512 EVOLUTION OF MODERN SOCIETY. 



at last the huge fabric, iinderminecl, came crashing to the ground, 

 opening to view va' ""tas and expanses liitherto undreamed of. 



In the beginning of the ninth century Britain, in common with the 

 rest of Europe, entered upon a long period of social darkness, which 

 continued almost unbroken until the fourteenth century — we might 

 almost say to the middle of the fifteenth century. 



During all this time scarce a ray of light broke through the dark 

 mists of ignorance to throw ever so slight a light upon the chains of 

 feudalism. 



This system was introduced into England by William the Conqueror 

 in the eleventh century, priuiarily to preserve his own sovereign power, 

 secondarily to secure national liberty, by putting a check upon the 

 strength of his great nobles, who in wealth and followers might with 

 some reason attempt to match their i)ower against that of the King. 

 But in England the system, harsh as it was, never obtained the same 

 complete ascendency as over the peoples of the Continent; never so 

 completely obliterated the individual to the advantage of a select few. 

 Even at that early period the prerogatives of the sovereign were hedged 

 in by certain restrictions. For instance, after the Conqueror, we have 

 what is known as the Charter of Liberties, granted in the year 1100 by 

 Henry I expressly limiting the regal prerogatives, and declaring the 

 liberty of the laws, the people, and the church. Further, it had as 

 an end the repression or restraint of unlimited feudal rights amongst 

 the nobles, where they tended toward cruelty or oppression. To run 

 on a little way, and passing over the reigns of the unfortunate Stephen 

 and the hasty but too late repentant Henry 11, and the chivalric Cceur 

 de Lion, we meet tlie first great landmark in our own history after the 

 Norman Conquest. Tliis was the reign of the infamous John, whose 

 name is even yet a byword for cruelty and craft, scarcely less signifi- 

 cant than that of Nero or Borgia. 



Through his reckless disregard of anything like rights, whether 

 natural or granted by charter under the sacred seal of the sovereign 

 oath, John brought about that which has been to our country what the 

 Twelve Tables was to Eome, the Magna Charta — ''the foundation," to 

 use the words of Livy in regard to the former, "of all law, both j^ublic 

 and private." At this time, too, we note the meeting of the first national 

 assembly of elected representatives in Britain, summoned by Stephen 

 Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, at St. Albans. Its object was to 

 reform the abuses rampant under the rule of John. It was based on 

 the charter of Henry I, which we have already mentioned. The sphere 

 of this paper does not allow us to enter into the details or terms of the 

 Charta, beyond stating that they aimed at the restraint of feudal 

 oppression, the impartial administration of justice, and the recognition 

 of the right of every individual to the protection of the laws. No 

 doubt, the system inaugurated by tlie Magna Charta was rude, unsci- 

 entific, and incomplete; and further, it can not witli any truth be 



