Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1852-03-24

wrong be repaired TO their satisfaction, sariag
b, our pcrsoa, our queen, and our children. And
when il is so repaired they shall obey us as be-
FORE Thus did Magma Charta draw deep
line between the powers of the crown and the
rights of the English barons, and deliberately
| ofdain FORCE as the guarantee of its observance;
thus canunizing, as it were, the right OF resist
ance, and making it as old as our liberties
Now who does not see in Magma Charta the
great prototype of the first Constitution OF Nir-
ginia and of all those other Constitutions which
have since been modelled upon it! Magma Charta
is an instrument drawing line between the pow
ers of the Crown and the rights of the people
The principle of Magma Charta is, that the barons
of England had certain rights which the Crown
dare not invade. The principle of the Constitu-
ton of Virginia is, that the people of the Com
monwealth have certain rights. which the govern
ment is bound, under all circumstances, to res
pect. AID if we look into the nature of the
rights secured in Magma Charta to the barons
of England, we will find there the germs of near
ly all those rights secured in the Constitution of
Virginia to the people of the State, and there de-
clared to be natural and iaaliendble rights
| Thus, we are able to trace back both our liber-
ties and that principle which is their guarantee,
| directly to the feudal arstocracy of Europe, than
| whom there never existed on the earth, a body
of men animated by sterner and prouder spirit
| of independence. An iron ariStocraey as to the
rest of the community, they were within the pale
of their own order, fierce and turbulent demo-
cacy. Their chief was but prin,tS inter pareS and
the point of honor, the duel, the wager of battle
the right of private war, judicial combat, are all
| but SO many witnesses testfying how feeble was
! the power of the Crown, and how stern, how
jealous, how naughty the spirit of personal liber-
ty and independence, which animated their own
body. What more striking than the oath by
which the mobiles of Arragon swore allegiance to
their sovereign! 1--WE, who are each as good,
and rhn araa thorr f1l ION
promise obedience to your government if you
maintain our rights and liberties, but not other
| wise.' And this was the spirit of the feudal
peerage everywhere. Am l not right then, in
saying that tiercer, prouder spirit of liberty,
never animated any body of men! And the
feudal Charta, it will be remembered, was the
imminent of their high exclusive rights and lib
critics; the instrument in which those rights and
liberties were gathered together enrolled, and as
it were, colonized.
Now, the point which [ wish particularly to
bring to your notice, is this-that the feudal
Charta was everywhere strictly and purely an
aristocratic Charta-a compact and treaty between
the King and his baronS, most generally in arms,
against each other. The PEOPLE had no part or
lot in it. 1t is, know, the popular impression,
that Magma Charta was an exception to this
general rule, and that the people of England
were parties to that instrument This, in my
judgment, is a mistake-history does not sustain
it. At the time of Magma Charta, the people of
f Engand, as a political bodg, had no existence
There were, indeed, serf and villains; villains re-
gardant, and villains i'll gross; vassals and vas
salage through all the stages of fudation and SUBJ
fudatlon; but no people as power IN the State.
The Gilbert homines' of the Charter, were, be-
You'd all doubt the feudal barons. As late even
as the fourteenth century, all the popular move
/ ments of Europe-the Jacquerie in France, and
, the rebellion of Wat Tyler in England, were in
e their nature essentially sereile Instructions.
i 1t is great mistake, then to suppose that the
: people of England were parties to Magma Char
e ia. That Charta was, in the strictest sense, an
: aristocratc Charta; the King and his barons be-
h ing the only parties to it. AS yet the great and
e illustrious English Commons had no existence,
h and, at the time of Magma Charta, England pre-
sents us with two distinct races, living side by
: side III the same land-the one a conquering, and
, the other conquered race-the one race OF
kings, mobiles, warriors, and priests, the other
race of tradesmen, serfs, villains and slaves-the
one rich, living in palaces, castles and monaste-
ries; the other poor, and living either in cities, in
humble tenenents, scattered over the country
in cottages and cabins with matched roofs. Each
= has its own language, and speaks a tongue for
e eign to the other. Norman French is the language
of the court, the castle, and the monastery; the
old Anglo Saxon is the language of the field the
workshop, and the howell. Never was conquest
e more deeply impressed on any country; never was
the distinction between eonquerors and conquer
ed more strongly drawn among any people. All
rank, power, wealth, privilege,-even liberty it.
self, were the prerogatves of the conquerors;
toll, sweat, poverty and slavery, the doom of the
conquered. And this continued to be the condi-
ton of England for more than century after the
conquest.
Ihave said that at the date of Magma Charta,
the English Commons had no existence. Itmay,
I perhaps, be proper to state, in this connection,
that that Commons was formed at a later period,
by union between the conquering and the con-
quered races. In the course of time, the badges
, of the conquest began to disappear, the barriers
between the two nations were broken down, con-
nectons and matrimonial alliances were contract
ed between them, and the conquerors ceased to
exist as an exclusive cast. By the law Of the
) Norman peerage the title passed to the eldest
son-he alone was ennobled, and the younger
sons sunk into the ranks of the commonalty. 1t
so happened also that many of the mostillustrious
Norman families had declined all titles The b.
huns, the Mowbrays, the De.Veres and others,
descendants of those E'knights who had broken
the Saxon ranks at Hastings, and scaled the walls
of Jerusalem" waving all rank, took their place
in the body of the commons And when, in ad-
diton to this, it is remembered that the whole
Saxon race, including its ancient nobility-its
Godwins, it Harolds, its Siwards, its Leofrioks,-
men noble as the proudest baron who followed
the standard of Duke William to the shores of
England, had been all overwhelmed in one indis-
criminate conquest, and merged in the English
Commons, we see at glance, what 1T was which
gave to that Commons the high conservative
character which has distinguished it from all the
other Commons Of Europe.
But, as I have already said, this body was the
formation Of after years. At the time of Magma
Charta it had no existence and, at that date, Eng
land presents us with conquerors and conquered,
masters and slaves; but no PEOPLE, as an inde-
pendent political poloer IN The State. And
this, the division of the English nation in
10 two races of conquerors and conquer
ed, is the starting point in English history.