“He now ventured to proceed as far as Winchelsey on his way to Flanders. But here he was alarmed by reports of the designs of his opponents, and ordered letters to be sent to every county, stating the origin of his quarrel with the two earls, asserting that he had never refused any petition for redress, and promising to confirm the charter of liberties and charter of the forests, in return for the liberal aid of an eighth which had been granted by the council in London. Soon afterwards a paper was put into his hands, purporting to be the remonstrance of the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors, the earls, barons, and whole commonalty of England. In it they complained that the last summons had been worded ambiguously; that it called on them to accompany the King to Flanders, a country in which they were not bound to serve by the custom of their tenures; that even if they were, they had been so impoverished by aids, tallages, and unlawful seizures, as to be unable to bear the expense; that the liberties granted to them by the two charters had been repeatedly violated; that the ‘evil toll’ (the duty) annually on wool amounted alone to one-fifth of the whole income of the land; and that, to undertake an expedition to Flanders in the existing circumstances, was imprudent, since it would expose the kingdom without protection to the inroads of the Welsh and Scots. Edward replied, that he could return no answer on matters of such high importance, without the advice of his council, a part of which had already sailed for Flanders; that if the remonstrants would accompany him, he would accept it as a favour; if they refused, he trusted they would raise no disturbance during his absence, (Aug. 19.) Before his departure he appointed commissioners in each county with powers to require security from all persons for the payment of aids due to the crown, and to imprison the publishers of false reports, the disturbers of the peace, and such of the clergy as might presume to pronounce censures against the royal officers for the discharge of their duty.
“At length the King set sail, accompanied by the barons and knights who had espoused his cause; and two days later, Bohun and Bigod, with a numerous retinue, proceeded to the exchequer. The constable, in the presence of the treasurer and judges, complained of the King’s extortions, of his illegal seizures of private property, and of the enormous duty imposed upon wool; and forbade them, in the name of the baronage of England, to levy the last eight which had been granted by the great council, because it had been voted without his knowledge and concurrence, and that of his friends. From the exchequer they rode to the Guildhall, where they called upon the citizens to join in the common cause, and to aid in wresting the confirmation of the national liberties from a reluctant and despotic sovereign. The tears which the Londoners had shed during Edward’s harangue, were now dried up; considerations of interest suppressed the impulse of pity; and they gave assurances of their co-operation to the barons, who immediately retired to their respective counties. Both during their progress to the capital, and their return from it, they had marched in military array. But at the same time they had been careful to preserve the peace; and had threatened, by proclamation, to punish every lawless aggressor with immediate amputation of a hand, or the loss of the head, according to the quality of the offence.
“The King was soon informed of these proceedings, and ordered the barons of the exchequer to disregard the prohibition. But in a few weeks his obstinacy was subdued by a succession of untoward events. The people and clergy universally favoured the cause of the earls; the Scots, after their victory at Stirling, had burst into the northern counties; and Edward himself lay at Ghent in Flanders, unable to return to the protection of the kingdom, and too weak to face the superior force of the French king. In these circumstances, the lords who composed the council of the young Prince, invited the archbishop, six prelates, twenty-three abbots and priors, the constable and mareschal, and eight barons, to treat with them on matters of the greatest moment, and summoned a parliament to meet in London a week later (Sept. 30.), and witness the confirmation of the two charters. In the conferences which preceded, the two parties, though opposed in appearance, had the same interests and the same views; a form of peace (so it was called) was speedily arranged; and, to the ancient enactments of the charters, were appended the following most important additions:—”No tallage or aid shall henceforth be laid or levied by us or our heirs in this our realm, without the goodwill and common assent of the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates, the earls, barons, knights, burgesses, and other free men in our realm. No officer of us or our heirs shall take corn, wool, hides, or other goods, of any person whatsoever, without the good will and assent of the owner of such goods. Nothing shall henceforth be taken on the sack of wool, under the name or pretence of the evil toll. We also will and grant for us and our heirs, that all both clergy and laity of our realm shall have their laws, liberties, and free customs, as freely and wholly as at any time when they had them best; and if any statutes have been made or customs introduced by us or our ancestors contrary to them, or to any article in the present charter, we will and grant that such statutes and customs be null and void for ever. We have, moreover, remitted to the Earl Constable, and Earl Mareschal and all their associates, and to all those who have not accompanied us to Flanders, all rancour and ill will, and all manner of offences which they may have committed against us or ours before the making of this present charter. And for the greater assurance of this thing, we will and grant for us and our heirs, that all archbishops and bishops in England for ever, shall, twice in the year after the reading of this charter in their cathedral churches, excommunicate, and cause, in their parochial churches, to be excommunicated, all those that knowingly shall do or cause to be done, any thing against the tenor, force and effect of any article contained in it.
“When the parliament assembled (Oct. 10.), these additions to the charter were received with enthusiasm; and provided the King would assent to them, the laity voted him an eighth, the clergy of Canterbury a tenth, and the clergy of York a fifth. The prince, by a public instrument, took the Earls and their associates under his protection; and the Lords of the Council bound themselves to indemnify them against the effects of the royal displeasure. A common letter was written to the King, soliciting him to appease all differences by giving his assent, and assuring him that his faithful barons were ready at his command either to join him in Flanders, or to march against his enemies in Scotland; but at the same time requiring, in a tone of defiance, an answer against the sixth day of December. It cost the haughty mind of Edward several struggles, before he could prevail on himself to submit: three days were spent in useless deliberation and complaints; but at last, with a reluctant hand, he signed the confirmation of the two charters with the additional articles, and a separate pardon for the Earls and their followers, (Nov. 5.)
“This was perhaps the most important victory which had hitherto been gained over the Crown. By investing the people with the sole right of raising the supplies, it armed them with the power of checking the extravagance, and controlling the despotism of their monarchs. Whatever jealousy might be entertained of Edward’s intentions, his conduct wore at first the semblance of sincerity. As soon as an armistice had been concluded between him and the King of France, he returned to England, and appointed commissioners to inquire into the illegal seizures which had been made previously to his departure. They were to be divided into two classes. Where the officers acted without warrant, they were, at their own cost, to indemnify the sufferers; where the goods had been taken by the royal orders, their value was to be certified into the exchequer, and prompt payment was to be made. Still it was suspected that he only waited for a favourable moment to cancel the concessions which had been wrung from him by necessity; and it was whispered that among his confidential friends he had laughed at them as being of no force, because they had been made in a foreign country, where he possessed no authority. When he met his parliament at York, the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk required that he should ratify his confirmation of the charters. He objected from the necessity of hastening to oppose the Scots, solemnly promised to comply with their request on his return, and brought forward the Bishop of Durham and three Earls, who swore ‘on his soul,’ that he should fulfil his engagements.” A. D. 1299. March. The victory of Falkirk and a long series of success gave a lustre to his arms; but when the parliament assembled the next year, the King was reminded of his promise. His reluctance employed every artifice to deceive the vigilance, or exhaust the patience, of the two Earls. He retired from the parliament in anger; he returned and proposed modifications; at last he ratified his former concessions, but with the addition of a clause, which, by saving the rights of the Crown, virtually annulled every provision in favour of the subject. Bohun and Bigod instantly departed with their adherents; and the King, to ascertain the sentiments of the people, ordered the sheriffs to assemble the citizens in the cemetery of St Paul’s, and to read to them the new confirmation of the charters. The lecture was repeatedly interrupted by shouts of approbation; but when the illusory clause was recited, the air rung with expressions of discontent, and curses were poured on the head of the prince, who had thus disappointed the expectations of his people. Edward took the alarm; summoned a new parliament to meet him within a fortnight; granted every demand; and appointed a commission of three Bishops, three Earls, and three Barons, to ascertain the real boundaries of the royal forests.”[83]
In the foregoing extract, we find Edward, on the 14th July, holding up the Scots as a bugbear to terrify his subjects into an acquiescence with his oppressive demands; and on the 30th September the English, in turn, are found making the very same use of the Scots, for the purpose of extorting from their reluctant and unprincipled “Justinian,” the confirmation of their national liberties. It did not, however, appear to strike them that the subversion of freedom in Scotland was totally inconsistent with its existence in the southern part of the island.
By the same author we are also told, that after the surrender of Stirling Castle in 1304, Edward sent a secret deputation to the Pope, craving that a dispensation might be granted him from the oaths he had taken. This request appears to have been complied with; but the learned author adds, “Whether the papal rescript did not fully meet the King’s wishes, or that he was intimidated by the rebellion of the Scots, he made no public use of its contents; but suffered the concessions, galling as they were, to remain on the statute-roll at his death, and descend to future sovereigns as the recognised law of the land. Thus, after a long struggle, was won, from an able and powerful monarch, the most valuable of the privileges enjoyed by the commons of England at the present day. If we are indebted to the patriotism of Cardinal Langton, and the Barons at Runnymead, the framers of the great charter, we ought equally to revere the memory of Archbishop Winchelsey and the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk. The former erected barriers against the abuse of the sovereign authority; the latter fixed the liberties of the subject on a sure and permanent foundation.”[84] In his list of meritorious characters, the learned author ought certainly not to have omitted the Knight of Elderslie and his patriotic followers, who, in standing nobly forward for the independence of their own country, were also instrumental in securing such invaluable and lasting privileges for their neighbours.
From the evidence adduced in the quotations made, of the powerful diversion effected in favour of English liberty by the stubborn opposition of the Scots, it appears, that the success of the arms of the latter was the palladium on which the most important of England’s chartered rights depended. When the people of England, therefore, think of erecting monuments to the characters the worthy Doctor has enumerated, it is to be hoped that a tablet to the memory of the Guardian of Scotland will not be forgotten, on which, with propriety, may be inscribed
“LIBERTÉ CHERIE, quand tu meurs en Ecosse,
Certes, l’Anglais, chez lui, peut bien creuser TA fosse.”