The Indiana State sentinel., 1880-05-19


Beacon-llke the distance through.
We must earn the prize we seek;
Those who pause with folded hands
Wishing, while the will Is weak,
Tauy in the lower lands.
Those alone who work and climb,
Gain the prize and win the rest
Coming in the later time
On the conquered mountain crest
A Day Greater Than July 4, 1556-A
sketch of King John and the Magma
Charra.
When YOU go to England you will visit
London. and about the first place in London
Won will want to see will be the British Mu-
scum. In this British Museum is a parch-
ment-old dim, injured by fre-and from
it. brown and shriveled, still hahgs a royal
seal. I wish it could tell its own story
how it came to be written, and why 1t is
such a precious thing TO all Englishmen. 1t
is 665 wears old, and it marksthe real begin
ming Of English liberty. The King who bad
to give this promise, called the Great Char
ter or Magma Charta, was John. The peO-
pie OF his day said of him that: 'foul as it is,
hell itself Is defiled by the fouler presence of
John" and the people of to-day, after six
centuries. think they spoke the truth con-
cerninc this man. You know how England
looks now-with its green lanes and hedge
rows, magnificent forests and parks, mile
upon mile of rich corn-lands and meadows
every inch of ground is cultivated like a
garden. England six centuries ago was not
this England. There were few and poor
roads, and long lengths of swampy, desolate
fens and bleak moOrs, here and there was a
huge castle of white stone, with turrets and
towers, house and fort in one building large
enough TO hold a village full Of people; near
it, a handful of huts for the lower people.
On one hand was magnifcence, armies of
servants. hOrsemen in armor, 10000 dishes
served at marriage feast, Journeys with
glittering armor and knightly courtesy, that
we read Of in the tales Of Walter Scott; on
the other hand discomfort, squalor and fero-
city-no chimneys, no window-glass, no plas
ter on the walls. There was straw on castle
floors to catch the pieces thrown from the
tables. And within the walls of Oxford,
having even then its great university, thou
sands of students were crowded together in
wret ched, dirty lodgings. They got their
learning from begging, wandering monks,
and they drank, quarreled, sacking now and
then the house OF some Jew. An old rhyme
ran:
"wben oxford draws knife, %
Englands soon at strife."
We happen to know how this King John
was once dressed; for his portrait efigy, the
earliest in all England, is in Worcester Ca
thedral He wears in this loose dress or
tunic reaching from neck to ankles, the
sleeves tight, the color golden; over it an
other dress shorter, the collar crimson, the
sleeves loose, around the throat and sleeves
embroidery of gold and gems; the dress girt
in at the waist, red hose, black boots and
golden spurs, gemmed gloves, below the
crown binding the hair circlet of jewels.
John, often called Lakeland, because he
had no possessions, came to the throne when
he was thirty-two years old, and he reigned
seventeen stormy years. He was handsome
good d-humored, apt, with the power of max
ING men and women like him; but he was
mean, cruel, perfdious. When a boy he
tore at pleasure the boards of the Irish chief
tains who came to own him as their lord. He
plotted against the father who loved
him, and against Richard, his brother,
the lion hearted. He ground down
his people until nation in arms forced him
to give them the Great Charter. We know
the story of Arthur told by Shakespeare, the
boy whom John undoubtedly killed with his
own hands. Arthur was the son of Johns
Oldest brother. This boy of fifteen claimed
certain possessions in France that his uncle
John claimed. He would not give up his
claim TO them. He was captured. Two
hundred knights taken with him were load
ed with irons and drawn in open carts by
bullocks. Twenty-Five were deliberately
starved to death. One story is, that Arthur's
eyes were burnt out; another, that ne was
taken out in boat on the river Seine and
stabbed by his uncle, and still another is
that one dark night he was taken from the
tower, and, weak from imprisonment, lifted
IL A H. ,1oc L. n.
"Fair nephew, come and see the dav you
have so long desired. 1 will make you as
free as air. You shall even have kingdom
to govern" Then he stabbed the boy, and
helped to push him over the precipice into
the waters of the Seine.
For this murder the peers in France took
away Johns French possessions, and it was
in his trying to get them back again that he
quarreled with the Pope and his mobiles,
and finally got so weak that the
barons dared force him to give that ia
nous promise. There were two great men
in England, one the head of the Church and
the other of the baronage, who objected to
Johns taking the English money and Eng
lish men to reconquer possessions Of France.
The Archbishop died in few months, and
then John determined to put in a man who
would do his bidding. Themonks at Johns
command, chose one, but the convent before
this had chosen another. Both claimants went
to Rome to have the Pope settle the quarrel.
The Pope after year settled the matter by
choosing man himself. This was placing
himself above England and her King, but
the Archbisop, Stephen Langton, was to
prove himself great enough to defy both
Pope and King. John would not receive.
him, and in fury answered the Pope's
threats with: "By Gods teeth, if you or. any