by the law of the land; and all who suffered otherwise in this, and the two former reigns, shall be restored to their rights and possessions; every freeman shall be fined in proportion to his fault, and nó fine shall be levied on him to his utter ruin. Such were the stipulations in favour of that part of the people, who, being either merchants, or the descendants of the nobles, or of the clergy, were thus independent of any immediate lord. But that part of the people who tilled the ground, who constituted, in all probability, the majority of the nation, had but one single clause in their favour, which stipulated, that no villain, or rustic, should by any fine be bereaved of his carts, ploughs, and instruments of husbandry. As for the rest, they were considered as a part of the property be longing to an estate, and passed away, with the horses, cows, and other moveables, at the will of the owner.

This great charter being agreed to by all, ratified, and mutually signed by both parties, the barons, in order to secure the observance of it, and knowing the perfidious disposition of the king, prevailed upon him to appoint twenty-five of their order as conservators of the public liberty. These were to admonish the king, if he should act contrary to his written obligations; and, in case of resistance, they might levy war against him, and attack his castles. John, with his usual perfidy, seemed to submit passively to all these regulations however injurious to majesty; and even sent writs to the sheriffs, ordering them to constrain every one to swear obedience to the twenty-five barons. He pretended that his government, was henceforth to undergo a total reformation, more indulgent to the liberty and independence of the people. His subjects therefore flattered themselves with brighter prospects;

and it was thought the king's misfortunes had hu manized his disposition.

But John's seeming tranquillity was but dissimulation. The more care his barons had taken to bind him to their will, the more impatient he grew under their restrictions. He burned with desire to shake of the conditions they had imposed upon him. The submissions he had paid to the pope, and the insults he had sustained from the king of France, slightly affected him, as they were his equals; but the sense of his subjection to his own vassals, sunk deep on his mind; and he was determined, at all events, to recover his former power of doing mischief. He grew sullen, silent, and reserved. He shunned the society of his former companions; and even retired into the Isle of Wight, as if to hide his disgrace in solitude. But he was still however employed in machinations to obtain revenge. He had sent to the continent to enlist a large body of mercenary troops; he had made complaints to the pope of the insurrections of his subjects against him; and the pontiff very warmly espoused his cause. A bull was sent over, annulling the whole charter; and at the same time the foreign forces arrived, whom John intended to employ in giving his intentions efficacy.

He now no longer took shelter under the arts of dissimulation; but acted the bold tyrant, a character that became him much better. The barons, after obtaining the charter, seemed to have been lulled into a fatal security; and took no measures for assembling their forces, in case of the introduction of a foreign army. The king, therefore, was for some time undisputed master of the field, at the head of an army of Germans, Brabantines, and Flemings, all eager for battle, and inspired with the hope of dividing the kingdom among

them. The castle of Rochester was first invested; and after an obstinate resistance, was obliged to surrender at discretion. John, irritated at the length of the siege, was going to hang the governor, and all the garrison, contrary to the laws of· war; but at the intercession of one of the generals, he only put the inferior prisoners to death. After the reduction of this important fortress, the royal interests began to prevail; and two armies were formed, with one of which the king marched northward, subduing all fortresses and towns that lay in his way. The other army, commanded by the earl of Salisbury, was equally vigorous and successful; several submitted at his approach, and London itself was in the utmost danger. The foreign mercenaries committed the most horrible cruelties in their march, and ravaged the country in a most dreadful manner. Urged on at once by their natural rapacity, and the cruelty of the king, nothing was seen but the flames of villages and castles; consternation and misery were pictured in the looks of the people; and tortures were every where exercised by the soldiers, to make the inhabitants reveal their riches. Wherever the king marched, the provinces were laid waste on each side his passage; as he considered every estate, which was not his immediate property, as entirely hostile, and a proper object of military ex

ecution.

A. D.

1215,

The barons, reduced to this deplorable situation, their estates destroyed, their liberties annihilated, and their persons exposed to the revenge of a malicious tyrant, lost all power of self defence. They were able to raise no army in England, that could stand before their ravages, and yet they had no hopes from submission. In this desperate exigence, they applied to the old enemy of the country, Philip,

king of France; and offered to acknowledge. Lewis, the eldest son of that monarch, as their sovereign, on condition of his affording them protection against their domestic destroyer. No proffer could have been more ageeeable to this ambitious monarch, who long waited to annex England to the rest of his dominions. He therefore instantly embraced the proposal of the barons; of whom, however, he demanded five and twenty hostages for the performance of their promise. These being sent over, he began to make the most diligent preparations for this expedition, regard. less of the menaces of the pope, who threatened Philip with excommunication, and actually excommunicated Lewis the son some time after. The first detachment consisted of a body of seven thousand men, which he reinforced soon after by a powerful army, commanded by Lewis himself, who landed at Sandwich without opposition.

Thus

John, who but just now saw himself in the career of victory, upon the landing of the French. army was stopped all of a sudden, and found himself blasted in his revenge and ambition. The first effect of their appearance was, that most of the foreign troops deserted, refusing to serve against the heir of their monarchy. Many considerable noblemen also deserted his party and his castles daily fell into the hands of his enemies. England saw nothing but a prospect of being every way undone. If John succeeded, a tyrannical and implacable monarch was to be their tormentor; if Lewis should prevail, the country was ever after to submit to a more powerful monarchy, and was become a province of France. What neither human prudence could foresee, nor policy suggest, was brought about by an happy and unexpected concurrence of events.

Neither John nor Lewis succeeded in their designs upon the people's happiness and freedom.

Lewis having vainly endeavoured to pacify the pope's legate, resolved to set the pope at defiance, and marched his army against the castle of Rochester, which he quickly reduced. Thence he advanced to London where the barons and burgers did him homage and took the oath of fealty, after he had sworn to confirm the liberties and privileges of the people. Though never crowned king of England, yet he exercised sovereign authority, granting charters, and appointing officers of state. But how flattering soever the prospect before him appeared, yet there was a secret jealousy that was destroying his ambition, and undermining all his pretensions. Through a great degree of imprudence he on every occasion shewed a visible preference to his natural French subjects, to the detriment of those he came to govern. The suspicions of the English against him were still farther encreased, by the death bed confession of the count de Melun, one of his courtiers, who declared to those about him, that it was the intention of Lewis to exterminate the English barons as traitors, and to bestow their dignities and estates upon his own French subjects upon whose fidelity he could safely rely. Whatever truth there might be in this confession, it greatly operated upon the minds of the people; so that the earl of Salisbury, and other noblemen, who had forsaken John's party, once more deserted to him, and gave no small lustre to his cause.

a

In the mean time, John was assembling a considerable army, with view to make one great effort for the crown; and at the head of a large body of troops he resolved to penetrate into the heart of the kingdom. With those resolutions he