Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/155

maintaining the rights of the kingdom contained in that charter, and were in affirmance of it. Whereby they that have been told the baron’s wars were a rebellion, may know better; and every honeſt man will find their cauſe to be ſo juſt, that if he had lived in thoſe days he muſt have joined in it; for ſo we did lately in the fellow to it, at the laſt revolution. It is well indeed for us, that our anceſtors lived before us, and with the expence of their blood recovered the Engliſh rights for us, and ſaved them out of the fire; otherwiſe we had been ſealed up in bondage, and ſhould have had neither any Engliſh rights to defend, nor their noble example to juſtify ſuch a defence, but ſhould have been in as profound an ignorance that ever there were any ſuch fights, as the barons themſelves were of Henry the firſt’s charter. For in all the ſteps the barons took we followed them. Did they take arms for the ſecurity of their liberties? ſo did we. Did they withdraw their allegiance from an arbitrary and perjured King? ſo did we. Did they ſet another over his head, and proceed to the creation of a new King? ſo did we. And if we had miſcarried in our affair, we had not been called rebels, but treated as ſuch; and the biſhop of London and all our worthies had made but a blue buſineſs of

it,