THE EARLY HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume II, Issue 9, 30 September 1856, Page 4

THE EARLY HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Continued from the last Number. When last we wrote of England the Saxon Harold was king over the whole country and ruled a people of the same race and habits as himself; but a great change was near. Across the English Channel, in the kingdom of France, was born a man called William, Duke of Normandy, and to him was given a strong will and a grasping heart and his own fields were not large enough to satisfy his desire, and he called his chiefs together and said "you must give me ships and money and we will cross the sea and make the woods and meadows of the Saxons ours." But bis fighting men refused, until he told them of ihe rich Saxon wife he would give and the proud castle which should to another, at which words airmen flocked to him, and crossing the sea in ships they crowded on the sandy shore before King Harold and bis men were ready to drive them back into the sea, and there was fought a battle which is felt in England now, for the Normans with Duke William jlewj King Harold and his Saxons,and the soil belonged to the Conquerors and they shewed no pity for the conquered. Many a brave Saxoaslill. fought for his own home and children, but the Normans were famed in arms and obedient to one strong head, and the poor Saxons, who were divided and had no mighty leader, saw the strangers building strong castles on the places where their wooden huts had been and heard prayers in a language they could not understand, being sent up lo God in the

churches ihey had built. Their cattle 100 were taken, and' the- laws their Saxon Kings bad given them were broken ; the sound of feasting and joy was no more heard in the land, as the new chiefs were proud men and despised the merry makings and amusements of the people, and shut themselves up in their castles until they were wauled by their leader to seize new lands or do some fresh injustice to the beaten men. But, when they felt that they were safe from the attempts of the children of the land to take back their own, they began to quarrel among themselves and to toe discontented with the share of riches that had fallen to each man, and to settle these angry doubts, iheKing, William, caused abook to be made in which was written the size and part of laud which it pleased him to give to each man, and this book remains till this day with the names of both Normans aad Saxons written in it, showing their children's children, who are now all equal in Old England, bow unfair and rich a part the strangers held in the country they had conquered. They cleared whole miles of huts and fields to make forests in which they might hunt wild game, and turned the Saxon chiefs into servants and bondsmen; but though this mighty William had now taken for himself and for his chiefs all that his greedy heart could wish, the last drops in his cup of life were to be bitter and bard to drink, as his own sons rose to seize the spoil he had wrung from others and sorrow brought such repentance into his heart, that when in 1087 his horse fell with him and brought the hour of his death near he sent for a Priest and, confessing

hfe sins, left money to be distributed to the churches and poor he had robbed and at last died in great trouble and distress of mind, leaving three sons, two of whom Glled bis p&ce on the throne of England for many years: but of them, and of his grand nephew Stephen who came after them we shall say nothing as in their lime no- change came lo bring gladness into the land ; the Norman still trod on the Saxon and the Saxon still haled the Norman, and the tree of? peace and plenty withered and drooped throughout the Island. But at last ihere came a deliverer, a King who loved both raras and who was sprung from both, Ifcnry the II whose wisdom and whose justice was to-be used alike for all his people. He brought once more into use the laws made by the Saxon King Edward the Confessor; he encouraged learning and men who could teach and improve his people;. he sent away foreign soldiers who had kepi them in lerror;..and, since the days of the great Alfr«»d,.no man had sent such light to scalier the darkness from tin; homes of the people who were given to-bis charge But. no rough pith is made smooth in one day, so though his subjects were at peace in his time he had stormy streams to cross and tough: branches to bind in tlie 55 years he ruled over England. We will tell yoa of some of them. At this tirn • the Clergy were not under the law of the land, ami were many of them proud, worldly men, who sought their ownadvanccmeni and glory instead of the good of ihose they were sent to lead. Many of them, too, were *axons, and, as they were the only men of the conquered race who had power and liberty still left them, they were jealous of it and unwilling to be subject to the rule of ihe common law. But King Henry vowed his subjects must all alike submit, and calling to his help a Saxon with a strong mind and will, named Thomas A Becket, he promoted him to great honour and wealth, making him head of the Church in England and expecting him to aid him in his desire to bring the Clergy into subjection ; but this the proud Becket, now powerful,, would not do* ami Henry in his wrath and disappointment called out •• have I no true servant who will rid me oftbistraiior." Four Normans heard the

angry words, and bavins? no dislike to shed-! ding blood they hurried from ihe King and | reai-hed the Lord Bishop Beeket before he j left his home to go to evening prayers. They followed him to the Church, and ihf*re they slew him and left him dead ; but the bloody deed brought sorrow and con fusion on King Henry, and although two vears after great success went with him to Ireland, a fair Island which he seized and added to his English kingdom, he felt himself so blaek and base in the eyes of those who ruled in the Church that he publicly confessed his grief for Becket's deaih and was punished at the Bishops tomb for the hasty words he had spoken. At this time a heaihen, named Sulariin, took the Holy City of Jerusalem, in Tvhich the Saviour Christ had died for us, and the Princes of the Christian roan tries called together their armies to tear it from his hands. Richard the son or Henrv joined in this fight which wascal ed the u Holy War/* but urged on by the wicked words and advi-e of Philip King of France,this graceless *on first turned his arms against his own old father, and joined by his black hearted brother John, who .knew not right or virtue, brought the grey hairs of the weary king wiih sorrow to his -grave; and now the worm or conscience began to eat King Kichard's heart, and he would have given his crown and kingdom to bring the old man back to life; but that dav of lire was gone, and of King. Richard's bailies and his troubles you shall hear hereafter.