The King swore that "the vipers" who opposed him should have their
reward. Eliot was thrown into prison and kept there till he died.
Charles made up his mind that, with the help of Archbishop Laud in
Church matters, and of Lord Strafford in affairs of state, he would
rule without Parliaments. Strafford urged the King to adopt the
policy of "Thorough"[1] (S435); in other words, to follow the bent of
his own will without consulting the will of the nation. This, of
course, practically meant the overthrow of parliamentary and
constitutional government. Charles heartily approved of this plan for
setting up what he called a "beneficent despotism" based on "Divine
Right."
[1] "Thorough": Strafford wrote to Laud, "You may govern as you
please....I am confident that the King is able to carry any just and
honorable action thorough [i.e. through or against] all imaginable
opposition." Both Strafford and Laud used the word "thorough," in this
sense to designate their tyrannical policy.
The King now resorted to various unconstitutional means to obtain
supplies. The last device he hit upon was that of raising ship
money. To do this, he levied a tax on all the counties of England,--
inland as well as seaboard,--on the pretext that he purposed building
a neavy for the defense of the kingdom. John Hampden refused to pay
the tax, but Charles's servile judges decided against him, when the
case was brought into court (S436).
Charles ruled without a Parliament for eleven years. He might,
perhaps, have gone on in this way for as many more, had he not
provoked the Scots to rebel by attempting to force a modified form of
the English Prayer Book on the Church of that country (S438). The
necessities of the war with the Scots compelled the King to call a
Parliament. It declined to grant the King money to carry on the war
unless he would give some satisfactory guarantee of governing
according to the will of the people. Charles refused to do this, and
after a three weeks' session he dissolved what was known as the "Short
Parliament."