In time, William Pitt became a leading power, at first in the House of Commons, and afterward, when he was created Earl of Chatham, in the House of Lords. He served twice as Prime Minister of England; and he laid the solid foundations of the British Colonial Empire.
But more than all else, he was an Englishman defending the unalienable rights of all Englishmen. He steadfastly combated those political evils in the British Government, which, at that time, were threatening to undermine English Liberty as set down in the Magna Carta and safeguarded by the English Constitution.
THE CHARTER OF LIBERTY
The Signing of the Magna Carta, 1215
O Thou, that sendest out the man
To rule by land and sea,
Strong mother of a Lion-line,
Be proud of those strong sons of thine,
Who wrenched their rights from thee!
What wonder if in noble heat,
Those men thine arms withstood,
Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught,
And in thy spirit with thee fought fought—
Who sprang from English blood!
Alfred Tennyson (Condensed)
Magna Carta! The Great Charter of the liberties of Englishmen!
At Runnimede, the freemen of England through the action of their Barons, forced King John to sign and seal the Magna Carta. His tyrannous power was torn from him. He was forced to pledge himself to violate no longer the rights and privileges of English freemen.
For, from times remote, human rights and liberties, protecting them from oppression by rulers, had been theirs by laws and by common consent.
About a hundred years after the signing of the Magna Carta, the great principle, that English freemen should not be taxed without representation, was established.