rights, all that is neceſſary for the keeping and enjoying of them, is, by law, included in thoſe rights themſelves, as purſuant to them.
But, becauſe this is a great point, and I would willingly leave it a clear one, I ſhall ſhew that the barons proceeded legally in their whole affair, and according to the known principles of the Engliſh government; and that all the pope’s infallible bribe arguments againſt them, which have been ſince plentifully tranſcribed, are nothing worth.
I might, indeed, content myſelf with the ſhort blunt argument of Mr. Selden, who was known to have the learning of twenty men, and honeſty in proportion. Firſt, That the cuſtom and uſage of England is the law of England, as the uſage of parliament is the law of parliament. Now the anceſtors of K. John’s barons recovered their rights in the ſame way. This was done in William the firſt’s time, in the fourth year of his reign, when they[1] raiſed a great army; and
- ↑ Matt. Paris in vit. Frederici abb. p. 48. Videntes igitur Angli rem agi pro capitibus, plures convocando exercitum numeroſum ac fortiſſimum conflaverunt.
