eceived
a new grant of it; but the office of mareschal given to
Thomas of Brotherton, the king's second son times required
of several kings, and granted by them in full parliament; a
precaution which, while it discovers some ignorance of the
true nature of law and government, proves a laudable
jealousy of national privileges in the people, and an
extreme anxiety lest contrary precedents should ever be
pleaded as an authority for infringing them. Accordingly we
find that, though arbitrary practices often prevailed, and
were even able to establish themselves into settled customs,
the validity of the Great Charter was never afterwards
formally disputed; and that grant was still regarded as the
basis of English government, and the sure rule by which the
authority of every custom was to be tried and canvassed. The
jurisdiction of the star-chamber, martial law, imprisonment
by warrants from the privy-council, and other practices of a
like nature, though established for several centuries, were
scarcely ever allowed by the English to be parts of their
constitution: the affection of the nation for liberty still
prevailed over all precedent, and even all political
reasoning; the exercise of these powers, after being long
the source of secret murmurs among the people, was, in
fulness of time, solemnly abolished as illegal, at least as
oppressive, by the whole legislative authority.

To return to the period from which this account of the charters has led
us: though the king's impatience to appear at the head of his armies
in Flanders made him overlook all considerations, either of domestic
discontents or of commotions among the Scots, his embarkation had been
so long retarded by the various obstructions thrown in his way, that
he lost the proper season for action, and after his arrival made no
progress against the enemy. The king of France, taking advantage of his
absence, had broken into the Low Countries; had defeated the Flemings
in the battle of Furnes; had made himself master of Lisle, St. Omer,
Courtrai, and Ypres; and seemed in a situation to take full vengeance on
the earl of Flanders, his rebellious vassal. But Edward, seconded by an
English army of fifty thousand men, (for this is the number assigned
by historians,[*]) was able to stop the career of his victories; and
Philip, finding all the weak resou