850 MAGNA CHARTA MAGNAN takes concerning it. The nobles who procured it are often called the patriots of their age, and are believed to have contended for the rights of the people. This is not quite true. Every- thing in the charter itself, and whatever is re- lated concerning it in contemporaneous history, lead to the conclusion that the purpose of those who formed it was mainly to preserve the rights and privileges of their own order; and the provisions for the security of merchants, and of freemen generally, while dictated prob- ably by some desire to secure their rights, was the readiest way to obtain that cooperation of various interests which was necessary to in- sure success. In the 18th century the villeins or serfs were probably the majority of the inhabitants of England; but the word villein occurs in Magna Charta but once. In one sec- tion it is declared that if a freeman be amerced for crime, it shall be " saving his contenement," by which word is meant the means of his live- lihood, as the tools of a mechanic or the like ; and a merchant "saving his merchandise;" and (in the next section) a villein " saving his wainage," and while these (his plough, wagons, and cattle) were certainly the tools o.his trade, it is, from the character of the whole instru- ment, and of the times in which it was made, a not unreasonable inference that this single precaution for the benefit of the villein was at least recommended by the fact, that it pre- served to him those implements without which he would be of little use to his lord. In truth, Magna Oharta was intended mainly for the nobles and landholders of England ; but it embraced in its terms all freemen. It was admirably contrived, and never lost its force ; and as, in succeeding ages, villeinage gradually disappeared, and the serfs rose into the condi- tion of freemen, they rose also into the pro- tection and came within the benefit of Magna Oharta. Hence there was a constantly increas- ing class who looked up to it with reverence and with confidence. Its force was never lost by disuse, and its principles were never forgot- ten. It made the habeas corpus act and simi- lar securities for personal rights and liberties possible ; and in this way it may deserve the epithet which Mr. Hallam uses, when he calls it "the keystone of English liberty." The general provisions of Magna Oharta may be stated briefly. It confirmed the liberties of the church, and redressed some grievances inciden- tal to feudal tenures. It prohibited unlawful amercements, distresses, or punishments, and restrained the royal prerogative of purveyance and preemption. It regulated forfeiture of lands, and prevented the grant of exclusive fisheries, or of new bridges injurious to a neigh- borhood. It established, or at least founded, the right of the owner of personal property to dispose of it by will, and it put the law of dower on the footing on which it has ever since stood. It protected merchants, required uniformity of weights and measures, and for- bade alienation of lands in mortmain. It guard- ed against delays and denials of justice, and brought the trial of issues within reach of all the freemen by means of assizes and circuits ; and it asserted and confirmed those liberties of the city of London, and all other cities, boroughs, towns, and parts of the kingdom, from which, as from so many centres, political freedom afterward spread through the land. It protected every freeman from loss of life, liberty, or property, except by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land ; and by it the king promised that " We will sell to no man, we will not deny or delay to any man, right or justice." Magna Charta is often ap- pealed to in the discussion of constitutional questions in the United States, and its promise of protection by "the law of the land" is incorporated in some form in every American constitution. MAGNA GR^ECIA, the collective name of the ancient Greek cities and districts in southern Italy (according to Strabo, also of those in Sicily), applied chiefly to the cities on the Ta- rentine gulf (Tarentum, Sybaris, Oroton, Me- tapontum, Locris, Rhegium, &c.) and on the western coast (CumaB, Neapolis, &c.). Improp- erly the name is used also for the whole south of Italy, including especially the provinces of Apulia, Calabria, Lucania, and Bruttium, and not alone of the Grecian settlements. MAGNAN, Bernard Pierre, a French marshal, born in Paris, Dec. V, 1791, died there, May 29, 1865. He studied law, but at the age of 18 enlisted in the army, and served in Por- tugal and Spain from 1810 to 1813. Being transferred to the imperial guard, he served with it until the capitulation of Paris. In 1815 he was received in the royal guard, and in 1823 fought in the Spanish campaign. In 1830 he distinguished himself in Algeria, and was made commander of the legion of honor. In 1831 he was suspended for temporizing with the insurrection among the workmen of Lyons, which he was ordered to suppress. He then entered the Belgian army, with the rank of general of brigade. In 1839, when there was danger of a war with Holland, he commanded at Beverloo 25,000 men. Peace having been signed between the two countries, he returned to France. After being stationed for a short time in the Pyrenees, he obtained command of a division in the department of Le Nord, which he held for seven years, being several times called on to suppress insurrections. In 1840 he was accused of complicity in Louis Napoleon's attempt at Boulogne, but defended himself against the charge. He became lieu- tenant general in 1845, and on the revolu- tion of February, 1848, he offered his services to Louis Philippe, who declined them. Under the provisional government he commanded the third division of the army of the Alps. During the insurrection of June he rapidly advanced to the relief of Paris. He suppressed an insur- rection at Lyons after a desperate conflict of six hours, and for this received the cordon of
