MAGNA CHAETA IS THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



303 



extreme unction to those going out | 

 of it. The rupture continued for 

 several years ; but the King re- 

 mained obstinate, and retaliated by 

 confiscating the estates of the clergy. 

 The Pope again applied the screw. 

 He declared that John had forfeit- 

 ed his crown, released his subjects 

 from their allegiance, proclaimed a 

 crusade against E^dand, and com- 

 missioned the French King to exe- 

 cute it. Craven and treacherous, as 

 he was truculent and tyrannical, 

 John surrendered to the Pontiff, 

 acknowledged his appointment to 

 the primacy of the English Church, 

 consented to do homage to the Pope 

 which, presently, with bended 

 knees and folded hands, he accorded 

 to the Pope's legate, who, with 

 insolent triumph, trampled under 

 foot the first instalment of the ab- 

 ject sovereign's tribute-money ; and 

 finally the degraded monarch drew 

 up the charter cited in the bull now 

 before us, in which he formally re- 

 signed England and Ireland to God, 

 to St. Peter and St. Paul, and to 

 Pope Innocent and his successors in 

 the apostolical chair, agreeing to 

 hold his dominions as feudatory of 

 the Eomish Church, by paying a 

 thousand marks yearly. 



The other historical deed is Mag- 

 na Charta. A year had scarcely 

 elapsed after his reconciliation with 

 the Pope, when King John became 

 involved in the contest with the 

 Barons of England, which resulted 

 in establishing the foundations of 

 our national liberty. The King had 

 rendered himself obnoxious to all 

 ranks, by the oppressive and arbi- 

 trary character of his government. 

 His rapacious exactions, his licen- 

 tious habits, and the surrender of 

 the independence of the kingdom to 

 the Pope, had sunk their monarch 

 so low in the eyes of his subjects, 

 that everything seemed favourable 

 for their striking a blow, not merely 

 at the arbitrary prerogative of the 

 reigning sovereign, but for the re- 



covery of the ancient Saxon privi- 

 leges of which they had been de- 

 prived by their Norman conquerors, 

 in this cause the clergy joined the 

 nobles, and even the power of the 

 Pope failed to repress their ardour 

 or daunt their resolution. They 

 persevered and triumphed. On the 

 plains of Eunnymede, in the year 

 1215, was extorted from the tyrant 

 John the Magna, Charta Commu- 

 nium Libertatum, the Great Charter 

 of the Common Liberties. By this 

 deed the clergy and nobility secur- 

 ed various provisions advantageous 

 to their respective orders. But its 

 effect upon the common people, 

 then in a state of villainage, or 

 vassalage to the landed proprietors, 

 although less direct and apparent, 

 was destined to be greatly more 

 important and permanent. The 

 rise of towns and the origin of 

 burghal privileges, conduced more 

 to the extinction of villainage than 

 any other cause ; and without in- 

 tending it, the barons and clergy 

 gave an iiresistible impulse to tho 

 progress of freedom amongst the 

 lower classes, by introducing into 

 the Charter a clause consolidating 

 and protecting the liberties and pri- 

 vileges of towns. But the article by 

 which the foundations of our free 

 constitution were laid broad and 

 deep was that which proclaimed that 

 " No freeman shall be apprehended 

 or imprisoned, or disseised (that is, 

 deprived of anything he possesses), 

 or outlawed, or banished, or any 

 way destroyed, nor will we go upon 

 him, nor will we send upon him 

 (pronounce sentence against him, 

 or allow any of the judges to do so), 

 except by the legal judgment of his 

 peers, or by tho law of the laud. 

 (Nutti vendemtts, nulii ttegabimus, 

 aut diferemm rectum antjudicium.) 

 To none will we sell, to none will we 

 deny, to none will we delay right or 

 justice." From this epoch the dis- 

 tinction between the Norman and 

 the Faxon race began to melt away, 



