was first unmistakable recognized in the provisions of
Magna Carta (S199). When in 1215 the barons forced King John to grant
that memorable document they found it expedient to protect the rights
of every class of the population. Then nobles, clergy, farmers,
townsmen, and laborers whether bond or free, stood, as it were,
shoulder to shoulder.

The rise of free towns marked another long step forward (S183). That
movement secured to their inhabitants many precious privileges of
self-government. Then the Wat Tyler insurrection of a subsequent
period (S251) led gradually to the emancipation of that numerous class
which had long been in partial bondage (S252).

Meanwhile the real unity of the people clearly showed itself at the
time when the Crown began to tax the poor as well as the rich. The
moment the King laid hands on the tradesman's and the laborer's
pockets they demanded to have their share in making the laws. Out of
that demand, made in 1265, rose the House of Commons (SS213, 217). It
was a body, as its name implies, composed of representatives chosen
mainly from the people and by the people.

Next, after generations of arduous struggle, followed by the King's
grant of the Petition of Right (S432) and then by the great Civil War
(SS441, 450), it was finally settled that the House of Commons, and
the House of Commons alone, had complete power over the nation's
purse. From that time the King knew, once for all, that he could not
take the people's money unless it was granted by the people's vote
(S588).

After the flight of James II Parliament passed the Bill of Rights in
1689 and in 1701 the Act of Settlement (S497). These two
revolutionary measures wrought a radical change in the government of
England. They deliberately set aside the old order of hereditary
royal succession and established a new order which made the King
directly dependent on the people for his title and his power to rule
(S497). About the same time, Parliament passed the Toleration Act,
which granted a larger degree of religious liberty (S496), and in 1695
the House of Commons took action which secured the freedom of the
press (S498).

Less than thirty years afterwards another radical change took place.
Hitherto the King had appointed his own private Council, or Cabinet
(S476), but when George I came to the htrone from Germany he could
speak no English. One of the members of the Cabinet became Prime
Minister in 1721, and the King