REPRESENTATIVE BODIES. 435 



power was being established. While, with national consoli 

 dation, the royal authority had been approaching to absolute 

 ness, there had been, by reaction, arising that resistance which, 

 resulting in the Great Charter, subsequently initiated the 

 prolonged struggle between the king, trying to break through 

 its restraints, and his subjects trying to maintain and to 

 strengthen them. The twelfth article of the Charter having 

 promised that 110 scutage or aid save those which were esta 

 blished should be imposed without consent of the national 

 council, there perpetually recurred, both before and after the 

 expansion of Parliament, endeavours on the king s part to 

 get supplies without redressing grievances, and endeavours on 

 the part of Parliament to make the voting of supplies con 

 tingent on fulfilment of promises to redress grievances. 



On the issue of this struggle depended the establishment of 

 popular power ; as we are shown by comparing the histories 

 of the French and Spanish Parliaments with that of the 

 English Parliament. Quotations above given prove that the 

 Cortes originally established, and for a time maintained, the 

 right to comply with or to refuse the king s requests for 

 money, and to impose their conditions ; but they eventually 

 failed to get their conditions fulfilled. 



&quot;In the struggling condition of Spanish liberty under Charles I., the 

 crown began to neglect answering the petitions of Cortes, or to use un 

 satisfactory generalities of expression. This gave rise to many remon 

 strances. The deputies insisted, in 1523, on having answers before they 

 granted money. They repeated the same contention in 1525, and 

 obtained a general law, inserted in the Eecopilacion, enacting that the 

 king should answer all their petitions before he dissolved the assembly. 

 This, however, was disregarded as before.&quot; 



And thereafter rapidly went on the decay of parliamentary 

 power. Different in form but the same in nature, was the 

 change which occurred in France. Having at one time, as 

 shown above, made the granting of money conditional on the 

 obtainment of justice, the States-general was induced to 

 surrender its restraining powers. Charles VII. 

 &quot; obtained from the States of the royal domains which met in 1439 that 



