GRAND REMONSTRANCE. A manifesto presented to Charles I. of England by the House of Commons in 1041. The outbreak of the Irish rebellion and the rumored intrigues of the King with the Scotch Earl of Montrose had convinced the leaders of the Puritan party that the hour had come when he must be called to account. Ac cordingly, on November 22, while Charles was absent in Scotland, the Commons, after a final stormy debate lasting from noon till midnight, adopted a Grand Remonstrance by a majority of eleven. The Remonstrance is in character a severe indictment for a long series of acts of alleged misgovernment extending over the King's whole preceding reign. Some of the charges were exag gerated or untrue. The document, which was presented December 1, consists of 204 sections, and in it the forced loans and ship-money, the bil leting of soldiers and the imprisonment of mem bers of Parliament, the enlargement of the royal forests and the abuse of commercial monopolies, the excesses of the courts of Star Chamber, high Commission, and that of the president and Coun cil of the North, with many other grievances, are minutely set forth. As in the Petition, a request
is made for the appointment of ministers in whom the Parliament may have confidence, and it is asked that the reform of the Church may be left to a "synod of the most grave, pious, learned, and judicious divines"; but the Parliamentary plan contains no suggestion of toleration for those who shall not conform. When first received from the deputation of the Commons, Charles criticised and ridiculed the Remonstrance. On December 10 he issued a proclamation on reli gion, which he evidently intended as an indirect reply, and on December 23 he issued a lofty and evasive 'Answer' to the petition which accom panied the manifesto. He seemed blind to the supreme danger of his position, and on January 3, 1641-2, sent his Attorney-General to impeach the leaders of the opposition before the House of Lords. For the text of the Grand Remon strance, consult Gardiner's Constitutional Docu ments (2d ed., Oxford, 1899), and for a dis cussion, his History of England, x. 59-64. 71-79, SS, 10S-09 (new ed., London and New York, 1803-95).