pact such in reality it was; nor were the Barons justified by the plea which they appear to have taken as their popular ground of defence, that the King had virtually released them from their allegiance when he surrendered his kingdom to the Pope; for they had themselves consented to that resignation, if not urged him to it. But these things must not be tried strictly by the standard of better times. It was a struggle for power between a bad King and a turbulent nobility; the latter found it necessary to strengthen their side, by conciliating those whom they were in the habit of oppressing themselves, . . . and from this necessity the good which ensued arose.

If there was any man who contemplated that good, it was the Primate. He it was who had raised the storm, and he now stood aloof, the better to direct it. At Christmas, John met his Barons in London; their forces were so distributed as to secure themselves, and intimidate the King; and when they required him to confirm the charter of Henry I., and reminded him that to this he had in fact bound himself by oath, when he was absolved at Winchester, he perceived that denial would be dangerous, and therefore required time for deliberation, till Easter. They understood this, and consented to it only when his son-inlaw the Earl of Pembroke, the Bishop of Ely, and the Primate, promised as sureties for him, that he would satisfy them at the time appointed. John had no such intention. He, who regarded no oath, employed the interval in exacting new oaths of fealty from his people, fortifying his castles, and raising forces. He also took the cross, hoping to excite the popular ardour for a crusade in opposition to the spirit which the Barons had called forth, and perhaps, by getting abroad under that pretext, to escape from a contest in which he had no prospect of success.

These artifices were unavailing. In the Easter week, five and forty Barons, with two thousand Knights, and all their retainers, met in arms at Stamford; they proceeded to Brakesley, in the direction of Oxford, where the King then was; and at Brakesley, on Easter Monday, the Primate and the Earl of Pembroke met them, and required on the King's part to know their specific demands. They delivered a roll, containing the ancient liberties, privileges, and customs of the realm; and they declared, that if the King did not at once confirm these, they would make war

upon him till he did. When their demands were stated to John by Langton, he asked why they did not demand his kingdom also, and swore that he would never grant them liberties, which should make himself a slave. Langton and Pembroke represented to him, that what was required was in the main for the general good, and that it behoved him to yield: he was too violently incensed to be capable of reasonable counsel, and the Barons, giving their force the appellation of the army of God and the holy Church, commenced war by laying siege to Northampton. Being without engines, they wasted fifteen days before the walls; then broke up, and marched against Bedford, which was delivered into their hands, for the governor was confederate with them. They now were invited to London, with assurance that the gates should be opened in the night, by some of the chief citizens. The gates accordingly were thus betrayed; and the mob, rejoicing in the temporary dissolution of all restraining power, rose against those who were believed to favour the King, and took that welcome opportunity for falling upon the Jews, and plundering them. The possession of the metropolis decided the contest; the other Barons being called upon to make their choice, and either join the confederation, or be proclaimed enemies to God, and rebels to the Church, and suffer accordingly with fire and sword, declared in favour of their peers. John then felt the necessity of submission; he met the Barons at Runnymead, and there Magna Charta was sealed.'

By this famous charter, the fundamental principles of frée government were recognised; and wise provisions were established for the security of the subject, and the administration of justice. It is a charter for which England has just reason to be thankful; but had all its parts been carried into full effect, it would have transferred the actual sovereignty from the King to five and twenty Barons, and thus have brought upon the kingdom the worst and most incurable of all governments. There is not one stipulation in favour of the servile class; and this may prove at once, that the rights of humanity in that age were not regarded, and that the condition of this class was not such as to excite

I Not signed, as I had said in the former editions. No instrument whatever was signed in those days; and even at present, charters receive no other authentication but from the Great Seal. I am indebted to Mr. Palgrave for this correction.

compassion. The opportunity for determining the limits of the royal and ecclesiastical authorities was not taken; instead of this, the first article declared that the Church of England should be free, and enjoy its whole rights and liberties inviolable. This language, which left the pretensions of the Church unlimited, may be ascribed to Langton. Perhaps the Barons also carefully abstained from requiring any thing which might offend the Pope.

But the plain tangible benefits conferred upon the great body of the people by this charter, were such, that in their gratitude they thought God had mercifully touched the King's heart, and that they were delivered as it were out of the bondage of Egypt; for so great had been the abuses which it was now intended to correct, that they promised themselves, from these laws, a new order of things. The King's feelings were widely different; though to him, had he wisely considered it, it would have been in reality as desirable as to his subjects, except in the fatal stipulation which placed him in reality under the power as well as the inspection of his Barons. That stipulation afforded ground for imputing to the Barons motives of selfish ambition; in every other part, the charter was its own justification. Upon this, therefore, the Pope seized, when John, by his faithful agent, Pandulph, (for such the cardinal was now become,) implored aid against his rebellious Barons, protesting that by compulsion only had he yielded to their demands; and that holding his kingdom as a fief of the Roman Church, he had no authority to enact new statutes without the Pontiff's knowledge, nor in any thing to prejudice the rights of his Lord. Innocent looked upon the obnoxious provisions which were presented to him, and exclaimed with a frown, " Is it so? Do then these Barons go about to dethrone their King, who hath taken the cross, and is under the protection of the Apostolic See? By St. Peter, we will not suffer this outrage to go unpunished!" He then issued a Bull, declaring that though England was become a fief of the Papal see, and the Barons were not ignorant that the King had no power to give away the rights of the crown, without the consent of his feudal lord,.. they nevertheless, being instigated by the Devil, had rebelled against him, and extorted from him concessions to the degradation of the crown. Wherefore, as he whom God had appointed over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and

to destroy, to build and to plant, he reprobated and condemned what had been done; forbade the King to observe the Charter, the Barons to require its execution, and pronounced it, in all its clauses, null and void.

The Bull being disregarded by the Barons, he ordered Langton to excommunicate them. The character of that Primate might have appeared doubtful, if it had not thus been put to an unerring ordeal. He had embarked, but not sailed, for Italy, to assist at the fourth Lateran Council, when Pandulph, and the persons associated in commission with him, communicated to him the Pope's orders; the Pope, he said, had been deceived by false representations, and he desired that the sentence might be suspended, till he should have seen him. But when they would admit of no delay, he refused to promulgate it; upon which he was himself suspended from his office. To this injustice he submitted as a dutiful son of the Church, and proceeded on his voyage. At the Council he appeared, not as a member, but as one accused of conspiring against the King, and of committing manifold injuries against the Roman Church. The sentence of suspension was confirmed by the Pope and Cardinals, and he was not relieved from it till after the death both of Innocent and John. In the ensuing reign he was permitted to return and resume his functions; and then acting again in concert with the Barons, and directing their measures, he assisted them in obtaining from Henry III. a confirmation of that charter, which is to be considered as his work. When we call to mind the character of the old Barons, their propensity to abuse an undue power, and the little regard which they manifested to their country in their transactions with France, it can hardly be doubted, but that those provisions in the Great Charter which related to the general good, and had their foundation in the principles of general justice, were dictated by him. No man therefore is entitled to a higher place in English history, for having contributed to the liberties of England, than Stephen Langton. It was no disparagement to him, that he was devoted to the Church of Rome, more than was consistent with the interests of his country; for while, under a sense of professional and religious duty, he was ready to suffer any thing in submission to its authority, he resolutely refused to act in obedience to its orders, when he be

lieved them to be unjust, affording thus the surest proof of integrity, and bequeathing to his successors the most beneficial of all examples.

Unhappily it was the tendency of these transactions to strengthen the papal power, which being alternately appealed to by all parties, found means to establish all its usurpations; and being withheld by no considerations of principle or prudence, abused to the utmost the victory which it had obtained.