Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/16

x ſheets. A Charter in which the Saxon laws in uſe under the Confeſſor, were reſtored to the people, and which annulled all evil cuſtoms, illegal exactions and unjuſt oppreſſions. The King and his ſubjects thus united together by this great inſtrument of mutual obligation; the conduct of that monarch, for ſome time, entirely agreed with the engagements he had made; he remitted a number of debts that were due to the crown, and redreſſed ſeveral grievances which the people complained of, by mitigating the moſt oppreſſive of the feudal laws, and puniſhing ſuch perſons as were enemies to the people, and had made themſelves odious by an abuſe of their power.

the acceſſion of King, he acknowledged his being elected by the conſent of the people: he granted them a Charter, in which he confirmed all their liberties, privileges, and immunities; and aboliſhed all the laws relating to hunting and forfeits which had been enacted ſince the conqueſt; and when he broke his compact, afterwards he involved himſelf in troubles that laſted during the greateſt part of his reign.

ſhall fay nothing here of the grant of the Great Charter, which was obtained in the year one thouſand