ENGLAND. 
5 SO 
ther Robert from the fuccefiion, had granted them a char¬ 
ter highly favourable to their liberties ; Stephen had re¬ 
newed the grant; Henry the Second had confirmed it ; 
but the concefiions of all thefe princes now remained a 
dead letter; fo that John, equally odious and contemp¬ 
tible, both in public and private life, provoked the peo¬ 
ple to form a general confederacy to vindicate their rights 
by arms. Nothing forwarded this confederacy fo much 
as the concurrence of Langton, archbifliop of Canter¬ 
bury ; a man, whofe memory, though he was obtruded 
on the nation by a palpable encroachment, on the fee of 
Rome, ought always to be refpedted by the Englifh. 
This prelate formed the plan of reforming the govern¬ 
ment, and paved the way for it, by infecting a claufe in 
the 03th, which he adminiftered to the king, before he 
would abfolve him from excommunication, “ that he 
would re-eftablifli the good laws of his predecelfors, and 
abolifh the wicked ones; and maintain juflice and right 
throughout all his dominions. Soon after, he fhewed to 
fome of the barons a copy of the charter of Henry the 
Firft, which was almoft forgotten, and advifed them to 
infill: on its renewal. The barons fwore to each other 
that they would fooner lofe their lives, than defift from 
fo reafonable a demand : the confederacy fpread wider; 
a more numerous meeting was fummoned at St. Edmond’s 
Bury, under colour of devotion ; and the members, in¬ 
flamed by the eloquence of Langton, and incited by the 
fenfe of their own wrongs, took an oath before the altar 
to adhere to each other, and to make endlefs war on the 
king, until he Ihould reftore their liberties. 
On an appointed day, A. D. 1215, after having pre¬ 
pared themfelves to maintain their, engagements by arms, 
the barons appeared in London, and required the king, 
in confequence of his oath before the primate, to renew 
the charter of Henry, and confirm the laws of Edward the 
Confeffor; time for confideration was alked and granted; 
and the interval was employed by John to influence the 
pope in his favour. Innocent, forefaw that if the 
adminiflration fell into the "hands of the nobility, they 
would vindicate the rights of tlteir country ; but he ad¬ 
vifed the king to grant fucli demands as Ihould appear 
reafonable, and expreffed his difapprobation of the con¬ 
duct of the barons ; exhorting the prelates to interpofe, 
and put an end to civil difeord. The barons heard with 
perfect indifference the difpleafure of the court of Rome ; 
and, as foon as the time granted to the king was expired, 
they met at Stamford, and collected their forces, confin¬ 
ing of above two thoufand knights, befides retainers and 
inferior perfons without number. Elated with their 
power, they advanced in a body to Brackley, within 
twenty miles of Oxford, the place where the court then 
refided ; and fent to the king a fchedule containing their 
principal demands. John had no fooner perufed it, than 
he burft into a furious pallion, fwearing he would never 
grant fuch privileges as mud reduce himfelf to flavery. 
The confederated nobles, informed of his anfwer, had 
recourfe to their fwords; they belieged the caftle of 
Northampton, were admitted into that of Bedford, occu¬ 
pied Ware, and entered London without oppofition. 
They laid wade the royal parks and palaces, and com¬ 
pelled the other barons to join them, on pain of ravaging 
their eflates. So formidable indeed were their menaces, 
and fo univerfal the difaffedlion, that the king was left 
at Odiham, in Hampfhire, with a retinue of only feven 
knights; and, after in v,ain offering to fubmit all diffe¬ 
rences to the arbitration of the pope, he found himfelf 
at laft obliged to yield unconditionally to the will of the 
barons. It was at Runnymede, between Windfor and 
Staines, a fpot which will ever be celebrated in Englifh 
liiftory, that the conference took place betw-een John and 
his people on this interefting occafion. After a delibe¬ 
ration of fome days, the king, with a facility fomewhat 
unexpected, figned and fealed the famous deed called 
Magna Charta, or the Great Charter of England, on June 
ip, 1215 ; which was the ground-work of Britilh liberty, 
and the corner-ftone of that noble fabric which in time 
refulted from it—the unperifhable Constitution of 
England. 
To fecure the execution of this charter, London was 
left in the hands of the barons, and the Tower was con- 
figned to the cuflody of the primate. With the confent 
of the king, the confederates chofe from their own body 
twenty-five members as confervators of the public liber¬ 
ty, to whofe authority no limits w>re prefcribed, either 
in extent or duration. All men thoughout the kingdom 
were obliged, under the penalty of confifcation, to l'wear 
obedience to them ; twelve knights from each county, 
chofen by the freeholders, were to make reports of fuch 
evil cuftoms as required redrefs, conformable to the tenor 
of the great charter ; and this affords a very ftriking 
proof that the houfe of commons was not then in being, 
or fudSfii an election would not have been neceffary. 
John, although he apparently fubmitted to thefe regu¬ 
lations and concefiions with great cheerfulnefs, yet he 
only waited a proper opportunity for annulling them. 
Retiring to the Ifle of Wight, he meditated the molt fa¬ 
tal vengeance againft his people. He fecretly fent abroad 
his emiffaries to invite the rapacious Brabanyons (foldiers 
of fortune) into his fervice ; he difpatched a mellenger to 
Rome, to complain before that tribunal of the violence 
impofed upon him ; and pope Innocent, eonfidering him¬ 
felf as feudal lord of the kingdom, iffued a bull, by which 
he annulled the whole charter. He prohibited the barons 
from exaCling the obfervance of it; he prohibited the 
king from paying any regard to it; and he pronounced a 
general fentence of excommunication againlf every one 
who fhould perfevere in maintaining fuch iniquitous pre- 
tenfions. Under the fanCtion of this bull, John, as foon 
as he had collected his foreign forces, threw off the mafk. 
The barons, feduced into a fatal fecurity, had taken no ra¬ 
tional meafures for re-afiembling their forces. The king 
was mafter of the field : his rapacious mercenaries were 
let loofe againft the eftates, the tenants, the houfes, and 
parks, of the nobility ; nothing was to be feen but the 
flames of villages and cattles reduced to allies, and the 
confternation and mifery of the inhabitants ; while the 
king, marching through the whole extent of England 
from Dover to Berwick, laid the provinces wafte on every 
fide, as if he had been in an enemy’s country. 
The b.arons, reduced to this diftreffed fituation, had re¬ 
courfe to a remedy no lei's defperate, and offered the king 
of France to acknowledge Louis, his eldeft fon, as their 
fovereign, provided he would proteCl them from the fur¬ 
ther violence of the tyrant. TlSfe, profpeCt of fuch a prize 
rendered Philip Auguftus regardlefs of the menaces of 
the court of Rome, which threatened him with excom¬ 
munication if he attacked a prince under the protection 
of the holy fee ; but he refufed to intruft his fon and heir 
to the caprice of the Englifti barons, without fome pledge 
for his fafety. He therefore demanded of them twenty- 
five of the moft illuftrious nobles; and no fooner had lie 
received thefe hoftages, than he fent over Louis in perfon 
with a numerous army. When that young prince ap¬ 
peared in England, John’s foreign troops, being moflly 
levied in Flanders, refufed to ferve againft the heir appa¬ 
rent of their own monarchy. The barons either haftened 
to join the ftandard of.Louis, or throw open to him the 
gates of their caftles. Louis having landed in Kent, took 
Rochefter caftle, and was actually received in London 
with every demonftration of joy. The friends and fol¬ 
diers of John began to abandon him; and the French 
prince might have cruthed him with eafe, had he not 
made a rafh vow not to advance before he had reduced 
Dover caftle. This was in confequence of Philip’s re¬ 
mark to his fon, “ that unlefs he reduced Dover caftle, 
he would gain no footing in England.” While he ftrove 
for this in vain, the Englifti barons had time to refiedt 
on the evils their country might fuftain from a foreign 
king; and even to entertain fuch fufpicions of Louis’s inte¬ 
grity, that they determined to quit his party and (under 
reftridtions) 
