The time was at hand, however, when the period of transition to the impersonal relation should begin,--the relation which exists between representatives of the nation and the government as personified in the king, the relation recognizable to-day between the layers of taxes and the spenders of the proceeds of taxation. [Knights of the shires called to the Council, 1254] In 1254, during Henry’s absence in Gascony, the regents, Queen Eleanor and Earl Richard Cornwall, took steps to amplify the Council for the time being with the lesser feudal tenants for the purpose of laying taxes.[105] John, at his St. Albans Council in 1213, had had recourse to a similar expedient, though the principle involved was quite different. In the earlier instance a representative reeve and four men from each township and the royal demesne were summoned in order to assess the amount due in restitution to the clergy. In the latter the royal writs directed that from each of the counties two “lawful and discreet knights” be sent up to Westminster, “who together with the knights from the other counties whom we have had summoned for the same day, shall arrange what aid they are willing to pay us in our need.” The knights were to be chosen by the counties themselves, probably in the county court, since there the machinery of election already was in existence. The election of knights by the body of suitors who composed the courts of the counties was by no means a new thing; for eighty years there is evidence of the election of such representatives for local purposes, and it would be no startling innovation to extend this function of the courts to the election of representatives in a national council. In the present instance, furthermore, there is in the writ an implication, though the deduction is hazardous, that the matter of the aid received previous consideration in the county courts themselves. “And you yourself carefully set forth to the knights and others of the said counties,” so continues the instructions to the sheriff, “our need and how urgent is our business, and effectually persuade them to pay us an aid sufficient for the time being; so that the aforesaid ... knights at the aforesaid time shall be able to give definite answer concerning the said aid to the aforesaid council, for each of the said counties.” The upshot of this Council was disappointing to the crown; nothing resulted except a renewal of complaints against the royal administration. Simon de Montfort, whose position as the defender of the rights of Parliament, was as yet quite misapprehended, took occasion to warn the Council against the policy of the king.[106]