The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-16
The Great Charter.

To some or uS Magma Charta may
have seemed n little wearis,me and
overpraiscd. The soggy plain Of Run
nynIede. the wickedness OF King JONI
and the holiness OF his prelates and
barons In asserting old customs and
privileges principally for their W
benefit the large assumptions that
have been made by rhetorlclans since
II praising that Immortal document:
there has been something too much
Of this. The modern reader Of tt.
unless prepared by a sufficient his
torical and legal study, is apt to
find the paper parochial, dull, like 30
many other charters illuminated with
a very dry light by the erudite Bishop
STUBRs. Here Is little or nothing for
the people" in the modern sense.
They did not exist, In fact. No privi-
leges for villeins: few for traders.
The great landed gentry. that Is the
chief beneficiary.
But. though attacked ny some icon
oclasts as a sort Of myth. or rather
the source of too copious theories and
conclusions. Magma Charta deserves
the honor and reverence OF its seven
centuries. 1t is a landmark in the
history Of freedom. a freedom which
has broadened from class to mass.
The address. Mt once solid and brill
liant. delivered ny Dr. NICHOLAS MUIR
RAY BUTLER before the Constitutional
Convention last night shows the his
%torical and political sequences Of that
meeting Of the harons under the oaks
Of the Mead OF Council
The student OF historical jurispru-
dence whose mind Is fixed largely on
technical distinctions may continue TO
insist that 1t is quite false TO claim that
Magma Charta contributed TO const!tu-
tional progress. The student and inter
prefer OF history with broader view and
with his eye fixed on the actions and
beliefs OF men will find himself accept
ing the opinion OF Sir FREDERICK Poll
LOCK and Professor MAITLAND that with
all Its faults. this documert becomes.
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nearest approach to an irrepealable fun
damental statute that England has ever
had. For. in brief. 1t means
this, hat the king is and shall be be-
low the law Through guaranteeing
the ancient customs OF the English peo-
pie: through protecting merchants
against arbitrary taxes and harsh meas
ures through limiting the royal power
TO tax and trough providing that NJ
free man shall be taken or imprisoned.
disseised or outlawed, or exiled. or in
any wise destroyed save by the lawful
judgment OF his peers or the law OF the
land (Which last provision Is repro
duced In almost identical language in
Article !. OF the Constitution OF the State
OF New York;. the Great Charter really
did lay the foundation OF modern Eng
lish and American liberty. No doubt.
this was an accidental and unforeseen
effect of the contests between kings,
barons and clergy. but the tendency to-
ward liberty was too strong to hold the
rights guaranteed and defined behind
the barriers of any class"
Magma Charta, the Petition of
Right, the Bill of Rights. the Decla-
ration OF Independence, the Constitu-
ton, that is the splendid series OF
monuments Of liberty under the law.
The king is below the law" So,
here, where the people is king, the
people is below the laws 1t makes.
AS the tyranny of the sovereign over
the people is gone. So the tyranny of
the sovereign people over n minority.
its absolutism by means of the recall
of It's Judges, for instance, Is not
come and will not come while Amerl.
cans remember, as DR.. BUTLER says
that 'the sureSt test by which we
may judge whether n people is really
free is the amount OF security en-.
joyed by minorltics."
In this time, when in the place of
the absolutism Of Tudors and Bour
hons the absolutiSm of the all power
nj state seems 10 he substituting Itself,
and personal freedom Is being limited
and aot enlarged, Magma Charta ana
the later milcstOnes of the road 10
freedom may well he studied and hon.
ored. The tyranny of majorities, fet,
tering trade, lettering the harmless
habits and pleasures of mlnoritles
against this tyranny free" American.
do not always combat successfully