The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-12-05
THE MAGMA CHARTA
THE FOUNDATION OF ENGLISH
CONSTITUTIONAL BERTN
SIGNED AT RUNNYMEDE IN
JUNE, 1915.

The constitutional liberty of Eng
land and of all the dominions and
colonies comprising the British EN-
p1re, as well as of the United States,
may be traced back to date just sew
en- centuries ago, on November 20,
1914, when the Archbishop of Canter-
bury and the Barons of England met
at st. Edmondsbury and raised the
standard of revolt against the tyranny
and Wickedness of King John. 1t was
a supreme moment in the history of
the world when these men dared to
defy the power and authority of one
who claimed to rule by divine right,
and whose word was law. In the
following January the Barons present
ed their demands to King John, who
deferred his answer. The Barons
were censured by the Pope for their
defiance of the monarch, but they re-
NAMED steadfast in their purpose,
and in May they marched to London
and the King was forced to yield.
In June the vicious and cowardly
ruler was compelled to sign the
Magma Charta, or great charter" and
Runnymede, near Windsor, where the
charter was finally settled, passed in
to history as the birthplace of Eng
fish liberty. The original manuscript
charter is lost, but a fine copy is
preserved at Lincoln, England, and
its influence lives in the constitutions
of England and America.
The document which means so much
to Englishmen and to all nations de-
scended from England, was in itself
only step toward the liberties en-
joyed by English-speaking peoples
today. Nevertheless, it was step, and
a great one, toward freedom. The
Barons forced the King to the stipu-
lation that all irregular taxation
should cease, and to concede that
freeman, merchants and Williams" as
bond laborers were then called,
should be secure against all but legal
ly imposed penalties. The charter
established that great principle of
habeas corpus, still vital in protect
ing individual liberty, and the law of
trial by jury, equally important in
securing to accused persons just
and fair trial. A commission of guard
ians were appointed to see to the en-
forcement of these and other provi-
sions of the charter John soon re-
pented his granting of this act, and
sought to tear up the charter. There
upon the Barons invited to England
Prince Louis, the son of Philip
Augustus, and might have made him
king if John had not died in 1916.
Johns son, Henry H., inherited much
of the weakness and viciousness of
his father, and repeatedly violated
the terms of the Magma Charta.
The nation, taught by bitter tyranny
the necessity Of building up institu-
tons to restrain and limit the royal
will, was equal to the great task before
it. In 1858 there was convened a
great national council at Oxford, the
first assembly to bear the name of
Parliament. King Henry III. was
forced to confirm the great charter,
and to intrust the reforms to COM
mittee of twenty-four barons. When
the monarch sought to repress the
rebellion of the Barons, the latter, led
by the Earl of Leicester, attacked the
in arms, and made him cap
tive, while Leicester, governing in the
name of the royal prisoner, organ
lied the first complete representation
of the English nation. This repre-
sentation consisted of the election to
Parliament of two Barons for each
county and two citizens for each city
or borough of each county. In this
assembly the Parliament of the future
first began to take shape, the repre-
sentatives of the Burghers and the
petty nobility subsequently becom-
ing the House of Commons, while the
Barons laid the foundation for the
House of Lords.