The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-20
7OOth ANNIVERSARY
 OF REVOLT WHICH
 GAVE ssMAGNA CHARTA''

l The constitutional liberty of Eng 1and and of all the dominions and colonies comprising the British em- pfre, as well as of the United States, may be traced back to a date just i seven centuries ago today, Nov. 20, 1214, when the archbishop of Canter- bury and the sbarons of England met at St. Edmofldsbdry and raised the standard of revolt against tyranny and wickedness of King John. It was 9 supreme moment in the history of the world when those men dared to defy the power and authority of one who claimed to rule by divine right, and whose word was law. In the follow ing January the barons presented their demands to King John, who deferred ed by5 the pope for their defiance Of the monarch, but they remained stead fast in their purpose, and in May they marched to London and the king was forced to yield. Tn June the vicious and coward1y ruler was compelled to sharter,ss and Runny1nede, near Wind sor, where the charter was finally set tiled, passed into history as the birth place of English liberty. The original manuscript charter is lost, but fine Icopy is preserved at Lincoln Eng land, and it's influence lives in the con- stftutions Of England, and its influence lives in the constitutions of England and America.
 The document which meant so snuc1l to EnElishmen, and to all nations de- scended from England, was in itself only a step toward the liberties enjoy ed by English speaking peoples today. Neverth eless, it was step. and a great one, toward freedom. The barons fore ed the king to the stipulation that all irregular taxation should cease, and 1 to concede that freemen, merchants
 
 then called, should be secure against all but legally imposed penalties. The charter established that great priLei- pie of habeas corpus, still vital in protecting indivi dual liberty and the law of trial by jury, equally import
 ant in securing to accused persons a 1 just and fair trial. A commission of lguardians was appointed to see to the reinforcement of these and other provt- sions Of the charter. John socn re- kpented his granting of the act, and sought to tear up the charter. There Prince Louis, the son of Philip ALI gustus, and might have made him king l if John had not died in 1216. John E son, Henry TIL, inherited much Of the weakness and vicfousness Of his fath- CT, and repeatedly violated the terms l of the Magma Charta-
 The nation taught by bitter tyran- Thy the necessity of building up insti- tutio11s to restrain and limit the royai l will, was equal to the great task be-
 fore it. In 1258 there was convened
 the great council at Oxford, the firs;i l assembly to bear the name of parIfa-
 rnelt. King Henry III. was forced l to confirm the great charter, and te Eintrust the reforms to a conimittee o1 Itwenty four barons. When the mon. Iar.ch sought to repress the rebellion Eof the barons, the latter. led by tns
 Earl of Leicester, attacked the mon. arch in arms and made him acaptive
 while Leieester, governing in the name fof the royal prisoner. organized tn, Idirst complete representation of tHs I English nation. This representatioY lconsisted of the election to par1iamen Isof two barons for each county and twt fcitizens for each city or Borough 70. leach c0nnty.s Tn this assembly ths
 parliament of the future first began t IItake shape, the tatives of tha burgherss and the petty nobility slbse Iquently becoming the House Of Com monss while the barons laid the found lation for the House of Lords