to the men of war that they might so combine as to compel the king to enlarge and re-grant it. This was in August, 1213. In November of the following year the barons met again at Bury St. Edmunds, Langton having in the meantime prepared a draft of the demand that should be made upon the king. His were the brains, his the Geist, that marshalled the warriors, and pointed out to them the direction in which their strength should be employed. The draft was read by the archbishop from the steps of the high altar, and was received with rapturous applause; and Langton, striking while the iron was hot, reminded the barons of all their wrongs, and swore them to keep steadfast to the cause even unto death, until they had obtained their wish; "and at length it was agreed that after the nativity of our Lord, they should come to the king in a body, to desire a confirmation of the liberties before-mentioned; and that in the meantime they were to provide themselves with horses and arms in the like manner, that if the king should perchance break through that which he had specially sworn (which they well believed), and recoil by reason of his duplicity, they would instantly, by capturing his castles, compel him to give them satisfaction."
Fully armed and in great numbers, the barons waited on the king on the 6th of January, 1215, and presented their demands. John asked for time, and they gave him till Easter to think about it. He employed the interval in attempts to break up the combination against him: he offered special privileges to the churchmen, got the Pope to write in his behalf, and tried to detach the leaders from their comrades. But the nobles remained firm, and getting no reply to their demand by Easter, met in arms at Stamford, and sent thence to John for his final decision. "By God's teeth, I will not grant them liberties that will make me a slave!" he screamed to Langton, who read over the clauses of the charter to him; but the Primate read on, and when he had finished, John promised an answer speedily. None came, so the barons marched, and after getting possession of several large towns, entered London on the 24th of May, 1215. Rendered despairful, and being almost alone, John sent to say he would give what was asked. When and where should he meet the lords? "Let the day be the 9th of June—the place Runnymede," was the answer sent back. A postponement to the 15th was agreed to, and on that day John, attended by a small retinue, met "the whole nobility of England," and negotiations were opened forthwith.
No tricks, no lies, no subterfuges could now avail. John was absolutely in the hands of his indignant and determined lords, and he must agree to what they demanded, or take the consequences. Why need the liberty of others make him a slave? Is it that tyrants feel stifled when their fellow-men breathe? Better every way that they should feel stifled than that the alternative should present itself. But what were the stifling restraints on the royal respiration? Let us see.
The Great Charter provided, first, "That the Church of England (not Rome, be it observed) shall be free, and have her whole rights, and her liberties inviolable." It then went on to fix exactly the nature and extent of the feudal obligations, not only of the barons towards the king, but of the smaller holders towards the barons; the liberties of cities and towns were confirmed; the redress of existing grievances, such as the employment of foreign troops against Englishmen, arbitrary imprisonment without trial, the exaction of ruinous fines and the spoliation of wards and heiresses, was then assured; and that power so sweet to despots, of arbitrary, irresponsible punishment, was expressly renounced. But the grand clauses which made the charter so truly great, and which are laws to this hour, are those which provided that no tax should be levied but by order of "the general council of our kingdom;" that the royal officers who acted illegally should be personally responsible; that the Court of Common Pleas should be in one fixed place, instead of following the king's person. The grandest clauses of all, however, are these—
"No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or banished, or any ways destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor will be condemn him, unless by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny to any man, either justice or right."
For four days the negotiations went on; the country between Staines and Windsor was white with the tents of the iron-clad men, who had come to demand a charter of liberties. Stephen de Langton kept them up to their work, not permitting them to lag, but not suffering them to overbear. It was on the 15th of June, Friday, that the conference came to an end. In the royal tent sat John (Lackland as they called him), with some dozen attendants, whose hearts were not stout enough to oppose or to defend him; and round the table on which the Great Charter lay stood the mightiest of the peers, men whose names are worthily inscribed on Fame's eternal bead-roll. Langton argued for them. He spoke their minds, and patiently did he bear with all that was urged against him, for he knew the power which was ready to back up his case. Never did summer sun shine on a more splendid sight than the meadow by Runnymede presented on this day in June, 1215. The king, after vainly trying to evade, to caress, and to intimidate, was forced to give in; the unbending firmness of Langton knew of no surrender but the fullest. Not only did he insist upon and obtain the king's signature to the grant, but he compelled the royal assent—and there the shoe pinched dreadfully—to a clause empowering certain barons to assume sovereign power in the event of the king failing to keep his oath.
Thus was won for Englishmen the Great Charter of Liberties, which has been handed down with honest pride from generation to generation, and which stands out as the rock on which our air-like freedom was founded, amid the sea of violence and selfishness which beat and broke on it in vain.
Synopsis of the Life of King John.
John was the sixth and youngest son of Henry II.; the seventh King of England after the Conquest, and the third of the Plantagenet dynasty.
Born at Oxford . Dec. 24, 1166
Began to reign . May 27, 1199
Lost Normandy . . . 1204
England under Papal Interdict 1208-13
Granted Magna Charta June 15, 1215
Died at Newark . . Oct. 18, 1216
Sovereigns contemporary with John.
Denmark, Kings of.
Canute VI. . . 1182
Waldemar II. . 1207
Eastern Empire.
Alexius III. . . 1195
Isaac II. . . . 1203
Baldwin I. . . 1204
Henry I. . . . 1206.
France, King of.
Philip Augustus 1180
Germany, Emperors of.
Philip. . . . 1198
Otho IV. . . 1208
Norway, Kings of.
Sverre . . . 1184
Haco IV. . . 1202
Haco V. . . . 1217
Portugal, Kings of.
Sancho I. . . 1185
Alfonso II. . . 1218
Rome, Popes of.
Innocent III. . 1198
Honorius III. . 1216
Scotland, Kings of.
William . . . 1165
Alexander II. . 1214
Spain, Kings of.
Alphonso IX. . 1158
Henry I. . . . 1214
Sweden, Kings of.
Swerker II. . . 1199
Eric II. . . . 1210
John I. . . . 1216
LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP.—I.
POSITION OF THE BODY, THE HAND, AND THE PEN.
Good handwriting is essential to almost all persons who have to make their way in the world. Great stress is laid upon it in the examinations for all Government appointments; it is required in every merchant's counting-house, in every office, in almost every shop. The boy who can write well obtains a situation—however humble the situation may be—far more readily than the boy whose "pot-hooks and hangers" are almost as difficult to decipher as the cuneiform characters of ancient Nineveh. It is our purpose to devote a portion of our space to "Lessons in Penmanship." Our efforts, at the outset, will be directed towards the instruction of those who have never learned to write, and the improvement of those who write badly; and we shall follow these lessons by a series of papers exhibiting the different styles of handwriting required in Government offices, the merchant's counting-house, and the office of the solicitor, etc. etc., with instructions in German chirography and the ordinary kinds of ornamental writing, especially the black letter, or German text, so necessary to the solicitor's clerk in engrossing deeds and legal documents.
With these preliminary remarks, we hope our students will attend very carefully to our directions in endeavouring to acquire an elegant system of penmanship, as by this means, combined with constant practice, they will surely become good writers.
In the first place, you should sit right in front of your desk or
