From the first moment of parliamentary existence the life and power of the estates assembled at Westminster hung on the question of supplies.

So long as war went on no ruler could dispense with the grants which fed the war and which Parliament alone could afford.

But it was impossible to procure supplies save by redressing the grievances of which Parliament complained and by granting the powers which Parliament demanded.
It was in vain that king after king, conscious that war bound them to the Parliament, strove to rid themselves of the war.

So far was the ambition of our rulers from being the cause of the long struggle that, save in the one case of Henry the Fifth, the desperate effort of every ruler was to arrive at peace.

Forced as they were to fight, their restless diplomacy strove to draw from victory as from defeat a means of escape from the strife that was enslaving the Crown.