HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume II, Issue 12, 31 December 1856, Page 6

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

(Continued from our last.) In the days when the boy King Henry 111. came to the throne of England, things were not as in the times in which we live. Now the poor man tilling thcr ground, and the sellor of goods living in cities, nny choose the path in which he will go and the master he may please to serve; but then foe was bound lo follow and obey ihe great Lord or Chief on whose land he was born and lived. These great chiefs were men mighty in battle, and when at peace lived in their castles, guarded by deep ditches and thick walls, and round them were the huts and houses of men who, without freewill of their own, must arm and fight in all their master's quarrels, and do his bidding without fear or fail. The cities, too, where many Jived together, were still the subjects of the chief, and he in turn defended them from

evil, and with bis fighting men kept rival chiefs from injuring the town or people. The King, although the head ofvllgbese ■warlike chieftains, had not then, as England's Sovereign now has, an army of trained soldiers, and when one Lord rebelled called •other chieftains to subdue the traitor, and wiih fire and sword laid waste the country round the rebel's dwelling. One of these great Lords, Earl of Pembroke, was a true and trusty man, and when King John died, leaving a son of eight years old to rale a country which the French had joined with rebel Lords to conquer, he saved the land by making all men feel the injury a foreign king would do, and brought them back to their native prince. The good Lord died soon -after, and al(hough Henry grew in years, judgment and wisdom seemed not to come to him, and by tiis foolish love to strangers, his constant changing of his purpose, and above all his failing iu bis plighted word, he drew on him the scorn and anger of bis subjects, who armed and, led by Simon, Earl of Leicester, made the weak king their prisoner; and now the Lord's chose four-and-twenty from their number, men who they thought would rule the land with justice, and make the laws to suit their brother chiefs; but soon they found the gcod of twenty-four was thought of, not the good of all, and they declared that " to obey the rule of one man was easier than fo obey the rule of many," and so once more arming in Henry's cause, they made iiim ruler of the land again. Now Henry had a son, Prince Edward, who by his honesty and

courage made ail men trust him, and while he was near his father no further troubles vexed the feeble king, but restless to show his bravery and valour he left his country, which was now at peace, and sought the Holy Land, there, like King Richard, lo recover Uici'ly where the Saviour Christ had died; and while be fought the heathen there, his father died at home, worn down by struggling with proud men who felt and knew his weakness. In Henry's time the towns of England first sent men to form a general meeting, when they told all their wishes, made their hardships known, and from this small foundation stone arose the mighty building of which the English are so proud. In these meetings, formed by men of different rank, coming from different corners of the land, laws have been made, wrongs righted, money granted, and plans laid, which have made England great among the nations of the earth, and happy in her own safe Island homes; and meetings such as these, called Parliaments, are what the English love to form when they settle far from home in lands and countries never known in the bygone years which now we write of; and such an one you have all heard of in New Zealand known by the name of '* General Assembly/' where every year white men, chosen by their brothers, meet and settle their affairs as best it pleases them. Now that the King was dead the Council called this Parliament together to swear

obedience to their absent Prince, whose Ufe was at this very time in peril; for as he sat alone within bis tent, far from his home and country, an enemy with a false face of friendship came to speak with him, and with a poisoned knife struck at his naked breast; the blow fell on his arm, and death was hovering close above his bead, when his brave wife, not thinking of herself, sucked the rank poison from the woHnd and gave him back to life. But Edward still had seas to cross and foreign lands to pass before he landed safe on England's shore, and by the way the tidings of his father's death came to him, filling his heart with more than common sorrow. He heard, too, he had lost an infant son, and when those round him marvelled why he mourned the old man most, he answered, •* Another Son I may some day have, another Faiher never." No sooner had he claimed the crown and throne, than he began to prune the branches of an over-proud nobility, now grown wild and hurtful to the whole fair tree, and to root out the weeds which in his father's time had nearly choked the State. The great Lords, by their boundless power and pride had held their kings in awe, and by their cruel oppression trod their inferiors to the earth; and the new king, while he promised to fulfil all that his ancestors had sworn to these great Lords, declared that they in turn must give the same rights to their vassals, and let the poor man and the merchant live secure and unmolested. Then as cruel deeds of robbery and murder disturbed the safely of the roads and fields, he raised the sword of quick and even justice, and in si year, restored to fertile England the peace and order she so long bad lost. But his was not a mind to rest content with work completed, while there lay near him a fair green land of bills and free born men who till bis day owned no sovereign but their native Prince; and to subdue Ibis country Was the task which Edward now fulfilled. The Welsh (the natives of that land called Wales) were brave and loved their homes and Prince, and fought like men who had their all to lose, but soon they had to yield to greater power, and Wales belonged to England; the people murmured for a native Prince, and Edward told them he would

grant them one, born in their land, speaking no other tongue, and bearing no love to England, and to their ear he kept his word but broke it to their heart, as the young Prince he gave them, was his son, an infant horn among them who took the name of •' Prince of Wales," a title to this day born by the eldest son of England's sovereign. Now Edward, having added this fair jewel to the crown, longed for another jewel fairer still, which lay, he proudly thought, within his reach, but which was guarded, though 1.-e knew it not, by powers which defied him; the ! jewel he coveted was Scotland, a countrylying to the north of England, which for 200 years has been a part or it as fingers form a part of the same hand ; but their close union was not brought about by conquest. Scotchmen and Englishmen found out together that they would do more work and grow more quickly in all useful arts if they were friends and brothers and so, as you shall know hereafter, they formed a union useful to them both which never can be broken. But Edward wished to do bv force of might what only could be done by'men's free will, and Scotland was left at this time without a king and with two rival claimants, for the throne, who in an evil moment settled to refer their claims to Edward ; Baliol and Bruce were these two claimants' names, and Edward chose the former as a tool who in his hands would work the ruin of Scotland, and for a lime this purpose seemed to prosper, till even in poor Baliol's mind there arose a feeling of remorse that he should help to lay his country at a stranger's feet. But it is easier to avoid wrong than to cure it, and now though Bailol sought the French King's .help, and struggled to throw off the clriins of Edward, it was too Jate, and Edward rode triumphantly through the land from South to North—the conquered Scots bowing the knee before him : but he had yet to find a way of forging chains which Scotchmen could hoi break; as hardly had he left that northern land than there arose a band of hardy men (men who had suffered at the SLrimgcr'shands) wholed by William Wal'ace pillaged, burnl.and slew iheEnglishsetiler.% hiding themselves by day in woods and caves, till they spread terror and alarm among the conquerors. Now Wallace was not noble by his birth although of noble nature, and his success awoke the jealousy of those who from their higher stations should have been the men to free their country—ibeir jealousy checked Wallace's designs, and Edward

sending armies to oppose him, his gallant band was scattered and lie a fugitive was given up to the mercies of his angry foes by one Mbnteaih, who called himself a friend. The English would not pardon his offence, and he was bung and quartered, each quarter being nailed above the gate of some large Scotch lower to show brave patriots what they might expect from Edward's anger. Once more he thought his conquest was complete, and turned his face to England where at this time a change was made of great importance to the nation. All the great wars and armies of the King had cost much money, which at first he claimed without his people's leave from Clergy, Jews, and citizens, but now they by their parliament (the meetings we have told you of) declared that from, this lime no king might claim more money than these meetings pleased to grant him, and Edward, who wanted money sorely for his plans, gave his consent for which they paid him with the sum he asked for, and ever after England's lords and people held in their hands the power of voting money to the King. Some other useful changes were worked out and Edward, now grown old and weak, might have lain down to slumber in his grave contented to have left his kingdom greater than he ft aid it, with surer liberties and better laws, but that the favourite prospect of his life was still undone; thirteen long years he had spent in conquering Scotland, and Scotland now was free. One day while Edward with his son and lords was feasting in his Palace, the news was brought him that young Uobert Bruce, grandson of the first Jiruce who claimed the throne, had taken up arms fn Scotland and with a number of his nobles wpre winning freedom for their conquered Then Edward in his anger swore an oath that he would be avenged on Robert and would not return to England till his victorious arms had crushed the rebel Scots. lie made his son. swear also that if he died upon the road, his bones should lead the way and go before his hosts to victory—then having made all needful preparations he with his eldest son Prince Edward, set off to conquer Scotland. Bruce in the meantime had met various fortunes, one day he was made King at Scone, the next he was a fugitive among the hills where his bold wife and sister followed and consoled him. He then look refuge for a time in Ireland, but, when he thought a lime of fortune near, he fended on the West Coast, terrified the English, and by the triumphs wnich he accom-

plisheJ enraged poor sick King Edward who, by this lime had reached the lowa of Carlisle, a city in the north of England near the line which bounded it from Scotland, and here he died worn out by a long life of active deods and an unsleeping mind which never could find rest when not employed. Ua left bis son to carry out his vow and have Ms bones borne by his soldiers to the baule field, where in our next number we shall find them ,and hear what fortune waited on the new King Edward..