ed the eſtabliſhment of Magna Charta, he begins his remarks upon it in theſe words[1]: “And in this manner (though it were to be wiſhed it had not been in this manner) were recovered the rights of the kingdom.” Now, though if it had not been done in this manner, it had not been done at all; and though he allows it to be the recovery of their own, the rights of the kingdom, which one would think a very juſt and neceſſary work; yet this ſhrug of a wiſh leaves an impreſſion upon his reader, as if the ways wherein they recovered them were unwarrantable. On the other ſide, King John would not allow them to be the rights of the kingdom at any rate[2], “But vain ſuperſtitious, unreaſonable demands; the barons might as well aſk him his kingdom; and he ſwore he would never grant them ſuch liberties, as ſhould make himſelf to be a ſlave.” So that I have two things to ſhew: Firſt, That they were verily and indeed the kingdom’s rights; and ſecondly, That they were very fairly recovered: and that the barons were in the right, both as to matter and ſubſtance, and no way reprovable for manner and form.
