consent_.

They were rapidly nearing the conception that Parliament does not exist
by sanction of the King, but the King by sanction of Parliament.

What could be done with a King whom no promises could bind--who, while
in the act of giving solemn pledges to Parliament in order to save
Strafford, was perfidiously planning to overawe it by military force?
The attempted arrest of Hampden, Pym, and three other leaders was part
of this "Army Plot," which made civil war inevitable. The trouble had
resolved itself into a deadly conflict between King and Parliament. If
he resorted to arms, so must they.

If Hampden stands out pre-eminent as the Champion who like a great
Gladiator fought the battle of civil freedom, Pym is no less
conspicious in having grasped the principles on which it must be
fought. He saw that if either Crown or Parliament must go down, better
for England that it should be the crown. He saw also, that the vital
principle in Parliament lay in the House of Commons. If the King
refused to act with them, it should be treated as an abdication, and
Parliament must act without him, and if the Lords obstructed reform,
then they must be told that the Commons must act alone, rather than let
the Kingdom perish.

This was the theory upon which the future action was based.
Revolutionary and without precedent it has since been accepted as the
correct construction of English Constitutional principles.

[Sidenote: Oliver Cromwell.]