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transported abroad. Laymen were ruined by imprisonment, and especially
by the high fines required by the king to meet his own expenses.
According to his own statement he received from the fines of Popish
recusants a net income of £36,000 a year. Parliament and the
Protestant party generally were anxious about the marriage of Prince
Charles, the heir to the throne, and of the princess Elizabeth his
sister. If they were married into Protestant families the religious
difficulty, it was thought, might disappear; but, if, on the contrary,
they were united to the royal houses of France or Spain the old battle
might be renewed. Hence the marriage of Elizabeth to the Elector
Frederick of the Palatinate, one of the foremost champions of
Protestantism in Germany, gave great satisfaction at the time, though
later on it led to serious trouble between the king and Parliament,
when Elizabeth's husband was driven from his kingdom during the Thirty
Years' War.

Regardless of the wishes of his Parliament the king was anxious to
procure for Prince Charles the hand of the Infanta Maria, second
daughter of Philip III. of Spain. To prepare the way for such a step
both in Spain and at Rome, where it might be necessary to sue for a
dispensation, something must be done to render less odious the working
of the penal laws. Once news began to leak out of the intended
marriage with Spain and of the possibility of toleration for Catholics
Parliament petitioned (1620) the king to break off friendly relations
with Spain, to throw himself into the war in Germany on the side of
his son-in-law, and to enforce strictly all the laws against
recusants. But the king refused to accept the advice of his Parliament
or to allow it to interfere in what, he considered, were his own
private affairs. The marriage arrangements were pushed forward, and at
the same time care was taken to inform the magistrates and judges that
the laws against Catholics should be interpreted leniently. In a few
weeks, it is said that about four thousand prisoners were set at
liberty. The articles of marriage were arranged satisfactorily (1623),
due provision being made for the religious freedom of the Infanta, and
a guarantee being given that the religious persecution should cease,
but for various reasons the marriage never took place. Parliament
promised the king to provide the funds necessary for war if only he
would end the negotiations for a Spanish alliance, and this time James
much against his will followed the advice of his Parliament (1624). A
new petition was presented for the strict enforcement of the penal
laws against priests and recusants, to which petition the king was
obliged to yield. But hardly had the negotiations with Spain ended
than proposals were made to France for a marriage between the prince
and Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII., and once more it was
necessary to be careful about offending Catholic feeling. By a secret
article of the agreement with France James promised to grant even
greater freedom to Catholics than had been promised them in his
dealings with the Spanish court, and as a pledge of his good faith he
released many prisoners who had been convicted on account of their
religion, returned some of the fines that had been levied, and gave a
hint to those charged with the administration of the law that the
penal enactments should not be enforced. Application was made to Rome
for a dispensation, which though granted, was to be delivered by the
papal nuncio at Paris only on condition that James signed a more
explicit statement of his future policy towards his Catholic subjects.
Louis XIII., annoyed by the delays interposed by the Roman court, was
not unwilling to proceed with the marriage without the dispensation,
but for obvious reasons James refused to agree to such a course.
Finally all difficulties were surmounted, though not before James had
passed away leaving it to his son and successor to ratify the
agreement. In May 1625, Charles was married by proxy to Henrietta
Maria, and in the following month the new queen arrived in London.[9]

During the later years of the reign of James I. the foreign policy of
the king rendered a relaxation of the penal code absolutely necessary.
In the course of the marriage negotiations with France James I. had
pledged himself by a secret agreement to adopt a policy of toleration,
and on his death the agreement was ratified more than once by his son
and successor Charles I. (1625-1649). But Charles, though personally
well disposed towards the Catholics, was not a man to consider himself
bound by any obligations if the fulfilment of them should involve him
in serious difficulties. At the time of his accession public opinion