present a petition to the king to allow the ancient customs of 

 tenant right; and it was further decided to present a bill in 

 Parliament to establish those rights. 



The bill was duly presented to the House of Commons, but 

 was rejected by them; and on the 28th of July, 1620, the king 

 published a proclamation suppressing all customary estates, and 

 abolishing all tenure by border service. The tenants met again, 

 and pubUshed a remonstrance, in which they did not confine 

 themselves to peaceable expressions, but stated their intention of 

 resisting to the utmost all attempts to deprive them of their 

 property. Upon this, proceedings were at once commenced m 

 the Court of Star Chamber against those who were known to have 

 had a part in this remonstrance ; and it is worth while to chromcle 

 the names of those men who stood forward in the defence of their 

 lands and even at the risk of their lives protested against so unjust 

 a forfeiture. They were— Anthony Wetherell, vicar of Kirkby 

 Stephen, who drew out the protest; Samuel Knipe, James Smith, 

 John Cartmell, Thomas Prickett, John Beck, Rowland Harrison, 

 Robert Mawson, Francis Washington, and Edward Tame, who 

 were charged with taking part in a riotous assembly at Staveley 

 Chapel on the 2nd of January, 1620. James Smith, the high 

 constable, was further charged with summoning the petty constables 

 under pretence of considering the repair of a bridge ; Robert 

 Rawes William Duckett, Francis Washington, Thomas Washmgton, 

 Edward Tarne, Rowland Harrison, Richard Helm, Arthur Briggs, 

 and many others, were charged with subscribing to the expense 

 of resisting the king's decree. It is interesting to notice amongst 

 these names many surnames which are still promment in the 

 county, and it is also a matter for comment that the name of 

 Washington appears twice over, when we remember that George 

 Washington, the great American liberator, was himself a Westmor- 

 land man: and in all probability these were his ancestors who 

 were suffering in the cause of liberty; showing that their great 

 descendant inherited his spirit of independence from his Westmor- 

 land forefathers. The Court of Star Chamber could not make up 

 its mind upon the question ; it was presided over by a very able 



