ithheld, the choice
should nevertheless be deemed just and valid [b]. He made a vow to
lead an army into Palestine against the infidels, and he took on him
the cross; in hopes that he should receive from the church that
protection which she tendered to every one that had entered into this
sacred and meritorious engagement [c]. And he sent to Rome his agent,
William de Mauclerc, in order to appeal to the pope against the
violence of his barons, and procure him a favourable sentence from
that powerful tribunal [d]. The barons also were not negligent on
their part in endeavouring to engage the pope in their interests: they
despatched Eustace de Vescie to Rome; laid their case before Innocent
as their feudal lord: and petitioned him to interpose his authority
with the king, and oblige him to restore and confirm all their just
and undoubted privileges [e].
[FN [b] Rymer, vol. i. p. 197. [c] Rymer, vol. i. p. 200. Trivet, p.
162. T. Wykes, p. 37. M. West. p. 273. [d] Rymer, vol. i. p. 184.
[e] Ibid.]

Innocent beheld with regret the disturbances which had arisen in
England, and was much inclined to favour John in his pretensions. He
had no hopes of retaining and extending his newly-acquired superiority
over that kingdom, but by supporting so base and degenerate a prince,
who was willing to sacrifice every consideration to his present
safety: and he foresaw that, if the administration should fall into
the hands of those gallant and high-spirited barons, they would
vindicate the honour, liberty, and independence of the nation, with
the same ardour which they now exerted in defence of their own. He
wrote letters therefore to the prelates, to the nobility, and to the
king himself. He exhorted the first to employ their good offices in
conciliating peace between the contending parties, and putting an end
to civil discord: to the second he expressed his disapprobation of
their conduct in employing force to extort concessions from their
reluctant sovereign: the last he advised to treat his nobles with
grace and indulgence, and to grant them such of their demands as
should appear just and reasonable [f].
[FN [f] Ibid. p. 196, 197.]

The barons easily saw, from the tenour of these letters, that they
must reckon on having the pope, as well as the king, for their
adversary; but they had already advanced too far to recede from their
pretensions, and their passions were so deeply engaged, that it
exceeded even the power of s