as «ring-leaders», Pym, Hampdeon and three others. They were warned about the king »s intended raid upon the Parliament sitting and took refuge in the city, the merchants« stronghold. When the king appeared bursting upon the sitting of the commons accompanied by a crowd of bravoes and royalist officers, a few hundreds of them ready for action, the speaker knelt to his majesty but refused to give any information as to the whereabouts of the five members . The Parliament besides had got ready for such a contingency and the London train bands (city militia force) were ready to tackle the business if the king »s following were to propose a scramble.there was nothing for it but a somewhat awkward retreat, and a week later Charles left Whitehall, his residence, for the Northern counties where he started mustering an army.Parliament did the same; a sort of...
