and the third, to rest. Alfred laid the foundation of the navy of England, by building galleys of a size superior to any others of the age. In private life he was distinguished by piety, affability, and cheerfulness. His person was commanding and stately.

William, duke of Normandy, laid claim to the crown of England in 1066. Landing with an army he triumphed in the famous battle of Hastings, and was seated upon the throne, thus establishing a dynasty of French kings. He brought with him many French nobles, and encouraged others to settle in the country. He also adopted the French language as that of the court, the government, and the bar. Thus French manners became grafted upon those of the English; and the English tongue received that infusion of French. words and idioms which appear to the present day.

CHAPTER XL.

England Continued.

JOHN came to the throne 1199. He was a detestable tyrant, and even the barons, usually the supporters of the crown, right or wrong, united against him. Tired out with his exactions and his weaknesses, they called on him to sign a paper, securing certain rights and privileges to themselves and the people.

This John refused to do, but at last, finding himself abandoned by everybody, and in a most

desolate condition, he sent the earl of Pembroke, a nobleman distinguished for virtue and ability, to propose a conference with the barons. A meeting accordingly took place on Friday, the 15th of June, 1215, in a large meadow between Windsor and Staines, called Runnymede, which means the meadow of council. This was so called because it had been used by the Saxons as a place for public meetings. At this meeting was signed the famous Magna Charta.

The charter itself is in Latin. The reader would hardly care to see the whole, but I will give some brief particulars respecting it. It must be borne in mind that, under the feudal system, the power of the kings was very oppressive, and had become more and more so, till no subject could act in the commonest affairs of life without the king's consent, and this could be obtained only for money.

We may suppose the sort of interference the king had in every person's concerns, when we are told that nobody could marry without his consent; and that he could oblige heiresses to marry whom he liked; and even widows, who often paid fines to save themselves from being compelled to marry again.

We read of a countess of Chester who paid king Stephen five hundred marks, that she might not be obliged to marry again for five years; and of a countess of Warwick who paid king John five hundred marks, that she might not be obliged to marry till she pleased. Justice of every kind was bought and sold, like any other commodity.

The object of the magna charta was to put a stop to these fines and oppressions. It contained

sixty-three different clauses; and when I have told what a few of them were, the reader will easily comprehend the degree of vexatious tyranny the kings had been accustomed to exercise over the people, and which alone could make such clauses necessary.

The following are examples: That the goods of every free man shall be disposed of, after his death, according to his will; that, if he die without making a will, his children shall succeed to his property that no officer of the crown shall take horses, carts, or wood, without the consent of the owner: that no free man shall be imprisoned, outlawed, or banished, unless by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land: that even a rustic shall not, by any fine, be bereaved of his carts, ploughs, and implements of husbandry. This last was the only article in that great charter for the protection of the laboring people! The invidious word "even," shows, plainly, how little they were considered or thought of at that period.

From the time of John, England continued to make slow, but certain advances in civilization, and in the art of government. But still the feudal system continued to exist, modified and softened, though in a high degree oppressive. The power of the king and the privileges of the nobles, swallowed up the rights of the nation.

But there was a point beyond which the people of England would not now endure oppression; and in 1649, Charles I. was brought to the block. The government was seized upon by the strong hand of Oliver Cromwell, who, by a singular mixture of hypocrisy and wisdom, had acquired great influence over the nation. For several years

he ruled the country with the title of Protector, but with the despotism of a king. It is to be remarked, however, that his public policy had for its end the prosperity of the nation; and England cannot boast a sovereign whose rule has redounded more to the benefit of the country, than that of the usurper, Cromwell.

Charles II. was restored in 1660; and since that time, under various sovereigns, Great Britain has continued to advance in power, and may now be considered the most formidable kingdom upon the globe. If, indeed, we look to the high pitch of civilization to which she has attained, the extent of her navy and her armies, her means of carrying on war, her influence in the councils of nations, her commerce and her vast possessions, we must admit that the world has never before presented such a spectacle of political greatness, in a single nation, of either ancient or modern times.

CHAPTER XLI.

Present State of the British Empire.

THE British empire embraces not only England, Ireland, and Scotland, which constitute what is called the home country, but a range of colonies and dependencies in all quarters of the globe.

England may be considered the central and principal portion of the empire. United to Wales it contains fifty-two counties, and a population of about fourteen millions. Scotland, which was incorporated with England in 1707, contains thirty

142 PRESENT STATE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

three counties, and a population of about two and a half millions. Ireland, which was conquered by the English at an early period, but not united under the same legislative system till 1800, contains thirty-two counties, and a population of nine millions.

The oldest existing colonies of Britain are those of the West Indies, chiefly consisting of a series of islands stretching across the Great Bay which nearly divides North from South America. Jamaica, the largest and most important of these islands, contains about four hundred thousand inhabitants, of which only about thirty-seven thousand are white people; the rest being negroes, the most of whom were originally slave laborers. Barbadoes, Trinidad, and the other West India colonies, are less populous; the full amount being, in each case, divided in about the same proportions between blacks and whites.

Half a million of square miles of the peninsula of Hindostan, containing a population of a hundred millions, have, in the course of the last century and the present, fallen under the power of the association of English merchants, called the East India Company, who, by virtue of a charter from the government, administer the affairs of the natives, in whose revenue they enjoy a source of vast wealth. A still larger portion of Hindostan is under the protection, but not the direct government, of the company.

Goods to the value of four millions of pounds are annually exported from Britain to the East Indies; while goods to the value of above six millions of pounds are imported from the East Indies to Britain. A revenue of above twenty